Interrogation Preparation!

Woo, we are here in our hotel in London, about to explore the area near the medical/embassy and going to have an early night because the interview is tomorrow!!! I will take copious mental notes to report back to you. Hopefully all will be well.

- Hoopla and Xavier

*jab/poke*

Xavier had his vaccinations today and is too whingey, erm, weak to post to the blog. He had Measles/Mumps/Rubella and Tetanus/Diptheria today (2 shots total). This is apparently all he needs, though I was under the impression he would have to have about 10 shots! I am actually really confused about all that and just hope it works out, heh.

Meanwhile, I finally called the courthouse to see if they will give me a letter to the effect of: "Hear ye, London Embassy: Hoopla and Xavier have booked a wedding with us on SomeDate" but all I could get was voice mail systems, and am waiting for a call back. We have the choice between Romantic Courtroom 1A (5pm weddings) or the Magisrates Lobby, um, of Eternal Love (noon weddings). The Magistrates Lobby is supposedly somewhat decently... attractive, and is on the second floor, so I think we're aiming for that. We don't have the money for a big, fancy wedding now, so this will have to suffice for a year or two until we can have the fancy, exciting, wedding-y wedding in England, hopefully. It'll be alright, though, as our most important people will be there with us at the courthouse, and we're all going to enjoy a fancy "reception" dinner afterward. It will be a memorable day however you look at it.

We will not have seen each other in 417 days by the time I go to England, which is phenomenal to me, but not long to go now!

-Hoopla

The Post Which Shall Remained Un-named

Okay, nothing much is happening. The most, err, exciting thing is when I go outside on break at work, there are some stepping stones and each day I stand on the one which represents how many more days there are until I go to England. Yes, I know I have no life. Nothing is happening! There is one weekend left until my trip and we plan to use it all to make sure we have every item needed for the interview (I think we already do, but we're just double-checking). And stuff. Other than that, I have been working alot of mandatory overtime and just generally being brain dead (as evidenced by this post) *smile* I'm sure things will get more lively and exciting as the days and stepping stones wear on.

- Hoopla

P.S. Your pregnant sister probably does not want you to make a list of Elvish names for her unborn child. Just a pointer. Take it from me. :)

Xavier Makes Historic Post!

Wait. No. It's Hoopla as usual :P

Xavier continues to sell most of his earthly belongings. We have a flat booked for some of my UK visit. I want to go out and buy an interview outfit as soon as I get the chance. Xavier is set to have three of the vaccinations he needs pretty quick here. That's about all that's going on really!

"W"oe is us...

So I have to live out my _entire_ twenties under our idiot of a President. I feel very sorry for those of you who are coming to live in this country. Only half of Americans suck, so try to keep that in mind at least. And we don't have to line up to get bread. Yet. And I'm going to England in three weeks.

So I got woken up at 5am by some guy saying something about some "Packet 4" or something. Some people!

Just when I rolled over, looked at my alarm clock, and saw I had two whole more hours of sleep to revel in, the phone rings and Xavier tells me Packet 4 came today. Which made it an even better Friday than usual *grin* It feels tremendous to finally know when the visa interview will be (November 30th). I'm not sure if we got that date by chance, or if they really honored the request we put in that the interview be anytime during that week (as I will be in the U.K. then), but it is the most perfect date we could have hoped for in our situation. I am sososo glad I get to be with Xavier for moral support and, hopefully, celebration... though I am not sure whether I will be allowed into the actual medical/interview or not (I have read conflicting reports from people). Anyway, I am already trying to decide what to wear :P and where we should stay in London the night before, and how many bags I should bring to England to haul some of Xavier's stuff back in. And me being the Supreme Planning Nazi, already discussed with Xavier which route to take from Dr. Phelan's to the Embassy. In my early-morning delirium I also recall suggesting that we go to Speaker's Corner after the interview and either curse immigration or do some sort of "We got the vissssssssa, oh yes we diiiiddddd" dance, but luckily was talked out of both. See what all this does to you... I mean, honestly. The other day I also had delusions of staying at The Dorchester ("It's right by the Embassy!"), but that too was quickly snuffed as a one night stay costs more than my international plane ticket. Woe.

In spite of all this, I still really have not come to terms with the fact that I am finally going to England again (I got tickets yesterday), and that we actually have an interview date (do I write too much stuff in brackets?) *smile* Each and every little milestone in this process has made my happiness soar, but knowing the interview date is really satisfying. I do feel a bit bad because our website leaves much to be desired. Ie. it has no content *grin* But we still have a ways to go, plus AOS is coming, and we all know THAT takes years, plus I really want us to have a website.

