Finally! I have a Green Card!
July 24th, 2006 will remain a day which I will look back upon as one of the big milestones of my life. For close to a year, I have been feverishly working on paperwork with my immigration attorney in order to finally get my Green Card and become a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States. For the past many years (WAY too many years), I have been renewing my TN-1 Visa status (North American Free Trade Agreement work visa) on a yearly basis. It’s a reletively simple process if you have all the qualifications, but as everything involving immigration, it does have its risks. One mistake, issue and/or problem, and I could have theoretically been sent back to Canada.
Folks who have known me for years are always amazed when they find out that it took me this long to get to this point. Some of the delays were caused by a major change in my life, such as marrying Amy, which involved major changes to some paperwork. Other delays can be attributed to a previous attorney I hired who was ‘less than effective’ in providing me with assistance, yet ‘very effective’ when it came to payment of services. Lastly, and probably the biggest reason for the delay was pure procrastination on my part. The TN-1 visa process had become second-nature to me and it was something I was inherently familiar with, having taken care of all the needed paperwork myself for many years. In 2002, my employer offered to handle everything, which made the whole process almost transparent for me.
In July of 2005, Amy put her foot down. Knowing full well that sometimes, it take a good swift kick in the backside when I get complacent with a difficult situation, she, as well as my parents took it upon themselves to get it into my thick skull that my situation, while seemingly harmless, was irresponsible in regards to the family we had created. That one night, it all sunk in and the next morning, I placed another call to my new attorney and began my Green Card process.
There’s a general mis-conception that when you marry an American citizen, you automatically get a Green Card or even citizenship. That’s the furthest from the truth! It’s a long, difficult process, which involves a lot of paperwork. And that’s the way it should be. I ALWAYS considered my presence in the United States a privilege, NOT a right. The process also involves medical exams, vaccines, background checks, fingerprinting, biometrics, etc. Once my attorney had completed the application packet, we had close to 2 inches of paperwork. Just before Christmas 2005, my application was sent via FedEx for processing. There are four major processing centers in the US, one of which is located in Vermont. This particular center is the most efficient one, with some processing times half those of other centers. I tracked my application as it arrived in Chicago, hoping that it would be sent to Vermont for processing. In early January, while tracking my case on the USCIS website, I noticed that my application had indeed been sent to Vermont, which meant that I would probably be statistically processed quickly (as in months, not years).
In February 2006, I received what I thought was a major setback. USCIS had sent my attorney and me a letter requesting more evidence, in regards to the ‘affidavit of support’ documentation. To make a long story short, when you apply for Permenant Residency, you need to prove that you will not become a burden on the state. As such, ‘normally’ my paperwork would have included information showing that Amy had income 20% above the poverty level for a family of 3. Since Amy is a stay-at-home mother with no income, we would have had to base the numbers on joint assets, etc, or include Amy’s father as a co-sponsor. I wasn’t too keen on having my father-in-law financially back me; This was my problem, and I considered it unfair for him to do this, even though he had absolutely no issues with going down that path. My attorney suggested that we ask for a waiver of the affidavit of support under a little-known ruling. It turns out that if an applicant requesting permanent residency can prove that they have worked ‘40 quarters’, that this was enough proof that they could support themselves and would not be a burden to the state. This is a seldom used waiver, since there is a very, very small amount of applicants who have worked for over 10 years prior to requesting residency. I just happened to be one of those.
So, my attorney responded to the Request for Evidence letter with another inch of paperwork detailing how the original request for a waiver was appropriate and that it should be once again reviewed. A few weeks later, USCIS accepted the paperwork and instructed me to show up for a biometrics appointment in March 2006. A surprisingly efficient process had me in and out the door in about an hour, having had fingerprints taken, photos, etc. The ’speed’ at which everything was happening was very assuring for me. Yet, as people close to me know, the constant worrying wasn’t diminishing. From the time I started the process in 2005, I constantly had issues sleeping. Scenarios would race through my mind, and I was developing ‘contingency plans’ in my mind if this or that went wrong. I would frequently wake up in a state of panic, wondering what would happen to Amy and Sara if I forgot a piece of information and had to go back to Canada until the issue was resolved. The period between July 2005 until April 2006 was probably my most difficult of my life. All I could do was worry about what could happen to my family, even though there was no reason to worry. There was nobody to talk to either; while Amy knew I was constantly worrying, I didn’t want her to worry, and felt it was my role to remain strong in front of her. In reality, it was her attitude that everything would be fine that comforted me.
