A God Sighting in Charlotte, NC!

Today we got up early and headed to Charlotte for our appointment with the CIS at 9:45 AM. We needed to arrive early as they were clear that they would not meet with you if you were not there when they called for you. The boys teamed together with navigation and we arrived in plenty of time which was good as we had to go through security. I was glad that I had no pockets but my hubby had TONS of stuff in his pockets that had to be removed and placed in containers and then put back in his pocket. We waited probably 30 minutes and then Matheus was called to a window. I was surprised with the lack of privacy as he was asked to explain the issue to a man behind a window. Matheus did well in explaining his situation and Tommy and I chimed in when needed. He told us there was NOTHING he could do as this was an issue for Customs and Border Patrol and he advised us to go to the Charlotte airport.

Talking about running around in circles. We left very frustrated and Matheus started saying he wished he had lied to the officer at the airport originally and told her he did show his paperwork even though he didn't. We all agree that it was the officer's responsibility to ask him for the paperwork and that she made an error when she recorded the wrong Visa. We discussed this at length and prayed together before deciding to make a last ditch effort to go to the local office.

We thought there is nothing we can lose.....this is where I had called originally and spoken with a very nice officer Perez who told me it shouldn't be a problem to correct this. We went in and explained our situation to the lady at the counter.....she said that she wasn't sure and she made a phone call. During her phone conversation, she turned to Matheus and asked him if he presented the paperwork to the officer at the airport when he first arrived in NY. Matheus paused and he looked at us.....and then he said....'No, but she didn't ask me for the paperwork.' I was SOOOO proud of him.....he did the right thing and told the truth even though I KNOW he was so frustrated with this ridiculous system. When she got off the phone, she told him there was nothing she could do to help as it was his responsibility to present the paperwork to the officer at the airport.

I put my head on the counter and said.....jokingly.....I want to talk to Officer Perez.....where is Officer Perez! What happened next is definitely a God sight

ing......out from the back walks this officer and he states.....'I am officer Perez......can I help you?' I told him that I had called and spoken with him a little over a week ago about our foreign exchange student's Visa problem. He said he remembered our conversation and he asked what happened when we went to the airport. I told him what happened.....when I started to tell him how rude the officer was to us there.....Tommy put his hand over my mouth.....but officer Perez encouraged me to talk so I just told him that she was very rude and aggressive with Matheus. He asked to see Matheus' papers and asked us to have a seat. He came back about 30 minutes later with his supervisor and he said that they had called the airport. He said the officer at the airport was expecting us and would correct Matheus' I-94. We thanked them both repeatedly and celebrated as we traveled to the airport.....we had to wait a couple of hours there but the officer came back out and told us it was corrected. He said that it was a mess and that Matheus was not even listed in the system. He also stated that a signature on his paperwork was not an original and therefore was not valid. He advised us to get an updated copy fro

m AFS. We thanked him and headed home......relieved and rejoicing!