inacove

Tag: immigration

  • Citizenship Timeline

    Citizenship Timeline

    My citizenship ceremony at Faneuil Hall
    My citizenship ceremony at Faneuil Hall

    A lot of people don’t really know what it takes to become a citizen of the US. When I married my American husband people were surprised to hear I had to apply for a greencard. The next words out of their mouths were usually “don’t you become a citizen automatically after marrying an American?” uhhhh no, you don’t.

    Oh, btw, if you still think the Immigration office is still called “INS” you are about 10 years behind in your lingo. It is now called “USCIS” and it is part of the Department of Homeland Security. USCIS = US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and all forms can be found at uscis.gov

    Here’s some citizenship trivial for the curious:

    • NOTHING is automatic. When you get married, you have to apply for a greencard. You can do this as soon as the marriage is official.
    • Once you get your greencard (for me it was 6 months after submitting my application), you get to keep it for 2 years before you apply again to remove the “conditions” tied to it.
    • Apply to remove conditions and get your new greencard, which expires in 10 years.
    • Now, you can wait one more year to apply for citizenship!

     

    Now that you are up to speed, here’s my timeline!

    Date Action
    06/19/2012 Mailed application package
    06/21/2012 Package delivered
    06/22/2012 Application Received
    06/25/2012 USCIS Receipt printed
    06/27/2012 USCIS Receipt mailed
    06/28/2012 Check cashed
    06/30/2012 USCIS Receipt delivered
    07/13/2012 Biometrics appointment notice sent
    07/16/2012 Biometrics Notice received
    08/07/2012 Biometrics appointment
    08/23/2012 Notice asking for applicant to appear at initial interview
    10/02/2012 Test/Interview Appointment
    10/18/2012 Ceremony

     

    ina

  • Immigration

    I just went through immigration/customs in Dallas. There is nothing more terrifying to a foreigner than to go through immigration at the airport. Depending on who you get, you might be treated like the nice person you are, or the criminal they assume you might be.

    Usually they take your information and ask you questions to try to trip you up. Before I had a greencard, I had a work visa provided by my employer. Questions at immigration ranged from “where do you work” to “how far is your work from where you live?” — just to see if you got your story straight. I was so nervous when I answered, that I was always surprised they never took me to the little room for questioning (as it has happened to other people I know).

    This was my first time traveling as a greencard holder (aka Permanent Resident), so I got to get on the short line! The foreigners line was a mile long! Nice. This is how it went with the officer:

    ina: (handing over passport, greencard and driver’s license) Hello
    Officer: (takes my documents and starts scanning) Hello, how are you today?
    ina: Good
    Officer: How did you get your greencard?
    ina: Through my husband
    Officer: Where does he work?… or is he a citizen?
    ina: He’s a citizen
    Officer: How did you meet your husband?
    ina: College. 7 years ago, now.
    Officer: Fair enough. How long was your stay in Venezuela this time?
    ina: One week
    Officer: (handing over my documents) Thanks, have a good flight.

    And that was it. I was nervous as hell that he would notice the different last names in my greencard versus the passport, but he didn’t say anything about it.

    (singing tune from West Side Story) Tini nini ninAmerica… tini nini ninAmerica!

    Good to be home. I got a few more blogs to post and it might take me all week to get to all of them, but stay tuned!

    ina