Auntlily
04-11-2008, 05:31 PM
Our Victory:
Wed. April 2nd – We left Nuevo Laredo at 6:00 on a bus (Omnibus de Mexico $36.00 for both of us) to Monterrey. We arrived in Monterrey at around 9:00 pm and had my cousin pick us up. **I had wanted to take a taxi, but my cousin strongly disagreed and said that the Taxis in Monterrey aren’t very reliable and are sure to either rob,steal or even worse kidnap tourists. And let me tell you, my husband and I stuck out like sore thumbs.
Thurs April 3rd – At 3:45 am my cousin drove us to the Airport in Monterrey Terminal C. We had booked our tickets online at www.vivaaerobus.com (http://www.vivaaerobus.com/) for only $72.00 for both of us. Flight left at 6:15 am promptly. **This was my husbands first time flying and it was hilarious. We both got Jet Lag but it was so cute to watch my husband’s expression as the plane took off. He said it felt like he was on a rollercoaster ride. When we finally landed, I just about lost it when I saw that at the anticipation of the plane hitting the ground he would pick up his feet. I asked him why he would do this and he said that he felt like when the plane would land it would scrape and feel weird on our feet. I was just rolling with laughter. I love him so much!!
Thurs April 3rd – 6:45 am we took the CDJ airport Taxi (Transportaciones Tellez) for $24.00 to the Hotel Los Cedros. I really recommend this taxi service in place of having Alfredo pick you up. The number one reason is because Alfredo doesn’t pick up at the CDJ airport and the guy who drove us to the hotel was really nice. If you take their service ask for Eduardo Cervantes Taxi #13. When we arrived at Los Cedros we asked him to wait for us so that he could drive us to the Consulate. At Los Cedros they were nice enough to hold our luggage meanwhile we could check in (check in was at 3pm). Eduardo then drove us to the Consulate for only $2 bucks and warned us about not listening to anyone who wants to check our papers!! *****WARNING!!! Please DO NOT allow anyone to deceive you while you are in Juarez. As soon as my husband and I got off the taxi, we were approached by a man who said that we needed to sign up across the street before going in to the medical exam. THIS IS TOTAL BS!!! Remember, you don’t need to set up an appointment for the medical exam. The medical exam is a walk in service. My husband ALMOST fell for it, but I pulled him over and just strolled right in to the medicals gate. We used the one right across the street.
Thurs April 3rd – Medical – This is where it gets kind of sticky. Since we were only going for the K3 my husband did not need to get vaccines. They first called him to get an x-ray and blood work. Then they sent him upstairs to get the physical. **I cracked up at my husband experience. He said that they squeezed him and poked him and he said he was afraid that the nurse who fondled him might think he didn’t “measure” up! I couldn’t stop laughing. Anyhow, after the medical exam my husband was asked to go downstairs to the cashiers and pay. He paid the $145 fee and was given a paper to go to the Consulate the following day to turn in his papers. ***This really pisses me off that the consulate and medical center need to get their (pardon my French) **** together! The day that they had set my husband to go was Friday and later we heard that the Consulate was CLOSED on Friday. Anyhow, after he paid and was given the false info, he walked off. As I approached him I asked him when he had to pick up his results (thanks to I2US I was much aware of the procedure). So we walked back to the cashier window and asked the MISINFORMED lady. She said that we would get the results after my husband would see the psychologist. I was like “huh?” Psychologist? What for? To my understanding, you only get sent to the cuckoo doctor after admitting to drugs/alcohol or other criminal activity. Well, my husband thought back to the physical and said that he did notice that the nurse asked him 3 times if he had ever done drugs or had problems with alcohol. He thought that maybe the nurse didn’t believe that he has never drank or smoked or done drugs in his life. **My husband dealt with his alcoholic father for several years and didn’t want to go through with that again, that’s why he doesn’t drink or smoke. So we waited and waited and waited. After, about 20 minutes of waiting, I asked him to make sure to check to see if the cuckoo doctor was going to call him in. She said no. We went back to the nurse to find out why they had sent him upstairs from the cashiers and they were thrown for a curve as well. They didn’t know either. So we went back downstairs to the cashier and this time I talked to them and asked why they had sent him upstairs since he didn’t need to go. The other cashier that was there (much more informed), took the original referral to the consulate (the one that asked us to go on the day it was closed) and tore it up, told us that it was a mistake and wrote out a new one. She asked us to go to the consulate right then, and told us that tomorrow it would be closed. She also asked us to come back at 2 pm to pick up the results. I am amazed at how disorganized and uncoordinated the two offices are.
