First of all, I wanna apologize for not writing here for a while. I have been very, very busy!
My interview was amazing, I'm copying the review that I wrote on visa journey:
My hubby and I got a bus to Rio on june 28th to Rio at 10:30pm. We arrived there at 4:30am and got a taxi cab to the consulate (R$ 35,00). There was a couple waiting there already. My husband made me ask if it was the right line and we were at the wrong line Lol. That was fine though because it was only 5am :P and I was the first in the line!
at 6:30 some people started to arrive but the line wasnt long for the immigrant visas.
at 7am a girl came to check our photos out and I had to take another one, I was showing my ears and you cant have ear piercings. She gave me a paper to make sure I was the first so I went to a place close to the consulate, took a picture and got back. (a couple people had to take another pic too).
after that, we got into the consulate and the girl asked me to put the documents in order. I brought a copy of all the paperwork and the girl said to put them in order just in case. We waited a little bit and I was called to window 2 and a very nice brazilian guy checked my documents out. all my documents were there and he gave me all the original ones, everything was ok. I was worried because we have a co-sponsor but the guy said we would be ok only with my husband and a co-sponsor wasnt needed. I think he didnt know my hubby is not working anymore though. My husband wasnt allowed to attend with me to this part. I got back to the room and waited about an hour and a half until my number was called on the screen. I was a little nervous! at 9:25 we were finally called and the interview started in portuguese:
Officer: Good morning. (looking at the papers...)
Where did you meet?
Tell me about the relationship?
what will you do in the US?
Where will you live?
Why?
Then I told him because my hubby will study there and he asked where? and if I speak english. Then I asked my husband the name of the school and the officer started speaking english. He told my husband the school that he is going to is awesome and we were approved!!! Really easy! He said I would get my passport in 2 weeks but in 4 days I received it.
I paid 35 reais for the Sedex (an option for mailing)
So, dont worry guys, it's really easy if you have a bona fide relationship! My passport and the package arrived 4 days later at my home. I am surprised how fast they were.
My vacation was amazing, the Ilha Grande is a paradise!!! Everybody should meet that place before the death! lol
I will do my farewell next august 5th and on august 10th I'm going to Panamá. My husband has family there and our flights connect there, so we will stay there for couple days.
xoxo
I wanna thank you guys for more than 1,000 views in my blog! It makes me sooo happy!!!
My interview will be in two days OMG! I am so excited! We received an email from Rio Consulate last week to confirm our interview and then I realized it is right around the corner!!! :)
Like I said I will be gone for a week but as soon as I get back I will let you guys know how my interview was!
Peace! xx
Hey people! Long time since I don't post anything. Very sorry, I have been busy with my final days at work and with my hubby at home! The days have been great, my husband and me are enjoying being together. On june 15th we spent his bday together. At the midnight I showed up at the bed with a lemon pie and me and my mom sang happy bday to him. I bet he enjoyed that! We woke up together but I had to leave to work :-( He went to my work and I took him to an italian restaurant. I got back to work and he got back home. At night I took him to meet some friends in a bar/restaurant and ordered a chocolate cake and a champagne bottle! He wasn't expecting that, he was pretty happy. The bar has a karaoke and we enjoyed that, so funny!!! I'm glad we are finally together and enjoying life!
I can't believe my interview is next week already, it came so fast! I didn't realize that! On tuesday I will quit my job and we will travel to Rio at 10:30pm. We will arrive there at 4:30am and my interview is scheluded to 7:15am. After my interview we will spend some days in Rio, we are going to Ilha Grande, it's like a paradise! i haven't been there before but looking the pictures I have no doubt that there is where I want to spend some days with my love. Look at some pictures of the place: www.ilhagrande.com.br, We are going to stay at Abraao Beach and we will visit the other beaches around the island!
Everything is ready for the interview and I am getting excited!!! So happy my hubby will attend the interview with me. The time is flying! Only 47 days left in Brazil!
