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Hi. I said I would let you guys know how my interview in december went. Unfortunately, I am more than a little disheartened, so this will not be very detailed.
First, to make it clear, we expected to be denied and told to file the I-601.
However, it was not really an interview. We arrived at 6:30 in the morning and the building opened at 7:00 (there was already a line.) We then waited (standing because there were no more seats) until about 1:00pm until we were called for our "first interview" at which time we went up to a bank teller style window and gave the appropriate documents to an very nice Ecuadorian woman.
We were then told to leave and go to lunch and return for the "next interview" (getting lunch was very nice) we returned in about an hour and were among just a few people that were waiting and were called relatively promptly. Again we returned to a bank teller type window and were told that my husband needed to file the waiver (this we knew) but for the 10 year bar (as he was only officially assigned a five year bar we had hoped that he would not be given the 10 year bar.) They then told us that the we had to file for fingerprints which (unlike in the USA where they require only a few hours to process) would take about 3-4 months to get the results back from the fingerprints and that we were unable to file until after the fingerprints were returned. Almost no questions were asked and the gentleman (American) that spoke to us didn't even know that five year bars existed. He was very short and rude and frankly I think he somewhat enjoyed giving us bad news.
We were sent back to our seat and then called again for something else... back to another bank teller window to talk to the very nice Ecuadorian lady that informed us that in guayaquil ecuador they process all of the waivers for both ecuador and brazil which means that the average wait time was a year and a half to two years (which we had been expecting to be 6 months to a year).
All of his was through the department of state which has little to no contact with the department of justice or INS.
We returned a different day and talked to another Ecuadorian woman that worked with the INS while we were fingerprinted. She was very nice.
Needless to say I was very disturbed. We had expected to have a year to a year and a half (not counting the year that we lost due to our lawyers untimely death) including everything (example the I-130 which was approved in 6 months). We had also expected them to adhere to the assigned bar of five years meaning that even if the waiver was turned down we would still have a chance to be together within a reasonable amount of time (although I am still somewhat unclear as to whether the DOS actually has the ability to decide which bar is applicable.)
What we walked out of the "interview" with was knowledge that in addition to the six months approval for the I-130, we have to wait 3-4 months for the fingerprint results and 1 and a half to two years for notice as to whether or not our I-601 has been approved. Which brings us to a total of two and a half years to threee years (not counting the wasted year caused by the death of our previous lawyer) to find out whether or not my husband can even come back into the country. Which if he cannot will mean that we will then have 6-7 years to spend without him being admitted to this country.
I have no idea what I am going to do for the next couple years of my life while we are waiting. I have applied to one of the best graduate schools (in my area) in the USA for my doctoral degree. If I do not stay at my current school or go there my options are to work for the state department (oh irony...) or to declare bankruptcy, move to ecuador, and teach english as a foreign language.
all I really want is to finish my doctoral degree, let my husband finish his USA college degree (he is already working on it via a special school in Ecuador that is affiliated with a community college in New Jersey and with the University of South Carolina and the University of Florida and credits that are transferable to any other school in the usa). I want to live with my husband and have a child.
Is it so hard to be a contributing member of the United States? Do they really want me to declare bankruptcy? Oh well... I will have have to decide what to do later... but that is the news for now
First, to make it clear, we expected to be denied and told to file the I-601.
However, it was not really an interview. We arrived at 6:30 in the morning and the building opened at 7:00 (there was already a line.) We then waited (standing because there were no more seats) until about 1:00pm until we were called for our "first interview" at which time we went up to a bank teller style window and gave the appropriate documents to an very nice Ecuadorian woman.
We were then told to leave and go to lunch and return for the "next interview" (getting lunch was very nice) we returned in about an hour and were among just a few people that were waiting and were called relatively promptly. Again we returned to a bank teller type window and were told that my husband needed to file the waiver (this we knew) but for the 10 year bar (as he was only officially assigned a five year bar we had hoped that he would not be given the 10 year bar.) They then told us that the we had to file for fingerprints which (unlike in the USA where they require only a few hours to process) would take about 3-4 months to get the results back from the fingerprints and that we were unable to file until after the fingerprints were returned. Almost no questions were asked and the gentleman (American) that spoke to us didn't even know that five year bars existed. He was very short and rude and frankly I think he somewhat enjoyed giving us bad news.
We were sent back to our seat and then called again for something else... back to another bank teller window to talk to the very nice Ecuadorian lady that informed us that in guayaquil ecuador they process all of the waivers for both ecuador and brazil which means that the average wait time was a year and a half to two years (which we had been expecting to be 6 months to a year).
All of his was through the department of state which has little to no contact with the department of justice or INS.
We returned a different day and talked to another Ecuadorian woman that worked with the INS while we were fingerprinted. She was very nice.
Needless to say I was very disturbed. We had expected to have a year to a year and a half (not counting the year that we lost due to our lawyers untimely death) including everything (example the I-130 which was approved in 6 months). We had also expected them to adhere to the assigned bar of five years meaning that even if the waiver was turned down we would still have a chance to be together within a reasonable amount of time (although I am still somewhat unclear as to whether the DOS actually has the ability to decide which bar is applicable.)
What we walked out of the "interview" with was knowledge that in addition to the six months approval for the I-130, we have to wait 3-4 months for the fingerprint results and 1 and a half to two years for notice as to whether or not our I-601 has been approved. Which brings us to a total of two and a half years to threee years (not counting the wasted year caused by the death of our previous lawyer) to find out whether or not my husband can even come back into the country. Which if he cannot will mean that we will then have 6-7 years to spend without him being admitted to this country.
I have no idea what I am going to do for the next couple years of my life while we are waiting. I have applied to one of the best graduate schools (in my area) in the USA for my doctoral degree. If I do not stay at my current school or go there my options are to work for the state department (oh irony...) or to declare bankruptcy, move to ecuador, and teach english as a foreign language.
all I really want is to finish my doctoral degree, let my husband finish his USA college degree (he is already working on it via a special school in Ecuador that is affiliated with a community college in New Jersey and with the University of South Carolina and the University of Florida and credits that are transferable to any other school in the usa). I want to live with my husband and have a child.
Is it so hard to be a contributing member of the United States? Do they really want me to declare bankruptcy? Oh well... I will have have to decide what to do later... but that is the news for now
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