Thurs April 3rd – Consulate. My husband went to the consulate at 10:30 am to drop off his paper work and they only took his DS-156, a copy of his birth certificate, his passport and a copy of my birth certificate, the Banamex receipt and the pictures. **Note, we didn’t have the correct pictures they had asked for so he had to come back out and run across the street to get some. PLEASE try to haggle with the vendors for a good price. They tried to set us up for 15 bucks but they settled for 10. After getting the pics in my husband was released at around 11:30 am. He was told to come back on Monday April 7th on his original appointment but instead of 7:30 they asked us to come in at 6:30.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - These following days were nice and enjoyable. We met our new and wonderful friends Patty and Fabian!! We also met Eric, his wife, Alfredo and his wife Fabi. They belong to the Juarez Forum. On these 3 days we really enjoyed the breakfast buffet. Every morning we would wake up at around seven am and would rush downstairs to the breakfast room. After eating tons we would go back upstairs and sleep for a couple more hours. It was bliss! I’m glad my husband and I are both crazies who would do stuff like this. Friday we walked down to the Rio Grande Mall. It isn’t to far from the Consulate. It’s an ok mall. Not too much. The shoes are nice and well priced. Saturday we joined Patty and Fabian shared a 5 dollar cab to the downtown area. The downtown area is crazy!! Too many people too many vendors. A lot of Santeria stuff going on. We took pictures and soon I’ll post them on here. Maybe on myspace. Saturday night we had dinner with Patty and Fabian at the bar (the room service cook quit so we ordered in from Megataco). I ordered a margarita, and my hubby ordered a virgin Clamato. We had a blast!! On Sunday we just chilled all day long in the hotel. Later that evening we hung out with Patty and Fabian and the gang from the Juarez Forum. It was sooooo much fun. We just chilled in the lobby living room talking and laughing and sharing stories. I will miss these good times.
Monday April 7th – We woke up at 5 am and walked to the consulate at around 6:00 am. It’s only a ten minute walk so we got there just in time. My husband walked right in handed his blue slip of paper and got to the interview. His experience: He says that he walked in, and sat down. Waited for his name to be called in around 10:30. He went to the window where the officer asked him his name, my name, looked at a couple of pictures (out of the 52 I sent) and asked him why his tourist visa was taken away. He told him the truth that he lived in the US with his parents up until the age of 18. (Although he lived in the US he would come and go on a valid travel I-94 document). The officer then TOLD him NOT asked him, if he had last gone in the US in December 2006. To which my husband answered yes. Which is true, January 2007 was when his visa was taken away and he was denied entry. So then the officer tells him to sit down and hands him the paper where he was told that he didn’t qualify for the visa, but that he needed to submit a waiver. He was devastated. He tried going back to the officer to tell him that he made a mistake but the officer wouldn’t listen. So while he was there holding back the tears the Juarez Forum girls whom were waiting for their visas, asked him if he wanted for them to let me know on the outcome. He told them no, he didn’t want to disappoint me. Breaks my heart. So he finally comes out of the consulate at around 12 noon to give me the bad news. **I know that to most it is an accomplishment to get approved to file a waiver, but in our case, I KNEW for a fact after going over his case several times, that this would not be the case for him. I knew that all of his entries and stays in the United States were legal and that He would not need a waiver. This is why we were upset. After receiving the horrible news, we walked to the hotel packed up all of our stuff and headed for the bus central. We couldn’t find flights back home so we decided to take the bus instead. At the bus central, we bought the tickets for a departure of 2 hours later. We sat there and cried and cried. After several minutes of crying and going through everything, I had a Harvard moment. It’s like a light bulb suddenly flickered on in my head. I was so upset that this was happening to us and that I KNEW that My God had already given us the VICTORY and that this was all a mistake. I then jumped up and ran to a public phone and frantically dialed my dad’s number. Thankfully he answered and was able to get me Mr. B’s number from this website. *****TO EVERYONE WHO READS THIS!!!! DON”T EVER TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!!! After being on hold for 30 minutes, Mr. B’s secretary came back to tell me to call her in 15 minutes. At this time I prayed and told God the following “Lord, you said, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. Now, Lord you know my faith is much bigger than that I need you at this moment to MOVE my mountain.” After the 15 minutes I dialed again and to our surprise Mr. B’s secretary tells me that Mr. B talked to our IO and reviewed our case and asked us to come back at 8 am the following day. Thank you God!!! The mountain has been moved. When I hung up, I turned to tell my husband the good news and the look on his face was PRICELESS!!!! We hugged and cried (again). This time for joy. We had a second chance. At this instant I knew that he would get approved. So we went back to the hotel immediately and booked another night.
