Green card renewal submitted!

 549 pages later, we have survived the completion Nicolas's green card renewal application. Technically, it's the "removal of conditions" since his first green card was conditional: only valid for 2 years. That's the sort of green card issued to anyone sponsored by a spouse to whom they've been married for less than two years at the time of application. Since we'd been married for just 10 months back when we submitted his first green card application, that put us squarely in the conditional green card category. Nicolas's right to continue to reside in the US is now contingent on the strength of our proof of a sustained relationship.

In short, we had to spend the last several months digging through every single shared bank statement, bill, vacation photo, and so on, to demonstrate to the federal government that we're the real deal. I have to admit that there's something that feels a little icky about having to prove your marital life to a national government. We had friends and family write affadavits as to our relationship, and we put my organizational skills to the test. (Yes, we braved this all sans immigration lawyers once again.) At last it's out of our hands. Here's to hoping there won't be any more family separations in our timeline!

Mailing off Nicolas's green card (I-751) application at downtown Oakland's fancy old-time post office.