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Hello and welcome to our wedding website! To catch you up briefly…an American girl fell in love with a British man that she met in Toronto at a Harry Potter conference in 2007. Three years, multiple visits, and 8 months of immigration paperwork, we are united together! We love you all and can’t wait to see you at the wedding! -Justine
Joyfulness is one of the words I would describe in David’s homecoming here last month. The others? Too many to list here, but the short version is that I arrived at Dulles International Airport about a half-hour after David’s plane landed (thank you traffic!), I waited anxiously at the gate for the international arrivals. And waited. And waited… 2 hours later, I saw him come through and I couldn’t help myself: I started bawling. This entire visa journey has been such a roller-coaster of emotions, even though essentially we had normal processing throughout the different divisions in immigration. I think the worst part is the not knowing. When we applied back in August last year, I had no idea when he would get the visa. Now we are on a new immigration journey, filing for David’s adjustment of status to get a green card, plus a $1,010 check (eep!). We were married in a civil ceremony on June 21st in order to fulfill the visa requirements; my mom and two sisters were able to attend. It was very lovely and pictures can be viewed on facebook. With the wedding less than 2 months away, we are starting to scramble to make sure that everything is ready. I have finally completed all the invitations (hand-made all of them) and will be mailing them off on Monday. It has been a stressful process through everything, but a thousand times more tolerable with David at my side. I adore him and still can’t believe that he is here and is my husband. I love him so very much : ) How are all of you doing? I am so happy to write here that David received his visa on April 16th…took us 243 days from when we sent the initial package off from last August. There was a point towards the end of the processing that we were in a bit of a “black hole” where the Department of State couldn’t give us any information or estimates on when we would actually get the visa…though I knew it would probably only be a couple of more weeks (though no guarantees), the whole thing freaked me out and I did have a cry at the end. Considering how everything went, I think I was pretty good that I lasted that long, lol! Now we are looking forwards towards David’s move here, adjusting his status so he can get a green card and become a Permanent Resident, and of course–the wedding! We are going to have the legal wedding done in July because of the legal requirements of the visa; in order to protect David’s status, we have to get legally married by a certain date or risk deportation. While the chance of that is low, I am not willing to take any risks because I worked too hard to get him here : ) Nothing much has happened in the way of wedding news…I’ve sent off the facility/insurance checks to my home parish and have made a contract with a bartender. David hasn’t sent over his saved earnings going towards the wedding yet, but we’re waiting to see how the UK elections turn out because it is fairly likely that they will have a significant impact on the pound to dollar ratio. Currently, it’s about $1.53 to 1 British pound and if the Conservative party wins a large majority, the pound will likely go up, whereas if not, it’s looking like the pound will go down. What sucks is that just about two years ago, the pound was at a ratio of $2 to 1 pound–in our situation, makes a difference of $5,000! Ah, well. Life happens. My sister, Melanie (maid of honor), will be living in D.C. this summer because she has an internship with Patty Murray (Washington state senator in Congress)! She beat out quite a few applicants, including law students! I am so proud of her and glad that I will have an opportunity to spend some time with her as our lives are going in opposite directions as a result of the whole growing up business. I’m getting married, she’ll be graduating from college and possibly going into the Peace Corps next year, so this is a golden opportunity for us. David isn’t 100% thrilled about sharing me with my sister for the first couple of months of his new life with me, but he definitely understands the importance and supports me fully; it’s not as though she’s going to be living with us after all. I also think it will be a great occasion for the both of them to get to know each other, since they’ve met only once in person and that was three years ago. At the very least, Mel will have some good comedic material for her toast at the reception! Hope you all are well–does anyone read this? Would love to hear from you, although not the Russian spammers. I’m afraid I must delete you every time you make a comment. I admire your persistence, however! -Justine Sorry folks for not updating in such a long time. Lazy excuses abound, but I will not list them here : ) Let me see…well, David passed his medical exam and we finally got an interview date, March 10th. Yesterday I copied a bunch of my financial information and declared officially on the I-134 form that I intend to financially provide for David. When asked the length of time, I wrote “until the death of the beneficiary” haha. It’s true! But I’m sure David will help do some of the providing in the years to come. Legally, it’s for about 10 years and only comes into play if David goes on government welfare assistance. Tomorrow I will be getting a notarized statement saying that I still