Tuesday April 8th 8 am – When we arrived at the consulate there were already about 100 people waiting in line at the information office. I approached the officer waiting at the entrance of the gate and told him what Mr. B’s instructions were. He told me “so?” and gave me an expression like he didn’t care. Hehehe, I prayed for him and asked God to change his attitude. And in an instant (I kid you not!!), his attitude changed and said, oh well then go ahead and go to the second window. Remember, the first window had a line of about 100 people waiting. The second window had ZERO people waiting. I was kind of embarrassed walking down the corridor because I could feel all the people’s gazes on us pondering why we were able to walk right up to the front of the line. They then handed us the blue paper giving my husband the right to come back to the appointment anytime between 8 am and 10 am. It was already 8:15 and he had to run to the Banamex to pay the visa fee again. He came back at around 9:30 and walked right in to the consulate. He waited and waited and waited. At around 3:30 pm, he was interviewed again by the same officer. This time, the officer already had a stack of papers with information on my husband. He scolded my husband telling him “why didn’t you mention before that you left the US several times during that period that you lived here?” My husband reminded him that the officer never gave him a chance to explain this to him. Then the officer sorted through about 7 different I-94’s that my husband had from 2000 to 2006 which allowed him to travel back and forth for a total of six months each time. He then asked my husband if he graduated from the US high school to which my husband said yes, and the officer said ok. My husband was anxious and told the officer that he had more evidence to support that he never overstayed his visa. The officer said the following “ I don’t believe in those papers, I believe in your word!” I was floored by that!! So then he tells my husband to sit and that his case had been approved!! NO WAVER NEEDED!!!! Snap, I’m crying all over again.
At around 4:30 pm he came out and walked up to me to tell me the sweetest words I had ever heard “Let’s go home!!” He had to tell me 3 times because I couldn’t understand because I just kept searching for the famous 3 corner yellow envelope. He had it inside the accordion I sent him. He was asked to go to the Cordova Bridge to get his Visa stamped. We walked once more to the hotel to get our bags and called Alfredo to pick us up. He charged us 40 dollars to pick us up, take us to the bridge and then take us again to the bus central. My husband gave him 50. He was so nice and full of information and advice that I was disappointed that we hadn’t used him the whole time we were in Juarez. Alfredo then drove us right up to the bridge and walked in with us. My husband got his Visa stamped and we headed over to the US side. When we were in the US side, Alfredo jokingly welcomed my husband to the USofA!! We took pictures and such, so I’ll post them later. Our taxi drive with Alfredo was very enjoyable! He is a very nice man! God Bless you Alfredo!! He took us over to the bus central and wished us well. ***The only reason we took an a18 hour bus ride back to our home was because remember the day before? I had already bought the tickets and we didn’t want to lose our money. $160 dollars. So now we are back and ready for the AOS!!!
I am sorry this was a long post but I just couldn’t stop writing. My journal was much longer, so I’m glad I just wrote this out now. Please feel free to ask me questions and I will try to share as much as I can. Thanks again for all your kind words and well wishes. Our family is forever grateful for your website and its indispensable members!!
