Legal Immigration

I m back and am attaching a paper that details the entire campaign to get Ros her visa.

Legal Immigration Costly And Difficult But Worth It

My wife and I met on our church website LDSsingles.com on August 11, 2011. Some people might call it dumb luck that I forgot to set the parameters of my search and it went world wide, I call it the blessing that has made the happiest man alive. Rosmery answered my invitation and we began our relationship by e-mail, which quickly turned to two phone calls a day. Then December 8, 2011 I flew to the Dominican Republic and on December 11^th I proposed and Rosmery accepted. That was the only part of the immigration process that was easy, from then on it became costly and stressful.

On my return to Omaha I hired an immigration attorney based on his easy payment plan to represent us in securing a Fiance` Visa. This turned out to be a mistake as in July 2012, 7 months after I hired him I was notified by the Nebraska Bar Association that this attorney had taken money from 435 clients and had done no work for any of them. His practice was siezed and an attorney was assigned to straighten out the mess. I borrowed $2750 and hired another Immigration attorney, he required retainer and fees in advance. We then started the process over. Even though the fraudulent attorney did no work, I had to secure all kinds of documentation to be sent with the application proving I was an American citizen, financially able to support a wife if the visa was granted, proof of employment, Income tax returns, certified birth certificate, proof that I had visited my Fiance` in her country, and divorce documents. Interesting thing about divorce, even though a divorced spouse is deaseced they still want divorce papers submitted. Go figure! I worked many hours securing copies , originals and certified copies of many documents which I turned in to the fraudulent attorney and were in abeyence with the Appointed attorney. It took about 45 days to get my salvaged file from the appointed attorney and she was able to find $750 dollars that I had receipts for. A welcome surprise.

Shortly after I turned the salvaged file over to the new attorney, he was able to file a new application for a Fiance` Visa I believe in mid November 2012. We are now at 11 months and $4700. We were given a website where we could check on the status of our application. The wonderful answers we received were, Your application was received in Houston. Your application was forwarded to Los Angeles, Your application was received in Los Angeles. In March 2013 we are contacted by the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo instructing us to go to their web site and fill out more forms. Our attorney helps us with these forms. A couple of weeks later Rosmery gets a notice from the U.S. Embassy advising her that se has an appointment for an interview in 7 days. Before the interview she must get a $300 physical in the authorized hospital in Santo Domingo. 150 miles from her home in Santiago. I sent her $500 to cover the exam and travel. She also was instructed to get a criminal background check with her local police in Santiago. I had to scamble to make plane and hotel arrangements for me to go to Santo Domingo as well, another $2000. We are now at $7100.

We were blest at the interview at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo. After a 6 am line up to get in the Embassy, having to go off site to get a form prepared that I forgot, and a 7 hour wait, we were sure the interviewer was a member of our LDS church as he was well aware of the doctrines of our church. My wife had a brilliant answer for what could have been a problematic question. The interviewer asked, “Why are you willing to marry a man 40 years older than yourself, arn't you afraid he will die soon?” Rosmery replied, “Younger men than him die everyday, so I don't think about it.

1.

In about a week we receive notice that Her visa was approved. Rosmery had never flown before so I made arrangements for her to fly from Santo Domingo so she can fly non stop to Atlanta , then non stop to Omaha only one transfer point to deal with. I sent Rosmery $700 for everything she needed to wrap up and pack up to leave the Dominican Republic. Her plane ticket was $880 We are at $8680 now. Rosmery arrived in Omaha on May 8, 2013, and we were married 2 days later on may 10, 2013.

The next step was to apply for change of status to permenant residency for Rosmery. Once again there is a laundry list of things that need to be done before we can even apply. We meet with our attorney and he briefs us on what will be required, then asks for $2750 in advance. I said, “If you can't apply till we get get all this documentation collected why can't I pay when your ready to file?” He said that was unacceptable and that he no longer wished to represent us.

I need digress for a moment to address the duplicity in the immigration program that needs to be eliminated. The State Department handles Visas, the USCIS handles Change of status and citizenship. Might work if they cooperated, but they don't. We had to provide the same information for the change of status as we did for the Fiance` Visa. All they have to do is forward the file from State to USCIS. If it passed State all USCIS has to do is verify and require new information only for changes.

We jump through all the hoops again, and again we wait. Now comes the worth it part. In January 2015 while we are waiting the Lord blesses us with a magnificent daughter, who brightens our life everyday. Finally on July 8, 2015 we have our interview for change of status to permenant residentcy for Rosmery. Laden with a cache of documents dutifully duplicated with the addition of our marriage certificate and Our Daughters birth certificate, all certified of course, we enter the inter view. With our daughter charming everyone even a blind man could see we are a solid loving family. Out of the whole cache of documents the agent only asked for our passports, our ID, and our daughters birth certificate. 5 minutes into the interview our attorney said our application would be approved. On July 31^st we received notice that Rosmery was now a legal permenant resident of the USA. In 3 years she can apply for U.S. Citizenship.

The $12,000 is nothing compared to the happiness and joy we have everyday as we watch our little angel grow and build a wonderful happy life together here in Omaha. The system is far from perfect, or even good, but it works. If those Presidential hopefuls now chatting about illegal Immigration, will think about Legal Immigration, maybe they will simplify the process so it can be done like my grandfather Louie Tomoser did back in 1907. Grandpa Louie as a lad of 15, fresh out of a tailor apprenticeship in Hungary, rode a train from Ajka, Hungary to Fiore, Italy, where for $28.00 he booked passage on the steamer Carolina to New York, walked through Ellis Island, and caught up with his parents in Manhatten.