Please send me a Viking.....

I have now been VIKINGLESS IN TEXAS for 26 days (and trust me, that is WAY worse than being SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE!) Lots of folks have asked about where we are in the immigration process and of course WHEN Mads is moving to his new home in Texas.... 

So here goes.
2 weeks before I left Denmark, we were certain that we were DONE with everything, so all that was left to do was to wait for his interview to be assigned. But oh no, no... we got ahead of ourselves.
We got a notice the week I moved that all of our VERY CERTIFIED copies of our important docs were not CERTIFIED ENOUGH, according to American standards. Mainly this was due to the fact that we don't have notaries in Denmark. (Yes, American Immigration, there are actually other countries in the world that do things differently than we do them in America so you cannot assume that everyone has access to the same types of things as you do....) 
Anyway, they were displeased with our very official, police certified copies of everything, so they asked for all the originals. So Mads' first task after I left was to mail off all of his originals (kind of scary to do that, but hey, what the US government wants, the US government gets, right?!)

Then we assumed that we go back to where we were just before that last notification....which was waiting for his interview to be scheduled. But oh no, no... we got ahead of ourselves.

Keep in mind that Mads' original application was submitted on November 5 and on this application we had to list all the countries in which he had previously lived. His list was short-- Denmark and Sweden (yes he lived in Sweden something like 15 years ago, and it was for less than 2 years). They never mentioned anything about Sweden before, so we just figured we had reported it, so that was sufficient. But oh no, no... again, we got ahead of ourselves.

A week after I left we got a new notification asking for his POLICE RECORD from Sweden. HUH??! We already sent his police record from Denmark, but Sweden?? Really? Now, keep in mind that on that notice from US Immigration, it gave the web address of where to go and order this police record... and it said (and I quote): "The Swedish Police registry only keeps records for ten years." 

So I called Immigration.
I asked if this was for real.
It was.
I reminded them (as referenced in his application) that Mads lived in Sweden MORE THAN 10 YEARS ago so this record would basically show no record of him, so again, is this for real?
It is.
Seriously?
Yes. 
Even though Sweden will not have a record of his living there in the last 10 years?
Yes.

OMG. 
But hey, what the US government wants, the US government gets, right?!

So 2 weeks ago he ordered the police record and after 10 days of waiting, he got it and immediately FedExed it to the immigration service. 

So where are we in the process now?
Well honestly we are back to where we were just before that last notification....which was waiting for his interview to be scheduled. 

I talked to our case rep the other day and he said, "I can see from your file that you guys are almost at the end and ready for the interview to be scheduled." I just pray that his definition of ALMOST and mine are the same. 

So here we go.
Waiting again.
And until then, I remain...
Vikingless in Texas.