Cantu Family Approved K3 April 8th 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wed. April 2nd – We left Nuevo Laredo at 6:00 on a bus (Omnibus de Mexico $36.00 for both of us) to Monterrey. We arrived in Monterrey at around 9:00 pm and had my cousin pick us up. **I had wanted to take a taxi, but my cousin strongly disagreed and said that the Taxis in Monterrey aren’t very reliable and are sure to either rob,steal or even worse kidnap tourists. And let me tell you, my husband and I stuck out like sore thumbs.
Thurs April 3rd – At 3:45 am my cousin drove us to the Airport in Monterrey Terminal C. We had booked our tickets online at www.vivaaerobus.com (http://www.vivaaerobus.com/) for only $72.00 for both of us. Flight left at 6:15 am promptly. **This was my husbands first time flying and it was hilarious. We both got Jet Lag but it was so cute to watch my husband’s expression as the plane took off. He said it felt like he was on a rollercoaster ride. When we finally landed, I just about lost it when I saw that at the anticipation of the plane hitting the ground he would pick up his feet. I asked him why he would do this and he said that he felt like when the plane would land it would scrape and feel weird on our feet. I was just rolling with laughter. I love him so much!!
Thurs April 3rd – 6:45 am we took the CDJ airport Taxi (Transportaciones Tellez) for $24.00 to the Hotel Los Cedros. I really recommend this taxi service in place of having Alfredo pick you up. The number one reason is because Alfredo doesn’t pick up at the CDJ airport and the guy who drove us to the hotel was really nice. If you take their service ask for Eduardo Cervantes Taxi #13. When we arrived at Los Cedros we asked him to wait for us so that he could drive us to the Consulate. At Los Cedros they were nice enough to hold our luggage meanwhile we could check in (check in was at 3pm). Eduardo then drove us to the Consulate for only $2 bucks and warned us about not listening to anyone who wants to check our papers!! *****WARNING!!! Please DO NOT allow anyone to deceive you while you are in Juarez. As soon as my husband and I got off the taxi, we were approached by a man who said that we needed to sign up across the street before going in to the medical exam. THIS IS TOTAL BS!!! Remember, you don’t need to set up an appointment for the medical exam. The medical exam is a walk in service. My husband ALMOST fell for it, but I pulled him over and just strolled right in to the medicals gate. We used the one right across the street.
Thurs April 3rd – Medical – This is where it gets kind of sticky. Since we were only going for the K3 my husband did not need to get vaccines. They first called him to get an x-ray and blood work. Then they sent him upstairs to get the physical. **I cracked up at my husband experience. He said that they squeezed him and poked him and he said he was afraid that the nurse who fondled him might think he didn’t “measure” up! I couldn’t stop laughing. Anyhow, after the medical exam my husband was asked to go downstairs to the cashiers and pay. He paid the $145 fee and was given a paper to go to the Consulate the following day to turn in his papers. ***This really pisses me off that the consulate and medical center need to get their (pardon my French) **** together! The day that they had set my husband to go was Friday and later we heard that the Consulate was CLOSED on Friday. Anyhow, after he paid and was given the false info, he walked off. As I approached him I asked him when he had to pick up his results (thanks to I2US I was much aware of the procedure). So we walked back to the cashier window and asked the MISINFORMED lady. She said that we would get the results after my husband would see the psychologist. I was like “huh?” Psychologist? What for? To my understanding, you only get sent to the cuckoo doctor after admitting to drugs/alcohol or other criminal activity. Well, my husband thought back to the physical and said that he did notice that the nurse asked him 3 times if he had ever done drugs or had problems with alcohol. He thought that maybe the nurse didn’t believe that he has never drank or smoked or done drugs in his life. **My husband dealt with his alcoholic father for several years and didn’t want to go through with that again, that’s why he doesn’t drink or smoke. So we waited and waited and waited. After, about 20 minutes of waiting, I asked him to make sure to check to see if the cuckoo doctor was going to call him in. She said no. We went back to the nurse to find out why they had sent him upstairs from the cashiers and they were thrown for a curve as well. They didn’t know either. So we went back downstairs to the cashier and this time I talked to them and asked why they had sent him upstairs since he didn’t need to go. The other cashier that was there (much more informed), took the original referral to the consulate (the one that asked us to go on the day it was closed) and tore it up, told us that it was a mistake and wrote out a new one. She asked us to go to the consulate right then, and told us that tomorrow it would be closed. She also asked us to come back at 2 pm to pick up the results. I am amazed at how disorganized and uncoordinated the two offices are.
