It's official!

As of two days ago when we held Felix's Permanent Resident ID in our hands it was and is finally official! We can both breathe easily knowing that the biggest hurdles have been overcome. In two years we apply to remove the conditional status then after that it's time for full-fledge citizenship.

We've both been feeling kind of overcome with all the possibilities and it put us in overdrive for trying to make a lot of things happen at once.

First on our list, Felix contacted Sac State to change his residency status since he was admitted for the fall. Guess what? The CSU system goes off the entire year prior to Sept 20th when establishing residency. After further doing our research and lots of vague responses from both Sac State and FAFSA we've figured this out to mean he is NOT eligible for financial aid until next Fall semester. Further digging on my part though has shown that community colleges are much more lenient with their residency standards which takes us to the second item on our list.

Felix can finally do CRC's EMT program like he's been wanting to. He's all signed up to do the American Red Cross' CPR Certification for the Professional Rescuer since it's a prerequisite for the EMT program. He's pretty stoked though I can't get that excited about 9 hours of anything let alone learning how to resuscitate people. He'll probably do the EMT class instead of going to Sac State since we'd be on our own for funding either expenditure. 6 units at $36/unit ($216 total) beats 6 units at $1769 total. Fo'get you, CSU system.

Third... we're working on replacing Felix's Mazda, may it rest in peace. We're buying my niece's Civic which Felix is excited about. Lemme tell you, I am excited too, but spending $3000 was not in my summer plans as I wanted to move to a bigger apartment! Still, it's a fantastic deal and we love the thought of getting a car from a well-known owner. Plus it's nice enough to last for a good long while. The thought of paying for both our auto insurance makes me wanna hit my head on something hard. Felix went and got his permit at DMV this past week and his driving test is coming up. May I please point out that the BEST part of him driving is I can get drunk when we go out and just make him drive? Yep.

Going back to that apartment idea is our number four. I threw the biggest PMS-fueled fit today about how much I hate our tiny apartment and with the anticipation of our huge monthly insurance payments it's looking like we won't be able to afford a better place. Mom has stepped in saying she'll help but I have to quit my job in August to do my senior internship so I still have to look at the money stuff. Big sigh. How much longer until Fall financial aid disbursements, again?

Five although it's probably the biggest is Felix's big job hunt. He's planning on sticking with Crepe for a bit but it would make 1-4 so much easier if he had a better-paying job. We're working on his resume right now. He's applying pretty much everywhere, full time only. Cross your fingers!

So that's where we are for now. Lots going on with only four weeks left in the semester. I'm aiming for those A's again. Gotta get into grad school so all these challenges will just be a strange time to look back on and laugh about.

Social Security Administration

We spent our Cesar Chavez holiday at the Social Security Card Office. Felix was applying for his brand spanking new card and I needed a replacement since I hadn't seen mine since I was 16. Before we even left the house I warned Felix to stay calm if he was put into a tough situation. We parked out front then had to walk around the back of the building to where the card office was.

The security guard checked my bag at the door then we went on in and each took a number from the computer. It was completely empty that day - we were the only ones in the waiting area for quite some time. The SSA office is reminiscent of a DMV except with comfier chairs and significantly less people.

I got called up to my window first and the guy behind the counter was personable and kind of silly. Turned out he lived pretty close to us. We talked about how nice the weather was and how he was making a trip to McKinley Park later. He had me confirm my information then gave me a reciept saying my card would arrive in about two weeks.

Felix had an entirely different experience. He presented his Employment Authorization Document and his passport and the guy asked (in a thick accent drenched in "I'm not from here") if he had an extension. Felix said, "Excuse me?"

The guy replied, "Yeah, do you have an extension on your passport? This is expired. I'm not going to be able to help you."

Felix responded that the whole point of his legal process was to fix that issue but "I can go ahead and leave the country and come back in 10 years to apply for a SSN." He ended on the note that his lawyer informed him he only needed his EAD.

The guy asked for any other ID such as a birth certificate and Felix said, "Sure I've had that on me all along" and handed it over. The guy ran off to get his manager who said that it was ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM and to go ahead and finish up Felix's application.

"I am going to be able to help you after all," he said. Yeah, no shit jackass. At this point Felix felt bad for being kind of a dick so he made an attempt at small talk. The dude ran through a questionnaire with him and to the question, "Have you ever received government assistance?" Felix replied jokingly, "I wish! School is expensive!"

The guy put down his piece of paper and looked at Felix. "Look, I'm not asking this for any benefit of mine. I don't want to know, it's just the questions I have to ask."

Felix apologized and said he was just trying to make conversation then went on with the questions. When we finally left Felix told me the whole story described above. That dude was lucky I was already outside.

The thing that got to us was not the fact that he was rude - that guy was just doing his job, albeit he should have asked for further identification BEFORE saying he couldn't help Felix. No, the problem is that it was so blatantly obvious that he too had been through the immigration process. Now that he has a cushy government job he can't remember what it was like to be unsure and fearful?

Hmph. Whatevs, the card is in the mail.

Meeting our lawyer

After tons of research online for which lawyer we should use I found Blake Nordahl. He came highly recommended by former clients and peers alike. He seemed liberal since had been on the news speaking out against Arizona's recent legislature. He also is a professor at McGeorge so he's invested in Sacramento on several levels. Here's his website: Nordahl Law

Felix and I met him at 4PM right off University Ave. He met us right up front and as we were his last appointment of the day and we could tell he was tired. We started joking with him about how we'd been up since 5:45AM so we'd try to go easy on him.

Once we got back to his office we started all the serious business stuff... except he made everything sound easy and not scary. It didn't feel like business at all. I'm not feeling particularly articulate tonight so I'm just going to transfer my notes from our meeting into here:

1. When can we start the process of adjusting his status?
• Right now - we could have started the day after we got married
2. What is the breakdown of the total costs?
• $100 consultation fee is applied to our total case cost
• Usually he charges $2500 for our kind of case
• BUT he's taking of $500 since we're students!
• He'll also knock off another $100 if we pay in full up front instead of making payments so down to $1900 now
• It's about $1365 for all the filing fees with the government
• Another $250 or so for Felix's physical, more if he needs shots
• So the grand total we should expect, low end is... $1900+1365+250... the total cost is about $3515
3. What is the timeline of the adjustment of status process?
• Once we pay they start working on the case immediately. It takes about one month to assemble the first package that needs to get sent off to ICE. From there it's about three more months tops. So all in all he'll be legal about 4 months from our start date!
4. Not working isn't an option - so what do we do?
• Ideally he should quit his job since he's working with a made up SSN but honestly ICE won't care too much about that when he becomes a resident. He isn't using someone else's SSN and he doesn't owe taxes so he should be fine. Just quit the job as soon as he is legal and seek proper employment with the new and correct information.
5. I didn't change my name... will that hurt us?
• Nope, not at all. Booyah now I'm never changing my name.
6. What else should we be doing to get started?
• We already have a lease together as well as a joint AT&T account
• Get a joint bank account and actually use it, don't just let it sit there
• If possible get on shared health insurance but since we can't it's good he has my Power of Attorney

He reassured us that everything will be fine. He doesn't foresee any issues coming up since Felix entered the country legally, went to high school here and has his diploma, attends college legally, and come on he wants to be a firefighter, how can you say no to this guy?

So yay! We'll keep you posted on everything. We just need to figure out the money stuff.