back to the immigration saga

So for the most part we've left immigration to handle itself. It became apparent that going out to the local immigration office was unprofitable- they are waiting on the national office to finish their work and send it to them for the next step. No amount of hassling at the university has seemed to work- turtles can only move so fast and they are waiting on the national office too. So what can we do? nothing. Once a week Jonathan's checked in to see if they need anything or if they've heard anything. The first of October we heard we had permission from Manpower and they were sending that to national immigration. Then a week and a half ago we heard that national immigration had approved but weren't finished with the appropriate documents.

We'd been thinking on a vacation but we had been waiting on the process. Not wanting to be out of town when they called and said they need a signature or a stamp or some obtuse piece of paper. This last week I had had enough and felt that it was time for us all to get away for a few days. We decided to leave on Saturday and be back on Monday (just in case they called). Lovely time was had by all and no calls came regarding immigration.

Finally this morning, we got a call - Go out and get pictures and fingerprints done at immigration! This was great news. This was the call we'd been waiting on that really signals that they are nearly done. So we went - ready to pay for @ and I and they said "Jonathan's paperwork is ready. It seems Amanda and @ haven't been cleared by national office." WHAT?! WE'RE DEPENDENTS! A 5 yr old and a housewife. So Jonathan proceeded. He'll have his final work permit card on Monday. @ & I, well we're a risk, I suppose. But what was fabulous- The immigration officer gave us our Computer ID #'s for the immigration system. He gave us the website and when I asked "How will we know when its ready? Should I call or just come out (30 min drive)? " He said "No, just check online. When you see that you are check marked to #16, we're ready for you to come here." How cool is that! So he walked me through the website and when I got home I checked it out here. No kidding, it works!

New favorite thing = checking my immigration status

Immigration officers thought is that it was a clerical error and so we expect to be moving along in the system in the next few days.