Weird Way to Get the K-1 VISA

[Richard_y_Abi 0]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

[.:MzMorgan:. 0]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

Thanx for sharing ur visa journey story....I am sure it will help someone.....it seems like u had a pretty smooth process overall!

[Chris Me lil D 17]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

what a story

Congrats and best wishes on your reunited family

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yes, I have heard that you can make your own appointments at Juarez and not have to wait for an appointment. It sure speeds things up, especially when you are as proactive as you. I am assuming that your wife became your wife 'after' she entered on the K-1 .

[TBoneTX 45,453]

What a great story, si man! Welcome to VJ.

[Richard_y_Abi 0]

Yes, we were married in Phoenix. We had a small wedding, and afterwards, I carried the signed copy of the marriage (the next day as it was) directly to the county court house. Of course, because we waited basically to just before the end of the 90 days, we cannot register our new marriage, or Abi's new last name with SSA, because as luck would have it, her border pass has already expired. Now we have to wait until she gets her resident card to register her new name. We can, however, register our marriage with the Mexican Consulate, obtain her new Mexican ID, and then have evidence of our wedding that way. I cannot wait to get my Mexican Citizenship!

[thongd4me 69]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

Gracias por compartir su historia; sería más útil si llena su horario.

It's nice to have someone who has finished their visa journey come in and share,

even if you weren't among us when you started. To be sure you're among friends.

Filling in the timeline will help guide anyone to specific areas where they may be

able to compare notes with you and will enable you to see how your journey compares

to others in terms of the time spent on each step.

[Mrs. Disney 0]

Wow what a nice story! I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try to do what you did, I mean for those who are having their interviews in Juarez. Best of luck in the rest of your journey!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

Interview procedures are consulate specific and consulates can conduct them in any way they want and allow anyone they want in or out. Once you have an approved petition you could attempt to walk into any consulate and get an interview. Not to say that any of them would allow you to, and I do not live in Pheonix and my wife is from Ukraine, so it isn't like I can just drive down to the consulate. There is quite a bit invested even to show up at the gate in Kiev, Ukraine and I am not going to do that without an appointment.

Also I presume your "wife" was your "fiancee", correct? Certainly you did not file a fiancee visa for your wife.

In general, though I am glad you got your visa, what you have suggested will not work for the vast majority of VJ members as most consulates will NOT do what Juarez does, and for that matter many consulates have no long waiting list for interviews. Kiev is currently running less than 5 days for an interview after receiving the documents needed from NVC (apporved petition) <any people are waiting for their petitions to be approved, which you definitley have to wait for in ANY consulate.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Gary and Alla

[usaborn1111 0]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

great sounded easy....are you sure you were at the US embassy? lol

[Cuchita 1]

This is very very nice and you got that officer in a good mood, I am sure this will provoke ENVY in many of us here .

You are very lucky but because you did everything you could to get your family here.

Take care, and have a wonderful married life!.

[Richard_y_Abi 0]

Maybe I am not reading correctly, but what the heck. Most of us on this site are legalistic faux paux attorneys anyways. Yes, we filed a K-1 visa. We are married now, so therefore, when I say "my wife" I am really talking about my wife. When we went to the Consulate for the interview, she was my "fiance". Sorry for the confusion.

[MRStee 19]

What a great story! Congrats to you

[Sheyla 0]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

CONGRATS!!!

I was wondering which documents you showed for the children? did your wife showed custody papers or any other documents related to children custody at the interview or before?

Your reply will be very welcome.

Thanks!!

Shey

[Richard_y_Abi 0]

Hello everyone. I want to share with you how my wife, 3 children, and I were able to finally be together here in the United States. When it comes to doing things the hard way, I am an expert. After trying the advice of different lawyers, spending almost $2000 needlessly, we decided to fill out the I-129f ourselves. My wife and three boys are from Mexico, by the way. I researched the internet exhaustively to make sure that when we submitted our application for the first time, that we would not be asked for more evidence. We still had to send in more evidence, but basically they wanted something more concrete that was in English. Fortunately, I had sent a number of Western Union money grams that contained both our names. We put our application in on December 5th, 2008, and were approved in May, 2009. We were told that a packet would be sent to us, with instructions to advance to the American Consulate in Juarez. Immediately, I figured that if the packet would be sent to my Phoenix address, as had all the other correspondence, that my sister could forward it to me in El Paso, and we would be ready.

Here's the thing. I keep reading where K-1 Visa applicants are waiting for their appointments, but it states clearly on the forms that K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. I will say this again: K-1 applicants do not need to wait for an appointment. We did not have an appointment. We simply showed our paperwork to the guard outside, and he escorted us to the door. We walked in, in front of everyone.

