gringuitalokita

I mostly just read these days but want to share a story...

Paolo and I applied to remove conditions at the beginning of March, had biometrics in April and got the one year extension stamp a few weeks ago. We travelled to Mexico for a week to visit family. Today we returned to Miami.

At immigration she cleared our son and I and then asked Paolo where his visa was. We explained that we had the stamp. After that she typed a bunch of stuff into the computer and turned on the red light. Another man came over and she told him "Mom and baby are fine but he has a B10 and ADIT stamp. This man escorted us to a room and told us to wait to be called.

There were probably 30 other people in this room and 3 immigration officers - 2 of whom went to lunch soon after we arrrived. The biggest problem with this is that my son is sick (got some kind of stomach infection in mexico) - so I really needed to change a nasty diaper. I asked the officer if they had a restroom and he replied "sorry, not here". The room was not very clean and I had to change my son's diaper on the nasty stained floor. We ended up being there for 2 hours. After one hour Paolo was called up and they asked him where he went, what he did, how long he was out of the country and what is his ss number - which he couldn't remember - but thankfully had the card with him.

Finally, after two hours they called him again, stamped his passport and we were free to go. They never did tell us why we were stopped.

The biggest problem now is that I lost my passport. At one point they asked for it and I can't remember if I got it back or not because I was preoccupied with the baby....

Melissa,

I hope you have some time alone with Javier when you get to Mexico before the wedding. As for the financial part, please really, really consider doing something just for the two of you. If I understand correctly, your family will not be there and if his family isn't being supportive then don't bother with them. I went through so much of the same ####### with Paolo's family. They were never out and out "against" us but they certainly didnt support us and it always seem they were trying to undermine all of our plans. This was especially difficult since Paolo was there in Mexico living in THEIR house and I was stuck here trying to deal with all of the #######. I could go on and on about the details but the important part is that so many times when I was here alone I felt as if he didnt care, wasn't making a strong effor to fight for us etc. However when I would get there and realize his situation and see how overwhelming his family could make his life and see his love for me which was always better shown in person than long distance, all of the doubts melted away. Our civil ceremony was the best day of my life - we did the church ceremony 9 months later and while our families were there and it was special, it doesn't even compare to our "REAL" wedding day.

sandy

hey all,

Thanks for the congrats! and for the clarification regarding AP....not needing AP was one of the hugest reasons we didnt do k1 and had to wait all of this time!!!

Daniel - we got the cr1....so I guess we have to remove conditions in october....how long did it take ana to get her greencard and ss card in the mail?

sandy

Christine,

My husband just had his medical on friday and he required the following vaccines

1. Tetanus (he actually got the Tetanus-diptheria vaccine in the states prior to interview

2. Varicela

3. MMR (measles, mumps and rubella in one vaccine)

He didnt have any vaccine records from childhood and that didnt seem to be a problem. You only need flu and pneumococcus if you are over a certain age.

These three vaccines were the only ones listed at the consulorio for the ages of 25-38, so if your husband falls into this age group you should be safe with these.

Also, they might require hepatitis b if your husband has any risk factors, but mine did not.

hope this helps!

sandy

We got the visa!!!

He made it back to the hotel at 11:45 am with visa stamped (for lack of a better word) on one of the pages of his passport. It is valid for 6 months and by then he should get the real one in the mail. They also took away his tourist visa. He says, they didnt really ask any hard questions. The first woman just took his paperwork and confirmed name, address, etc. Then he went to a different room and was questioned by another woman at window 25. She had him raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth. She didnt ask for any of our evidence,never looked at the pictures or anything. She asked him what I do and seemed pleased with his answer (according to him). She asked if he has been in the states, if he has ever been illegal, if he has had problems with immigration or police. She asked how often we have been able to see each other and he explained that I used to come to mexico one week per month until we bought our house and that after that he has been to see me twice using his tourist visa. She told him that everything looked good and to go back to the waiting area. After 2 more hours, that is when they gave him the visa.

We just had lunch, now we are going to take a nap and then cross the bridge! We will stay in el paso tonight and we have our flights home in the am!!!

Thanks for all the support and if anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.

sandy

dont know what happened....those were supposed to be two separate posts...oh well!!

sandy

Tim,

I hope you enjoy the time with your wife and that when you call they will tell you the date. For us, once we knew the date, the time went a lot faster and the end is actually in site!!!

