Brace yourself, this is going to be a long one…

So I’m sitting here and enjoying a glass of well-deserved champagne! The stress is finally over! We had the green card interview today and it got approved, right then and there. Amazing!!! Minus the preparation time of all the paperwork (which I will write about in another post) the time frame wasn’t that bad at all. I sent in the application on November 1st and today I got approved. So about 3 and a half months. I’ve heard horror stories about it taking 6 months or even over a year for it to get approved so I’m so thankful this didn’t take that long. Especially since I have been on somewhat of a time crunch. My work visa expires in the beginning of March. But now I don’t have to worry one bit! A relief to say the least.

So what happened today? Well we got up early, had the hotels traditional continental breakfast which equals scrambled eggs (that doesn’t even taste like real eggs), waffles, pancakes, potatoes and bacon. Classic American! Hence not the healthiest of breakfasts. After checking out we sat for about 15 minutes in the car trying to find the damn place on the gps on my phone. The address just wouldn’t go through and I of course started sweating. Did not wanna be late! When we finally found it (nestled in between a waxing place and a wild bird store) we were still 15 minutes early. Perfect, great start. We were the only people there (YESSSSS) but still had to wait another 15 minutes after or scheduled time. I swear they make you wait like that on purpose!

When we finally got called into this woman’s office my heart was beating so hard. She looked kinda stern but once we sat down and she started talking she was so nice. We started it off by raising our right hand as we got sworn in to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Just like in the movies! Then we sat down and she asked me to verify all my personal info that I had on my application (such as full name, address, date of birth etc.) Easy enough! She asked us both if we even had been married before (no) or if we had kids from previous marriages (no). She asked me if I had ever been arrested (no), lied to an immigration officer (no), or ever been deported (nope). Last question (!) she just asked how we meet and how our first date was. We never went over what our first date was, and that threw us off a little bit.  We were able to shake it off though and come up with a few of the first times we had hung out together.  She didn’t ask us anythign else. I was shocked. Again, the horror stories I’ve read about these interviews!

After that she asked for some photos, and some more evidence that I hadn’t already submitted. I’m a pretty organized person, and I have put a lot of work into this. I brought two sets of copies of everything, in binders of course, one for me to keep and one for her. She didn’t even look at it! She was almost laughing at me how organized it was. She even said; I wish everyone came prepared like this! Haha confidence boost to the max! (ugh such a nerd!) Then I just got to give her joint bank statement, car insurance policy, copies of plane tickets to Sweden, employee verification letter and paystubs. She seemed to be getting a bit annoyed at this point so she said she was approving our case and I should be getting my card in the mail in 6-8 weeks. Unbelievable! And all of this only took about 15 minutes. We were both very surprised how easy that was! I don’t think Jared said more than three words and she never asked him any questions directly.

So yea, there you have it! The day that I have been waiting for for so long is finally here and it feels great. Now I gotta go finish my glass of bubbly!

Happy girl!!