Thurs April 3rd – Consulate. My husband went to the consulate at 10:30 am to drop off his paper work and they only took his DS-156, a copy of his birth certificate, his passport and a copy of my birth certificate, the Banamex receipt and the pictures. **Note, we didn’t have the correct pictures they had asked for so he had to come back out and run across the street to get some. PLEASE try to haggle with the vendors for a good price. They tried to set us up for 15 bucks but they settled for 10. After getting the pics in my husband was released at around 11:30 am. He was told to come back on Monday April 7th on his original appointment but instead of 7:30 they asked us to come in at 6:30.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - These following days were nice and enjoyable. We met our new and wonderful friends Patty and Fabian!! We also met Eric, his wife, Alfredo and his wife Fabi. They belong to the Juarez Forum. On these 3 days we really enjoyed the breakfast buffet. Every morning we would wake up at around seven am and would rush downstairs to the breakfast room. After eating tons we would go back upstairs and sleep for a couple more hours. It was bliss! I’m glad my husband and I are both crazies who would do stuff like this. Friday we walked down to the Rio Grande Mall. It isn’t to far from the Consulate. It’s an ok mall. Not too much. The shoes are nice and well priced. Saturday we joined Patty and Fabian shared a 5 dollar cab to the downtown area. The downtown area is crazy!! Too many people too many vendors. A lot of Santeria stuff going on. We took pictures and soon I’ll post them on here. Maybe on myspace. Saturday night we had dinner with Patty and Fabian at the bar (the room service cook quit so we ordered in from Megataco). I ordered a margarita, and my hubby ordered a virgin Clamato. We had a blast!! On Sunday we just chilled all day long in the hotel. Later that evening we hung out with Patty and Fabian and the gang from the Juarez Forum. It was sooooo much fun. We just chilled in the lobby living room talking and laughing and sharing stories. I will miss these good times.
Monday April 7th – We woke up at 5 am and walked to the consulate at around 6:00 am. It’s only a ten minute walk so we got there just in time. My husband walked right in handed his blue slip of paper and got to the interview. His experience: He says that he walked in, and sat down. Waited for his name to be called in around 10:30. He went to the window where the officer asked him his name, my name, looked at a couple of pictures (out of the 52 I sent) and asked him why his tourist visa was taken away. He told him the truth that he lived in the US with his parents up until the age of 18. (Although he lived in the US he would come and go on a valid travel I-94 document). The officer then TOLD him NOT asked him, if he had last gone in the US in December 2006. To which my husband answered yes. Which is true, January 2007 was when his visa was taken away and he was denied entry. So then the officer tells him to sit down and hands him the paper where he was told that he didn’t qualify for the visa, but that he needed to submit a waiver. He was devastated. He tried going back to the officer to tell him that he made a mistake but the officer wouldn’t listen. So while he was there holding back the tears the Juarez Forum girls whom were waiting for their visas, asked him if he wanted for them to let me know on the outcome. He told them no, he didn’t want to disappoint me. Breaks my heart. So he finally comes out of the consulate at around 12 noon to give me the bad news. **I know that to most it is an accomplishment to get approved to file a waiver, but in our case, I KNEW for a fact after going over his case several times, that this would not be the case for him. I knew that all of his entries and stays in the United States were legal and that He would not need a waiver. This is why we were upset. After receiving the horrible news, we walked to the hotel packed up all of our stuff and headed for the bus central. We couldn’t find flights back home so we decided to take the bus instead. At the bus central, we bought the tickets for a departure of 2 hours later. We sat there and cried and cried. After several minutes of crying and going through everything, I had a Harvard moment. It’s like a light bulb suddenly flickered on in my head. I was so upset that this was happening to us and that I KNEW that My God had already given us the VICTORY and that this was all a mistake. I then jumped up and ran to a public phone and frantically dialed my dad’s number. Thankfully he answered and was able to get me Mr. B’s number from this website. *****TO EVERYONE WHO READS THIS!!!! DON”T EVER TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!!! After being on hold for 30 minutes, Mr. B’s secretary came back to tell me to call her in 15 minutes. At this time I prayed and told God the following “Lord, you said, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. Now, Lord you know my faith is much bigger than that I need you at this moment to MOVE my mountain.” After the 15 minutes I dialed again and to our surprise Mr. B’s secretary tells me that Mr. B talked to our IO and reviewed our case and asked us to come back at 8 am the following day. Thank you God!!! The mountain has been moved. When I hung up, I turned to tell my husband the good news and the look on his face was PRICELESS!!!! We hugged and cried (again). This time for joy. We had a second chance. At this instant I knew that he would get approved. So we went back to the hotel immediately and booked another night.
