We've Been Printed!

Well, I am happy to finally post that we have finally made the journey to Charlotte to the BCIS assistance office to have our fingerprints taken. Woohoo! Finally a small step! It is not really what you would picture...and no, it doesn't feel like you are being arrested. (Well, at least not this time-when we got our prints taken locally for our homestudy clearance it did feel like we were being man-handled a bit and it was complete with the ink and all....) It is all done electronically on the federal level--pretty cool actually.

You put your fingers on this little flat glass panel and they show up on a computer screen (they show up as big as your head!)--they can keep re-doing it until they get a perfectly clear print because it shows the person if there are any areas that aren't aligning. Sometimes your finger can slip as it is rolled and it gets a little off. Hopefully they were good enough and we won't have to go back an do it again. Basically no news is good news and we went on Thursday (9/21) so I think we're okay. It was basically a big room where we and people from all different countries sit in little plastic chairs all in a row, fill our a form and show ID and then they give you a little paper number (like at the deli!) and you wait for your number to be called. You go up and they take your prints and, voila, you can go home. It's also where all immigrants go to get their green cards renewed and stuff like that.

Hey, in this process, even a little paperwork feels like progress!!!