7 posts tagged “green card”

Had US Immigration handled my case properly, I would have my green card by now. In fact, I would have had it months ago... but they cocked up. C'est la vie.

They cocked up so much, though, that I was forced to apply for a new work permit. I held out as long as I could as with a green card, you don't need a work permit - and who wants to spend $340 on something they don't need? Well, I had to.

My work permit was approved today.

I have my interview for my green card tomorrow.

I could get both cards on the same day... and knowing how fate is, I would put money on it.

Wish me luck. And stop laughing at the back.

It's crazy times right now. Lots happening. After the surprise birthday party last week, we were somehow more manic this week.

On Thursday, Jess and I got out of work early, went to see WALL-E and had dinner together. Afterwards, we met co-workers at a bar as it was the day of Laura's birthday. They had been there since they got out of work, so we were by far the most sober people there. Until Lindsay's Doug showed up. Poor guy. We ducked out of there early.

I... can't actually remember what we did during the day on Friday. I do know we got lunch and did a bunch of shopping at Target, but other than that, I think we bummed around. At 7pm, we met up with Laura with a mini-picnic then went to the harbour. Lindsay and Doug met us there and we all sat on the waterfront to have our picnic. Eric and Mitchell showed up shortly after, just in time to watch all the fireworks going off along the lake.

We dumped shit off at home, then went to a nearby bar for a couple of drinks.

On Saturday, we had a ton of errands to run. We paid our economic stimulus cheque into our bank account, went through the pre-approval process at AT&T (ahead of the iPhone 3G release on Friday!), then Jess went to the dentist while I took a faulty item back to Target. We were going to go to a barbeque, but after having a long nap, we just went to our favourite Mexican place and chilled out.

Today, we went for lunch and did more shopping. We needed more sporty clothing as we've been asked to fill in on my office softball team. Yes, me, playing sport. I know, right? Anyway, we got all of that stuff, got it home then got ready for our first softball practice. There were only a handful of people there, but we got a good go of it. Neither of us was as bad as we expected - I connected with the ball a lot, and wasn't a total washout at catching. Bowling (sorry, pitching), however, was another matter.

This week is going to continue the activity. We're taking tomorrow off as we have a lot of chores to do. We have Wolf Parade on... Tuesday? I can't remember. I need to listen to their new CD more. Hopefully this means we get to see The Josie after what seems like forever. Thursday is the Big Kahuna - my green card interview. After aeons, it's finally a reality. Jess is currently wading through a file of paperwork the size of Alaska so we're ready. Then Friday is possibly iPhone day, if they have enough in stock.

Busy busy busy.

On an unrelated note, one of my favourite albums of last year - Heresy & The Hotel Choir by Maritime - came with a bonus 7" featuring two songs. One of those songs was called 'Boy From School', and was pretty awesome...

It turns out, it was a cover of a Hot Chip song...

Which was also covered by Portastatic...

After saying goodbye to my parents and having a two-day work week, I didn't expect to have the energy to do much this weekend. Somehow, though, we did a fair amount.

I had to get up really early on Saturday morning as I had a biometrics appointment with US Immigration. Unlike the last time, where they fingerprinted every single digit and took multiple photos, I was in and out. One fingerprint, a signature and a photo. Done and done. Exactly two years before, I had proposed to Jess in Paris, so it was pretty surreal to be living in the same country.

During the day, we got lunch, did some shopping, talked to AT&T about our pending migration from T-Mobile, then Jess had a nap. She then made a very healthy dinner before we went out drinking with co-workers. Mike, the guy who started the exact same day as me, was turning the exact same age as me - 28 - so we were going to surprise him. We left at midnight, everyone else kept drinking. It was a fun night.

Our plan for Sunday was simple:

- Do laundry
- Get brunch
- Head to Best Buy when it opened to get Wii Fit and/or Guitar Hero On Tour for DS
- Go home and bum around

Best Buy hadn't received any copies of Wii Fit (meaning, basically, the game Nintendo have spent fucktons marketing hasn't been available for purchase since its release date). I'm pretty much resigned to the fact we're not getting it. Instead, we both picked up a copy of Guitar Hero On Tour with the free stickers, and then noticed that they had the standalone Rock Band drum kits.

I've been hemming and hawing about the game for a while. We have Guitar Hero II and III and thus two compatible guitars, and neither of us would want to sing. That ruled out the big bundle. Then there's the pending release of Guitar Hero IV with its own snazzier drum kit. I decided to go for it, though, as the drums looked very appealing to play. So we went home with the disc-only Rock Band game, the drum kit and two copies of GHOT.

We spent a lot of time playing Rock Band, in which time I realised how much fun drumming is. After that, Jess tried the drums while I opened my copy of Guitar Hero. Due to the high potential for hand cramping, the shitty list of songs, and the fact we would likely never play the multiplayer modes, we decided to take the second copy straight back for a refund. It's fun, but not twice the price fun.

And that was our little indulgence.

We have an interesting few weeks coming up.

- We're about to receive our economic stimulus cheque from the government. We're splitting it between four charities - one of which is our savings account, the other three are actual good causes.
- I supposedly get a bonus I've been promised for a few months next week, so that has been earmarked for a new iPhone each (hence the aforementioned AT&T migration) and more savings.
- There's some little thing called the fourth of July.
- We're seeing the excellent Wolf Parade at House Of Blues (having seen the also brilliant Dethklok there last week).
- I have my interview for my green card application.

It's all go, go, go.

Oh white rabbit.

I've not updated properly in a few days. To be honest, I've been lazy. There's a lot going on this month so it's been nice to just do nothing at all.

I suppose you want the good news first. Well, on the immigration front, we have our interview appointment. While it's not good news that we even need an interview, and I am concerned about one of the items I have to take to it, it does mean I am closer to getting my green card.

