BjornInTheUSA.com - Immigration Resources - For Swedes and Other Scandinavians Living in the USA

Stockholm.

Resources

The Site

Kisha and Magnus - Immigration Timeline

Note: Kisha was living in Kentucky, Magnus was in Sweden. Prepared by Kisha.

2/20/00	We decided to get married. This is not to be construed as our date of engagement! Our plans at this point were practical rather than romantic.. we certainly don't consider this as an Event. ICQ chats seldom are. But it was here that we decided that we would start looking into the process of immigration via marriage.
2/24/00	Having spent the last four days searching for information about how to accomplish the whole thing, Kisha requested K-1 forms from the 800 number on the website.
3/3/00	Kisha had her passport picture done, and she also received the K-1 package in mail. She felt very productive.
4/10/00	Kisha mailed G-325A to Magnus to have signed. If we'd been smart, we would have done this while he was here on the last visit in March. We just hadn't looked the papers over well enough at that point to know it had to be signed and he needed a photo. Doh.
5/1/00	After a good deal of nagging Magnus to hurry up, added to the annoyance of delivery times, Kisha received the form and the photo in the mail.
5/3/00	Kisha mailed the I-129F.. and $95! It all officially begins now!
5/9/00	INS received the package.
5/12/00	Kisha received return receipt notice from Post Office.
5/19/00	Kisha received First Notice of Action from the INS. Basically, this means that they received the petition. They said it would take approximately 30 or 40 days to process the petition. It looked very official.
6/1/00	We were approved by the INS!
6/8/00	Called the number from Sweden and found out we were approved! Soon after this, we heard from Mom that I had an "important looking" letter from the INS in Texas, should she send it? This was, of course, the Second Notice of Action. It matched the first, and did indeed look very official. I have no clue when it actually arrived at my house, though.
6/29/00	Magnus received a packet of stuff from the Embassy. Sweden closes for the summer (cough), though, so it was hard to get some of the stuff done quickly. Namely, we waited for his doctor's appointment and such. I don't remember when he mailed the packet back to the Embassy.
7/16/00	Our real engagement date. Completely removed from the intricacies of either government or the price of tea in China.. this one was about us. :)
8/30/00	Magnus received a letter from the Embassy, stating that his interview was set to 9/28/00. Either 8 or 9 a.m.
9/28/00	APPROVED! BOUNCE This was the last big thing. We couldn't even set a final wedding date, much less a moving date, without knowing how this interview turned out. (Other, braver people, do this just assuming they'll be approved. We couldn't bring ourselves to do so. It would be horrible enough if we'd been denied, but if we'd been denied and Magnus no longer had a place to live or a job, it would have been much worse.)Magnus called me at 4:30 a.m. (10:30 Swedish time) to let me know how it turned out. It was a Thursday. I slept with one ear open all night long, anxiously waiting for the phone to ring. Yay! Perhaps he will give a better description of what happened later. What I know of his interview is this: the woman who handled his case spoke both English and Swedish was American and spoke Swedish like a native, no accent. (He seemed more baffled by this than anything else about that day.. seems it's rare for an English speaker to not have a foreign accent.) He had trouble with the guards outside, because he had an appointment and they refused to let him in at first without standing in line, and then they were annoyed when someone came out asking for him. There were a few other people doing similar cases, most of them were strange cases, but two(?) other people were approved then as well. All went well, the woman didn't want to see the evidence he'd collected, even the medical records, and particularly not the evidence of our relationship. If I recall correctly, they didn't even ask him any particularly difficult questions. On a personal level, I remember being a little frustrated that I'd done all the work so far, and he got to do the final Important Thing.. getting the visa. giggle
10/25/00	The Big Moving Day! Because it's the only airport that routinely gives a temporary EAD (work authorization) to K1 visa applicants, Magnus flew into Atlanta and from there to Louisville/Lexington. (the plane stopped briefly in Louisville before going on to Lexington) I arrived at the airport with a red rose that had our house key tied to it with a ribbon, and really freaked the airport security people out. "Why is the rose beeping?" I suppose I can see their point. Anyway, he arrived late.. 10 or 11 p.m. We were tremendously excited.
11/18/00	We got married at Walnut Grove Gospel Tabernacle, in Sandy Hook, KY. Everything was perfect, but Kisha forgot to lower her veil before walking down the aisle. No one noticed.
12/29/00	We sent in our Adjustment of Status application (furthermore known as AOS) to the Texas Service Center. We really should have done this before, but we were on the busy side, with the honeymoon, Thanksgiving, Christmas, moving and school.
1/10/01?	However, we should have read the directions a little more closely. We sent them to the wrong place. You file AOS with your local (state, in this case) office. Ours happens to be in Louisville, which is about 2 or 2.5 hours away.
1/12/01	Properly chastised for not following directions, we sent the I-485, I-765 (and a couple of other less important forms, I believe) and $345 to Louisville.
2/5/01	The INS confirms that they've received the I-485 and I-765 petitions and informs us that the process will usually take in excess of thirty months from that date. The I-765 (permanentish permission to work) should be processed within four weeks
2/12/01?	We received a letter stating that the I-765 interview is scheduled for February 21 at 8 a.m.
