Hello everyone,
A year ago today, almost to the very moment that I write this, the United States Supreme Court finally announced its much anticipated ruling on the Edith Windsor case against the United States government.
We all know now of course that section 3 of DOMA was thrown out in a scathing attack by Justice Kennedy, thus enabling thousands of Americans and their partners to finally be allowed access to vital federal benefits.
Since that day Jon and I have gone through a torturous journey to get through the immigration process so that we can finally be together, and while it's been long and stressful, it's now possible thanks to a determined lady and her fight for equality.
We are nearing the end of the immigration process now, with only my medical and visa interview to come, and to think, a year and a day ago, it simply wasn't legal.
Mrs Windsor, we are eternally grateful - thank you.
Dan.
Thursday 26 June 2014
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Update on our progress
Hello everyone,
Two weeks ago I sent off for my police certificate using the premium service (£80). Documents I needed for the police certificate were a copy of my passport, two letter addressed to me and a recent passport photo endorsed by a friend I've known for more than 2 years. The certificate came back within the week and I then sent it to our lawyers in Los Angeles.
Once the lawyers received it they then forwarded it to the National Visa Center (NVC). However, I didn't know until after the fact that I'd also need a copy to take to my medical interview eventually, so the lawyers scanned a copy and sent it to me, which I printed out.
Around the same time Jon had to fill out all the forms for the I-864 Affidavit of Support and send those along with the supporting documents to the lawyers also. Documents he needed for this included evidence of income and federal tax returns statements and IRS transcripts.
Now that everything has been submitted to the NVC, our lawyers tell us that it's literally a case of waiting for the embassy in London to contact me now with interview details!
After all we've been though in this long process, I cannot believe we are finally at the stage where I am just waiting for my medical and interview!
Once we hear any more I'll of course update here.
Dan.
Two weeks ago I sent off for my police certificate using the premium service (£80). Documents I needed for the police certificate were a copy of my passport, two letter addressed to me and a recent passport photo endorsed by a friend I've known for more than 2 years. The certificate came back within the week and I then sent it to our lawyers in Los Angeles.
Once the lawyers received it they then forwarded it to the National Visa Center (NVC). However, I didn't know until after the fact that I'd also need a copy to take to my medical interview eventually, so the lawyers scanned a copy and sent it to me, which I printed out.
Around the same time Jon had to fill out all the forms for the I-864 Affidavit of Support and send those along with the supporting documents to the lawyers also. Documents he needed for this included evidence of income and federal tax returns statements and IRS transcripts.
Now that everything has been submitted to the NVC, our lawyers tell us that it's literally a case of waiting for the embassy in London to contact me now with interview details!
After all we've been though in this long process, I cannot believe we are finally at the stage where I am just waiting for my medical and interview!
Once we hear any more I'll of course update here.
Dan.
Thursday 5 June 2014
DS-260 submitted! Welcome to June!
Hello everyone,
Well it's now June and I can't believe how the time has flown by! I started this blog late last June when DOMA got thrown out, so it's been nearly a year now!
In that year you've seen me planning for our wedding, getting married, submit our initial petition, wait forever to get approved, followed by finally get approved and now here we are at what is nearly the end of this part of my journey!
The week before last, our lawyers filled out the DS-260 for us based on the information we had provided to them previously. We went through it and amended as necessary, and last night our lawyers informed us that it had been submitted to the government on our behalf!
Of course, last time I wrote here, we were waiting for a case number in order to submit the DS-260. What is strange is that our lawyers didn't actually inform us when we had gotten our case number, and the first we heard about it was when they emailed last night to simply say the forms had been sent. The department of state website says that the DS-260 can only be submitted with a case number, so we assume that's what's happened. I don't know why the lawyers failed to be forthcoming on this part, but so long as the job gets done then I guess it's all good!
So right now, based on a fairly good educated guess, we think we have a case number, which means that we are well on the way to the final stage of this infuriatingly long process.
At some point the lawyers will need to send in Jon's affidavit of support to the government, and once that is done then my application will sent to the US consulate in London where they will contact me with a date for my medical and my final interview. Phew!
There is one thing I need to do here in the meantime. You may recall a while ago I was worrying about police certificates for when I have my interview. Well, seeing as we are now in the final stages, today I printed out from the UK police website the form I need to send, wrote the cheque and prepared to send it. I need to get my passport photocopied though and enclose that, as well as a passport sized photo signed by someone I know.
I'll be sending it all early next week hopefully, and it should take about 2 weeks to come back to me.
One final thing. You may notice I've changed the address of this blog. It seemed to fit better in my mind, so if you have it saved anywhere remember to update your bookmarks.
Ok, I think that's everything. As always when there are further developments I'll post them here!
Dan.
Well it's now June and I can't believe how the time has flown by! I started this blog late last June when DOMA got thrown out, so it's been nearly a year now!
In that year you've seen me planning for our wedding, getting married, submit our initial petition, wait forever to get approved, followed by finally get approved and now here we are at what is nearly the end of this part of my journey!
The week before last, our lawyers filled out the DS-260 for us based on the information we had provided to them previously. We went through it and amended as necessary, and last night our lawyers informed us that it had been submitted to the government on our behalf!
Of course, last time I wrote here, we were waiting for a case number in order to submit the DS-260. What is strange is that our lawyers didn't actually inform us when we had gotten our case number, and the first we heard about it was when they emailed last night to simply say the forms had been sent. The department of state website says that the DS-260 can only be submitted with a case number, so we assume that's what's happened. I don't know why the lawyers failed to be forthcoming on this part, but so long as the job gets done then I guess it's all good!
So right now, based on a fairly good educated guess, we think we have a case number, which means that we are well on the way to the final stage of this infuriatingly long process.
At some point the lawyers will need to send in Jon's affidavit of support to the government, and once that is done then my application will sent to the US consulate in London where they will contact me with a date for my medical and my final interview. Phew!
There is one thing I need to do here in the meantime. You may recall a while ago I was worrying about police certificates for when I have my interview. Well, seeing as we are now in the final stages, today I printed out from the UK police website the form I need to send, wrote the cheque and prepared to send it. I need to get my passport photocopied though and enclose that, as well as a passport sized photo signed by someone I know.
I'll be sending it all early next week hopefully, and it should take about 2 weeks to come back to me.
One final thing. You may notice I've changed the address of this blog. It seemed to fit better in my mind, so if you have it saved anywhere remember to update your bookmarks.
Ok, I think that's everything. As always when there are further developments I'll post them here!
Dan.
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