That was quite a roller-coaster. Thanks for sharing the story.Vol Texan wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 9:08 am I’m reminded of the day I sat with my wife at her interview for her residency & work permit.
She had applied years earlier as the ‘unmarried daughter of a resident’, but that never made it through the gauntlet. She had to update the info a few years later when she became the ‘unmarried daughter of a citizen’ (after her mother successfully navigated the immigration system).
Then, a few years later we were married, and she had to re-apply again because she wasn’t the ‘unmarried daughter’ of anyone. She was now the ‘married wife of a citizen’. New application, many more $$, but now she was in a much shorter queue.
Fast forward to the interview: we’d been married a few years earlier, but had never really put together of wedding album (work and real-life got in the way). We knew it might be important, so we put it together rather quickly, along with a few other photo albums to document our marriage. We sat in the interviewer’s office with all this stuff (and other records) all piled on a corner of his desk.
He never looked at any of it. He did ask a bunch of questions, and my wife developed a good rapport with him. Clearly he felt comfortable about the arrangement because he proceeded to tell us that, “If I grant this residency, you’ll get your green card (with conditions) within a few weeks. In two years, you can apply to get the conditions removed, and then a year later, you can apply for citizenship. What do you think of that?”. He leaned back in his chair and smiled with his arms crossed behind his head, pleased with himself that he’d just laid out the golden plan – the three-year path was the best he could offer anyone.
My wife shook her head so subtly that it was almost imperceptible and said, “oh no sir, I don’t think that’ll work. I need to be able to vote in 2008.”
He explained that he had nothing better to offer, but no problem, we have elections all the time here in the US. She’ll get her chance to vote soon enough.
“You don’t understand,” Mrs. VolTexan said with a smile on her face, “I’ve got to vote against Hillary.”
Interviewer dude sat up, rearranged some papers on his desk and said in a somewhat serious tone, “We’re not allowed to discuss politics in here ma’am.” Then he added with a small grin, “But I sure do wish I could help you. I really do.”
I could tell he appreciated her sense of humor, but it was his turn to have some fun. He pulled out her work permit and slammed a huge stamped, “Denied” across the front of it. My wife sunk in her seat just a bit. It really didn’t matter – she already owned her own business since that was legal for her to do (I guess if you’re entrepreneurial, they don’t mind you creating your own work, as long as you aren’t competing for jobs with legally working folks in the US). But it still hurt a bit.
Then he said, “You won’t need this because green card holders don’t NEED a work permit,” as he stamped a huge “Approved” on her residency application.
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Best of luck to you today Andy. I’ll be proud to share my citizenship with you.
I think your wife and mine would get along well.
