Pen-Elayne on the Web

From Temporary to Conditional to Permanent

Blogging late today because Robin and I had our final appointment this morning with the INS USCIS. We'd had one almost four years ago to change Rob's status from "temporary permanent resident" (wrap your brain around that one!) to "conditional permanent resident" and were told we were fine, we'd no longer have to come in, our marriage was genuine, he'd get his conditional green card in the mail, etc. Well, the card never came due to address mixups on their part, and I guess 9-11 changed the way they did other things, 'cause there we were again. Amazingly, it took under an hour. The woman who interviewed us was very nice, saw right off we were legit, removed Rob's conditional status and said the problem had been that we don't have a joint savings account. Which we would certainly have opened when we got married had anyone at the agency told us that it might be a good idea (we keep our finances separate due to Robin being self-employed), but nobody had said anything. Anyway, with any luck Robin will receive his permanent green card before we relocate (she's sending everything out to the Vermont Service Center for processing tonight and said it officially takes 6-9 months but in actuality it should only be a matter of weeks) and before he has to get his passport renewed in May, as that has to be sent here so goodness knows how long it'll take to process. Once all his actual IDs are OK again, we'll finally be free to travel out of the country. Bristol in '05? Mayhap Toronto again someday? Could be.

Afterwards we hung out at J&R for a couple hours, where I bought this for Robin, then we paid our respects at the former site of the World Trade Center. It was the first time I'd ventured there since 9-11, and as we passed Trinity Church I found myself sobbing already. Rather than gawking at the scene from one of the viewing areas, we opted to scope it from the vantage point of the new PATH station, and that was plenty close enough for me. I was still sobbing as we left, sobbing and cursing the Bush campaign ads. They just have no friggin' idea what seeing those pictures still does to many New Yorkers.

We hopped the subway up to Midtown (where Rob noticed his initials on a poster of their mascot, "Midtown Man," which he'd colored over John Cassaday's pencils and inks) and Red Lobster for a fairly decadent lunch. Got back about a half hour ago, going out again in a couple of hours to look at an apartment for rent, so I think I'll try to catch up on some reading now...