La Carte Verte

We had our green card interview today in Boston! No pictures from today, but a happy ending!

We left our apartment at 1:50, and walked over to Government Center. We arrived at the JFK Federal Building at around 2:10. We checked in, and the man at the front desk told us to take a seat.

At 2:30, a young woman came out and called our last name. She brought us through the locked door. We followed her to her cubicle, where there were two seats just outside the cubicle, one seat next to her desk, and her office chair. She had us raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth.

She told Guillaume to sit in the seat next to her desk, and I sat on one of the chairs at the edge of the cubicle.

She started going through the file that the government made of all of our information. She asked Guillaume for his passport, work authorization card, and the little card that was stapled into his passport.

Then she asked if we had our original marriage certificate. I swear, I could not find that thing in my perfectly organized file! I found a copy and handed it to her, then continued looking in my (did I say perfectly organized?) file. I found the original just as she found the original that we had sent with our packet.

She asked how we met, when we got married. She asked if we had a big or small wedding, if Guillaume's family attended (bien sur!). Also she asked if we went on a honeymoon. She asked why not, we told her that we wanted to go someplace outside the country and he couldn't travel.

She asked Guillaume his date of birth (he almost said the wrong date!), if he had a job, and where he worked.

We talked a little bit about how much we traveled back and forth to see each other during the past two years. She then asked if we had anything from our travels. We showed her 4 photo albums full of stuff - she said she liked our pictures, she flipped through one or two of the albums, just glancing at photos. We gave her our lease with both names, bank statements with both names on the account, he's on my work medical plan, plus on my life insurance.

Then she asked questions on a checklist that everyone has to answer: are you involved in a political party, are you a communist, were you involved in prostitution, have you committed genocide, drug smuggling, etc.

Then, she said, "You're approved today!" She took his work authorization card away, but gave him a copy of it in case he still needs it for work.

We walked out the front door of the building at 2:55 p.m.

We can't believe it's over! (Well, when we receive the card in 3 weeks it will be... !)