Why it needs to be like this? (long)
May 2nd 2003, 4:36 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Why it needs to be like this? (long)
Briefly my situation:
A year ago, I've changed jobs (under H1b), and my new employer filled all
the forms by himself, no lawyers. Unnecessary to say, everything was wrong.
After 6 months waiting for the approval, which didn't came, instead came a
RFE from the INS, they decided to hire an attorney.
The thing was so messed up that the lawyer decided to fix the original
application, withdrew the request for automatic extension for the I94 and to
be in the safe side, he filled a second application. Just in case the first
one was denied.
Luckily, the first one was approved (after 1 year), but I didn't get a new
I94. I had to leave the country and then reenter, and so I did. I have to
mention that I live in San Diego, so it's not a problem to take the trolley
and visit our neighbor Tijuana city. The INS officers refused to give me a
new I-94, stating that the one I had was valid till November, and only then
they could give me a new one. I've explained the situation that the I94 was
related to the petition of my old employer, and I had to get a new one to be
"in status". Even his supervisor gave me a "lesson" explaining why I didn't
need. Ok, I thought my lawyer was wrong.
This week my lawyer called me again asking if I had it done, and he told me
that they (lawyers) had a meeting with the new BCIS regarding those kind of
problems at the SD POE, and the BCIS said that it shouldn't be a problem
anymore, since everybody is already trained.
Ok, now my yesterday's experience. I went down to Tijuana, armed with the
minutes of my lawyer's meeting with the BCIS guys and the printed paragraph
of the CFR 8 insert (I think that's the name) telling that leaving the
country through Mexico and reentering should be considered as so, and a new
I94 should be issued if requested.
The officer who serviced me was extremely rude, and the only way he could
issue me a new I94 was if I had a new VISA stamped on my passport, with the
new employer's name on it. Now I'm confused, in my mind, the stamped visa is
an "entry" document, not a "stay" document. But ok, *he* is the authority.
He said: get back to wherever you came from and get a new visa... go to Los
Angeles.... I said "I live here in San Diego", and then he said: "First
thing Monday morning you go Downtown San Diego and get a new visa".
Oh my! What a great news! Now we have an American embassy here in
America! That's really good news!
Well, my next argument was "Sir, my lawyer instructed me....", and then he
flipped out "WE DON'T DEAL WITH LAWYERS HERE!". He was angry, le looked at
his side and then called his boss. He explained my situation, just like I
was the dumbest guy in the planet, to be requesting such a stupid thing,
renew the I-94 when you have one valid already? What a joke.
And then his supervisor said: "Humnnn, take a look at the inserts, I think I
saw something about it there..." Obviously the arrogant guy didn't want to
look at the computer. He left me there for about 10 minutes, me and my
passport. Then the boss himself sit at the computer and started to browse
the "immigration guidelines" they have there. At some point, the boss called
this guy, they spoke for a few minutes in a very soft voice, and then the
gorilla came. He got my passport, took a look in it and then threw it up to
the trainee: "Give him a new I-94... make sure the name of the new company
is on the back of the I94" and the guy never more looked at me.
The good thing was that the trainee, a very well educated girl, had a little
bit of good sense. At least there was room for some dialogue. She was about
to write the expiration date, and she was looking at my visa, when I told
her "I'm sorry miss, but I think the right dates should be the one that are
in the petition, right?"
She stopped, looked at me, and said: "let me check on that", withdrew a
small notepad from his pocket, full of printed pages in small fonts (that
reminded me the days at college, when I used to print all the matter to an
exam in Arial 6), flipped some pages and said "yeap, you are right.".
Does it hurt? To admit you made a mistake? I make mistakes all the time, and
I learn with them. Now, the gorilla, I know it must have been hurt him when
his supervisor said he was wrong...
Well, I just wanted to share my experience. And for everybody that will have
to pass through a similar experience, go to the BCIS on line website, print
the law and take it with you. Don't try to show them, but say something like
this: "Sir, may I ask you to just look under CFR 8, paragraph 213.4 bla bla
bla?" He will know that he is not dealing with a regular immigrant.
Padu
A year ago, I've changed jobs (under H1b), and my new employer filled all
the forms by himself, no lawyers. Unnecessary to say, everything was wrong.
After 6 months waiting for the approval, which didn't came, instead came a
RFE from the INS, they decided to hire an attorney.
The thing was so messed up that the lawyer decided to fix the original
application, withdrew the request for automatic extension for the I94 and to
be in the safe side, he filled a second application. Just in case the first
one was denied.
Luckily, the first one was approved (after 1 year), but I didn't get a new
I94. I had to leave the country and then reenter, and so I did. I have to
mention that I live in San Diego, so it's not a problem to take the trolley
and visit our neighbor Tijuana city. The INS officers refused to give me a
new I-94, stating that the one I had was valid till November, and only then
they could give me a new one. I've explained the situation that the I94 was
related to the petition of my old employer, and I had to get a new one to be
"in status". Even his supervisor gave me a "lesson" explaining why I didn't
need. Ok, I thought my lawyer was wrong.
This week my lawyer called me again asking if I had it done, and he told me
that they (lawyers) had a meeting with the new BCIS regarding those kind of
problems at the SD POE, and the BCIS said that it shouldn't be a problem
anymore, since everybody is already trained.
Ok, now my yesterday's experience. I went down to Tijuana, armed with the
minutes of my lawyer's meeting with the BCIS guys and the printed paragraph
of the CFR 8 insert (I think that's the name) telling that leaving the
country through Mexico and reentering should be considered as so, and a new
I94 should be issued if requested.