In April 2006, I was returning home from a day at work, and as usual, stopped by the mailbox to pickup the mail. In the stack was an enveloppe from DHS with what felt like something ’stiff’ inside. I ripped through the enveloppe and found that my EAD (Employment Authorization Document) had been approved and enclosed was my card, valid for a period of 1 year while the Permanent Residency application was being processed. It was at that point that I began to feel much better about the whole process. I actually had something to show for all the paperwork and time spent over the previous months. It’s one thing getting a status from a website stating things are progressing, it’s a much different thing to actually receive something ‘physical’ in the mail. I slept better for the next few weeks…
The first week of June 2006, another letter from DHS arrived. Opening it, I realized that it was our appointment for my Permanent Residency interview! According to the processing times on the USCIS website, I wasn’t expecting our interview until Spring 2007. We were scheduled for July 24, 2006, a full 9-10 months earlier than I had anticipated.
I setup a conference call between our attorney, Amy and me. For 30 minutes, he explained the whole interview process, what we should expect, and what we should bring with us, how we should dress, etc. To put it bluntly, overkill is the modus operandi when it comes to such interviews. Once I was done organizing everything, we had 3 HUGE rolling bags, containing original documents, copies, family albums/pictures, bills, statements, etc. Basically, in addition to all the documention you would expect, such as passports, birth certificates, etc, you need to be able to provide as much proof that your marriage had no relation or goal of getting a Green card. Even though Amy and I had been married close to 8 years, we didn’t want to take any chances and loaded up with POUNDS of supporting docs in case the immigration officer requested anything.
On Monday July 24th, Amy, Sara and I showed up at the USCIS offices in Fairfax, VA a full 40 minutes early. At 10:45am, our appointment time, an officer came to the waiting area, called out my name and guided us to his office. He proceeded to swear us in and we had a seat. He quickly set the tone that this was not going to be a stern and/or cold interview, but one that was more ‘chat like’. He reviewed the information in our application, went over key pieces of information, and reviewed the Affidavit of Support waiver. During this time, I glanced over to the top of a bookcase in his office, which displayed a small model of Jeff Gordon’s number 24 car, as well as a matching mug. I leaned over to Amy and quietly noted “You think he’s a Jeff Gordon fan?” Amy made a small playful grimace, which was immediately followed by a “I assume you’re not a Gordon fan?” and a chuckle from the officer. Amy replied “Well, I like Dale Jr.” A few minutes later, once he was satisfied that the application was complete, the officer, with a huge smile on his face, proceeded to open my passport and place a large stamp on page 24, Jeff Gordon’s number. He then stated that the stamp was my temporary I-551 (Permanent Residency approval), that I would receive my actual card in the mail within 2-3 weeks and congratulated me on having become a “Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States”. I couldn’t believe it. I asked him at least twice “That’s it? I’m done?”, to which he replied “Yes, you’re done. You’re all set.”
I thanked the officer, shook his hand and walked out of his office. We headed back to our car; I couldn’t help but have a feeling of relief that was almost overwhelming. All these months of worrying culminated with pure happiness. We called family and friends, and headed out for a celebratory lunch.
I would like to thank my parents for their endless reminders that this needed to be done years ago. I thank my in-laws for being patient, trying to understand why such a process is so confusing and time consuming. Mostly, I thank Amy, for sticking by me, for knowing how to get a cronic procrastinator off his ass and get something important done, and for making sure to always let me know that everything was going to be ok. Finally, I want to thank Sara, who’s innocence about what happened today and what has been going on over the past few months, always managed to put a smile on my face.
Now, I’m going to go have a good night’s sleep. Finally.
2 comments July 24th, 2006
Thanks to Eric!!!