Ready to be ready for the call

The I-797C (the new version of the I-171H) came! I guess she really meant it when she said "soon". One week from mailing the homestudy in until the approval was in my hands. The flip-side of government efficiency! Yeah for Baltimore USCIS.

Last step is to mail it to my agency along with a hefty check, and then wait for the phone to ring.

The fat white envelope

The fat white envelope from the embassy arrived today. I now have 24 of 25 documents completely done. The 25th is still at the embassy and I expect it tomorrow or Saturday.

The only other thing is the 171H which according to the USCIS officer, will be worked on "soon". I verified with her that she has received the homestudy and everything is ready to be processed. I hope to get it next week.

I'm going to copy everything I have and send it to the agency tomorrow.

Coaster fix!

We spent a few days in Williamsburg, VA last week.

Two days walking around Busch Gardens and one day at Colonial Williamsburg.

Allison is definitely a ride fan! She'll be riding coasters before we know it.

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/cyntil8ing/BuschGardens

Next-to-last step!

We ran into what could have been a delay in Annapolis last week. Turns out the record the state sends for a divorce is not a document that can be certified. It was just a statement that yup, a divorce was recorded and what county it was recorded in. Total waste of $12. They need the actual divorce decree which comes from the court. So, I was standing down in Annapolis needing a document from Carroll County. Luckily, mom came to the rescue. She ran up to the court and got it.

So, everything is now at, or on its way, to the embassy and I hope to have it all back by the end of the week!

Another done doc!

Our second bank letter is back from the Embassy. That's two down, umm, 20 or so to go!

The Anne Arundel county docs were rejected because one of the notaries had her expiration date wrong. We had that letter redone and we shipped them back off today.

No word yet about the FBI clearances. I'll get back on the phone tomorrow if they don't show up in today's mail.

Maybe this'll do it.

This morning's update. Only 18 minutes on hold. Then just a kurt, "Well, give me the social security numbers." then "We'll have to contact the FBI. We'll get them in the mail." All of this was accompanied by about a dozen heavy sighs, like I was troubling her!

But, progress has been made, I hope.

Labor day weekend in OC

So, what normally takes 3 to 4 hours, took us nearly 7.5 hours on Friday. We went to Ocean City for the holiday weekend.

Lovely hurricane Ernesto was making his presence known via wind restrictions on the Bay Bridge. Usually, they have three lanes going over to the shore, but because of the winds, only two were going.

Allison and I left the house at 5:00 and it was 9:00 by the time we got over the bridge. After that it was smooth sailing all the way to the condo.

We had a nice weekend. I won't say great because the weather was bad on Saturday and Sunday. Not raining, but chilly and kind of misty. Instead of the beach, we went shopping and to playgrounds and to Jolly Roger. But on Monday, the sun finally came out and we spent a nice afternoon on the beach.

Photos are here: http://www.lordindustries.com/cindy/Ocean%20City%20Labor%20Day%202006/index.html

Waiting for fingerprint clearances

When we started our homestudy, we were fingerprinted for clearance by both our state and the FBI. We dutifully submitted our fingerprints the first week of June. We were told that the state processed them in five business days and then sent them on to the FBI, which would likely take about 12 weeks. So, we patiently waited.

The 12 weeks was up last Friday, so I started searching websites for contact names and numbers. I started with the state. The first call, I spent 15 minutes on hold waiting for the next available agent, only to be told their computers were down and to call back later.

While I was waiting on hold, I found a general questions email address for the FBI and dropped them an email, expecting an autoanswer or no response at all. A few hours later, I called the state back, spent another 10 minutes on hold, and was told that they sent the cards to the FBI "probably in early July" and that I should wait for three more weeks to see if I hear anything. In other words, a) the state doesn't keep detailed records and b) probably sat on my stuff for a few weeks before sending it on.

At 5:00, I get a phone call from the FBI in response to my blind email. Wow, I'm impressed! The very nice customer service person tells me that they received the print cards from the state on 7/10, processed them and sent the response on 7/11!

By then it's too late to call the state back, so I'm stuck until at least tomorrow. Based on customer service response alone, I'm convinced my wonderful state has either lost the response or it's been sitting on someone's desk for nearly two months while they tell us not to even ask for a status because the FBI is so slow!

Anyway, this FBI clearance, once we figure out where it is, will complete our homestudy, which will complete our dossier. We need to get the proper certifications and authentications, which ideally will take less than two weeks, and then we'll be waiting for a referral. Woo-hoo!