We've Got our Green Card!

At long last, my teenagers and I got our Legal Permanent Card or what we called “Green Card’. At first, I thought its color is green but it is actually not :) Well, I experienced a lot of encumbrances before I got it.

I mailed the application last May 20, 2008, four days after we moved here. I got a Notice of Receipt less than a month after, then Notice of Appointment for Biometrics followed. I almost messed up my Biometrics because we were more or less 5 minutes late on our appointment time. We got lost for a million times in locating the Immigration office and it was a very humiliating experience for me and for my teenagers. Hubby was at work that time so my very kind sister-in-law took us there.

Anyways, the Biometrics was done on the 1st week of July. Afterward, I waited for the notice of the interview schedule and after a month I got it. The schedule was set on the last week of September. We waited for more than 2 hours in the Immigration Office and the interview was held briefly. In less than a week after the interview, I got a “messed up” Welcome Notice. It appeared there that Jun and me are Jen’s derivative, which was wrong because they are my derivative. So I called the USCIS about it but I was not able to get hold of them. I called them a million times, gosh, but to no avail. I was so real upset that time and I even had a serious argument with my hubby because I felt I was the only one who was trying to fix the problem. He was actually doing his part, trying to call the USCIS every now and then but it resulted the same. I became grumpy out of frustration. I even ranted and have had so many complain with him. I was bored, lazy, hot-tempered and impatient. And I did not attend ESL for 2 days. I was real bad that time. When I browsed their site, I found out that the phone lines of the USCIS were not working and they assured their clients to fix the problem as soon as possible, whew!

My husband finally got hold of one of the customer service officers of the USCIS the other Friday and informed the error. The customer service officer assured him that it will be taken cared of and he gave us reference numbers to be used when we make follow-up. He advised to wait for the green card and see it there is still errors. It may just a clerical error and the green card may come out clean. Hubby asked him if we are qualified to get an SS Number (for employment) since we already have the welcome note and he said we are qualified.

So we went to Reno last Tuesday to get SS Number. We could get the number in Elko though, which is nearer in Winnemucca but we liked it there in Reno since it has Asian Stores there where we can buy Filipino foods.

But we were frustrated when we got there. The SS officer disapproved the application. Geez. We waited there for 2 long hours! They wanted the green card as supporting document. There was nothing we could do about it so we went shopping and stayed there overnight as planned.

We stopped at the Post Office and checked our mailbox on our way home. the following day. There, hubby got 3 envelopes from the USCIS! The Green Cards! Yeheey! When I checked them, I thought there was no error at all. We were all too happy and we thanked the Lord for it. But wait, hmmm… hubby found out that Jun’s gender in the card is female, hahahaha!

Brenda took us to Elko to get Social Security Number this morning. And we finally did it!

GOD is good!

Now that I already have my green card, my next mission is to apply for a job and get hired.

Wish me luck!