My mother and I drove three days across the plains (out of Utah, across Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois--I don't recommend it as a fun family trip, it's monotonous and empty and fully of seedy truck stops and motels and endless cornfields). My mother helped me get settled into the new place and flew back to Wyoming.
I started school two weeks later, got a job as a waitress after a month, got weirdly fired three weeks later (when questioned, the manager didn't really seem to have a substantial reason as to why they were firing me, and seemed really confused as to why I would even ask why I was being fired). Then I started another job as an office assistant at (ironically) a visa servicing center for Chinese visas. (No, this is not going to help our immigration case, because we get visas processed for people going to China, and we are not affiliated with the government, just an agency that gets the applications to the consulate.)
I am enjoying grad school, I'm loving Chicago, the new job is perfect. I'm feeling content. The only thing really to be bummed about is the case of the missing husband.
As to the ETA of Lawrence, it is still up in the air. We have been receiving the same question over and over and over and over and over and over again from basically everyone for the last year and a half, and I am just going to go ahead and admit right now, I am really tired of the questions, and they bother me to no end. So, here, I will explain. In my last update, I just showed that Lawrence was scheduled for his interview at the embassy.
He went into the interview, and everything was in order except for one thing: I alone, as a financial sponsor, do not meet the requirements (I don't make enough taxable income), so we had to look for another sponsor. But they took his passport and have held the case since June. Lawrence and I got together two sponsors, mainly because we weren't sure the first one would meet the requirements. Due to some minor miscommunication, that took about a month to get together.
So we submitted and waited. And waited. And waited, with no word for another two months. I had to call the immigration office here in the US to change my address, and I casually asked them if they had any update as to the status of our case. They told me that they don't have the case anymore, that it's all in the hands of the London embassy now, but they did manage to say that it looked like the embassy was having some trouble justifying the assets of one of our sponsors.
So I got in contact with the London embassy (via email, the WILL NOT take phone calls, and they take AT LEAST 5 BUSINESS DAYS to answer an email). They finally got back and said what the hold up was (they had known this for at least two months and never informed us): we just needed proof of the assets for that sponsor. So I got titles and deeds for the properties owned by said sponsor and submitted it.
A few weeks later (after emailing at least every other day), they contacted us again and said the deeds weren't sufficient because they didn't have the full values on them. All the while, they have said nothing about the validity of our other sponsor, though I have asked. Now, I email like once or twice a week asking them if we can just pull the first sponsor and go with the one whose documents are sufficient. They have yet to respond to me. I have become that one super annoying, hassling client and I think they just want to ignore me now (wouldn't be surprised since one of my emails got a little hoity-toity with big words including "unduly" and "elucidate"--when I'm angry, I choose to fight with intelligence.)
So that is the update of this whole damnable process.
And now I just want to get this out there for everyone so they can stop asking me and kindling my annoyance:
- Lawrence will be relocating to America anytime between now and Christ's Second Coming. We are trying to get him here, but the whole situation really isn't in our court anymore. We don't have much control over the decisions of the Almighty Immigration Officials.
- Yes, the whole thing is annoying and frustrating and stupid, because, yes, we're married and married people should get to live together, and no, it's not right that they are keeping us apart. We get it, we know, believe us, no one feels more strongly than we do about this. Again, there's not really a way to get around it in our situation. [Insert argument on current status of US immigration affairs]...yeah, totally. So unfair. I know, right?
- I guarantee whatever suggestion you have for rectifying the situation, we have already considered, or just really wouldn't work. We don't have the money for me to fly out to England again, nor the time between work and school. LAWRENCE CANNOT ENTER THE US WHILE THE VISA IS PROCESSING OR IT WILL VOID THE WHOLE PROCESS AND WE WILL HAVE TO START OVER AGAIN. So no, he can't just come over for a visit. Shame, yes. We know. (Also, passports now have electronic chips in them, so as soon as they are scanned, pretty much your entire background is accessed, and they will know immediately if you are involved in immigration.)
- The last time we physically saw each other was May, when I went out to England for our reception their and we went to Ireland. Yes, that was a long time ago. Yes, it's a shame we can't see each other more often.
- Yeah, it's not the most ideal situation. Yes, it would be nice to finally get to be together, but, again, we don't have that many plausible options. We are two separate people, two individuals who know how to be content as ourselves. We are aware of the situation and accept it. We knew going into this it wasn't going to be easy. Regardless of our proximity to each other, our relationship is still as steady as it always has been. We message each other every day, and video chat once a week and we are both just trying to get on with life and keep afloat and until we can reach our ideal.