My baby and I are finally together! It's so great to say that!!! His flight would land at 4am of june 4th. Of course I could not sleep at all. At midnight my friends came over to my place and we hang out a lil bit. I got back home at 2am and started getting ready to go to the airport. I was so freaking nervous and anxious! I took a shower and did everything really slowly but the hours didn't pass by - only because all I wanted was the hours going quickly! LOL Ok, at 3:45am I left my home to the airport. I was shaking so much that I could barely drive - it was cold too but not sure if the cold was the reason to.
I got to the airport at 4:10am and the status of the flight was: "landing at gate 2" OH MY GOD! But I knew it would take a while for me to see him so I went to the bathroom (to check the clothes, hair and make-up on the mirror haha). I got back to the gate and waited. I waited 20 more minutes (the longest of my life), I was so thirsty and everybody was getting out unless my husband then I decided to buy a bottle of water. I was walking to the snack bar looking back to see if he gets out and of course he got out at that time lol I forgot about my water and ran into my baby!!! I jumped off on his lap and we stayed about a minute hugging and kissing each other. I could not believe that was happening to me!
My hubby exchange some dollars, I paid the park ticket and we left. It was so cold and my poor baby was wearing only a shirt and short! I made him get a jacket tho.
I am very bumbling and I lost where I parked the car! haha I spent more than ten minutes to find it. My baby was so tired that he gave up finding the car with me. We went to my home and got some sleep! It was almost 6 am. We woke up at 11pm, I made a delicious breakfast for us. We took a shower and went to mall to buy my godson's gift (it was his bday and we were going to his party at night).
We got back home and my sweetie went to get some more sleep while I had made lunch for us: capeletti and meat balls! We got ready for my godson's party and everybody was very happy that Tim is here. Everybody loves him here!
I have lots of friends that haven't had the chance of meeting my baby. They were going to a bar on saturday night and invited us to go with them. I was not sure about that because Tim was pretty tired and we were going to an amusement park on sunday morning. My baby is a party animal and of course he wanted to go. It was great because we have had a great time there. He had met everybody, had tried to say some words in portuguese. He spent the whole day to memorize how say: Nice to meet you - Prazer em conhece-lo (for guys) or conhece-la (for girls)! Very cute!!!
We got back home around 4am and we had to wake up at 8am! No sleep no more!!! LOL
Of course we didn't make it. We woke up at 10am and my friends that were going with us picked us up 10:20am haha No time for nothing! We dressed the first clothes we saw in our front and went! What a great day we had. It was super cool. We left the park at 9pm and how this is in another city we got home at 10:20pm. We took shower and went straight to bed! We both were so tired, slept like babies!!! Today I woke up to go to work and my baby stayed at home by himself, poor baby!!! Can't wait to get back home!!! I miss him already!!!
My handsome husband is coming over in 3 days and I still can't believe it is happening to me. It is, you know, like a dream! I can't hardly wait to have him back to my arms, it's all I can think about these days.
My hubby loves pineapple and mango so I went to the grocery story and bought pineapple and mango juice for him. I also bought some chicken nuggets that I know he likes a lot and now I am planning what to cook while he is here.
My brazilian culture makes me eat rice and beans every single day (what I really love!) and my poor husband hate it. I mean he is ok with rice and beans, not everyday though. So I am thinking about what I will cook for him. lol
I love to cook so I am thinking about pasta or lasagna some days. My baby and I love italian food! Also I will make some pizzas and cheese balls. It is called "pão de queijo" and my husband loves it. Some salads is good too because we are gonna be fat eating so much like I am planning! haha
For desserts I would love some oreos, I am so addicted with that! Unfortunately we don't have it here. We used to but for some reason I can't find it anymore.
Last weekend I looked at all my clothes and decided I wanted to donate some for the poor people. I won't take most of my clothes with me to the USA, it would cost much money and with this money I can renew my closet, wow I really like this idea! I need some new clothes! :p
I separated, believe it or not, 2 biiiiggg boxes full of clothes! I had no idea I had that much! LOL I don't wear them and poor people will need it more than I! My mom will donate it to the church we use to go. They have a nice program for needy people. Now my husband will have some space in my closet! He has a empty drawer only for him :)
He will arrive here at 4am on saturday. Of course I will not sleep at all! My friends are going to pick hubby up at the airport with me.