intend to marry him and then will send everything off in the mail. David has the rest of his forms in order, his official birth certificate, police certificate, U.S. sized passport photos, etc etc and will arrive electronic gadget free to the embassy and wait on tenderhooks for the interview which he’s all but guaranteed to pass since the UK is a very easy consulate in which to get through. In wedding news, David and I were in Seattle for a week to meet my relatives and friends. We spent the weekend on a Catholic engaged encounter which was good for our relationship, although we didn’t really learn anything new about each other. I guess when you e-mail each other day you learn each other’s lives and points of view fairly quickly : ) My parents had an engagement party for us when we got back and David met approximately 3592037502 people. Dad took us snowshoe hiking up at Mt. Rainier, in which I told David, “Now THIS is hiking, dear. Not those scrawny little hills you dragged me along.” Don’t get me wrong, England has beautiful natural scenery with charming villages and hilarious wild goats that run amok along the trail…but being a child of the Pacific Northwest, it’s not hiking to me. It’s…um. Some other term that won’t offend any of David’s relatives or other UK citizens that is escaping my mind right now. During the rest of the week we spent the days doing wedding plans and the evenings for whichever relatives/friends claimed our time. It got to a point that we were supposed to meet 5 different sets of people all in one night and it just became too much. We ended up seeing 3/5 and finally told everyone else that we’ll have to see them at the wedding. Don’t get me wrong, we loved seeing everyone and would have if we had the time, but alas, we were exhausted and I wanted to spend some alone time with my immediate family. Wedding plans: We picked out a cake from Affairs Chocolate in University Place, David tried on tuxes (going for the tail coat look), created our table decorations, and bought 15 fake trees about 7 feet in height. HAHA. You cannot imagine how much fun it was to go to Michael’s (a craft store) and line up the trees at the cash register so that one might have been in their own mini-forest. My parents weren’t thrilled about the placement of them into their garage, but Lauren put a few of them in her room and we might convince a relative to store more of them because David and I would love to have another 20 of them at the reception hall. We’re nuts…but you already knew that, didn’t you? This site seems to be getting some more traffic lately and wanted to try out this widget that apparently shows where in the world the visitors are…
Hi folks! Not much is new this month; David sent off his packet 3 info to the London embassy and now we’re just waiting on an interview. Unfortunately, they only schedule the interviews once a month, so it’ll probably be early January before we find out anything. Next month we’ll be going to Seattle together for an engaged encounter retreat and my parents will be having an engagement party for us, which I am very excited about and he slightly nervous… : ) I’ve moved into my (soon to be ours) new apartment a couple of weeks ago and it is fabulous. Having my own washer/dryer, microwave, dishwasher, and no unsightly creatures is wonderful! It’s a bit more expensive than what I was paying before, but it works out almost evenly since Virginia’s state tax is much lower than D.C. tax. In wedding news, we’ve decided to scale back the reception (95% sure). I still owe about $17,000 in debt (nearly all student loans at this point) and while I have done wonderfully and paid off from the original balance just over $30k, I took a look at our $20k budget for the wedding that we’ll be paying for in cash and asked David, “Could we really do it? Could we really spend that much money on one day when I’ve got my loans and you’ve got your $18k in your own student loans?” We’re already going to DisneyWorld this summer after going to the opening of the new Harry Potter theme park and it just seemed like a lot of money to spend on just one day. Be rest assured, we’re not going bare bones here, but we’ve managed to trim our budget down to about $13k and will have our reception at the church rather than at the Environmental Service Building. In the materialistic parts of a wedding, all I really care about are having great pictures and our photographer will let us go to two places besides the church itself so we’ll definitely be getting some wonderful shots; I’m thinking about the Lakewold Gardens and at one of Steilacoom’s beaches : ) Okay kids, make good choices! as Melanie (maid-of-honor) would say. I need to finish setting up my apartment! So, a ton has happened in the last month since I (Justine) last wrote. First off… WE GOT NOA2!!! This is probably the biggest hurdle in the entire visa process and we got in a record 49 days! It’s not unusual for it to take 4-6 months for people to get it, so I was very pleased and happy when I got the text message from USCIS. My days of obsessively checking their website were over… And instead, I called the National Visa Center (where the petition went next) every day. I was told that the mail could take 90 days for it to arrive and to call back then. Haha. Nope. It’s their job to answer the phone, so while I was oh-so-nice-and-polite, I did call every day. We were lucky enough that our names didn’t show up as the same as some mass murderer… My name is very unique…but I was sure there were some other “David Wood” miscreants running about. Apparently not. Then the NVC forwarded our petition to the