The next important step in immigration, after marrying my wife of course, was to join the workforce. As it takes approximately 2 years after filing for a change of status from a fiance visa to receive a green card, I needed a work permit. We dutifully filled out the required papers, but there was one entry that related to your current status as an immigrant that we needed help with. Basically, if you immigrated on a fiance visa you had to fill in one code and if you had applied for a change of status it was another. As both applied to us, we called the Immigration and Naturalization Services helpline for more information. We were told the code we had to fill in and, with a pleasant farewell, hung up.
With our answer now in hand, we completed the form, wrote the check for the amount required, and the completed form to the INS. It was a joyous, if expensive, day when we sent that form off. Soon I would be able to become a valued part of the workforce, contributing my skills to the USA as any citizen would. So, patiently, we waited...
...and waited...
...and waited...
...and, ok, somewhat less patiently now, still waited. The speed of government is truly something to behold.
A few months later we received an envelope from the INS. In it was my new work permit. Imagine our joy when we looked at this precious card that would soon allow me to earn my way in this new world. Now imagine that joy fading into puzzlement as we saw the card had expired one month before we received it.
Surely there had been some mistake. All we would need to do, we thought, was call the INS, explain the situation, and everything would be corrected. How naive we were. We made the call and were informed that the work permit was correct according to the information we had sent. Inquiring further we learned the culprit was the status code we had struggled with so long ago. Well, mistakes will occur in any process we realized and explained the situation to the agent on the phone, even giving the name of the original agent who had advised us as to what to enter.
"Well, I'm sorry, you shouldn't have been told that," said the agent speaking with us and that gave us hope.
"OK, so what do we do now?"
"You'll need to reapply..."
That didn't please us, given how long it took for them to process the application in the first place. What pleased us less, however, was learning that despite this being an error in the information we were given, we would have to pay again for the new application to be processed. We tried to make the agent see reason, but were left without any recourse save to reapply and pay once more. All of which leads me to one conclusion:
The government never makes mistakes, it merely generates extra income through unusual methods.
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