The Return of an active blog...what could possibly cause this?

Time to check back in, and start regularly writing again. Since I last left you, Rodz arrived in America on October 3rd.





Rodz arrives in America!
 

In a surprisingly quick time frame we were married on October 21st. Yes, one day before my birthday, forever dooming me to getting ripped off at gift receiving. We filed the paperwork to change her legal immigration status and wrote the check (yes another one) for $1,070.

Everything seemed to be falling in place for Rodz to begin her long term life with her hubby in Columbia, Missouri. Then I got an unsolicited and definitely unexpected phone call...My old employer that I left in Dubai almost 3 years ago decided that I was missed and made a generous offer for me to return. After a quick chat with my new wife we accepted the new career opportunity, and then our new immigration challenge began. You see, if Rodelyn leaves the United States before her paperwork has been processed and her "Biometrics" are completed (ok, tried to slip that one past you - biometrics is fingerprinting and pictures done at an official government center) her immigration status would be considered abandoned and if she wanted to return to America we would have to start the whole process over. We contacted USCIS and found that we could apply for "expedited" processing. It was late October, and we needed to report for the new job on December 1st. Plenty of time according to everyone...we would know within 10 days....not so fast batman - 10 days became 20 and still no answers...we met with the field representatives in Kansas City and they gave us little hope. Finally on Wednesday, November 18, the person at the call center advised us our only option left was to go back to Kansas City and beg. W could ask for an "emergency" processing that could be done in 48 hours if approved. We made the appointment and headed to KC for our last hope request. When we met with the field agent, he shot us down quicker than a fat mallard on opening day of duck hunting season. We were not eligible for "emergency" processing...Rodz looked like she lost her best friend as I tried to console her, and the Immigration Agent said it broke his heart, but there was nothing he could do. So we spent the next 10 minutes going over the "what ifs?" and he decided to check and see if he could see online where our file was physically. He said, "good news" your file just moments ago got assigned to an agent case worker in Chicago, and the file was just delivered to their desk. We talked a couple of more minutes, and our KC field agent said, let me make a phone call before you leave. There was no answer on the other end, and then he explained he wanted to see if when the Chicago Agent received our file if he logged in a Biometrics case number. He said that if he did, a notice of and appointment date in the coming two weeks would be mailed out on Friday. But, if the supervisor at the biometrics center wanted to they could move that date up as long as they had written proof of our pending appointment.
Sounded like a "hail Mary" to us also. so, he tried to call again, and could not get through. So he stated that he would call Monday morning, and if he got through we could possibly have the biometrics done in Washington, DC the day after Thanksgiving. I said I would call him, and sadly once again we were thwarted, it is strictly against the rules for him to give out the centers phone number. I asked if there was anyway he could call us, and he just smiled and said, why not and asked for my mobile number...we had made a friend...We got up shook hands and he wished us the best...then he said wait, let me try calling the center that does the testing one more time...He got through to the Supervisor. Listening to them talk, it was clear that he had a good relationship with the supervisor...He gets off the phone and smiles at Rodz and I, says go to the center right now, they will process you. Unbelievably, within a half an hour Rodz had been fingerprinted and mug-shotted, and now we could legally leave the country without abandoning her case for legal immigration. So we now wait for her temporary green card, that will allow Rodz re-entry into the US for the next two years...Hooray!

So, after that long dissertation, I am sitting at the Dulles Airport Holiday Inn, waiting to catch a morning 13 hour Emirates Airline flight on Saturday to Dubai. I will begin writing once again on or about the first and fifteenth of every month to update you on our great adventure....

Until then, I appreciate your prayers for a good and happy marriage, a good success at my new job (more on that next time) and a safe journey to the UAE for me and my bride...