God, please? Can you make these days go quickly so I can see his handsome face?
Thank ya, lol
I will tell later how was the reception for my love!
See ya and thanks for reading my blog! It's really cool it has been visited for almost 400 people! It's a pleasure to share my history with yall!
xoxo
Last friday I had my medical done! It was very easy and simple. I already had called the doctor before to know which vaccinations should I take and I took them on april. So my vaccinations were ok. My appointment was scheduled to 1pm and I arrived there 10 minutes earlier. I met Tacia, a girl I have met at the visa journey (what a coincidence!!!), her appoimentment was 30 minutes before mine. :)
The secretary filled some papers and I signed two of them. I had to take with me the appointment letter, my passport, a pic 3cmx4cm size and my vaccionations records. Few minutes later the doctor called me in and asked me some questions about my marriage and how we met (I thought I was at the consulate interview already LOL). So he asked me some questions about my health: smoke? drink alcohol? have some health problem? already had kidney stone? had some surgery? and some other questions I don't remember now. Then he weighted me and measured me. So I took my clothes off (in another room and alone) and wearing an apron waited for the doctor to go into the room I was. He came and examined my breasts and vagina surface and real quick. Also checked my back with the stethoscope. After that I had to read some small letters (I was wearing my contacts lol, but I told him before) and I was done! His secretary guided me about the two examinations I had to do and where I could do it cheaper! yeahhh lol I left his office and went straight to do the examinations (the laboratory was really close, 2 blocks away) I made an x-ray of the chest and blood test for syphilis.
Now I will have to go back there to pick my sealed envelope up on thursday next.
That's it, I am ready for my interview already! Thank God!
This picture is from when I left the USA for the first time. It was so hard, I cried like a baby!
Last friday my baby booked his flights (round trip) to come to Brazil, he is coming june 4th so I decided to buy my one way ticket too so I can flight back to the USA with him. OMG is getting so close!!!
Right after I bought it I wasn't sure about what I was feeling. I was so excited and sad at once. I really can't explain my feelings at that time lol. I started to imagine my husband walking thru the gate at the airport and coming back to my arms again! I get butterflies in my stomach thinking about that! I can't wait to see his face! It's been so long.
But then I realized I will leave everything here really soon. I will miss my mom, my friends, my language and my country. I am sure my husband will be worth it though :)
It's just that the reality just hit me up! But in the other hand I am very, very excited to start my new life beside my baby.
I know that the Embassy advises: "do not buy tickets till you have the visa in hands" but I will take the risk! My interview will be june 29th and my ticket is for august 10th. Plenty of time, I guess! LOL If something goes wrong I will just change the date. Praying for everything goes smoothly.
Next post I will tell you about our plans to live in Los Angeles!
;-)
Yeahhh, hubby is coming to Brazil next month. He will attend the interview with me which will make my way easier. The U.S. Consulate for immigrant visas is 6 hours far away from where I live, it is in another state. We will enjoy this trip together :-) My baby is not in activity duty at the military anymore, he left last march, he is still on the reserves though. By the way he can not start his job because he needs my green card and I still dont have it lol ;). So he talked with his unit and they will let him come to Brazil and wait for the interview here.
I am dreaming awake thinking about the day I will pick him up at the airport and then we wont be far apart from each other anymore :) I miss him so much. It's been 3 months and 19 days I dont see my better half.
See ya soon
Hey guys! Today I will tell you when my NVC drama started.
I had been told my husband that he would need to fill out the forms and he would need his tax return. Ok. He packed everything in Alaska and paid a moving company to ship his stuffs. Well, guess what? He shipped his TAX RETURN along with his stuffs.
Like I said previously our case reached at NVC on march 28th. They were pretty fast to send us the AOS and IV Bill. But we had to wait til my husband's stuff to get at this home to start filling out the I-864 form. Plus, my husband doesnt make money enough now since he left military so we needed my father in law to be my joint sponsor. My parents in law are awesome, I love them, so supportive and helpful!
