True true!

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At least they are doing something to move this forward now. I'm the queen of counting down days just to get through them (i.e. JA trips) so anything in the positive direction is a good thing.

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

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We just got a letter in the mail: "Welcome to the U.S. Your application for permanent residency has bee APPROVED. Enclosed, please find your temporary Green Card. Your permanent Card will arrive in approximately 3 weeks."

OMG..........I'm smiling........I'm laughing.........I'm smiling..........I'm done trying to calm my husband down enough to even vaguly understand what he is saying right now.

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

Wow! Congrats JG!!

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Pondi

"Breathe Grace"

*Frens of Ja*

Scoot over, Pon. I'm on cloud 9 today too!!!!

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

Ok, here is a question for JG and maybe Swell:
Should I have Marlon request police records from England as well being that he lived there for 6+ years? Also, his son lives in England but we are hoping that one day he can come to the states, should I include his son's information on all the forms as well?

Thanks again and CONGRATS again!

He's a Jamaican citizen, right? I looked at the form and do not see where it asks if HE EVER LEFT JA just if he has ever been to the US before. If I were you, I would order the police record in England, just in case. But, not mention it unless asked.

The son thing..........unless you are prepared to file for him immediately, which includes all his paperwork and fees, I would wait. When Jomo got his green card yesterday, it does say he can now file for any relatives. We pretty much just spent $2000 to get this done, not counting trips and plane tickets. Add another person to that mix and the cost is significantly higher. And, Your gross income would have to be above an even higher poverty level to prove the support.

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

I agree with JG, get the police record from UK, It doesn't take long to get it from the West Midlands Police, Ruperts took, 2 weeks from the time we requested it (we had lived in Uk for 2 years), your better to have it just in case thean fro them to ask for it later and it stalls the process.

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Such an exciting evening last night........green card is actually white. Has his DOB, country of birth, picture, fingerprint, and Alien # on it. The back has the most exciting words I've seen in a long time on it......"Card holder is legally eligible to work and live in the United States." The card is good for 2 years and then you have to reapply by mail. It is conditional for 4 years. Which means, at the end of that 4 year period, the conditions are removed and he has the choice of staying a permanent resident (card good for 10 years at a time) or a citizen.

We went to the local social security office yesterday afternoon and applied for his social security card. Just needed the green card (or a work permit would've done the same) and his passport. Took just a few minutes. Should get that in about 2 weeks. WOO HOO.....job hunting this weekend.

And, to celebrate, we went and had a nice dinner and some wine.

Cannot believe it is finally over. Also cannot believe we did not have to interview with anyone at an INS office. Just shy of 11 months for the whole thing. When I get back upstairs to my desk, I am going to post a time line to help anyone who reads this later get the condensed feel of the whole journey and maybe help someone the figure it all out.

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

kels i'm so happy for you guys. you made it through the roughest part and now it'll be smooth sailing. i printed everything you posted on the process and brought it with me to jamaica so oliver could see what all is required. he was amazed to see so many pages of what is required and then he asked, "does your friend kelly work in an office?" he said he could tell that you're a very organzied person.

the timeline format would be great!

November, December 2005: fill out all paperwork. Assemble corresponding proof like birth papers, police record, passports, pictures, phone bills, tickets, hotel bills, whatever......

2006


January 16: officially engaged (pretty much-ring presented!!!)
January 23: filed I-129F (K-1 Fiance Visa paperwork) with USCIS-Nebraska
January 28: received Visa receipt
April 10: Visa approved - sent to NVC
April 24: Visa number assigned-paperwork sent to Kingston
(in this time, I received official notification and UPS'd ORIGINAL to Jomo to use to get into Embassy....his notification NEVER arrived before he left)
May 5: First trip to Kingston a bust...missed time by 2 minutes
May 8: Second trip to Kingston: turned in DS-230 part I and retrieved rest of packet (shaved weeks off time by doing this). Made interview appointment.
May 18: Medical exam
June 6: Visa Interview....APPROVED!
June 11: Received visa via delivery service
June 15: Left JA for the US
June 16: filed for first work permit
June 23: Applied for marriage license
June 29: MARRIED!!
July 21: Filed I-485..Adjustment of Status (permanent resident)
August 10: I-485 Receipt received
August 21: Biometrics for I-485 (picture and 10 card prints)
September 18: filed second work permit
October 30: Biometrics for work permit (picture and index fingerprint only-was used on Green card from this visit)
November 2: Found out welcome letter sent out. Wondering what this is.
November 9: Welcome Letter arrives: says Petition approved, welcome to the US, and card will arrive in 3 weeks
Second letter: Contains Permanent Citizen card (green card-that is white)
Applied for Social Security card (to arrive in about 2 weeks)

Just a few more thoughts on all this: the processing times the government websites gave us were way off in our case. Times were significanty shorter then predicted. And, the timelines I saw on other websites were also way off ours. Might just be an individual thing.

Other websites I looked into had information on them that was either way off or completely incorrect in our case. One thing is we were not required to have an interview of any kind here in the US. Secondly, the Social Security Administration would not allow us to even apply for a SSN without a work permit (EAD-which you must apply for) or green card. I really did do a trial and error process to make it through it all. I made a few mistakes here and there. In the end, the rushing the process completely paid off and its all good.

Next step...........a job, adding him to the bank accounts, riverboat gambling, and whatever else a social security number entitles him to.

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

you are in my prayers....all the best!

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Received his social security card on 11/16. We went immediately to the bank to put him on the accounts. Of course, their system is not up to the social security card system, so even though he has the card, it would not recognize his number yet. She's going to try again on December 1st.

Jomo's put in two job applications so far: one last week at the convention center and one at the Missouri Athletic Club, which is a club for the really rich of St. Louis.....lots of businessmen. Both bartending jobs would be convenient, great opportunities, and good money. Crossing fingers and praying now! He still continues to work construction jobs in the meantime.

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If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...