We are in Juarez now, got in line at the consulate at 5:30, Paolo got in at 6:30 and now i´m back in the hotel waiting. We really hope he gets the visa today and we can get out of here. I need to get home so I can make a dr. appt....we have a little one on the way!

sandy

thanks everyone for thinking of us today!

We got to the consulate at 5:30 am this morning and there were maybe 80-100 people in front of us and about 20 in the other line with the blue papers (return visitors I think). Paolo got in at 6:30 (I think they started letting people in around 6 or maybe a bit earlier) and I came back to the hotel. At 6:30 when I left there probably close to 150 or more people still in line and more coming. Now I´m here in the hotel hoping for the best!

sandy

mnmex,

yes, our interview is on monday. if all goes well, we will cross the border to el paso monday night and we have flights booked back to florida for tuesday. i have to go no matter what because i have to work on wednesday (we have been in mexico for almost 2 weeks now). If he doesnt get the visa on monday for any reason, then he will stay here an extra day or however long necessary. Thankfully Paolo got in touch with an old friend of his who lives here in Juarez now and she took us to a mall today called Las Misiones. It is very nice and I highly recommend going there for movies, restaurants, etc, if you are looking for something a little nicer than Plaza de las Americas here by the Holiday Inn.

cant wait to get home....

sandy

hey all, just a quick note:

we are here in ciudad juarez. we were with my husband´s family in merida for a week first (where we found out we are expecitng!

Last night we flew from merida to mexico city to juarez. the juarez airport was a nightmare. when we got off of the flight, we went through some sort of security and even though it was a domestic flight they wanted to see my passport and my migracion card. Then we got the luggage which all had to be scanned and finally made it to our hotel (holiday inn-lincoln). We went for the medical exam today to the clinic beside the consulate. He had a female doctor and said she was kind of cold, but it went well. She examined him, asked questions about alcohol, drugs, tattoos, piercings, and asked him how he got a scar that he has on his leg. Then he got his vaccines (he needed mmr and varicela - would have needed tetanus, but he got it a week ago in the states. He paid 236 usd and we were out of there around 9 am. We came back to the hotel and ate at the breakfast buffet which was nice but pricey.

He is back at the clinic now, went at 2 to get results, but the system is down so he is waiting for who knows how long.

Any suggestions of things to do here, since we are trapped here for the weekend?

sandy

p.s. thanks daniel for your help!

daniel,

i didnt get your pm...can you please resend?

thanks

sandy

Sorry David!!! I meant Daniel...don't know where my brain is these days.....

Sandy

thanks everyone for the congrats!!! we are very excited and a little nervous too!!

David, I do have a few questions...we've been waiting so long that I seem to have forgotten all of the info I once learned from this site!

1. Do we have to fill out a new ds230 and I864, even though they were submitted to nvc already?

2. Do we need to bring passport photos?

3. The visa fee ($360) that they speak of in the packet....that is one of the fees we already paid to nvc, right?

4. Where did you stay? One of the Holiday Inns????

thanks!!

sandy

I hope someone here can answer a few questions for me.

My husband has his cr1 interview on march 6. In the packet it says we must bring I864 and ds230. Of course, I submitted both of these to nvc a long time ago. Are we required to fill them out again? Also, do I understand correctly, that we need to bring passport style photos with us, yet they will take another photo of him at the medical exam?

Sorry for so many questions, just want to make sure that I'm getting it right!!

sandy

we finally got our date!

March 6,2006...and we are leaving on thursday to spend a week in merida and then off to juarez...I can't believe it is finally happening!

sandy

hey daniel and everyone!!! thanks for restarting the thread... so many of the threads i like to read have disappeared...

anyhow, last time I called juarez they told me i could call back feb 4 (9 months after they processed my case) so I'm getting excited...but trying to remember that they also said it might be march or april before they tell us the date..

Paolo's tourist visa runs out this month so he's going back for the remainder of the wait unfortunately he will have to stay with is family (his mom isnt supportive of us) so it will be twice as hard for him as it will be for me....but we are hoping for only a month of separation this time around (wishful thinking i know)

sandy