I thought it was a fairly long road. We set out on it a bit over 10 years ago when we applied for a K-1 Visa. (That's the one you get if you want to marry a US citizen.) We weren't getting anywhere so we hired an immigration law firm out of California. I figured if they could get visas for Russian girls who hadn't even met their intended yet, getting one for someone with a "pre-existing" relationship ought to be easy. The Visa was issued in March of 2006 and we were married in May. Then we applied for his green card.
Getting the green card was not easy. The paperwork was cumbersome, confusing, and took forever to process. The people at the immigration offices we were sent to at this stage in the process were mostly rude. He had to have all sorts of documents including a work permit and a travel document - and a fee associated with each one. Plus the extension fees when the documents expired and you still didn't have a green card. Once he was detained in the airport and they refused to talk to me. As I understand it, they weren't particularly nice to him at this stage, either. In the end we had to get an immigration attorney. A local one this time. The green card was finally issued. It took about two years to get it. We both speak English and have advanced degrees and the paperwork got us. How people who don't speak English and are not well educated ever navigate the system is beyond me.
He was eligible to apply for citizenship three years after his green card was issued. I'm not sure why we didn't apply as soon as he was eligible. I think it was the dread of more paperwork and fees. But then it became next to impossible to get through customs at the airport. Citizens and legal residents were directed to the same line but citizens would be passed through the system and residents would be redirected to another line. It's not supposed to work like that! But it provided the motivation we needed to get on with the application.
The application was about 40 pages plus supporting documentation. We filed it last October. I inadvertently left out a page and we had to resubmit it in November. He was fingerprinted yet again. We checked the website everyday to make sure we didn't miss a notice. When they send you an appointment time for an interview you absolutely must show up. If you don't show up, they assume that you have abandoned your quest for citizenship and you'll have to reapply. If you ask to change the appointment, it may take as along as a year to get back on the schedule. Most plans got put on hold. We couldn't risk being more than a two-day drive away.
We got the study guide for the test. 100 possible questions. Applicants will only be asked a maximum of 10 but since no one knows which questions will be asked, it's best to know the answers to all of them. All I can tell you is that an embarrassingly high number of people who had the good fortune to be born here would not be able to answer many of those questions. (A sad indictment of our educational system.) But he passed after answering six questions. (Once you have six right, they stop asking.)
And then we come to the swearing-in. I wish I could have stood next to him, as I had through the rest of the process. But it's okay. He's registered to vote and his new US passport arrived this week.
That ceremony marked the end of a long road, but it also marks the beginning of a new one.
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