Hmmmm, not sure if I should reveal this to the K-1 Visa Public At Large, but Xavier suggested an amazing wedding song to me last night - "Andrea Bocelli - Con Te Partiro" - the lyrics seem extremely fitting for our situation and, even before I knew their translation back in the day, the song usually made me nearly cry, hehe. I really want to try to incorporate it into our wedding, and it has become sort of the theme song of all this K-1 culmination (sp?) for me. You can hear a clip of it at CD Now by clicking this link, and I'll leave you with the lyrics. Sorry for the length of this post!

When I'm alone
I dream on the horizon
and words fail;
yes, I know there is no light
in a room where the sun is absent,
if you are not with me.
At the windows
show everyone my heart
which you set alight;
enclose within me
the light you
encountered on the street.

I'll go with you,
to countries I never
saw and shared with you
now, yes, I shall experience them.
I'll go with you
on ships across seas
which, I know
no, no, exist no longer;
with you I shall experience them.

When you are far away
I dream on the horizon
and words fail,
and, yes, I know
that you are with me;
you, my moon, are here with me,
my sun, you are here with me.

Nothing to see here... move along!

So, my days are filled with hallucinations of Packet 4, which has yet to come. This is slightly annoying, but I guess is a good thing as we really want the visa interview to be when I am in the UK. If I don't get to be there for it, I have demanded Xavier visit Dr. Phelan's toilet and report on the crazy x-ray guy (it took some work, by golly!). It's like, the law, of K-1 Visa Interview experiences, I tell you!

Meanwhile, I am still not doing much immigration-wise. I have thoughts of dragging out the AOS forms and getting a head start on them, but they are extensive and daunting, and there is alot (not at the MOMENT) to do before that time. That is gonna be one hell of a project, but there is nothing really to do at the moment but wait to see when Xavier's interview will be, and find out whether it will be when I am in the UK or not. These sort of doldrums are agitating in themselves.

I guess that is all for now!

Ho Hum...

So Xavier sent off his Packet 3 response on Oct. 8th, and now we are waiting with bated (sp?) breath for fabulous, coveted Packet 4, which may arrive on Friday, or may take like two weeks. Who knows. Didn't do anything immigrationy all weekend and felt guilty and somewhat lost without anything to work on! Everything is just so hingey at the moment, depending on something else to see what can be done next about the first thing.

Application Reception!

Oooh, what's this on the doormat? Looks official!


Oh my, it's Packet 3!! Yayy!

Well that was pretty quick! Although it gives us even fewer reasons to be agitated (grr!)

Anyway, if anyone is interested, it contains the following;

Page 1 - Introductory letter
Page 2 - IV15 - Checklist
Page 3 - IV15 - Information on dependents
Page 4 - IV15 - Declaration
Page 5 - IV15a - Information on birth and police certificates
Page 6 - IV15a - Information on the new photograph requirements
Page 7 - IV15b - Information on public charge / affidavit of support

Then it includes Forms

I-134 - Affidavit of Support
DS-156 - Non-immigrant Visa Application
DS-156K - Non-immigrant Visa Application Supplement
DS-157 - Non-immigrant Visa Application Supplement
DS-230 Part I - Biographic Information

The versions of the forms are all the same as the ones on the US embassy website, even though they claim to be out of date. This was a big weight off my mind (I have already printed all the forms and was somewhat dreading new versions of them all arriving in the mail).

Anyway, I should be finishing the forms tonight and then hopefully mailing them tomorrow!

Documentation Computerization

PDF files are an amazing thing.. turning printed documents into usable computer files, they make life much easier and simpler. It now takes mere seconds to complete and send off important documents. Well, at least it should only take seconds..
Today I was using the US Embassy's fillable visa forms to prepare all my documents for when Packet 3 arrives and I learned all too quickly that PDFs really aren't too good at all! I ended up with only being able to fill-in about half the boxes electronically and having to write the rest in by hand. Mostly this was because adobe reader will only use one font, Times New Roman, in super-jumbo size, allowing for only a very small number of characters. I'm sure there are many towns with names with more than eight letters.. god help you if you live in Wales! You would think with today's modern technology, they would develop a system so that if you need more space, it could make the font smaller so that it would fit.. is that so much to ask??

But many of the forms also have bugs and problems.. take DS-230. When you type the parts of the United States that you have been to, it fills the same data into a different box about what places you have worked in! So now it looks like I once worked at a supermarket in St Louis, Missouri! not so good really!

DS-156 is just as bad, and one of the more important forms, as it actually sends your answers to the embassy and creates two special barcodes for you and all your answers.. so you really want to get this right and not have to write in extra info. No such luck if you happen to be using Firefox, as it automatically checks the "My visa has been revoked" box! - Is using an alternate browser grounds for automatic refusal of visas? cos they really ought to mention that!

So yes, don't assume that because they have electronically fillable forms, it will be easier, because I'm really not sure that it is.. best just to stock up on biros!

*sniff*

Have officially not seen each other in a year now.

Four score and... nope, just four years ago.

(A quick note: I couldn't figure out how to explain to my niece, who is three, about immigration so I said, "Guess what!!! Auntie got a letter that says Uncle (Xavier) can come and live here!" and she was thrilled. So now when I am on the phone to my sister and sometimes talk to my niece, she asks me, "Are you at Uncle (Xavier's) house to pick him up?" which, I guess, is toddler-speak for, "So, how's the whole immigration thing going?" *grin*)

Well, today is our fourth anniversary and I am sitting here wearing a Liverpool/Budweiser parody shirt and tracksuit bottoms, working with Xavier (over the internet) on a "Pretty Please Can We Have The Visa Interview When Hoopla is in the U.K." letter for the embassy. It sure beats dinner and a movie, I can tell you! *sigh*

We first met in person four years ago on this date. My sister and I were late arriving at the aiport to pick Xavier up, and I first saw him as he was riding down an escalator. I got about a thousand times more nervous than I already was and kept painfully elbowing and whispering to my sister (probably along the lines of, "Oh my god, there he is, oh my god, what do I do, oh my god, oh my god, that's him") and somehow eventually quietly shouting his name in his general direction. He now claims he saw us first, but when I was calling his name, he was nervously looking at any random object but us. We were blocking the bottom of the escalator so he had no choice but to be confronted with us in the end. We hugged nervously - by "hugged", I mean put your hands on the other person's back for no longer than one second while trying not to touch any other part of your body together and, in the process, manage to knock the other person's glasses off, get a wad of their hair in your mouth momentarily, and try to keep your bag on your shoulder, but end up dropping it nearly off your arm. I don't remember what we said exactly as it was all a blur at the time and still is. The only thing I can remember is I kept saying, "It's YOU!" and pointing, over and over again, probably for the first hour, and commenting, "You really DO have purple Doc Martens!" and being mind-numbingly nervous (and overjoyed!) and just giggling and over-analyzing my every move for the first three days. We went to find his baggage and were alone for the first time, and I remember, like, staring intently at the baggage carousel (my eyes probably burned a hole in it) and making extremely boring, half giggled comments about the bags. We got back to my house and drank some vodka and strawberry soda ('cause I am classy, you see) and sat on the back porch and talked about who knows what. Luckily, we had my super-extroverted sister as a distraction from akward silences. After a while, we all went to bed and I could hardly sleep all night, and woke up at 4:30am and went out to the living room where my sister was sleeping on the sofa and woke her up and babbled nervously at her until Xavier got up the courage to venture out from his room at about 9am.

So anyway, four years on, we are getting married and he's moving to America, and we stare at immigration forms instead of baggage carousels, and it will soon become a case of, "YOU DO REALIZE YOU LEFT YOUR DOC MARTENS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HALLWAY, YOU KNOW!" We've waited a long time to be real people... *grin*

- Hoopla

London Calling?

Well, today our application should be on its way to London, if it isn't already there! Tick tick tick.

Immigration Hyperventilation!

Ahhh! After months of glacially slow happenings in the world of immigration, everything is now moving at a lightning pace! Cant keep up! So much happening! Must sit down for a minute! Eek!

A clean bill of health for Hoopla!

"Can I transmit citizenship to my spouse? - No, a United States citizen cannot transmit citizenship to a spouse." --- U.S. Embassy London Website.

Well, that's good because I've been U.S. Citizenship (USC) Positive for twenty-some years now, and finally medical research proves that it is in fact a non-communicable disease! FOILED AGAIN! Nonetheless, it does make for a hearty laugh every time we read that bit of the embassy's website. Phew.

Right, well I just got a letter from the NVC saying they have assigned us a case number and our petition will be forwarded to London within a week. I looked at people's timelines and expect Xavier will receive Packet 3 quite definitely around October 1st. Which puts us ahead of expectations. Again. And that is not nice when you run a website called "Immigration-Agitation," but I expect I will get over it. That said, we are debating whether to respond to Packet 3 immediately or to delay our response in hopes of getting a visa interview during the time I will be in the U.K. Yeah, so waiting for Packet 3 is about all that is going on as we have pretty much got the embassy forms ready already (heh).

- Hoopla