Hooray at last!

Yay! Today in the mail I finally got notice that my application for permanent resident status (I-485) was approved! I know that I previously (last year) told y'all that I was approved, based on what the official conducting my initial interview said. However, if you've talked to me at all within the past year, you'll know already what a mess it's been to figure out what happened to my case and why I hadn't received a green card yet.

Finally, though, I have something in writing. Very many things in writing, in fact: the USCIS center sent me about 5 notices (exactly the same) saying that my application has been approved, and that Darryl's petition for relative (I-130) has been approved. However, I still have to wait to receive either a green card by mail or a notice that I need to have my photo and fingerprints taken (yet again) prior to being issued a green card.

Thank God!

This is a huge deal for me. It means that I can: legally live here, travel to and fro as I please when I please without seeking prior approval (or paying fees), work here without having to renew a work permit (and associated fees) every year, own property, and in 3 years I can become a U.S. Citizen. This is such a relief!

I still don't think I'll be able to make it up for Dave's birthday, though, since I would have to have my green card in hand. That's a bit of a bummer, but I rather have the whole shebang approved than simply the travel papers. Honestly, I think that perhaps it was through the application for travel papers that my case finally came to be approved: the people looking into the travel papers application may have had to look for my case file and, when they couldn't find it, made inquiries, etc. to get it out of that storage place and finally looked at. I am really grateful that this finally got done. I was really starting to feel as though I had fallen into a bureaucratic black hole.
_ _ _ _

My first test in 2.5 years went well, I think. It was easier than the sample exams the prof had made copies of from previous years. So that was some good news as well. :-)


mood: ECSTATIC!
currently reading: "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank