Green Card Interview - painful 4 hours...

"Green card? I thought you were getting certified to be an organic farmer!" said one of my co-workers who heard where I was going today. I wish I were getting certified to be a green farmer...

After quite a long battle with the green card application process, it finally came to this day - the interview. All my knowledge of the Green Card interview came from the movie "Proposal." (If you haven't seen it, you have to! Lots of it was shot in New England!) I gathered all my documents to prove that my husband and I got married because we actually LOVE each other (which by itself is very tough already) and gathered my husband to go to the JFK federal building in Government Center today. After security check and long hall ways, we were faced with a rather unfriendly lady sitting behind the desk. Great first impression...

Out appointment was at 1:30pm and we arrived promptly at 1:15pm. We were told by the rather unfriendly lady to go take a seat along side with two dozen others in the room. The clock ticked and time slipped away, it was 1:30pm - no call, 2:00pm...still NOTHING. Even some couples who were accompanied by their lawyers that have arrived later than us have already got called into the secret chamber but not us. I was getting really agitated and annoyed...Why do I have to be here on time but then you would just keep me waiting for more than an hour! (ok, so this is a general complaint even when I go see my doctors.)


Finally, close to 2:20pm, we were finally invited into the secret chamber which was in fact a long hall way with dozens of small offices. We were asked to make an oath first to promise all we say is true. Then the officer asked me a series of questions that I had to answer with my serious expression. I had to try hard not to appear contempt, but the questions are such a waste of time...The legitimate ones include "How did you guys meet?" "How long did you date?" "What's your married name?" and that's it. Everything else is "Have you ever been arrested, have you been involved in brutality, have you ever trafficked drugs, will you try to hurt the United States (ie. will you become a terrorist?)" One question- have you ever profited from illegal gaming? I almost burst out laughing...and thinking to myself, yea right, I would ever be able to make money gambling...(Jon said less than 2 sentences during the whole time)

Anyways, the whole ridiculous interview process took maybe 10-15 minutes and we were again asked to wait outside. 2:35pm, I continued to sit in my spot, read and waited. Another hour has passed, I finally got a piece of paper that states that I need to re-petition in two years to remove my "conditional" status. Oh, and after waiting for an hour for the piece of paper which I imagine standard for every applicant, there is a big typo of my name on it. I was horrified by the thought that I needed to wait any longer so that they could fix the typo issue. Luckily that piece of paper isn't that important after all so there's no need to change the typo. (THEN WHY IN THE WORLD DID I SPEND ANOTHER HOUR + WAITING FOR IT?)  I left the government center around 4pm. There goes my day...

Bottom line- I am glad that I don't need to think about this for another two years. And two benefits that I am actually quite excited about are a) I can finally go through the "other" lane when I enter the customs b) I can go to Canada with the Green Card, no need for visa! yay...

One last PS: the officer who interviewed us was actually really nice. He told us while we were departing his office that he lived in Taiwan for a year, in "Tien-Mou." I had to gasp when I heard that...It was 1986...when I was 3 years old, this officer was hanging out in my neighborhood. This is crazy!