Best advice I can give you based on my experience is to be patient. Be very patient. Be very VERY patient. It can take months for each stage of the process, and they have to go through each stage in a certain order before proceeding to the next stage of the process. Be very very VERY patient, and polite, be polite too!
I will send you a PM describing my experience that I do not want to post publicly for various reasons.
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"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008