About a week ago I posted a status on Facebook announcing that my husband and I passed our marriage interview which makes me a greencard holder/permanent resident of the United States of America. There were many "congratulations" written under the status yet there was one person who commented "No malelwa zwone?" (Is that why you got married?). Even though few weeks before we went to the interview my sister had told me someone we both know had made a similar remark to her saying "your sister got married for citizenship" the comment on Facebook stung even more as I began to realise that there might be more people with similar assumptions, after all growing up in South Africa we often heard stories of illegal immigrants who paid&married their way into South African Residency and some people do it here in the U.S as well. I guess it's not fun when you are the one being accused hence decided to write this blog, not because i'm angry at anyone who has assumptions but just to shed some light on the immigration process I went through.
In May 2018 I entered the U.S on a non-immigrant 1 year visa which I obtained at the Consulate General of USA in Sandton, Johannesburg. This means at the U.S port of entry (John F. Kennedy Airport, New York) the immigration officer interviewed me and I was compliant and showed all the appropriate documentation (they detain you or revoke your visa if they feel you are acting suspiciously). I was allowed to be in the country for only 12 months (in the first few months there were times i'd considered going back to South Africa for good or going somewhere else). Fast forward few months later I met the most amazing man, fell in love, got engaged, planned to wed shortly and that's when the reality of how difficult it is to remain in the country hit me. Few hours after we got engaged we went to a coffee shop to map out our immigration options. We had either the option of filing our own paperwork or to hire a lawyer to do the paperwork for us. My husband saw it best we hire a lawyer, at the time I thought it was too expensive (thank God we were able to afford it, it was the best option).
The Immigration process in the U.S is expensive- it costs a lot of time and money, things that we were willing to spend in order to remain in the same place. Before we got married The Lawyer and her team sent us an online questionnaire for both of us to fill in order for her to fill the forms required by Homeland security. We were engaged for only three weeks and got married the day before my Visa expired which meant our Lawyer had to file our case within 30 days "grace" period (this is an additional month an alien is given to leave the United States without overstaying their visa). If there is one thing that I love about America is that they DON'T PLAY when it comes to their Laws. Overstaying a Visa is a punishable crime which may lead to Jail time, fine, aggressive deportation and a 10 year ban from entering the United States.
Our Lawyer was to file our paperwork within that 30 days. By the time she filed we had already been married for over a month and I was not considered an "illegal immigrant" even though I jokingly referred to myself as one. Spouses of U.S Citizens are considered "immediate relative" of a U.S Citizen and thus have special immigration privileges.
Documents we had to submit with our application:
1. Proof of financial sponsorship-to show that you are not gonna depend on social grant to live in the country (Garrett was my sponsor, my father-in-Law was a co-sponsor)
2. Original Long form birth certificates (My mother had to go apply for one at Home affairs in Sibasa, Limpopo which took a long time to be issues since the long form birth certificate lists both parents names, dates of birth and places of birth)
3. Photos showing our relationship is legit (we submitted photos documenting our lives as dating&married couple, photos with family members, etc)
4. Copy of my I-94 form which is a document you get online to show dates of your previous entry and re-entry into the U.S.
5. Multiple forms which our lawyer filled for us
6. Marriage Certificate
7. Sealed medical results; I had to do a full body medical exam with an immigration doctor(You pay for the exam out of your pocket)
After our case was submitted we now had to wait for immigration to issue us a date for our marriage interview (this is where you go to the nearest Homeland security department with your U.S Citizen spouse for an in- person interview, they basically want to see if your marriage is bona fide or a scam).
While we waited for the interview date (which we were told could be anywhere between 6 months to 2 years from the date of filling) it meant during that time I was not allowed to;
1. Leave the country (I'd have to re-Do the application from South Africa which would have taken even longer.... I can't imagine the horror of me and Garrett married&living in different parts of the world). I still can't travel yet without a Travel authorization (which we don't know when it will be issued....please stop asking when are we visiting South Africa?We want to...but we can't yet😢
2. Work. Even though I am a homemaker by choice (see my YouTube video Story time: I am a housewife ) I was not allowed to work without the greencard.
3. Get an American ID: which meant I couldn't drive anymore (I was able to drive for 12 months prior using an International Driver's permit issued by AA in South Africa, it endorses my South African driver's license for up to a year)
TO BE CONTINUED.......
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