2/21/01	Work authorization interview at 8 am. We went the day before to spend the night and find the place in advance, etc. This is where we ran into our first (and only, thus far) problem. The letter just said that we had an interview. We went in, looked at the directions they had posted, and took a number. Then we proceeded to wait for ages. And then Magnus finally got annoyed and went to ask this guy behind the counter, who looked remarkably like a very young George W. He was very snappy with him, and told him that he was supposed to have put the letter in that box over there (pointing to a box that did indeed have a sign-printed on normal letter paper--on it, but was also hidden behind the door.) and then informed him that our lawyer told us to do just that, and because he neglected to make his appointment, he would be denied work eligibility, and would have to appeal, which would take several months, and possibly still be denied. Magnus, at this point, turned on his British accent, and informed him that our lawyer most certainly did not inform us to do so, because we don't have a lawyer. This seemed to surprise George W, and he went off to talk to someone else, and returned to ask him why, then, did he not answer when his name was called repeatedly. Magnus pointed out that we were listening for our number from the opposite end of the room, not his name, which would most assuredly be mispronounced. George mumbled a little and told us to go write a letter on the back of our letter scheduling the interview about why we missed the appointment, and he'd go discuss the matter with someone else. After a not very long time, the guy who was supposed to do the interview called his name, and according to Magnus, was very nice and didn't lecture or threaten him. It's really funny how Americans respond to a British accent.
?	At some point during the spring or summer, the INS sent us another letter 'inviting' us to Louisville for FBI fingerprints. We had to give them the letter, though, and I can't remember what date that was.
8/17/01	The INS schedules our AOS appointment for September 14 at 11:30 a.m. We were quite surprised, as, if you remember, this was supposed to take up to 2.5 years. It was only seven months from when we got that notice until the interview itself. So, we were pleasantly surprised, and very thankful that our INS office isn't as overworked as some of the others are.
9/14/01	Our AOS appointment at 11:30 a.m. This was on Friday, during Poppy Mountain, so we had to be gone most of one day, which was bad, but unavoidable. We weren't about to take the chance of rescheduling. It was also three days after 9/11. Security at the building was higher than it's ever been. Kisha was a little freaked out about hanging out in the federal building, although she recognized that she was being silly. We got there and put our letter in a box. Not long after our scheduled appointment time, they called our name. We both started towards the door, but he only wanted to see Kisha at first. This was not good for the nervousness level. We go into an office, and he leaves her there while he goes to look for something. The video recorder was on, and that was quite disconcerting. When he returns, she swears that she'll tell things honestly, and he starts asking questions.From the beginning, he didn't really seem to doubt that there was a relationship. He asked when the wedding was, and if we had any pictures.. and he then looked at the pictures as if he was a friend who'd had to miss it and wanted to be there. He pointed out that Whitley was very cute, and my dress was very pretty. He asks me why we got married, to which I replied that I was in love. Then he asks what love is. I thought this fell into cruel and unusual punishment.. I had no clue how to answer that. People have been trying for thousands of years! He let me struggle for a while before asking me how I felt when Magnus wasn't with me, and I said "very sad." Then he asks how I feel when we're together, and I say that I'm happy, and he says that that's the best definition he knows of. I suspect that he's done this for too long, and both can easily tell if a marriage is genuine and also has grown to enjoy a small amount of tormenting. ;) He was very nice, though, and actually told me a joke. (About ringbearers.. little boy walking down the aisle with the ring, and stopping to roar every few feet. Finally they stop and ask him why he's doing that, and he answers that he has to roar because he's the ring bear.) He asked about our living situation and why we had two vehicles. I showed him deeds and bank statements and marriage certificates, and for once, someone seemed interested in seeing the evidence that we've compiled. Then he went to get Magnus, and really didn't have much to ask him. He just started talking to us about the conditional permanent residency, and that he would get his greencard in the mail within six (I think) months. I asked him a lot of questions, and he answered me patiently, although not necessarily quite the way I wanted answered. J Basically, his answer to my questions were along the lines of: anything's possible, as long as you're willing to file the papers. I asked about dual citizenship and the requirements should we move to Sweden and then want to move back here. He spent a good deal of time discussing eastern Kentucky with the true disdain that only someone from here but who's moved to western Kentucky can ever achieve. I refrained from commenting. And no one wanted the pictures that we'd been asked to bring of me. That was annoying. Couldn't figure out why they'd want them, anyway, but they specifically asked.
11/05/01	The INS mails Magnus's green card! He thinks it looks very unofficial and is slightly disappointed. We were again pleasantly surprised at how quickly they processed it. Less than two months after the interview, we had the green card.
6/14/03	90 days before two year anniversary of the AOS interview approval (or September 14, 2003), we can file for conditions to be removed from his permanent residency.

Small Island.
Red House.
White Flower.
Cramped Moose.
Sailboat.