Chris4Gretchen

This is our blog to document our journey from meeting, to marriage and beyond. I met Gretchen on a internet website called dateinasia.com. I cant take credit for the meeting as it was Gretchen who saw my profile first on the site and contacted me. She had read my profile and thought we had the same goals and ideals and were at the same place in dreaming of a life to share. She also thought my picture was pogi (handsome) so she made first contact. They say men are the hunters but really the women make the decision of who will be the husband not the men.

Several weeks later we couldnt be separated online and had come to the conclusion we had to meet. Originally i was going to go in december but we just couldnt wait that long. July it was and i made all the arrangements. My trip there as everyone around us knows was incredible and i came back an engaged man. No way i could let her go. I think back and i have never been happier in my life with anyone like i am with Gretchen. Who knew i would finally find the love of my life at 44.
So back to vegas and hurriedly sent off our immigration request to the USCIS to bring Gretchen here so i can marry her and continue our life together.
The package itself is not too complicated. you fill out an I-129F form with biographic info on both of us, a G325A form with more of the same info, passport pics of each, copy of my passport and birth cert, Gretchen’s birth cert, 2 letters of intent to marry signed by each of us, certified copy of my divorce decree and proof we had met in the last 2 years ( boarding passes, receipts, pictures etc) and a check for the processing fee. Normally this only takes about 3 or 4 months to approve here in the US and then the package is sent to her Manila for them to process her.

basically the US checks me out and then the US embassy in her country will check her out. there is a fair amount of immigration fraud so you have to really prove your relationship is real. Gretchen and i have every correspondence since i met her. Its kinda special to have it really. It makes us appreciate everything we do for each other much more. simple letters in the mail now have 2 meanings. one for the thought, the second for the proof. I think if everybody had to prove they had a real relationship and had to go thru so many government hoops to get married and share a life, you’d have alot less divorces. I hear the divorce rate between Fil/AM couples is 20%. thats very low compared to the national average of 50% in the USA. having a long distance relationship makes you focus on your communication.
anyway so here we are, our petition has been filed now since july and we are at 90 days. USCIS is backlogged and overwhelmed with petitions currently and it is taking 140 days or so to get approvals. That is alot longer than the 60 days it took at the beginning of the year.
We manage the wait with letter, phone calls and alot of yahoo chatting with a web cam. We patiently wait while our life seems on hold. the good thing is each day going by brings us one day closer to being united again.