Bit o' frustration? Oh, yea.....

No good deed goes unpunished. That seems to be the catch-phrase for trying to be a LEGAL immigrant in the USA. No matter how many t's you cross and i's you dot, there's some beaurocrat (and maybe a lawyer or two) who finds a way to extend a process that is already taking longer than it should.

It may take four more weeks before Jonnene is able to even schedule an interview at the US Consolate in Sydney. Even though the visas have been approved by the CIS, it seems the interviewer has the final say (understandable, but don't tell us the visas are approved before the interview even happens and then throw an "if" at us). I'm quite sure Jonnene will sail through the interview and, with the later date, she might get a cheaper airfare to Sydney instead of the current holiday rates.

But I'm getting more frustrated because both the K3 and I-130 visas are arriving at more-or-less the same time. That's not suppposed to be the case. The K3 was to allow her to enter the USA while the permanent immigrant visa was being processed, and we were told that it shouldn't take more than 4 months. We're now seven months into the process and the other visa is ready. Now we need to find out which one we need to go with at this moment. I prefer the I-130 to get the permanent immigrant thing going. In doing that, it makes me feel like the K3 was a waste of time and money. I'm annoyed by this and I'm not sure who I want to kick in the butt for it.

I'm sure there are plenty of countries on this planet that make things hard on people trying to immigrate, and probably make it way worse, but it really gets to me when I read in the news about illegals here easily getting work permits in less than a month (when Jonnene may have to wait up to 90 days!), getting drivers' licenses, housing, and such....sometimes due to obviously sham marriages. They overstay student visas, they sneak in past the borders and we coddle them for the money they're costing US. And they'll sue (with the ACLU's support) if we try to kick them out!

Meanwhile, we're doing everything right/legal and now seven months later we're still waiting for people to get off their hind ends to let a perfectly good person come to the USA and contribute her experience and vitality to a community that could use it. Oh, and she would be paying taxes as a working member of society....you'd think somebody in a position of authority would take THAT into consideration!