The Truth of the Matter

A lot of people have often asked me why I decided to fall in love with a man who lives 5,000 miles away from me. I cannot tell you how many times I have stooped to explaining my relationship to people who are so incredibly ignorant.

Frankly, I did not decide to fall in love with anyone. Any person with slight knowledge of what love actually is, knows this weird phenomena is the one who does the picking and choosing--we, as people, are completely out of power.
As fate would have it, I fell in love with a man who is not from my country. And thankfully, fate was kind enough to have him fall in love with me.

Incredibly, I shouldn't have to explain this to anyone--but for the sake of getting records straight, I often do.

But now, I find myself in a troubling situation that is perhaps more infuriating than petty inquiries.

I'm marrying this man, and the entire ordeal the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is putting me through is completely disgraceful.

I am a law-abiding American citizen who wishes to marry a British subject, and bring him to the U.S. legally in order to do so. This should not seem so difficult, as we have been in a stable relationship for two years or so, and have known each other for four. We have incredible and extensive evidence of our relationship, and are able to prove that we are legitimately together and have been for a long time.

It shouldn't be so difficult to do what we wish to do then, correct?

Wrong. Very wrong.

In order to apply for what is known as the "Fiance Visa", you must first create a box of the timeline of your relationship. This wasn't very hard to do, only time-consuming, and honestly very annoying. In this box, you must include the payment for the filing of this visa in the form of a money order, which has been recently adjusted to $340.

Mind you, this box has been returned to me twice since our initial filing in April.

The first time was understandable, as I had carelessly forgotten to sign one important document in the box that needed my signature in order to be filed.

The second time was for a petty and ridiculous reason that I still cannot fathom.

The website on which you find the information on how to file this ridiculous thing is two shots away from being complete and utter shit.

We had initially sent $350 in the box, which was what the website had said was the amount needed. Upon being sent back the second time, we are informed this is the wrong amount to send. Doing research, we see that the amount to send has been changed, indeed lowered--to $340.

What in the name of god, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are you going to send back and entire fucking box of information because I overpaid you $10?

Let's put this into perspective: In order to reissue the money order, there is a fee of $5, and in order to send the box back to you, it is a fee of at least $15 depending on the size and weight of the package.
So, in essence, you have put me through all of this trouble and disappointment in order for me to give you an extra $10 to put in your pocket...

With the number of illegal immigrants in this country, you would think living in obscurity and swindling the government may be entirely more appealing than doing things the right way...