The never-ending story…

Ok, here’s the news, girls… [be prepared for a longer post and I don’t expect you to follow my rambling ;)]

This morning I received an email from Katie, the lady from Volt, my sponsor company. She just wanted to make sure that I had been informed about the situation and that they were waiting for Karen to get back to them, but Katie said “she was not too helpful”. Why am I not surprised :(
So I decided that I would call Katie in the afternoon, talk things through with her and try to give Gerald a call as well.

Katie was really nice on the phone and apologized for this bad situation. She explained to me that they had been keeping track of the number of visas that were issued and there was no sign that getting a visa would become a problem, but all of a sudden an exceptionally high number of visas had been issued and it filled up the cap. I explained to her that I had talked to Gerald and that he should have called her [which he hadn’t] and that she should talk the option of a dual sponsorship through with him again to make sure that he understands everything and can make the right moves.

I called Gerald afterwards and didn’t get his mailbox for a change [since I had left numerous messages over the last three days], so I told him that I had talked to Katie and that she was going to get in touch with him as well. He said that he had had problems to reach Nancy (from the USGS International Program Office), but that he had talked with her and that she was willing to try and find out if there is a possibility for the dual sponsorship with the USGS and Volt.
He also said that it might be a leverage that I had the waiver (for the 2-year home requirement) granted based on an IGA [Interested Government Agency] – which means that the USGS applied for the waiver by stating that it would be in their interest that I remain in the country and remain working for them.
So my take on this is: If they were able to apply for the waiver for me by telling the USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] that I was doing fantastic work for them, there should be a way for them to sign a peace of paper so that Volt can obtain the H-1B visa for me… they would not financially be sponsoring me, but I would still do work for them.

Gerald pointed out that we also might want to try to send an appeal to the Department of State explaining that we obtained the waiver based on the IGA (see above), but that the cap had been reached shortly after we had received notice of it and if this would be reason enough to make an exception and issue an H-1B based on the governmental interest.

Well, that’s pretty much it… I doubt I’ll hear anything before Tuesday, because Monday is Labor Day and therefore a public holiday :(, but I am still hopeful that we will work something out. Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed for me!

Last, but not least… on to the less exciting news, namely what I have been doing the last two days ;)
Yesterday I hung out at home and then in the afternoon had an appointment at my gynecologist’s [hello Ilka :)]… it’s not one of the things I do for fun, but I hadn’t seen him in a while since I refused to go to a gynecologist in the US. It was ok though. He said I am absolutely healthy :) and then he kept talking about the US with me… the states he had traveled and that kind of stuff. Is your gynecologist so talkative as well? *lol* Whenever I see my gynecologist, I am telling Jon that I am seeing the “little man”… because that’s what he is, a little man who doesn’t seem “masculin” to me at all *lol* :)

At 6 p.m., my parents and I went to see my cousin’s soccer game. I think he was really happy that we came to see him and his team won 2:1. He was so proud :)
Afterwards my Mom invited my Dad and me to some ice cream from our favorite Italian ice cream parlor… it was yummy :)

Today I made some phone calls (mentioned above ;)) and went to the movies with Ira in the evening. We watched “Must love dogs” with John Cusack. It was an ok-movie… kinda cute, but nothing special. Definitely not a movie worth to be seen at a movie theater for 8. Oh yeah, and did I mention that I am having a really hard time watching American movies that are dubbed?? Just drives me nuts! ;)

Anyways, I better hit the hay… love ya all and have a nice weekend!