Playing the waiting game...

As I finally really settle into LA, the work permit/Green Card hangs over us like a malevolent shadow. There is a whole sub-community dealing with the Adjustment of Status (the GC process) and I belong to two boards that deal with this issue.

Basically, I know deep down we just have to wait. The first timeline on the right bar shows how long we've waited for our AoS since filing (1month, 2 weeks, 3 days). In the grand scheme this isn't a lot, but there are the additional first three months (Feb-April) of waiting, gathering info etc as well and the possible 3-4 month coming wait (July-Oct) before we even get an interview date.

I'm hoping for a late September/early October interview!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!

The first step is getting the EAD/work permit - that should be delivered to us by the end of August. Technically, the EAD has to be given to us within 90 days of filing for it (so by Aug 9/07). If not, on the 91st day, we can go to our local USCIS office and ask for it/push them to produce it. Hopefully, we won't get an RFE - Request for Further Evidence, which slows the process down, and breaks the chain of the 90 days rule for the EAD.

After receiving the EAD, we wait again - this time for an interview date, usually scheduled 1-2 months earlier. Then, if we are VERY VERY VERY lucky, my FBI name check will have already been finalised and we get approved immediately at our interview, my passport is stamped and production of the actual, physical GC starts. If we aren't so lucky, we get approved by the officer, but pending the name check, still have to wait for the official approval letter and the physical GC. I don't want to even say out loud what the "unlucky" case could be...I'll say this though, an approval, official or from the officer means NADA, until you have that little piece of plastic in hand.

A recent article in the Washington Post details how delayed FBI name checks are - we could end up waiting anywhere from 1 month to 2 years after our approved interview, before we get the physical GC. In this limbo period - really the worst of all feelings - we'd just keep renewing my EAD (around $200 each time, not sure what the cost will be in the new fee system) and hoping that the name check goes through. Some people contact their Senator for help; others have taken class action lawsuits against USCIS and the FBI for the delays. Randomness and baaaaaaaad luck are the name of the game. Without the GC I cannot leave the US - not even to Canada.

If I'm caught in the name check brouhaha, I'm going to pack my bags and move to NY, find a small job, rent an apartment in Brooklyn and wait it out. I will not and cannot wait it out in LA, the all American of cities - I'll need to have at least some foreign-ness around me. Oh yeah, and my first GC is only for 2 years and is conditional, dependent on my marriage to the boy. So in 2 years, we have to go through this damned process of changing to a fully GC AGAIN!!!

In all this mental mess, the boy is busy with school and is somewhat unsympathetic about my worries. Of course, he has very little to actually worry about...any outcome is borne purely by me - he is the US citizen (USC for short) after all. [Ok, that is me just being snarky at him] In truth, we "spousal applicants" are luckier than other immigrants, because we have the power of the USC behind us - hence the ability to contact Senators, the press etc, the USCIS ombudsman etc. And our spouses, the USC, obviously want us here --- I think:-)

This is what I instinctively feel: that the process will go smoothly, I don't see us having a problem. What I do see, is that we will have a long timeline --nothing horrendous, but we won't end up with a quickly processed GC I really would love. It'll go according to the slowest estimated timeline/normal schedule:

Filed AoS [MAY]
1 month later Biometrics [JUNE]
3 months later EAD [AUG]
5-6 months later interview date [OCT -NOV]
7-12 months later GC received in mail [DEC-MAY 08]

Actually, I have nothing to really complain about...I know that...I know that...aaah!!! I just HATE waiting without knowing...always a thorn with me.