My mother in love and father in love were working on their form and my husband could not start his til april 13th. After he got his tax return he was pretty fast and got everything done by april 15th. He mailed the AOS package and IV package (which I had sent many days before we received the IV Bill - I was prepared lol) together.
NVC got it on april 18th. On april 30th we got an email saying they had received our IV package but were still waiting for the AOS package. I thought that really strange because we sent both packages together. I have read many times at the Visa Journey website that NVC loses some documents eventually. I was desperate. Asked my husband to call NVC on monday and he was told to not worry about that. The form probably was at the building but still not on their system and we would have to wait for 20 business days . Oh My Gosh we had been waiting so much, but ok lets wait!
Two days later we got another e-mail asking the same thing. I started panicking thinking they may should have lost our documents.
Asked hubby to call NVC again and he was told the same thing. Few days later we got another e-mail. I was definately panicking so much. Asked my husband again to find out what is going on. We fought many times because of this process and I can't wait to be done with everything.
He was told that same thing and at this time I didnt believe NVC anymore. My husband was angry because I had been calling him many times asking million different things so I decided to solve that by myself.
I called NVC and a lady told me to wait 20 business day. On may 10th, NVC e-mail me again and I knew they had lost our documents. So I replied the e-mail asking what is going on, explained I was very worried about that and who was right. The e-mail or the operator. They replied me again on may 11th saying that they had no record of receiving the package. I emailed them again with proofs of delivery (my husband had sent them two days before this day but they had not replied him) and started waiting for the response and was planning how I would manage to send the AOS package again as I had the package with me in Brazil. (like I said I was prepared and asked my husband to make two identic packages (original), he sent one to NVC and the other one he sent to me :D).
For my happyness when I got home at night on may 11th, I tried, as usual, to log into the payment website and guess what? Sign in Failed!!!
I was so happy, serious, I was almost crying!
Then on 12th (today) I called NVC and I was told our documents were on final review and will be closed by tomorrow and soon we will be at the line to be scheduled for the interview! She said we might dont get it for june but for july is for sure!!!
That's it. I am happy they haven't lost our package and I am greatful to all visajourney people who has helped a lot!
I have never imagined in my life I would fall in love with a guy who doesn't live in my country, but it happened! I always was against this kind of relationship and I could not believe it could happen until I got into one!
My husband is the most important person in my life and I can't imagine my life without him even we don't spend much time together. Only knowing I have someone special like him in my life, waiting for me across the world, makes me feel wonderful.
We have a great relationship, but this distance doesn't help a lot. When he was in Alaska I were 7 hours ahead of him. When my day was finishing his was just begining. It was really hard to find a way to talk more often. I use skype, it saves my life from the distance but sometimes it really sucks because it does not work the way I wanted to. It fails, we always can talk tho.
Now he is in California and I am 4 hours ahead of him, it's better but not that much. lol
A couple needs to really love each other to get into this kind of relationship. You have to be patient, handle with the fact that you won't see the people on the weekends, and handle with the absence. I miss my husband so much that hurts.
He tells me about his day and all I wanted was share these moments with him. I now we are almost done and we can make it and this is what makes me stronger to keep the journey.
Talk everyday is a great way to miss a lil less, but not enough. My baby and I often try to talk on the webcam so I can see his handsome face. We use to spend hours on the webcam and it's funny!
This green card process is stressful as heck, sometimes I just wanna give up of everything! Things could be easier but it just makes our relationship stronger!
We will keep in touch :-)
Well, when I got back to Brazil we started thinking about the visa, process and everything. It was really hard to start filling out because we had no idea which forms we would need to use. My husband went to the legal (Army) and he didnt help a lot. It made us more confused!
