Now The Wheels Grind

This morning we visited the big office where immigration requests are processed, the same office we visited a couple of weeks ago. We had a few final pieces of paperwork to turn in---my German test results, B's credit report, and the criminal background check I got a few weeks ago. (We could have mailed all that stuff but things get lost in the mail...)

Went to the front desk, recieved a number, went to the 5th floor, and sat there again among the huddled masses. Again, about a hundred people, some with infants, most seemingly from Eastern Europe. B read her paper while I sat there staring at the screen which tells you which number is being served, and which room to report to when the number comes up.

It took about an hour to get called in. The lady looked at the originals of the paperwork, then took the photocopies we'd made.

"Is there anything else you need?" I asked in my fractured German.

"No..."

"So I'm finished for today?"

"Yes."

"And how long do you think it will be before we hear anything?"

She told me it's a new system they're using now, so it's hard to say.

"What's been typical? A month? Three months? Six months?"

"I don't really know," she said. "But if we need something else, or if we need to inform you of anything, we'll do so by mail."

So now I guess the wheels of immigration will start to turn, and we'll see what we see, when we see it.