Catching the deluge with a paper cup

It's been a few weeks since we submitted our first round of paperwork to the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service) for my husband's immigration. I figure it is just our luck that USCIS is completely backlogged right now due to the fee increase that happened in July. They are still trying to catch the deluge with a paper cup. All I can do is at this point, keep hopeful and pray that they are close to the end of it. I think that we will be behind the same eight ball when the case is sent to the National Visa Center for even more processing. The only thing we can really do is have everything ready to go when the government is ready to receive it so we minimize any delays in processing on our end. I am calculating by the current backlog and watching other people's time lines for processing, that we won't receive any communication from USCIS until January 2008.

I was digging around on the USCIS website last week, when I came across the Diversity Lottery. It's a very interesting concept. The U.S. basically raffles off green cards, or at least the ability for qualified people who would like to immigrate to the U.S. to have their applications 'moved to the front of the line.' I am not entirely sure how the processing of the winner's applications happens and if they are given an abbreviated process or not, but we decided that since my husband was eligible via his Chilean citizenship and his job skills, we might as well throw his name into the hat. At this point it couldn't hurt and since our luck with cash lotteries is zero, we are due for something good sometime very soon. The winners aren't drawn until May - July 2008 and with fingers crossed, his IR-1 (spousal) application should be well on its way to being finalized. If any readers have been through the DV Lottery process, please post your thoughts and any details you care to share (and no, you don't need an account to post, just use the comments link at the bottom of this post).

I miss my husband so much my heart aches. I wonder why we torture ourselves going through these various government processes. I also joke with him that as soon as this process is complete, we will have to pick another country to move to, any random country will do. We have been married for just a little over 2 years and for the complete life of our marriage we have been in some type of immigration process somewhere. I laugh and tell him that our marriage won't survive unless we are battling 'the man.'

But, through all the battles we have waged with everything and everyone outside of our little 'bubble of a perfect world,' our life goals have never wavered. We know where we want to go and what we want out of this crap shoot of a game called life. The location of where we accomplish our goals is simply the background, the scenery. It doesn't really matter if we do it in Canada or the U.S. or even somewhere else. We become an incredible force when we are together and nothing is impossible.

Right now, all I want is to curl up in his arms and fall safely asleep.