Immigration Hurdles and Holidays!
Well, the latest news on the immigration story is that we're going to have an appointment (biometrics) soon and then we'll be able to proceed with more waiting. That is essentially what one has to do when signing up for this whole deal--be prepared to wait! We, fortunately, have not had to wait nearly as long as other people I have read about on Visa Journey, as well as others, and we are glad for it. We are hoping and praying for a green card soon since that is the last hurdle in our pre-job-tasks which will allow me to join the military... Last year I was very decided on the Air Force but as time has moved forward I have found that the job I desired most, Cryptologic Linguist (Job Description), is not as available as I had hoped leaving me exploring other options.
After this did not work out exactly as I had planned I was much more frustrated than I wanted to be but it forced us to re-evaluate our plans a bit...This actually stretched us more than you might imagine, despite the fact that it sounds like a simple change, your future spouse might not like major decisions to be made abruptly. In the end the Navy began sticking out as the best choice, so I spent a great deal of time researching the differences in the jobs for both branches and what it would mean for me in terms of possible deployments and pay, etc. The Navy calls the job CTI (CTI Information), Cryptologic Technician Interpretive, and it seems like there is quite a bit more out there in terms of information than the equivalent position in the Air Force. We decided to give the Navy a call and they were extremely helpful in getting me set up to take the ASVAB as well as the DLAB to see if I could qualify for this position. I did very well on the ASVAB and slightly less well than I had predicted on the DLAB despite my fluency in Spanish and experience with Latin, French, and Korean. Of course I don't really know all those languages that well, but having studied Spanish you learn more of other languages than you could even imagine, and I have taken some classes on both Latin and French. Korean was learned from self-study and living in Seoul for the past two years and two months, of course.
This job requires that my wife have a green card in hand and then they'll be able to move forward with the process. I'm honestly hoping to ship out as soon as possible as I'm just wasting around at home these days and it doesn't do very much for my mind when it just cycles through looking at nonsense on the computer all day... I'm experiencing atrophy and I don't like it.
Pending quick results with immigration we hope to have our green card soon, even though we have more holidays than we would like to have during the processing of our paperwork. The next step will put me at boot camp and we'll be very well on our way. Of course it's going to suck being at boot camp, but it will get us a bit closer to where we want to be so I suppose we'll deal with it one way or another. Oh, how we long for the beaches of Monterey, California!
After this did not work out exactly as I had planned I was much more frustrated than I wanted to be but it forced us to re-evaluate our plans a bit...This actually stretched us more than you might imagine, despite the fact that it sounds like a simple change, your future spouse might not like major decisions to be made abruptly. In the end the Navy began sticking out as the best choice, so I spent a great deal of time researching the differences in the jobs for both branches and what it would mean for me in terms of possible deployments and pay, etc. The Navy calls the job CTI (CTI Information), Cryptologic Technician Interpretive, and it seems like there is quite a bit more out there in terms of information than the equivalent position in the Air Force. We decided to give the Navy a call and they were extremely helpful in getting me set up to take the ASVAB as well as the DLAB to see if I could qualify for this position. I did very well on the ASVAB and slightly less well than I had predicted on the DLAB despite my fluency in Spanish and experience with Latin, French, and Korean. Of course I don't really know all those languages that well, but having studied Spanish you learn more of other languages than you could even imagine, and I have taken some classes on both Latin and French. Korean was learned from self-study and living in Seoul for the past two years and two months, of course.
This job requires that my wife have a green card in hand and then they'll be able to move forward with the process. I'm honestly hoping to ship out as soon as possible as I'm just wasting around at home these days and it doesn't do very much for my mind when it just cycles through looking at nonsense on the computer all day... I'm experiencing atrophy and I don't like it.
Pending quick results with immigration we hope to have our green card soon, even though we have more holidays than we would like to have during the processing of our paperwork. The next step will put me at boot camp and we'll be very well on our way. Of course it's going to suck being at boot camp, but it will get us a bit closer to where we want to be so I suppose we'll deal with it one way or another. Oh, how we long for the beaches of Monterey, California!
boot camp is in monterey? i hope so! if so, i WILL drive down and see you!!! :)
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