We tried so bad to look on the internet, USCIS website, but nothing was helping because we did not want to send in and get denied because we missed something. We did not think about getting a lawyer and thank God we did not get them, reading on the visa journey website they do all wrong and it's just a waiste of time! We took 3 months to find out everything. We were ready to go on october 2010. We were worried thinking of missed documents, but thank God we received our NOA1 and thought everything was ok. I tried my best to forget about the process for at least 5 months and I did. Well, actually for 4 months I didn't worry about it. But when we got 4 months I started to be crazy about it, I am totally addicted to Visa Journey Website I take a look on it everyday and many times a day. It's an awesome website, you can find everything you want and I totally love that timeline. I love when I update it! :)
But visa journey told me (based on estimates dates) I would receive my NOA2 on March or April. I was so excited! Few days later I logged in and they were saying my NOA would come only in june! I was desperate. I checked my status on the USCIS website every single day and I was going crazy! Really! It was 2 stressful weeks and I said ok, I'm gonna be patience and I will just wait as everybody does. On March, 13th I checked my case in and YEAH! We got approved! I can't describe my feelings on that moment! It was amazing! I felt as I was finishing that I couldn't believe! Then I realized I was just beginning! LOL NVC Journey here we goo! Next post I will tell you guys about my NVC experience.
PS: these are our rings :)
Hello! I wanna introduce myself for you guys! My name is Caroline, I'm brazilian, I was born in São Paulo and I'm 25 years old. I am finishing my bachelor's degree in Business Administration and my green card process.
First of all I wanna tell you I created this blog to share my experiences in the visa process and my new life in the USA.
I will tell you my love story! I met my husband when he was on vacation in Brazil. He was military at that time and was depployed in Iraq. He knew my sister's friend and stayed at their home. First day he was here, my friend took him to introduce the city and invited me to go with. I had no idea he was in the car and I thought fun that he was so american! We went to a small bar to show him the samba. It was closed but the manager let us in only because there was an american there lol.
We went to a 24 hours bakery to eat and drink with some friends. I thought he was cute but he was only 18 years old and I was 22, so I haven't imagined we would get together. That day my friends gave him the strongest drink in the world: Cachaça. He got so waisted that when he opened up his month in the car all I could smell was alcohol. My friends were joking saying kiss him Carol, kiss him, all in portuguese and he didnt know what that meant. So I said that meant drink! He thought I wanted to drink his cachaça, no way!!!
The next day I came over to my friends house to stay with him cause everybody was working and he would be alone, I was on vacation so I said yes. He showed me the pictures of Iraq and started a communication (my english was sucks!). He went to a trip with my sister's friend and I went to Rio de Janeiro with my other friends. We stayed 4 days apart but when I got back to São Paulo we met again, it was his b-day and I took him to meet touristic points with two friends of mine. We spent a great day together and the next day I took him to my college and we kissed. It was so beautiful, I felt like I was teenager again (he was 19y by this time lol).
After this we spent few more days together. I was so in love with him, but I knew he would have to leave and I would never get a chance to meet him again, so I just enjoyed him so much.
He left me. Now forget him! But I couldn't. He got back to Iraq and we kept in touch for months till he left iraq to move to... Alaska! OMG, how could I fell in love with this crazy guy!
But yeah, I did and our love only grew up more and more!
He promised me he would get back and he did. 8 months later he was back here. This time he stayed at my home and I took him to Rio de Janeiro for the Carnival Party. It was an amazing time and we started dating there.
He got back to Alaska and now it was my turn to visit him in the USA. 5 months later, after got passport and visa, I was in Las Vegas with the love of my love. We got married there, just me and him. All of our families and friends watched live thru webcam. It was pretty amazing, the photographer did an awesome job, our pictures are perfect!
He took me to California to meet his grandfather, aunt and cousin and to Virginia to meet his parents, brothers, friends, everybody!
I will never forget this trip, the best I ever had.
We got married but I had to get back to my country, it was not planned and I had my life in Brazil, my college. It was hard but I left the USA crying like crazy. After our wedding we started filling out the papers to get me a visa that allowed me live and work legally in the USA. 5 months after our marriage I went to Alaska to visit my husband and spent almost 3 weeks over there. Another amazing time and now I am waiting for my hubby to come over next month! He will be here june, july and begin of august when I will move to the USA!
That's it! :-) I wrote a lot, next time I won't write that much.
