A funny thing happened on the way to my greencard interview...

[Torontonian 0]

Hi Everyone!

It has been AGES since I've posted, but the main reason for that is my new (well, 2 months now) job which is CRAZY busy. I barely have time to cut my toenails these days let alone anything else. I really hope it calms down soon.

Anyway, a couple of you might remember that I was supposed to have my interview in June in Baltimore, but I was over an hour late due to a MASSIVE traffic jam caused by 80,000 Baptists flooding the city for a conference. It was a horrifying experience.

Well, this morning was the re-scheduled interview. We decided to play it safe and book a hotel room in Baltimore, so as to avoid any stress and have some fun while we were at it. We booked a standard room in the Radisson, which is right across the street from the office. It was a $150/night room, which wasn't cheap, but wasn't too horribly expensive.

We got to the hotel at around 9:30 last night, which is probably late by hotel standards. "You're in luck" the desk clerk said. "We're all out of standard rooms, so you get an upgrade". She kind of giggled as she said this. Hmmmm. Well no biggie, we thought, maybe we'll get a King room or something. The clerk then gives us our keys. "Room 2300. There's only one elevator that'll take you that high. Second to last". It sounded odd, but we made our way to the elevators. Sure enough, only one went that high. So we hit the button, and hopped on.

The Baltimore Radisson is an old, old hotel, built around 1925, and this elevator looked the part. Fairly small, with a lot of wood, and it didn't move very fast. When we finally got to the 23rd floor, the door opened, and there was our door. Just a small foyer and our door. It was the only room on the floor. You take 2 steps forward, and you're there.

So I stuck the key in and we walked in. The room wasn't just huge. It was HUEUEUEUGE! It was basically the whole top floor of the hotel, which is octagonal, and from the outiside has this green copper roof with dormers on each of the sides. There was a huge living/dining area, a powder room, a full kitchen, and a long hallway leading back to the master bedroom. The master bath had his & hers sinks, a tub/shower, and a seperate whirlpool for two with a view of the city. It was amazing. We could have had a party with 30 people in there, or more. I promptly phoned the front desk and said "this is room 2300" and she said "Yes MAAM!" and I said "that is SOME room you got us!" She giggled and I thanked her profusely.

We both slept really well too, because it was a king-size bed, with one of those sleep number mattresses. We decided to go the whole nine yards and order breakfast in our room, which was also very nice. Needless to say, we made it to the interview on time and well rested. Our only regret is that we did not get to enjoy the room for longer, as we'll probably never see it again in our lives - it's usually $800 per night. What an awesome start to the interview process!!!

And now for the interview. We got there about half an hour early, and were almost immediately called! We were so surprised because the room was full. Apparently the officer had called someone else who was in the bathroom so he decided to skip ahead to us and make him wait!

I began by showing the officer (a different one from the last time) a copy of the news piece about the traffic jam. He was mildly interested, but didn't want to bother adding it to the file. I was REALLY glad that we went the K1 route instead of just getting married and adjusting status as so many people (including some lawyers) told us we should do. He made a point of saying that we had saved a lot of time and work in the process and that marriage scammers were less likely to go through the whole K1 process to begin with. In fact, other than asking for some copies of things he basically said he was convinced we were legit. He didn't even ask for ANY of our proofs and I had collected TONNES of them! He also didn't ask any skill testing questions about our marriage, or see any photos, so we made him look at them!

The only BAD thing is that because of my exema, the FBI could absolutely not read my fingerprints. As a result I now have what I guess will be a RFE (?) which is coming in the mail next week, requesting police reports clearing me wherever I lived in the past 5 years. I asked if my K1 police check was OK for Canada and he said yes (though I wonder now if I should also get one just for Toronto?) but I do have to go all the way to Baltimore AGAIN to get a Maryland report!!! This is of course going to slow things up even more.

He also made a big point of saying that we were NOT to leave his office thinking we would get the card in any less than a year. He did not want to presume what the work load was going to be like, and if we got it sooner great, but if not, we were warned. I guess this means I will have to renew my AP and EAD? MORE FEES?!?!? AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, I guess the worst part is over and there is a tiny crack of light at the end of this tunnel.......

Hope you guys are all well, I've missed hanging out here!

Edited August 25, 2006 by Torontonian

[sjoefl01 1]

It sucks to have to wait so long for the card but at least you have the interview behind you.

You have an excellent attitude about the whole thing!!!

[Buttons 0]

Sounds like you had a great trip !!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats !

[ChanelKitten 0]

Wow, what a great hotel room upgrade you got! We had the same sort of thing happen in Las Vegas when we got married, except we got the upgrade because they somewhat ruined my wedding dress. All the best of luck in getting a speedy return on your FBI name check.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Well, at least you had a nice room!!

[Peter Miami 0]

Congrats!

Peter Miami