Dorothea
09-24-2007, 07:32 PM
September 2001 Elias EWI
Started working with my BIL 2002 (that’s also when I started admiring him!:innocent:)
Met summer 2004
September 2004 Our first date
October 2005 - We were living together, trying to decide what to do next. Elias was arrested by border patrol while fishing. He had done nothing wrong; a fellow fisherman decided to call in the “suspicious” Mexican. They gave him a court date and released him.
We consulted a very expensive lawyer who told us about a non-profit:
The International Institute of Buffalo, NY www.iibuff.org
A lawyer there went through the court process with us. She got us enough extensions that Elias didn’t have to leave until August 2006. She also helped us file the I-130, but that was as far as she was willing to work with us. I don’t know for sure if the International Institute is a national organization, but they were great.
December 2005 We got married
February 2006 Filed I-130
July 2006 Filed I-129F
August 2006 We left for Mexico
November (?) 2006 I-129F approved
January 5,2007 First 1st appointment. We went to CDJ, Elias had his medical exam, where he admitted trying marijuana "once or twice" a few months before the appointment. Unfortunately Elias couldn’t get his passport on time, so we went to the consulate and had his first appointment changed to February 1.
February 1, 2007 First appointment. Elias had tons of photos, a lovely hardship letter, money for filing. He waited all day, told to come back the next morning. We thought everything was fine because there were a lot of people who had to go back.
February 2, 2007 Elias left the hotel at 5 a.m. I left at 6 a.m. to catch my flight back to New York. He called me the next day to tell me he had a three-year bar for drug use. They hadn’t taken any paperwork from him because of it.
He was given a piece of paper saying he could try again in December 2009.
End of February 2007 Our I-130 FINALLY got approved! Yes, it took an ENTIRE year!!!!
2007 I’ve been in the US working while he’s in Mexico working
Hopefully next year we’ll be in Canada together.
Started working with my BIL 2002 (that’s also when I started admiring him!:innocent:)
Met summer 2004
September 2004 Our first date
October 2005 - We were living together, trying to decide what to do next. Elias was arrested by border patrol while fishing. He had done nothing wrong; a fellow fisherman decided to call in the “suspicious” Mexican. They gave him a court date and released him.
We consulted a very expensive lawyer who told us about a non-profit:
The International Institute of Buffalo, NY www.iibuff.org
A lawyer there went through the court process with us. She got us enough extensions that Elias didn’t have to leave until August 2006. She also helped us file the I-130, but that was as far as she was willing to work with us. I don’t know for sure if the International Institute is a national organization, but they were great.
December 2005 We got married
February 2006 Filed I-130
July 2006 Filed I-129F
August 2006 We left for Mexico
November (?) 2006 I-129F approved
January 5,2007 First 1st appointment. We went to CDJ, Elias had his medical exam, where he admitted trying marijuana "once or twice" a few months before the appointment. Unfortunately Elias couldn’t get his passport on time, so we went to the consulate and had his first appointment changed to February 1.
February 1, 2007 First appointment. Elias had tons of photos, a lovely hardship letter, money for filing. He waited all day, told to come back the next morning. We thought everything was fine because there were a lot of people who had to go back.
February 2, 2007 Elias left the hotel at 5 a.m. I left at 6 a.m. to catch my flight back to New York. He called me the next day to tell me he had a three-year bar for drug use. They hadn’t taken any paperwork from him because of it.
He was given a piece of paper saying he could try again in December 2009.
End of February 2007 Our I-130 FINALLY got approved! Yes, it took an ENTIRE year!!!!
2007 I’ve been in the US working while he’s in Mexico working
Hopefully next year we’ll be in Canada together.