Tuesday April 8th 8 am – When we arrived at the consulate there were already about 100 people waiting in line at the information office. I approached the officer waiting at the entrance of the gate and told him what Mr. B’s instructions were. He told me “so?” and gave me an expression like he didn’t care. Hehehe, I prayed for him and asked God to change his attitude. And in an instant (I kid you not!!), his attitude changed and said, oh well then go ahead and go to the second window. Remember, the first window had a line of about 100 people waiting. The second window had ZERO people waiting. I was kind of embarrassed walking down the corridor because I could feel all the people’s gazes on us pondering why we were able to walk right up to the front of the line. They then handed us the blue paper giving my husband the right to come back to the appointment anytime between 8 am and 10 am. It was already 8:15 and he had to run to the Banamex to pay the visa fee again. He came back at around 9:30 and walked right in to the consulate. He waited and waited and waited. At around 3:30 pm, he was interviewed again by the same officer. This time, the officer already had a stack of papers with information on my husband. He scolded my husband telling him “why didn’t you mention before that you left the US several times during that period that you lived here?” My husband reminded him that the officer never gave him a chance to explain this to him. Then the officer sorted through about 7 different I-94’s that my husband had from 2000 to 2006 which allowed him to travel back and forth for a total of six months each time. He then asked my husband if he graduated from the US high school to which my husband said yes, and the officer said ok. My husband was anxious and told the officer that he had more evidence to support that he never overstayed his visa. The officer said the following “ I don’t believe in those papers, I believe in your word!” I was floored by that!! So then he tells my husband to sit and that his case had been approved!! NO WAVER NEEDED!!!! Snap, I’m crying all over again.
At around 4:30 pm he came out and walked up to me to tell me the sweetest words I had ever heard “Let’s go home!!” He had to tell me 3 times because I couldn’t understand because I just kept searching for the famous 3 corner yellow envelope. He had it inside the accordion I sent him. He was asked to go to the Cordova Bridge to get his Visa stamped. We walked once more to the hotel to get our bags and called Alfredo to pick us up. He charged us 40 dollars to pick us up, take us to the bridge and then take us again to the bus central. My husband gave him 50. He was so nice and full of information and advice that I was disappointed that we hadn’t used him the whole time we were in Juarez. Alfredo then drove us right up to the bridge and walked in with us. My husband got his Visa stamped and we headed over to the US side. When we were in the US side, Alfredo jokingly welcomed my husband to the USofA!! We took pictures and such, so I’ll post them later. Our taxi drive with Alfredo was very enjoyable! He is a very nice man! God Bless you Alfredo!! He took us over to the bus central and wished us well. ***The only reason we took an a18 hour bus ride back to our home was because remember the day before? I had already bought the tickets and we didn’t want to lose our money. $160 dollars. So now we are back and ready for the AOS!!!
I am sorry this was a long post but I just couldn’t stop writing. My journal was much longer, so I’m glad I just wrote this out now. Please feel free to ask me questions and I will try to share as much as I can. Thanks again for all your kind words and well wishes. Our family is forever grateful for your website and its indispensable members!!
Cantu Family Approved K3 April 8th 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!