What two days can bring...

Last Friday, DH and I turned in the petition at the US Embassy here in Seoul.  When we did, we were told it would be about a month until we hear the results of that petition.  Well, two (business) days later and Tuesday evening, DH already had an e-mail in his inbox with Packet 3 information.  The petition was accepted and now he can start planning for the Interview!  Talk about efficient.  Even though we don't want things to move too fast, (otherwise his visa could expire before my contract in Korea is up) we both agree that we're off to a good start.

Two days is also the amount of time it took for our baby basil to sprout from the ground.  DH and I have started our own little indoor garden here and after our spring onion's took off, we tried something new.  From what we'd read on the internet, the plant should have taken about 8-9 days to sprout, but we got the little greens already poking through after 48 hours!  Something about Korea seems to get things done.

The basil is coming! The basil is coming!

And what's more, is that in two more days... in two more glorious days, my summer camps will be finished!!!!! Next week I have two days of deskwarming and then, my vacation will finally begin!  Oh, summer, how I've been waiting for you!

Two days. Two more days.

The Petition

So for any and all of you out there who might be curious how to get yourself an immigrant visa to the United States, it seems the process can be broken down into two main parts, the Petition and the Interview.

Yesterday, DH and I filed the petition at the US Embassy in Seoul.  It was a rather painless process which required the following:

A.  I-130 Form (the petition for American Citizens to bring in Immediate Family/Spouses)

B.  G-325 Form x 2 (biographical information about yourself and your family member)

C.  Copy of my passport

D.  Passports (original) - bring along

E.  Proof of Relationship, in our case, a marriage certificate

F.  Passport Photos

G.  $420/500,000 KRW Processing Fee

The US embassy in Seoul has two different entrances, one for US Citizen services and the other for Immigrant and Non-immigrant Visas.  The line to get into the latter entrance was out of this world long :/, but perhaps it had to do with it being a Friday afternoon.  Lots of Koreans in line for visas, but luckily once inside we could skip the queue where everyone else was waiting and head up to the third floor for the USCIS dept. where only one other person was waiting.  

We had gone to the embassy last Tuesday to set up an appointment in person because it was really hard to get a hold of someone on the phone and sending e-mails was useless.  We kept getting automated responses linking us to websites we had already been to.  If you have serious questions, just go in in person.  The guy was helpful and we made the appointment at the same time. He told us both petitioner and the person being petitioned for are required to be present and so we were off until then.

When Friday came, we went to turn in the papers and he told us we should hear the results of the petition in about a month and that at that time we'll get the information that we need to prepare for the next step--the Interview.

All in all--pretty smooth up until this point. We were told on average it takes around three months to go through the entire process here in Seoul, which means we applied fairly early, but just to be on the safe side we started the process now anyway.  Once DH gets the visa in his hands (after the interview) then he has six months to enter the US, and that should coincide nicely with the end of my contract early next year.

Picture of the US embassy, Seoul

The paperwork never ends...

...when you're in an international relationship.  Or at least is seems that way.  The paperwork for EPIK along with a case of bed bugs that we were dealing with at the time makes Winter 2011 a time I will gladly (gladly) let slip into oblivion. Down until the very end, when I thought I had lost my passport after returning from the US (didn't know that one, did ya?), I really wasn't sure if Korea was going to happen.  But I'm here. And have been for five whole months already.

Five months in, and do you know what we're doing now? 

That's right, prepping more paperwork.  

We've been dragging our feet on this one for a while now.  We've had the forms all filled out and were ready to go a couple weeks ago already, but paperwork, no matter how straight forward it might seem, never is.  We're now in the process of applying for David's immigrant visa/green card.  After a quick Google search, we've found that there aren't too many blogs out there with information detailing the process from here in South Korea, so the DH suggested I keep track of the experience for future Seoul-dwellers who happen to need the services of the US Embassy.

This Friday at 2:30pm, we have our first appointment to turn in all the paperwork for the petition.  The first part of the visa process is filing the I-130, the petition to bring an immediate relative to the US. Cost? A cool $420.00.  But from what we've gathered reading extensively online, it seems that applying for a visa/green card from abroad is still cheaper than applying for one already in the US.  But I'll keep track and let you know as we go along.

So dear readers, wish us luck as we officially kick-off round two of 'international paperwork's never-ending story'.