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I received a letter from the USCIS the other day. My citizenship ceremony is scheduled for April 30th!

So, on May 2010 I will be considered an official citizen of the United States of America; I’ll be applying for a US passport the very first week of May, so that I can fly to my honeymoon as such. Exciting times!

I had an appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today. On the letter they sent me about it, they told me to be prepared to be there for approximately 2 hours, and they included a study guide for me to prepare. It didn’t say exactly what I was going there for, but the hints were pretty heavy, and it sure sounded like I was about to have my citizenship test.

The occasion was set for 10:30am, so I showed up a good 15 minutes early because that’s how I roll.

At 11:10, I was finally called in for my interview. The lady that helped me was very friendly, and had me come into her office. That was nice, because I’d been trying to get mentally ready for an interview room with a chair and a lamp. However, there was a bit of an “official” moment when she had me hold my right hand up and swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

After verifying paperwork, the questions came. If I recall correctly, they were:

1. Who wrote the U.S. Constitution?
2. Name a state that borders Mexico.
3. Who is the commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces?
4. What is the political party of the President?
5. Name the two main political parties of the United States.
6. Name three of the 13 original colonies.

My answers were:

1. Jefferson.
2. Texas.
3. The President, Barack Obama.
4. Democratic Party.
5. Democratic Party and Republican Party.
6. Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Of course, they were the right ones. In the last weeks, Kelly helped me study, and thanks to her teaching skillz, I had no trouble remembering all this valuable information.

After the interview, I was told about the next stages. I have to wait to receive a letter about my naturalization, but I’m pretty much already on the path and they just have to finish processing the last part. After that, I’ll surrender all my Argentine documents (like my passport) and then I’ll quickly rush to get myself a US Passport.
This is all to happen before July, so that I can travel abroad using my shiny new passport. And when I come back into the US, I can take the short line into the country that I will soon be calling my official home. Yay!

Things are happenin’!

Earlier today, I called the USCIS (ex INS) to check up on the status of my Visa. I wanted to make sure that after my upcoming trip to Argentina with Kelly, I could re-enter without much trouble.
Turns out the answer was a big fat no.

And that I have to leave the United States within 30 days.

Unless…

This is where the “welp” part kicks in. You see, Kelly and I have been going pretty solid for the last 4 months. We’ve talked about raising a family, having a white picket fenced house, going on a Cruise in the Mediterranean and all that jazz…
And given the circumstances, we’re going to elope.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. It’s happening a little sooner than planned and/or expected, but it was going to happen sooner or later… and sooner it is!
Kelly is the woman of my dreams, and makes me feel like no one ever has. She’s been incredibly understanding about these shenanigans, and as soon as I kneeled to ask for her hand, I already knew she was going to say yes. I have no doubts that we’ll make it, and this might just be a blessing in disguise!

We’re looking for a place to make it all happen, soon. Probably nothing big, just friends and close family. It has to happen probably in less than 2 weeks, so that afterwards I still have time to clear all the paperwork and go through all the red tape.

You want to give the newlyweds a present? Just head on over to PayPal and help out with a few dollars!