U.S. Embassy in London where they took more than two weeks to open up their package and file us in their system. That was quite annoying, but it also gave me something to do, which was calling the Department of State (a local call, since I live in D.C.) and being unfailingly polite, but persistent in calling every day. At this point, David has gotten a copy of the long-form of his birth certificate and has sent off for a police report. He will schedule a medical exam to confirm that he doesn’t have HIV, syphillis, or tuberculosis (TB). Want to know a small part of why healthcare costs so much? At the medical exam, he has a chest x-ray to confirm no TB in his lungs. Later on down this visa process, he has to get a skin TB test. You might remember it; a nurse would have injected some fluid on your forearm causing a bubble to rise. Sure, it’s fine and all. By itself. But a chest x-ray is so much more diagnostic of TB, that a skin test is literally a waste of money. It’s irritating to someone who knows about this kind of stuff. Anyway…he’ll also have the doctor confirm that he is a male. Haha. I don’t envy him for that one. We’re shooting for an interview in mid-February to mid-March. Since the United Kingdom is a low-fraud country (i.e. everyone and their brother isn’t trying to get into the U.S. illegally), all the embassy really cares about is that I have enough monies to support him, 125% of the poverty line for 2 people, which is about $23,000. Definitely can cover that. Wedding plans…we have two caterer interviews set up for February right after we get back from the Engaged Encounter . Catering is ridiculously expensive! We couldn’t believe how much the various companies were asking. We’re still within our budget, but it’s starting to get tight. Hopefully since we have all the major expenses (venue, photographer, dress, catering) estimated with real figures, everything else should be fairly doable. I’m seeing David this weekend which makes me very happy <3 I’ve also booked my December flight and will spend 4 days in the UK and 2 in Italy with my little sister who is studying abroad in Florence. Off to sleep! Just finished working my 5th 12 hour shift in a row! Gotta pay for those flights : ) Well, it’s been just over 6 weeks since I sent off the I-129F form for the initial petition to get David over here. No news yet, but the Vermont Service Center (the other center being California) has started approving petitions earlier than usual, so hopefully we should hear something within another month or two. We’re getting information together now that we’ll need once the application passes through USCIS and the National Visa Center, like David’s police report, immunizations, and my IRS tax receipts. You have to have made at least 125% of the poverty line (or have a co-sponsor) to ensure that the immigrant doesn’t end up on welfare, which is actually a good idea, in my opinion. I also found out that on one of the future forms that David will have to fill out, he has to list all the countries (including dates) that he has traveled to in the last 10 years, or since he was 13 years old. Wow. Being European, he’s been to Spain, France, the U.S., Canada, etc. many times. I won’t envy him trying to remember all those times : ) Once David adjusts status (to get a green card, ability to work, and ability to leave the U.S.), our visa journey will be far from over…in two years after we get the green card, we’ll file for “Removing Conditions” so that he can get a 10 year permanent resident green card. Three years after we adjust status, he’ll be eligible to file for U.S. citizenship, taking the test and everything. He’s pretty much decided he’d like to do that (becoming a dual citizen) because this will allow us to travel around the world without worrying if he has spent too much time out of the U.S. but that also means we won’t be going on any extended trips outside the U.S. for awhile. On the wedding front, my dress has arrived! I can’t try it on (or see how “white” it is since I got that instead of the ivory posted on facebook) because it’s at home in Seattle, but I’ll be getting it fitted in February when I go home to visit with David. While there, we’ll be interviewing caterers, working on wedding invitations, have our engagement party, and go on what’s called an “Engagement Encounter.” This is a retreat required by many Christian religions in the U.S. and is a weekend away with other engaged couples to talk about marriage, implications, the future, how to handle arguments, etc. I just got back from seeing David about a week ago where we went to a London opera, found The Leaky Cauldron (as according to Steve Vander Ark), and went to one of the oldest pubs in London, more than 400 years old. I also got to see the Tower of London where they house the Crown Jewels–the scepter and crowns and coronation gowns, etc. Amazing and gorgeous! Definitely highly recommended. We also spent a couple of days in Rotherham (David’s home) and I got to meet David’s grandmother again along with one of his aunts. They’re both lovely ladies and I enjoyed hearing about their families. Can’t wait until November when I see David again for Wrockstock, which is a weekend away at a YMCA camp where about 20 bands will play Wizard Rock, music about Harry Potter. It’ll be my third year going; I’m on staff this year and will be a “welcome” person to answer people’s questions and getting them settled in. Fun times! Hope you are all doing well! -Justine In the past two weeks, I’ve been able (with David’s approval, of course) to put down deposits for our wedding reception site, a photographer, and