my very own mastercard commercial

when michael originally came to this country, he entered on a student visa. after graduating college, he was able to stay here with a work visa. last november, we began filling out the paperwork to change michael's status to permenant resident, which is now an option because of our marriage.

normally, this process is supposed to take, on average, 3-6 months. if my math is correct, we're now at 11 months people.

11 months.

apparently, our paperwork has not been approved for one reason or another. to make matters worse, michael's work visa expires in january and we are supposed to leave the country for new zealand in march for michael's sister's wedding.

thankfully, we found out today (from our new attorney) that if we resubmit all of our information and repay one fee that we've already paid, we could possibly have all of the paperwork necessary for travel in hand by the very end of february. that is, of course, if everything goes perfectly. see, if we waited the 3-4 weeks it might take our attorney to find our original paperwork, figure out the mistake, correct it and resend it, we will mess up our very critical timeline.

whew.

1 immigration attorney: $2200
1 medical exam: $150-$450
1 I130 Fee: $355
1 I45 Fee: $1010
1 permanent resident husband who can live & work in the u.s. and travel internationally without difficulty: priceless...i hope

i can't imagine what we'll go through when we start on the citizenship stuff. eek!