Julien @ almost 4 months

Looking cute

I bought a new digital camera for Paola to take pictures of Julien. It's the only way to really see a clear picture of Julien since I am here in New York while they are in Guatemala...waiting for the US government to process Paola's immigration visa. I found out from my lawyer, and later the immigration website, that it takes an average of 30-45 days to complete the "second" application. This application was received by the government on Dec. 10, 2004. This means it has been a total of 98 days. Keep in mind, the lawyer took a month to complete the paperwork before submitting it to the government.

I spoke with my lawyer and asked, "For arguments sake, if the government completed processing the application today, when could we expect Paola to get the visa?" After adding the various next steps the total comes to 4-to-5 months. We are talking July of 2005. The first application was sent in October 2004.

Is this supposed to be acceptable? Is there such a small number of Americans getting married to non-Americans and waiting to bring them into the country? I ask this because if this affected a larger group of Americans, I would think the law would be more scrutinized and eventually changed.

Baby Julien however is an American, does have his American birth certificate and passport. However, he doesn't yet have a credit card to buy a plane ticket and can't yet go anywhere without his mom. Paola tells me he even gets upset when he doesn't get attention from her, so he's not going anywhere unless Paola is carrying him there.

Now, according to the visa application, it is required by law that I have a job and can demonstrate that I can support Paola. I will have to complete an "affidavit of support". So, this means I can't just wait in Guatemala with Paola and Julien while the government does its thing.

I think the government has every right to take a year or more to process Paola's Immigration Visa. However, I disagree with how they are making her wait a year without letting her visit America or even wait here. The government should allow Paola to wait here in New York, in "our" apartment while the government processes her application.

The government recognizes our marriage. We have a legal binding marriage in Guatemala and the United States; since I submitted to the embassy our marriage certificate and they processed it. In fact, it cost me something like $120 to do this at the US embassy. The US embassy had to verify the signature and document from the Guatemalian government. The US government knows where I live...There is little risk involved in letting married couples wait for the application to complete. And remember, I don't think there are many Americans getting married to non-Americans or at least non-First-Worlders. Since all citizens from First World countries can enter the USA without a visa. Are these laws supposed to be a deterrent to marrying outside our socio-economic circle?

People could not believe what I went through to even get married as an American to a Guatemalian in Guatemala. My lawyer in Guatemala was running around in circles. It not only cost me more than $500 for the paperwork and application, it took more than 6 months to complete. And on top of that, the lawyer was a family friend of Paola's and did not charge us for her services...It was our wedding present...However, looking back I think it would have been a good idea to hire a lawyer. But, that is another story...

Oh, a little side note, the Guatemalian lawyer had to submit an article to a national newspaper advertising our up-coming wedding. She had to do this three times over a six month period before the marriage would be valid and our marriage certificate was approved. If this wasn't completed three time over a six month period, she would have to do it again over another six month period.

The only roadblock to eventually getting our marriage certificate was getting the Guatemalian governmet to accept my American birth certificate as a valid document. After sending them three copies they finally accepted the one where my mom brought the third copy to the Guatemalian embassy in Chicago. Where they sent the birth certificate to Guatemala via a Washington D.C. embassy "black bag" transport. What is that???? I don't know...The document was sent to the USA and back to Guatemala three times. My Guatemalian lawyer showed me the document with, yes three other papers stapled to the original birth certificate. These other papers were covered in stamps and signatures to verify the signatures and stamps of the signatures and stamps.

The funniest part was of the entire birth certificate fiasco was when we submitted the second copy with a legal english translation and the Guatemalian government official read the bottom of my birth certificate and mis-translated it as "Esa documento no es valido..." When it really said something like, "This document is not valid UNLESS it has the state seal." So, the lawyer told us we could not get legally married in Guatemala. Well, I remember losing my temper. But my mom did some research and talked to the right people, before she found the right answer from someone who knew what the real story was. Guatemalians have this cultural thing where they can't say, "I don't know" or "no se". They just make shit up. I think they think it is funny or the right thing to do. There's something about these people where they can't seem to lose "face" or seem ignorant. They can't refer to anyone else. This always happens. I don't believe anyone there unless I get the same story from at least 2 or more independent sources. Talk about lost in translation.