Sarah's page

I just love how we call this place, "The land of the free". It doesn't feel so "free" when you have to legalize a spouse to be here. Trust me, anyone who's been through this process, especially w/ the K-1 visa, will know exactly what I'm talking about!

I knew when we were going through the visa process that getting him here would be hard. I also knew that our trials weren't over just because we got his visa to marry here. I knew that there was more pain and heartache to come. But, come on!! I'm just now seeing the big picture here of how much this is going to suck.

We, went down to the social security office just a few days ago. That went well enough. We were told that he'd get his SS# in the mail in 10 days. Not to shabby! But, our friend, who's going through this same process, said that number is only a temp number. It expires in 2 months. So, you're trying to tell me that not only is that stupid "temp working visa" he got when he entered U.S. is worth crap (since no one hires anyone w/out a SS#), but now, in a few month, this number is crap too?! What the?! If this is true, why is it this is the first I've heard about it?! Why didn't they warn us this at the SS office?!

Oh, and then there's the blessing of haveing him going through the INS to get his green card. We were going to do that first, instead of going to the SS office...then we heard it costs over 500 dollars just to apply. Lovely!! Let's see...500 bucks that we don't have or his SS# for free (even if it lasts only a few months) so he can atleast start working... Man, that's a hard one!!

But, once we DO apply for his green card (because we WILL have to do that step), it's still years of interviews, surprise drop ins, and again, more money. All of this, just to stay in a country that we don't plan on living in for more than 10 years.

After all said and done, it'll be over a couple thousand to get him through this process. So much for the "Land of the FREE"!!