Hold your vote

I have had no less than two fights with my husband this week, about two completely different things. The first argument was after his visa appointment; when he went to the consulate they told him that he needed to pay for the appointment and bring all the appropriate documents with him. He accused me at the top of his lungs of not telling him to bring the documents I sent nor did I mention he would have to pay for the appointment. It says in the last six or seven messages I sent him before the interview that he needed to print all the attachments to bring with him and that the money was in the account to pay the $230 appointment fee. It was a pointless argument since he retrieved the paperwork and they allowed him to interview later that afternoon (thank God). Thankfully Alberto is not one to stay angry very long and Lord knows I can't stay made at him because he is, after all, just a man.

The second argument was in regards to our darling daughter Ashley. She was in class when she took a pair of scissors and began cutting her hair. Since to the best of my knowledge they do not cover hair-styling 101 in Kindergarten these days, she was caught and the teacher emailed me about the incident. There was a picture of the small pile of hair under a chair as well as a picture of Ashley herself with the most hangdog expression you could ever imagine. Since this was just an interesting point in a child's life, I posted the story on my Facebook page with the pictures her teacher had sent me.

*facepalm*

There are no words to describe how I feel at this moment in time. I’ve been betrayed by my government, and the relationship that has spanned nearly half my life has been called into question. I don’t expect perfection from anyone, but for the love of bacon why can’t we count on a certain level of competence from people that have the power to change lives? In my last post I spoke of mistakes; I acknowledge that we are all wrong from time to time and I consider errors to be a part of the learning process. The problem is, you can only learn from your mistakes if you acknowledge their existence in the first place.

I’m sure by now you’re wondering what blunder was committed that has me so upset. As you might recall I received a case update regarding the I-130 petition that said initial processing, a status which made me quite angry. The USCIS has rescinded the approval of our I-130 petition pending an interview with them. I understand that there was a breakdown in the process and that our petition was approved after a swift kick in the ass from Senator Franken, but this is almost too much. It is the policy of the USCIS to interview every couple that files the I-130 petition while the beneficiary is in removal proceedings, or if the couple has been married less than 2 years at the time of filing. Alberto and I had only been married 3 months when the I-130 was filed, in the midst of his removal proceedings, so you see there is a reason for this development.

Really?

As if I wasn’t already annoyed enough, I received the following email from the USCIS case status system:


Application Type: I130, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

Your Case Status: Initial Review

We transferred your I130, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN, to your local USCIS Office for further processing. The new office has jurisdiction over your case and will send you a decision as soon as processing is complete or you will be notified if further information or action is needed. If you move, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Check Processing Times.

*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Sick and Tired

I truly believe that a pack of wild monkeys could run USCIS better than the powers that be.  So far this year we were told our file was sent to Consulate in Cuidad Juarez for processing, then that it was received by the National Visa Center which didn’t make any sense at all.  Today may actually take the cake in regards to baffling behavior; we’ve only just learned that the National Visa Center sent our file to the California Service Center to review the approved I-130 petition.  I’ll let you read the emails I received today...

Open Enrollment

Today I received paperwork to enroll Ashley in Kindergarten.  I was excited, then sad, and now I'm just a mess.  I'm just so angry and depressed that I want to hide in my room for the next week and a half.  Alberto has missed out on every single milestone in the life of our daughter; her first smile, haircut, tooth, steps, day of preschool...  EVERY.  SINGLE.  MILESTONE.  Now I get to enroll her in kindergarten, alone, as I have been every other time something big has happened.  So today I feel bitter, and no quantity of sugar-coated Hallmark sympathy cards from Wal-Mart is going to change that.