Yesterday I received some very disappointing news from the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, and now it is sure that this family will have to separate.
The Nightmare That Never Ends
I hardly feel like posting today, but since Hive is our economic lifeline, I felt the need to both share some bad news with you all, vent my frustrations a little, and hopefully earn enough crypto compensate for today's living expenses. In short we were unable to legally marry in Cambodia, so my family and I left three years ago to Ecuador to get a legal marriage abroad, meet some American family members, and return to Cambodia.
Fast forward to now, where we are stranded in Suriname due to COVID-19 after our Ecuadorian immigration lawyer screwed us, we have been seeking to relocate to anywhere that is not Suriname since we were finally legally married after two years of red tape and bureaucratic hold-ups.
Unable to return to Cambodia due to new COVID visa regulations, we attempted US immigration, and we were in the final stages, hoping to receive an interview date, but only received notifications that my wife's birth certificate and Cambodian criminal check are invalid. To even begin to find out why these documents were refused, we have to place a public inquiry and wait 6 weeks for a response.
Our youngest daughter's passport expires in June of next year, and most countries will not allow transiting of airports with any less than 6 months left on a passport. This ultimately means we had to be in the USA or Cambodia before December, and now it's clear there's no chance for this, and we will have to separate.
A Glimmer Of Hope
I will likely return to the USA to regroup and start fighting the systems that are preventing my family and I from having basic rights like the ability to earn an income and be together. My wife was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, so we both assume this is the source of the refusal. Even worse is the American government seems to think my domicile isn't legit because I've lived outside the USA too long, even though we have an abandoned house on the family farm that I am registered to vote from, receive bank statements to, and even have filed taxes with this address.
A quick study online says people in this situation need to lawyer up and prepare for a lengthy legal fight. For me, I never wanted to take my family to a country that doesn't want them anyways, so perhaps we are dodging a bullet. Rumor has it Cambodia will reopen for tourism in October to vaccinated travelers, so this could be my/our chance to be reunited. Words can't express how angry I am that bureaucrats are ripping us apart, but at least it looks like we'll be able to possibly be together again in Cambodia.
Even though neither Cambodia or the USA wants us, we can't blast off to another universe, so Cambodia wins by being the least non-welcoming legal system on Earth to this family. For now I can't even wrap my head around the though of putting them on a plane, but this will become a reality very soon, whether we like it or not.
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▶️ 3Speak