The Visa

We did it! We not only survived the residential visa application and interview process, Alberto was also approved. Three days and over $1000 USD later we made it back to DF with a temporary residential visa in hand. The actual green card will be mailed to us in the U.S. in the next 3-6 months, but for all practical purposes Alberto can now live in the U.S., get a job, and travel in and out as much as he wants.

It’s hard to really explain the relief this gives us. I didn’t actually think getting the visa would make such a difference, but once we actually realized that we were finished, the process was complete, years of worrying and uncertainty over, it was like a huge weight I didn’t even know was there was lifted from our shoulders. Thinking back, I realized that the question of Alberto’s ability to live and work in the U.S. had been a challenge for our relationship since we really decided we wanted to be together, over five years ago. We actually started the paperwork process in 2004, were able to put it off a while when he got a work visa with the World Bank, and then started again over a year ago. It’s like we’re finally free!

Not really of course. There will be renewals and ongoing bureaucracy for many years more, but for now we’re celebrating. And Alberto no longer has to explain why he is coming into the U.S. every time he enters, or count the days until his work visa runs out, or worry about being unable to get a job. You can’t know what a relief this is if you haven’t been on the other side of it.

And the rest of the day at the consulate and the interview actually went relatively fast and smoothly. Alberto emerged from the fortress at 1:00pm, a lot earlier than we had expected. He had entered at 7:15am. The interview had consisted of being asked where we had met and looking through the pile of photos, letters, and postcards we had brought to demonstrate that yes, we really do have a relationship. Then they put a new page in his Mexican passport showing his U.S. residency status and gave him a big packet of documents, mostly everything we’d been filling out for the past year. He was told he had six months to enter the U.S. at any port of entry, deliver the packet, and receive a stamp in his passport formalizing the residency permit. They recommended he cross that day at one of the bridges in Ciudad Juarez.

We had the time before our 7:00pm flight, se we got in a taxi and paid the $80 USD roundtrip taxi ride to cross into El Paso. We didn’t see more than the border crossing station and the plaque showing the frontier line between Mexico and the U.S. Alberto delivered the packet, they took his fingerprints again, and voila! The magical stamp! We were finished! We could go home!

We even had time for lunch and a nap before heading to the airport and flying back to Mexico City, more exhausted and relieved than I’ve felt in a long time.