The officer who serviced me was extremely rude, and the only way he could
issue me a new I94 was if I had a new VISA stamped on my passport, with the
new employer's name on it. Now I'm confused, in my mind, the stamped visa is
an "entry" document, not a "stay" document. But ok, *he* is the authority.
He said: get back to wherever you came from and get a new visa... go to Los
Angeles.... I said "I live here in San Diego", and then he said: "First
thing Monday morning you go Downtown San Diego and get a new visa".
Oh my! What a great news! Now we have an American embassy here in
America! That's really good news!
Well, my next argument was "Sir, my lawyer instructed me....", and then he
flipped out "WE DON'T DEAL WITH LAWYERS HERE!". He was angry, le looked at
his side and then called his boss. He explained my situation, just like I
was the dumbest guy in the planet, to be requesting such a stupid thing,
renew the I-94 when you have one valid already? What a joke.
And then his supervisor said: "Humnnn, take a look at the inserts, I think I
saw something about it there..." Obviously the arrogant guy didn't want to
look at the computer. He left me there for about 10 minutes, me and my
passport. Then the boss himself sit at the computer and started to browse
the "immigration guidelines" they have there. At some point, the boss called
this guy, they spoke for a few minutes in a very soft voice, and then the
gorilla came. He got my passport, took a look in it and then threw it up to
the trainee: "Give him a new I-94... make sure the name of the new company
is on the back of the I94" and the guy never more looked at me.
The good thing was that the trainee, a very well educated girl, had a little
bit of good sense. At least there was room for some dialogue. She was about
to write the expiration date, and she was looking at my visa, when I told
her "I'm sorry miss, but I think the right dates should be the one that are
in the petition, right?"
She stopped, looked at me, and said: "let me check on that", withdrew a
small notepad from his pocket, full of printed pages in small fonts (that
reminded me the days at college, when I used to print all the matter to an
exam in Arial 6), flipped some pages and said "yeap, you are right.".
Does it hurt? To admit you made a mistake? I make mistakes all the time, and
I learn with them. Now, the gorilla, I know it must have been hurt him when
his supervisor said he was wrong...
Well, I just wanted to share my experience. And for everybody that will have
to pass through a similar experience, go to the BCIS on line website, print
the law and take it with you. Don't try to show them, but say something like
this: "Sir, may I ask you to just look under CFR 8, paragraph 213.4 bla bla
bla?" He will know that he is not dealing with a regular immigrant.
Padu
May 2nd 2003, 7:22 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Why it needs to be like this? (long)
"Padu" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Briefly my situation:
> A year ago, I've changed jobs (under H1b), and my new employer filled all
> the forms by himself, no lawyers. Unnecessary to say, everything was
wrong.
> After 6 months waiting for the approval, which didn't came, instead came a
> RFE from the INS, they decided to hire an attorney.
> The thing was so messed up that the lawyer decided to fix the original
> application, withdrew the request for automatic extension for the I94 and
to
> be in the safe side, he filled a second application. Just in case the
first
> one was denied.
[snip]
> The good thing was that the trainee, a very well educated girl, had a
little
> bit of good sense. At least there was room for some dialogue. She was
about
> to write the expiration date, and she was looking at my visa, when I told
> her "I'm sorry miss, but I think the right dates should be the one that
are
> in the petition, right?"
> She stopped, looked at me, and said: "let me check on that", withdrew a
> small notepad from his pocket, full of printed pages in small fonts (that
> reminded me the days at college, when I used to print all the matter to an
> exam in Arial 6), flipped some pages and said "yeap, you are right.".
> Does it hurt? To admit you made a mistake? I make mistakes all the time,
and
> I learn with them. Now, the gorilla, I know it must have been hurt him
when
> his supervisor said he was wrong...
> Well, I just wanted to share my experience. And for everybody that will
have
> to pass through a similar experience, go to the BCIS on line website,
print
> the law and take it with you. Don't try to show them, but say something
like
> this: "Sir, may I ask you to just look under CFR 8, paragraph 213.4 bla
bla
> bla?" He will know that he is not dealing with a regular immigrant.
Padu, thank you so much for writing this detailed account. It is very
helpful.
news:[email protected]...
> Briefly my situation:
> A year ago, I've changed jobs (under H1b), and my new employer filled all
> the forms by himself, no lawyers. Unnecessary to say, everything was
wrong.
> After 6 months waiting for the approval, which didn't came, instead came a
> RFE from the INS, they decided to hire an attorney.
> The thing was so messed up that the lawyer decided to fix the original
> application, withdrew the request for automatic extension for the I94 and
to
> be in the safe side, he filled a second application. Just in case the
first
> one was denied.
[snip]
> The good thing was that the trainee, a very well educated girl, had a
little
> bit of good sense. At least there was room for some dialogue. She was
about
> to write the expiration date, and she was looking at my visa, when I told
> her "I'm sorry miss, but I think the right dates should be the one that
are
> in the petition, right?"
> She stopped, looked at me, and said: "let me check on that", withdrew a
> small notepad from his pocket, full of printed pages in small fonts (that
> reminded me the days at college, when I used to print all the matter to an
> exam in Arial 6), flipped some pages and said "yeap, you are right.".
> Does it hurt? To admit you made a mistake? I make mistakes all the time,
and
> I learn with them. Now, the gorilla, I know it must have been hurt him
when
> his supervisor said he was wrong...
> Well, I just wanted to share my experience. And for everybody that will
have
> to pass through a similar experience, go to the BCIS on line website,
> the law and take it with you. Don't try to show them, but say something
like
> this: "Sir, may I ask you to just look under CFR 8, paragraph 213.4 bla
bla
> bla?" He will know that he is not dealing with a regular immigrant.
Padu, thank you so much for writing this detailed account. It is very
helpful.
