On the 24th of November Jennifer flew to Amsterdam on US Airways (Suggested new slogan: We are bankrupt and we will make you notice it!). The next morning, Monday, we took the train to Amsterdam, found a tram to the consulate (line 16!) and lined up.
Jennifer got to go in first since she was the holder of a US passport. When
she told the security agent she was here with her Dutch husband, he was let in
out of the cold too. However, I had a pocket knife in my pocket. One would think
after visiting courts in three counties with Jen in California and learning to
leave the knife behind, it would have been done this morning. But no, after
emptying pockets of passports, keys, cell phone, pens, more papers, and
insisting I had nothing left in my pockets, the security guard was NOT happy
when I finally discovered my Swiss army puppy buried in my jeans pocket. He
reprimanded me several times for not telling him I had a knife in my pocket.
Security guys in Holland are just not as impressive as the ones in the US.
He was just a little thin guy. Didn't even pack heat. I was not impressed.
We were told first to go to window three. We told them why we were there and
were told to take a seat. We waited and waited and finally our names were
called. We handed in all the paperwork as carefully as passing over our
firstborn child.
Jen had wanted everything to be perfect but had to make one
correction. She had shortened my legal name to Petrus N.H. Onderwater and was
told she had to write out "Nicolaas Hubertus." Once she made the corrections, we
went to another window to pay our $130 and get a receipt. And then wait some
more.
When we were called back next we were told our application had been approved! Yeah. We took packet number three and wondered, why three? What happened to number two? Does anyone know? Is it because you get it at window three? It is not even a packet, just nine sheets of paper stapeled together. I am rewarding one roll of sinterklaas wrapping paper (Hema quality!) to anyone who goes to that consulate and asks them.
While at the consulate Jen wanted to get the affidavit of support notarized
right then and there (too cheap to pay for a notary in the US? That's my woman).
However, she had made mistake number three (number two: marrying a dutchman).
She had filled out I-134 when it turned out she needed to fill out I-864
instead.
Still, she persisted and filled out the Affidavit of Support right
there. For some reason the form she filled out, while a bit longer and more
detail oriented, required less overall paperwork and attachments than the form
she had originally downloaded from the internet.
The best part was not needing a co-sponsor. When Jen went back to hand in the documents the man said to her "I take it you earn more than the requirements?" to which Jen replied "I thought that was a prerequisite to live in California." A few minutes later the papers were notarized and we spent a nice day walking around Amsterdam. The next day we flew to Barcelona (ahh...., the wine, the tappas, Sagrada Familia, and that jackhammer that started 8.30 sharp every morning right outside our hotel window).
Packet three explains what additional information you should get and then
asks you to send in DS-320 part1 and DS-2001. The documents I need are an
international birth certificate that you can get in the town where you were
born. And because I have been a soldier in our army I needed a copy of my
military records.
You can get those by writing to:
Ministerie van Defensie
Defensie Archieven-, Registratie en
Informatiecentrum
Bureau Registratie en Informatie Ontslagen
Personeel
Postbus 7000
6460 NC Kerkrade.
I got my letter 10 days after I sent a letter asking for it. Pretty efficient eh!
So I already have all the documents needed but have delayed sending in my readiness letter since I am going to the US to be with Jen for the holidays for nearly a month (I was threatened with a divorce if I did not appear the her company holiday party.) So I expect to mail the documents back to the consulate soon and hope to have an interview scheduled near my return date to Holland, January 9. The really good news is Jen's health benefits kick in for me on January 1, so I can get all my shots and vaccinations in the U.S. That will be fun, walking into Kaiser with a list of shots they have to give me so I can immigrate to their country.
On Monday december 9 I mailed packet three to to consulate and two days later
I flew back to Jen because she demanded me back in California for Christmas and
New Year parties.
The consulate mailed my packet four to my house in Alkmaar
and my sister faxed it to me in America, and there was my date, medical januari
20 and interview januari 27!
