The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 6a: The Monthly Update of Processing Times On Migrationsverket

EDIT (25 October 2015):  Please note that any screen shots or references to wait times are as of the date this post was written (6 October 2015).  Wait times have since been updated several times.  In order to have the most recent time frames in mind, please reference Migrationsverket's website HERE for the most recent processing times.

Not much to update really on our case.  We learned our case is being handled in the Umeå office, for whatever that's worth - no discernible news online whether that's a good or bad thing.  The silence can be maddening at times, but at other times it becomes easy to melt into day-to-day life.

Johan has been here with me for the past week and a half.  We've done a few days in LA, a 7-day road trip through central California to Monterey and back, and now we are going to head to San Diego.  I just need him to wake up ;)

But while we were in San Luis Obispo I had logged onto a thread on The Local where a poster had indicated that Migrationsverket had updated the permit processing wait times ("Handläggningstider") on their website.  It struck me as odd because, previously, MV only updated these wait times every 3-4 months.  And just one month ago, they had updated the wait times with a 1-month increase in processing time (a screen shot of that can be seen at the bottom of my Sambo Visa Part 2 blog post).

At the time of the update one month ago, many of us felt it was promising news that the wait times had only increased by 1 month given the refugee circus that is ongoing.

So, to hear that wait times had been updated only one month later, was disconcerting.  I hopped over to the Handläggningstider site of Migrationsverket to see what all the fuss was about:

I will not lie: I broke down a little when I saw this.  Granted, I was exhausted from being on the road and this was not welcomed news.... but still.  I cried for about 15 solid minutes.

I lamented that we were clearly not in the "within 6 months" category - which is now better-defined as people who need priority due to pregnancy, kids who are unaccompanied minors, parents of a Swedish child, EU citizens, or people who did not fulfill the basic requirements and received an early rejection. We have always known we were not in this category, but it did definitely mean we were one of the 65% that were doomed for one of the two remaining, largely increased categories.

I lamented that only 20% of all applicants were in the middle 6-12 months category -- which we have been told we are (or should be) a part of.  And back in April 2015 (just 5 months ago), this category suggested wait times would be 4-9 months.

And then I lamented that nearly HALF of all total applicants are in the 12-20 months processing bucket. Nearly TWO YEARS. 

I have been so used to assuming Johan and I (and everyone else in a similar position as us, for that matter), were in the longest wait time bucket, because it seemed to be taking a year to process everyone's application anyway, and not the 4-9 months for the middle category (as it was then quoted to us back in April 2015).  We have no clue whether these wait times apply to everyone, or just people who are applying today, but I don't think the answer to that question would have consoled me, anyway; when we applied back in January, all the website said was: "Processing times are averaging 14 months".

I cried.

It's more than just missing my person. It's more than just being totally and completely OVER having a relationship with a computer screen.  It's more than just the endless struggle of arranging our daily schedules so we have at least 1 hour of quality phone time, given our 9-hour time difference and work schedules.  It's more than just the exhausting task of keeping a healthy and growing relationship from 6,000 miles of distance under so much stress, and a general incapacity to make big life decisions together while I still have yet to move....

...it's the feeling of being hopelessly stuck in the vice grip of bureaucracy, and having to just blindly accept it. It's the feeling of having a complete lack of peace due to being in life-limbo; stuck between two places that both claim to be "home", but neither is. It's knowing that I turn 32 next week, and that I am already at odds for infertility because of some previous surgeries I've had to have, and watching precious time slowly drip by.

But, now I am just complaining. #businessasusual

In any event, Johan talked me off the ledge and brought up some good points:

1. Clearly, based off of the more in-depth descriptions of each processing category, we are definitely in the middle bucket.
2. The reason only 20% of applicants are in the middle category may be because most partners from developed non-EU countries, who otherwise have clear-cut cases, usually do not move to Sweden; the Swede usually is the one who defects for the [warmer?] location of their partner.
3. Others in our circumstance have received their decision within 12-13 months, which finally seems to be more closely "on cue" with the updated wait times, and we have already accepted a possible 14 months wait, so this shouldn't derail us from our original plan anyway.

Migrationsverket's website has stated now that they will be updating wait times each month, given the great influx of refugees with little-to-no hope that they will decrease in numbers.  This is both terrifying (we just know the wait times will get worse and worse), and also comforting (that Sweden would at least acknowledge those of us in limbo who have been waiting and waiting for our own turn).

On October 17, Johan and I will mark our 9-month Applicationversary.  It was a date I had once looked forward to as meaning we were closing in on the end, but now I don't think I can really celebrate until January 17, when we reach our 1-year Applicationversary.

Regardless, I sit here and watch him sleep, and at least for right now in this moment, we are together at long last. <3

Outside of Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur, California - 2 October 2015