JennW

So my hubby went back today with what they had requested and was APPROVED! Praise God it is over. Here is a brief rundown of our Journey.
We hired a lawyer approx 6 months after we got married. We hired Allan Lolly, he was very friendly and helpful at first then we found that once hired we were turned over to a 'case manager' and getting ahold of our lawyer became quite difficult and we had to be very demanding. The lawyer experience is one of its own but if to do again we may hire a lawyer but not a big name firm that you just become yet another piece of paper as the lawyer caused us so much delay and the case manager was incompetent.
We had some delay in when we filed papers because we were coming up with all the fees plus lawyer so that is also part of the reason why our journey took a bit longer. We filed with my income alone, which had to be a bit high because of the children I have. I got a job in addition to the business I run to be able to show the income. We sent in about 4-5 pictures, letter of authentic relationship, prof of communication, and trips etc. We were approved at NVC about 13 months after original filing but again there was some delay from us coming up with fees. Approved in mid Nov, appointment set for late Jan.
My husband saw the dr about one week prior, we had heard stories of cutting it too close and having to come after appointment with medical and we wanted to avoid that. On the day of his interview my husband went with binder of well organized into sections ; photos in a photo sheet that displayed them nicely, proof of communication (skype, whatsapp, emails, facebook, and a facebook convo he had with my mom) copies of packages and cards sent, all of his original legal documents, copy of my original petition, etc.
He got there around 6-6:30 and i think he said he was number 8 on the list to sign in. When you go in, they pull cases from a basket or something, i dont think up until that point you have a particular CO. He was called up and asked some questions like 'How long was your wife previously married for, how many kids does she have what are their ages, how did you meet' I cant remember all of them but nothing in particular that he struggled with, he first quoted the time me and my ex were married before we separate then he corrected himself and explained to her when we were separate then when divorced. She was gracious about it.
She gave him a 221(g) with two things checked - joint sponsor and proof of relationship, she wrote on it she wanted our original facebook conversation from when we first met. This seemed a bit crazy to me because we met over 4 years ago and had documentation for three years. He told her that I deleted that facebook account and she said he can still retrieve it. So he brought back the conversations from his end even though they didn't have my name except when he called me by it in the conversation. We didn't understand why we needed joint sponsor because my income is over the 125% but maybe it is because of the jump and also I am self employed primarily.
So we talked to our case manager at the firm and asked them what are the requirements of the joint sponsor and they were completely incompetent and told us that they must cover me, my kids, him and themselves (the lawyer confirmed this - I don't even think they looked at our case before answering we are so aggravated about it) - upon further research we found out that it is a lie so my best friend offered to be his joint sponsor as she has no dependants and is single. We proceeded to fill out the form and all ourselves as we were sick of delay and incompetence of Allan Lolly law firm. So hIs appointment was on the 21st of Jan and he went back on Feb 2 and 4th and was turned away they said that they were short staffed that week that he must come back the next week. So he went back today brought the facebook conversations (about 5-6 screenshots of it) and the joint sponsor form with original signature, her 2015 income tax return, her w-2's for 2015. He waited in the cue and the same CO called him and he gave her the papers and she said approved gave him a green ticket told him to come back in 7 days for the visa - he said that they were very busy and those who came back with medical didnt even need to see officer to get green ticket that they were going through everyone fairly quickly i am guessing they were a bit backlogged.
I am so glad this is over - ready to be living together!!!

I think that it is one thing to call things racist that really are racist, but when you call things racist that are not, it is like the boy who cries wolf - kind of makes your real cries to be taken less seriously (not saying it's right, just that it is how it is).
I do agree that there needs to be some work done all around this topic, I think that people do need to fight to be treated equally, but I think that there needs to be some more wisdom given on how to do it, because the way it is being done now is only bringing more division - meanwhile our country faces much worse threats. The media is feeding us to be divided while we need to be united.
I also think that when you look at the percentages of races in the movies we need to see also, how many blacks/whites/asians are pursuing acting as a career? Because if the pool to choose talent from is 10% asian, 30% black, and 60% white then we probably should expect to see somewhere close the same ratio in actual films. Many career choices are influenced by our upbringings and cultures itself. Some cultures esteem business ownership more than others, some esteem technology, some the arts etc.
Think below the surface, react beyond emotions, use wisdom and progress will be made

I think that it is one thing to call things racist that really are racist, but when you call things racist that are not, it is like the boy who cries wolf - kind of makes your real cries to be taken less seriously (not saying it's right, just that it is how it is).
I do agree that there needs to be some work done all around this topic, I think that people do need to fight to be treated equally, but I think that there needs to be some more wisdom given on how to do it, because the way it is being done now is only bringing more division - meanwhile our country faces much worse threats. The media is feeding us to be divided while we need to be united.
I also think that when you look at the percentages of races in the movies we need to see also, how many blacks/whites/asians are pursuing acting as a career? Because if the pool to choose talent from is 10% asian, 30% black, and 60% white then we probably should expect to see somewhere close the same ratio in actual films. Many career choices are influenced by our upbringings and cultures itself. Some cultures esteem business ownership more than others, some esteem technology, some the arts etc.
Think below the surface, react beyond emotions, use wisdom and progress will be made