Woah, oh. I'm an alien
I'm a legal alien at last. I just received my alien number in the mail yesterday welcoming me to the United States of America as a new permanent resident. It's been 7 years and 141 days since I left my home in Stockport, England to move to Chicago for work. I've been an H1B visa holder since then and have battled through the process of flying to London or Ottawa to get new visa stamps, paying fees and attorneys to transfer my H1B between employers as I moved around. It's not been easy and at times I've grown weary of the paperwork and the expense so the emotion was pretty intense yesterday to be holding the document in my hand granting me residency and freedom from (as much) red tape.
My employers applied for my Green Card 2 years ago but around the same time I got engaged to my wife and after our wedding in September we applied for a Green Card by marriage instead. We had our interview in February and I was terrified. I knew that I had nothing to worry about because our relationship was real, but it's still a scary prospect. I had heard some horror stories and some tough questions like which shampoo does she use. This one scared me because when there are 8 bottles lined up along the bathtub and we have separate bathrooms it makes it harder for us to concur!