I also have a biometrics appointment for my renewal EAD in between, so I should get that not long before my green card, rendering it almost completely useless.

Oh well.

The weather in Chicago is being a little schizophrenic right now, but the general warmth has allowed us to do more than just sit in front of the TV. We were out and about over the weekend, and tonight we went to watch my co-workers play their first softball game in a local league. That's right, I didn't play. I wanted to gauge the general skill level before making a tit of myself.

As well as softball season, crazy season has started. Over the next few weeks, we...

- See Death Cab For Cutie with Rogue Wave
- See REM with The National and Modest Mouse
- Go to Butterfest, a festival in Jess' hometown, with the in-laws
- Get to spend time with my parents, who are over for a week
- See Dethklok with some real metal bands

And now it's time for bed, if I can prise Jess off of Dr Mario: Online Rx, a Nintendo Wii sequel to the classic puzzle game. It's awesome.

- March 2007: apply for green card.
- April 2007: biometrics (fingerprints/photos) appointment.
- ~June 2007: green card case mysteriously put into storage.
- November 2007: told at appointment that it is in permanent storage with no decision, and it will be pulled out and sent to the Chicago office to find out why.
- January 2008: told at appointment that the case was pulled out, arrived in late December, and was instantly sent back. Also told not to apply for work permit renewal as I will have my green card before then, according to the immigration lady who seemed very put out about having to "fix someone else's mess". She promises to call.
- February 2008: hear nothing. Involve local congressman's office. Now just over 90 days till work permit expires.
- March 2008: hear nothing.
- April 2008: case is in Chicago! Yay! Hear nothing more.
- May 2008: told at appointment that case had just been assigned to a supervisor (~1 month after arriving) and that we should definitely apply for work permit. Which expires in less than 30 days. Oops, LOLZ!

Total time to receive fuck all information or movement on case: 14 months

- 12 May 2008: send work permit application, including cheque for $340.
- 22 May 2008: cheque cashed.

Total time for US Immigration to snort up more money: 10 days

My being in this country is certainly a privilege and not a right, and I respect that. I also respect that there are hundreds of thousands of people going through this process at any given time... but it is not a free service. If I spent hundreds of dollars on any other service, I would have the right (and a mechanism) to complain when the service I receive is poor.

It's not made any easier when I hear via immigration communities online that people who applied in March of this year have their cards in hand already. I can't imagine my name is so common that it requires much effort to check in the FBI's computers. My relationship with my wife is legitimate, and provably so. I have made every effort to integrate, finding stable employment and paying thousands of dollars in taxes. I cannot comprehend the delay.

What really busts my balls, other than the delay incurring another $340, is that I won't even get a full green card! The card I had to apply for is a conditional permanent residence card - this offers temporary status to newlyweds. After two years of marriage, you get the full fat version. The full fat version, by the way, will cost me another $465 plus $80 for biometrics.

The less educated American's response to the illegal immigration problem is to put up a big fence around the country. Fixing this horrible system will be much more effective.

Funny story.

At the end of November last year, we went to talk to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. My green card application had gone quiet for several months and we were worried. It seemed with good reason - we were told that our case had been put into storage in California before a decision was reached some months beforehand. Had we not gone in, it would have stayed that way... and I wouldn't have gotten a green card.

The woman told us to come back in January. She was going to get our case out of storage, have it sent to her in Chicago then work out what was going on.

So yesterday, we went in for that follow-up to see what was going on. We spoke to a different lady, and just as well really. It turns out the original lady had sent off for our file, received it, then it was sent back to permanent storage a week later - nobody found out what was going on, reached a decision, or contacted us to explain why our case had been put there in the first place. We waited over a month and nothing changed.

The second woman was irritating - she seemed so indignant that she had to fix someone else's mess. As annoying as I'm sure that is, it's more annoying to be a person who has paid a government agency hundreds of dollars only to be met with incompetence, inefficiency and someone complaining that they have to do the job they are paid to do.

It wasn't her fault, though, so I tried not to get angry. When we asked her about next steps, she told us that she would find out what the status on our case is and make sure it is processed properly this time. I pressed for an estimated turnaround and she told us to wait 90 days. You know, because we haven't waited long enough so far.

Unfortunately, my work authorisation expires in just over 120 days and a new one takes 90 days to come through. If I wait that 90 days and hear nothing then apply for the work authorisation, I may be unable to work for a month - and pay for the privilege. If I apply before that 90 days is up and then get my green card, I will be out of pocket another several hundred dollars. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Of course, when I finally do get my green card, I will only have it a short while before I have to pay money to have certain restrictions lifted. You can almost hear the clanking of cash registers.

If you've been reading all my immigration-related posts to date, you will now understand why so many thousands of people enter this country illegally - even if you can afford the hefty fees, the bureaucracy will kick the wind out of your sails. Who wouldn't want to avoid all that?

Today, Jess and I went to see our good chums at US Immigration. We applied for my green card eight months ago and haven't heard anything in three - all this while people who filed as late as August have their green cards already - so we wanted to find out what was going on.

It was an effing good job we did.

It turns out, last month the California office put our case into permanent storage without notifying us if they had made a decision, and if so, what that decision was. Had we not gone in to talk to them about it, our case would have remained in storage and we would have been none the wiser.

As it was, the woman we spoke to told us she is going to get our case taken out of storage so she can see where it's at. We're either going to hear that it was approved, that they still need something from us, or that it was just stored for no good reason.

We paid over $400 for this service. The August filers, who thankfully seem to be getting their cards, paid over $1,000. Neither amount is chump change, but as they have no obligation to do anything for us foreigners, there's eff all we can do about it.