We waited for the forms to arrive, stayed in a Casa de Huespedes, and worked on our final details. We had questions, so I went to the Consulate, waited in the Information line for almost 4 hours, and once at the window, I asked my question. The man looked at me, and asked me if we had received our packet. I told him that we would wait for it in Juarez. He looked at me kind of funny "Why did you come so early, and without your packet?" So, I told him that while we would be waiting, we would just visit tourist areas, the Zoo and whatever. Have fun. He gave me an appointment card to come back the next day. After waiting in line, again, not knowing that with the appointment card that I could have just went to the front of the line, I waited for the same man to help me. He remembered me, and can you believe, he pulled our packet out of the packets that had beed there waitin to be sent. We filled out the information. Went to the bank and paid the Visa fees, went to the clinic, three days later, received the TB results, the computer disks and the physical results. Took all that to the Consulate. Interviewed that day, were approved, and received the Visas the very next day. We left one hour later, and on June 4th, we crossed the bridge into El Paso, Texas.

I do not know how everthing worked out like it did. Finally, I have a whole lot of information to share with anyone who needs it. So much more happened during this process, things that were frustrating, and otherwise. There were bitter moments, as well as sweet moments. We are marred now, and will file for their Resident Cards at the end of September. Thinks for reading.

CONGRATS!!!

I was wondering which documents you showed for the children? did your wife showed custody papers or any other documents related to children custody at the interview or before?

Your reply will be very welcome.

Thanks!!

Shey

Sheyla, and to everyone out there.

When our oldest son was born, because my wife did not want to declare who the father was, she simply gave him her two last names. However, with our second oldest, the father was still around, or at least promising to be there, but as soon as the baby was born, he took off, to return to his wife, if he ever left her at all. This here was our major problem. The father was absent, and to this day, I am the only father that our son knows. The paternal father, although during this entire process tried to get Abi back, was helpful, and we will appreciate his help forever. We hired a lawyer, and had documents drawn up giving my wife permission to travel, tend to his medical needs, tourism, and educational needs. There was no time limit placed on the document. But wait----when we fianlly went to get his passport in Hermosillo, we were told that the document was only good for 6 months. We returned, once again, and asked the paternal father for his help once again, and although it was difficult for him to leave work, he did so again. We signed new documents with the same lawyer. But wait----because we were treated poorly at the passport office in Hermosillo, we decided that when we got to Juarez, that we would take the risk of them telling us that we needed to obtain the passports in our hometown, and apply for the passports while we planned for our interview. We almost did not get the passport for our second son, because. lo and behold, the paternal father had renewed his identification, and the clerk who issued the new identification replace a Z with a S. We had to call again, the paternal father, have him go to Hermsosillo, fill out a OP-7, with his right name, and a second permission for our son to obtain his passport, and leave Mexico. We thought that we would never get it, but this was but one of our problems.

Abi, the kids and I had to travel by bus to Mexico City D. F. to obtain an origianl birth certificate. Not only did we arrive during a holiday, we were re-directed many times to different Registro Civiles (Civil Registry) each one a dead-end. We had left a copy of the origianal behind. This would have helped tremendously. We finally found the right Registro Civil, after 10 days of waiting, and were told that we would have to come back tomarrow. I gave the man $7 and Abi gave him 50 pesos, and he gave them to us right away. When we tried to get her pasport at the same time as the kids, we were told that Abi"s birth certificate was invalid because the man did not write in the year of her birth. They turned us away, after pleading with their supervisor. We went back home, and the "smart one" in the family just decided to write in the date, against my better judgement. He did it before I could stop him. The next day, Abi went back into the Passport office, and immediately they remembered us, and sent us away, knowing that the birth certificate had been doctored. However, since we decided to go to Juarez before receiving the welcoming packet, we did not have one problem, whatsoever.

Our third problem was that our youngest, who is also MY son, could not get his passport in Hermosillo, because I did not have a passport, and they informed me that I would be deported back to the United States, because, according to them, I was in Mexico, illegally. We had had problems obtaining a Consulate Birth Abroad certificate, and as of then, our youngest was still just considered to be Mexican. Once in Juarez, the passport office just sent me to El Paso to fill our a OP-7 giving her permission to obtain a passport for him, and afterwards, she had no problem.

We thought the nightmare would never end; we were stressed out to the max. We promised to pay our second oldest son's father the wages that he lost helping us, and also had help from Abi's brother driving the father to Hermosillo in our truck that we had left behind. (That's another story) One other note: because Abi did not have a high school diploma with her picture on it, she was only given a Passport for one year. Sssshhhhh