Presumptive US Citizen aided by Jupiter

Transiting Jupiter, hovering around natal Mercury during past months, at last brought me some luck on Thursday. The tale of woe I recounted in my previous post turned out to have a happy ending after all.

We were at our local Sheriff's office by 9am Thursday with a request for a signed and sealed statement of my criminal history (or lack of it) - this was forthcoming in record time - about 10 minutes. Onward to the town's Police Department, where we obtained a similar statement very easily. By 10.30 we were on our way to Oklahoma City, to find the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to obtain the third required background statement. Finding the building took longer than actually obtaining the document I needed. There was a whole department set up for the purpose of obtaining background statements, so with the exchange of $15 and a short wait I had the third document in my hot sticky hand - hot and sticky because temperatures were already in the nineties.

We headed for a soup and salad bar for a bite of lunch then decided to book in to a motel for the night, in case of unforeseen requirements post-interview. A couple of hours relaxing after the morning's efforts, then off to the USCIS building around 5.10pm My interview was scheduled for 5.30. It appears they are working overtime to deal with their enormous backlog of applications, and I suspect that the lady who interviewed me isn't one of the usual interviewing officers. She was a lovely lady, and the whole interview was relaxed and easy-peasy. I answered the first six civics questions correctly so no need to go to the remaining four. When she came to the part concerning my rejected fingerprints I was was able to wave my three documents trimphantly before her. She laughed and said, "When someone rang me about your application last evening, fortuitously your file was open on my desk and I took the opportunity of mentioning the fingerprint problem, wondering if you'd be able to rectify it." I refrained from asking, or showing any annoyance at all, why the office hadn't written to me about the problem during the past 3 months. I was so relieved to have had things go so well, so far. I wanted to avoid a sour note so bit my tongue - hard!

Here is the luck of transiting Jupiter conjunct natal Mercury: a chain of consequences. My husband's daughter-in-law had been visiting our home each afternoon last week to use our treadmill, as she's recently undergone an operation and needed some gentle exercise as therapy. In normal circumstances I'd probably not have had any opportunity to chat to her about my citizenship application. She happens to know a lady whose friend works in a congressman's office. The chain continues - phone calls via local offices and Washington DC eventually reached the lady who was to interview me, who at the moment of a phone call to her had my file open on her desk. It was evening too, well after office hours. The interviewing lady was a kindly soul, a big lady, Jupiter personified! I strongly suspect that regular staff wouldn't have been anywhere near as accommodating as to give out that information which helped me so much. They would have been likely to inform me of the fingerprint problem at the interview, then put my file back at the bottom of the pile - AGAIN!

A chain of events - happy happenstances which served to smooth my ruffled feathers of Wednesday evening.

Now, all I need is an Oath Ceremony. The interviewer told me it could be two or three months before I'm called, but they are arranging extra ceremonies because the courthouse can't accomodate a large enough number. They are swearing in an extra 150new citizens at three ceremonies at the USCIS office next week, and may do the same in July. I might get included in the next batch, but no guarantees - it could equally mean a wait until August or September. Sigh.

So now I'm what could be termed "a presumptive citizen". I'd bet my bottom dollar that they know more about my background, from cradle to.....well, not quite grave yet, but near enough, than they do about the presumptive President of the USA !

Since my first application for a marriage visa, in 2004 they have sifted through my life history, medical background and investigated my lack of criminal history both in the UK and USA with a fine tooth comb. They have seen my bank statements, birth, marriage and divorce certificates for both me and the husband, given me a chest x-ray and medical back in London, and generally made me feel like something that crawled out from under a stone. The fact that I still want to be a part of this beautiful country says a lot for the land and its people, and little for its Immigration Depatment.

Oh - and thank you kindly, Jupiter!