Random Tuesdays 10/07/2014

American Museum on Natural History in New York City, NY in 2012

Becoming an Alien Spouse, IR-1, step #4 - interview

The final step  of my immigration journey (in Finland) is here! After I received the medical results, it was time to be interviewed at the U.S embassy's Helsinki consulate in Kaisaniemi. This was my fifth U.S embassy visa interview, and my second in Kaisaniemi, so I was pretty familiar with how it works. My previous interviews were for student visas though. 

My appointment was at 9am and I arrived at 8.50am to Kaisaniemi. I had to wait outside in the staircase for about 20 minutes with about ten other people. After I was called in, I had to go through a security check and had to leave everything but my papers at the coat check.

After that I was showed into the waiting room, where I spend the next 25 minutes mostly waiting for my turn. I was first called to bring my passport, medical info and a printout of completing the form DS-260 to one Finnish speaking clerk. After that I was called to give my fingerprints to another Finnish speaking clerk. Then last I was called for an interview.

Another random photo: Miami, Florida in 2006

The interview took less than 5 minutes, and was mostly small talk. The consul's relative lives in Nebraska, so we discussed that :D She did ask me a few questions:

-why are you moving to the U.S? ("husband wants to")

-how long have you been married? ("x years")

-where did you meet? Which university? ("in college", "Nebraska")

-do you have kids? How many? Is he already a citizen? ("yes, one, yes")

-where are you moving? ("depends on my husband's job interviews, but first to Nebraska")

-when are you moving? ("xx.xx.xxxx")

So pretty straight forward questions. I also brought a ton of evidence of our marriage with me, but they never asked me to show any. I picked up my visa at the consulate 5 days later and now I'm good to go :) Next step, port of entry!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Random Tuesdays 09/30/2014

Rodeo statue in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2009. 

Random Tuesdays 09/23/2014

The blogger herself (5 months pregnant, hence the baggy pants) outside the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, 2009

Becoming an Alien Spouse, IR-1, step #3 - medical

I've finally reached step #3 on our never-ending visa journey. Here's where we were last. Now we've received our interview date and I will be interviewed at the Helsinki embassy in two weeks, yay/yikes!

All spousal visa applicants have to get a medical examination done by a panel physician. The applicant is expected to bring an ID, three passport photos and vaccination records with them to the medical appointment. There are three panel physicians in Finland at the moment, all situated in Helsinki; Anna Back and Georg Borgstrom at the Eira Hospital and Erkki-Pekka Helle at a couple of locations. All of the panel physicians charge about 400 euros for the examination. Helle might be few euros cheaper and Back a few euros more expensive, but the amounts are pretty close to each other. Borgstrom, whom I chose, charged me 400 euros + vaccinations.

A random photo: near Boulder, Colorado in 2009 :)

So out of the three physicians, I chose Borgstrom based on other visa applicants' experiences. Back is apparently extremely thorough and checks the applicants teeth and breasts etc. Helle has apparently a peculiar sense of humor and can be outright rude something. If this was a wellness check, I'd probably have chosen Back. But since this is a visa related visit, I didn't want to be probed thoroughly by someone. I decided against Helle, because I really don't respond well to rudeness. In fact I acknowledge that I'm a bit of a firecracker and should really learn to take insults better. I dislike people who think they're superior to me, and apparently Helle takes that approach with his patients sometimes. I have a feeling we might have ended up in a shouting match with him refusing to sign my papers :D

I was very happy with my choice, Borgstrom was extremely polite and respectful towards me. He is, however, past retirement age and I've heard he has made some small mistakes with the visa papers sometimes. He had to use a magnifying glass to read my vaccination records and his hands were shaking quite a bit when he wrote the visa papers. He checked my blood pressure, lungs, heart and throat and asked if I was healthy. He also asked me about dietary restrictions, which he wrote down. The examination took maybe 15 minutes out of which we discussed my names for 5 minutes :) I don't have very common Finnish first names and they all (and my American last name as well) have meanings. If you translate my non-English names to English, the combination is rather amusing :)

After the medical examination Borgstrom sent me to the lab to have a chest x-ray and a blood test taken. Waiting for my turn there took most of the time. I was done with everything in two hours and Borgstrom told me to come and pick up the results and a x-ray cd in 10 days.

So next up is the interview! Husband checked with the embassy that he doesn't need to be there, so I'll be all by myself, eek! I really hope I'll get approved fast, since we'll be flying to the U.S a week from the interview for husband's job interviews.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Random Tuesdays 09/16/2014

Pioneer's Park in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2009

Random Tuesdays 09/09/2014

Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida in 2007

Random Tuesdays 09/02/2014

Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2009