Post by dstauffer on Mar 28, 2006 5:56:51 GMT -8
Sorry about this, but I feel as if I have to go off on a rant:
This whole deal with immigration and illegal immigrants really, really pisses me off!
Why?
I’ll tell ya: As some of you may know, I am married to a Romanian citizen. After I complete my contract here in Iraq, we are planning to move to Washington State and settle down.
After wading through the bureaucratic nightmare that is our State Dept. and United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), we were able to get my wife her immigrant visa and Permanent Residence Card (PRC) – we worked within the system.
Here is where it gets murky. My wife has a 20-year old daughter, my step-daughter, who is an only child. Since our marriage occurred after my step-daughter’s 18th birthday, I cannot file a petition for an immigrant visa on her behalf – only my wife can.
We have no problems filing the petition and will gladly follow the laws and regulations.
What we do have a problem with, however, is the excruciating long waiting period between filing the petition and issuance of an immigrant visa: if the petition is filed before my step-daughter’s 21st birthday, she will be placed in the F1A (or something like that) with a waiting period of 3-5 years; if the petition is filed after her 21st birthday (or so I understand) she will be placed in the F2A (or something like that) category with a much longer waiting period.
This is my wife’s only child we’re talking about here!
I have written both of my senators and my congressman asking for help, stating that I believe either exigent or mitigating circumstances do apply with our situation since it will likely cause undo stress, strain, and frustration upon me and my wife.
So far, I have only received one response from a low-level staffer working for one of my senators. Of course, the response was useless, only directing me to various websites (which I had already been to).
Go figure!
To make matters worse for me and my wife, my elected officials at the federal level are all Democrats: both senators and my congressman. So much for the party of “the working man”!
I am soooo screwed!
To make matters even worse, it is becoming apparent that the only help I will received will be through a lawyer who specialized in immigration law. Gee, what I always looked forward to: putting a lawyer’s kid through college while bankrupting my family in order to retain a lawyer. A retainer fee plus $150 – 300 per hour fee, on top of paralegal fees?!
Give me a friggin’ break!!!
This whole deal with immigration and illegal immigrants really, really pisses me off!
Why?
I’ll tell ya: As some of you may know, I am married to a Romanian citizen. After I complete my contract here in Iraq, we are planning to move to Washington State and settle down.
After wading through the bureaucratic nightmare that is our State Dept. and United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), we were able to get my wife her immigrant visa and Permanent Residence Card (PRC) – we worked within the system.
Here is where it gets murky. My wife has a 20-year old daughter, my step-daughter, who is an only child. Since our marriage occurred after my step-daughter’s 18th birthday, I cannot file a petition for an immigrant visa on her behalf – only my wife can.
We have no problems filing the petition and will gladly follow the laws and regulations.
What we do have a problem with, however, is the excruciating long waiting period between filing the petition and issuance of an immigrant visa: if the petition is filed before my step-daughter’s 21st birthday, she will be placed in the F1A (or something like that) with a waiting period of 3-5 years; if the petition is filed after her 21st birthday (or so I understand) she will be placed in the F2A (or something like that) category with a much longer waiting period.
This is my wife’s only child we’re talking about here!
I have written both of my senators and my congressman asking for help, stating that I believe either exigent or mitigating circumstances do apply with our situation since it will likely cause undo stress, strain, and frustration upon me and my wife.
So far, I have only received one response from a low-level staffer working for one of my senators. Of course, the response was useless, only directing me to various websites (which I had already been to).
Go figure!
To make matters worse for me and my wife, my elected officials at the federal level are all Democrats: both senators and my congressman. So much for the party of “the working man”!
I am soooo screwed!
To make matters even worse, it is becoming apparent that the only help I will received will be through a lawyer who specialized in immigration law. Gee, what I always looked forward to: putting a lawyer’s kid through college while bankrupting my family in order to retain a lawyer. A retainer fee plus $150 – 300 per hour fee, on top of paralegal fees?!
Give me a friggin’ break!!!
My wife is in a real "tizzy" over the whole situation and has become extremely moody.