paid for my dress! We’ll be using Tom Ellis, who I’ve admired from afar for a long time back in my days of wedding fantasies with no boyfriend that lots of women do. He has very reasonable prices AND lets us keep digital rights to the photography which is what I’m most keenly interested. I’m going to try my hand at digital scrapbooking in the next few months; I’ve done conventional handmade scrapbooking in the past, but it takes forever and a day to do trying to lay everything out and writing everything down. The reception site will be at the Environmental Service Building in University Place. I had also done a lot of research on different reception site areas and this was very cost-effective and absolutely gorgeous, with views overlooking Puget Sound. Oh yeah, the date? September 11, 2010. A few things about this date: It had to be after Labor Day since as a nurse with little seniority, I can have 1-2 weeks off during the summer and I already planned that time off for our trip to Florida for another (can you guess?) Harry Potter conference. It also had to be on a Saturday to be kind to people’s schedules and our friends still in school. September is the month where the weather starts getting to be iffy in Washington state and I didn’t want to push the date too far back. So, 9/11? After talking with David for his agreement, I decided this day also because it’s not a memorial day that my country chose to honor those fallen in battle or for some heroic acts. It’s a day that was taken away from us and really, from the world. The world will never be the same after it…and yet David and I will be taking it back in part by deciding to celebrate our love and vows to each other on this day. … I’ve been able to get all our vendors so far to agree to push the wedding date forward in case the visa hasn’t come through yet (normal processing is 6-9 months and it’s more than a year ahead now), although another scenario may be that David gets his visa too soon and will be “forced” to enter the U.S. early and then us having to get a court legal wedding before the visa expires. Unfortunately, we really have no control at all in this situation…so pray for a swift visa, but not too swift? We love you all! When David asked me to marry him in July 2009, I had already been researching the best way to get him over to the U.S. The quickest and most practical way is called the “K1 Fiance Visa.” This would allow him to enter the U.S. to marry me within 90 days of arrival and then adjust status to get a green card. After a few years, he’ll be eligible to get U.S. citizenship if he wants. The process is pretty long and arduous, although every step is worth it to see my love! Here’s a basic rundown: 1) I file the initial petition, called, “I-129F” to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) at my service center in Vermont (already done) 2) USCIS sends me NOA1, “notice of action,” stating that they have my case and put it in line to be processed (already done) 3) NOA2, or when USCIS approves my petititon 4) Petition forwarded to the National Visa Center, who do FBI name checks on David and I 5) Petition forwarded to the London consulate 6) London consulate sends more forms for David to fill out, including two different packets and I send affidavits of support showing my bank account, letters from my employer, and proof that I make 125% of the poverty line 7) David has a medical exam in London to confirm no debilitating health diseases 8 ) David has an interview with US immigration officers to determine the authenticity of our case and relationship 9) David (pending approval) gets the visa! He will have six months in which to enter the United States and upon arrival, 90 days in which to marry me : ) … All in all, the process takes an average of 6-9 months, although people have been known to take more than a year. One of my friends on the visajourney.com forums has been waiting for her fiance to be approved for over two years! We’re not hiring a lawyer because our case isn’t complicated and hundreds of people go through this process without issue. After David gets here, he has to file for an “Adjustment of Status” in order to get a green card, which will take another 3-6 months. He won’t be able to leave the U.S. during this time except in cases of extreme emergency. I really wanted to go the Caribbean for our honeymoon, but we’re sticking with Hawai’i because of this. Just a couple of weeks ago, I filed the initial petition, called an I-129F form. The package that I sent included 101 pages of documentation. WOW! Some of the things I had to include: 1) Letters of intent to marry, signed by David and I 2) Biographical information about the both of us, including passport pictures and the places that we have lived in the past five years and the last five years of our employment.
3) A statement of how we met and the nature of our relationship 4) Copies of my passport to prove my U.S. citizenship 5) Documentary proof of our relationship and that we have met at least once in the last two years
… And that was only what I could remember from the package! I went through a couple of post-it note pads sticking onto every page to detail for what the page was and used binder tabs to separate everything out in the package. Oh, and I can’t forget to say that I also sent a check for $455 in order for immigration to process it! I sent it via USPS priority and within two days, I received notice that they had received my petition and put it in line to be processed. The first step of about a dozen down this process. I can’t wait! |
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