Richswain9

Hi folks,

I've surfed around this site many times in my quest for permanent
residency. I felt the least I owed is my story for people to read,
hopefully it can be of some help.

Married a US citizen, my lovely wife, in October 2004, one month before
J-1 exchange visa expired.

November 2004: Mailed in applications for I-130, I-485, I-765

Jan 2005: Received notice that I-765 had been denied as I had mailed it
to the wrong office and they could not find my I-485 application. The
"wrong office" an immigration officer told me to mail it to when i
origionally called to check! Anyway, my options now without having any
way of working legally here were 1) Apply for a motion to reopen the
case (application) which would take 6 months or 2) Reapply for I-765 at
the Dallas District office which would take no more than 3 months.
Therefore, Jan 2005 I re-applied for work authorization. I also sent a
note in with the application stating what had happened and that i needed
this back ASAP.

March 2005: 60 days after submitting my second application i received a
letter telling me to go down to the Dallas District office to pick up my
Work Authorization card.

April 2005: Received a letter stating that we had our interview for the
green card application in May 2005.

May 2005: Attended the interview for my green card but had insufficient
evidence (no lease together yet) proving that we had a valid marriage.
The immigration officer believed that we had a real marriage and entered
it in good faith but we apparently didn' have enough paperwork to prove
this. We had bank accounts, bills, marriage licence and pictures - but
no lease. This pissed me off and left in a tricky situation. I explained
to officer that my visa had expired and that i needed to work. He just
told us to reapply with more evidence, which now left me wondering about
my status... i didn't have one, not until i got the application in so
the clock was ticking. I did however persuade him to let me keep my Work
Authorization card, which from what i understand is not normal procedure
so cheers mate!

Summer 2005: Wife and i spent some time apart after all of this stress
and BS, the pressure of me not being able to work and us having to deal
with all of this was tough. This was not my choice, all i wanted to do
was get my application in again but I understood that for the betterment
of our marriage we needed time apart here.

Oct 2005: Wife and I got back together, i was working and now earning
decent money so all was good.

Nov 2005: Booked Interview thru Info Pass for D.O.R.A, interview date
Jan 5th 2006.

Jan 2006: 5th Jan wife and i attended interview with sufficient evidence
(lease, more photos, more bills, affidavits, etc.) Didn't even have
separate interviews. Received a letter that day saying that we had been
accepted into the program and that i should expect to recieve my green
card within 90 days, if that was not the case then i was eligible for
immediate work authorization.

Feb 2006: Went for second Biometrics appointment, even though i did it
all in my first application they made me go again.

March 2006: Old Work Autho expired. I had called immigration numerous
times that year to check if it was valid as i was thinking about
switching companies, low and behold it was... very weird.

April 2006: Received letter from immigration about 80 days after
interview stating that i could go down to the Dallas District office
with an I-765 Application and pick up a Work Autho card, which i did.

June 2006: Received my "Welcome to America" letter from immigration,
stating that i am now a legal permanent resident and that i should
recieve my green card within 15 days. 5 days later i received my 2 year
conditional green card in the mail.

20 months after our wedding day and 20 months of not being able to leave
the US but 20 months well worth it. All the best and thanks guys, no
doubt I'll be knocking around on here.... still have the conditions to
remove and citizenship yet. Back to the UK for Xmas.... can't wait!

Ridirkulas.... Next year we'll get it, look out for a big trade! Come on
the Tigers, Hull City for life.

Cheers,

Rich