Visa apointment (Amanda)

We finally received the long awaited call from Katie, saying that Issac’s visa appointment had been scheduled. We were so excited. This was it. We knew that Issac would be turned down for the visa, but this was one more step that was necessary in order for me to file for a waiver to begin my case for “hardship on an American citizen”, which would allow me the chance to get my husband back into the country for the sake of our family.We now began the tedious online process of scheduling our waiver appointment. (From what I understand they randomly put the appointments up a few weeks in advance in order to prevent people from making the appointments and selling them.) This new process of having online registration is supposed to be making this whole thing smoother, but it actually made it more stressful. We had at least five or six people getting on at all hours of the night trying to get this appointment for us. I had my phone on day and night waiting on someone to call and say they got it. I finally got one about a week from his visa date. (There has to be a better way to do this.) When we got the visa date, Issac quit his job in Monclova and went to stay with a pastor in Juarez where the consulate is. We paid our fees and he got his shots, the medical checkup and the fingerprints that were all necessary for the appointment. (and were all expensive as well).My lawyer gave me the waiver packet to take with me, as I had planned to arrive in after Issac was done with this initial visa appointment. I was going to arrive just in time for the waiver appointment.Issac went to his visa appointment and went through hell. I wasn’t there so I’ll let him explain that in his part of this letter. I could hear the devastation and desperation in my husband’s voice when he called me 5 hours after the scheduled time for his appointment and said he was told to wait in a waiting room alone while the officer made his decisions. Now I was nervous. I called Katie and she said it was normal. Katie had previously expressed that she wished she could be there to help him but that lawyers are not allowed in the consulate.Issac called me about eight o’clock and said the officer told him he would have to come back on Monday for his decision. This was a Thursday.I don’t think I can explain the frustration, stress, unease, and plain fear I was feeling over that weekend. I cried and poured my heart out to our church explaining what had happened to Issac. They cried and poured their hearts out to God for my family.On that Monday Issac called me; his broken spirit evident in his voice. He told me that the officer not only denied Issac’s visa, but he also took away our right to apply for a waiver on the basis of “hardship on an American citizen.” I was crushed and dumbfounded.