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Paperwork

  • May. 11th, 2005 at 12:37 PM
Fishy Circumstances
owlfish
Somewhere between London and here, the rest of C.'s paperwork is winging its way across the ocean to me. I've been nervous about applying for my UK visa for months (what if I'm turned down?), but this week, the ongoing disturbance of rearranging the household yet again for painting and repairs is temporarily trumping my visa fretfulness.

At least the odds are against FexEx/UPS/whatever-service-he-used losing his passport entirely the way FedEx did my sister's, once upon a time.

Comments

( 13 comments — Leave a comment )
sioneva
May. 11th, 2005 04:40 pm (UTC)
*hugs* It'll be okay. The British consulate was *far* friendlier to us than US immigration ever was.
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owlfish
May. 11th, 2005 04:43 pm (UTC)
In the abstract, I should be a prime candidate for this visa on all counts. In practice, because it'll be unresolved for a few more weeks at least (I haven't even applied yet, after all!), despite my best intentions, I will likely worry about it until it's resolved.

I feel more justified than usual in fretting over things this year, since most of the things I'm fretting about are Major Lifechanging Events.

Thank you for your reassurance.
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chickenfeet2003
May. 11th, 2005 04:46 pm (UTC)
US Immigration officials are deliberately recruited from the more uncouth sections of the populace then given intensive rudeness training.
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owlfish
May. 11th, 2005 04:53 pm (UTC)
Although some of them give me warm and fuzzy feelings when, once in a blue moon, they say, with a smile, "Welcome back to the U.S." This happened to me again just last week.

(I don't think of Canada or the UK - or even Italy - as not being home. It's just that the U.S. is still even more so. And Iowa is my home even more than that, but no one ever welcomes me back to there in particular.)
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chickenfeet2003
May. 11th, 2005 04:57 pm (UTC)
My favourite was the one at LAX who took my landing card, crossed out "UK" with which I had filled in country of citizenship and wrote in "England" before informing me (with a snarl) that the US did not recognize the UK.
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kashmera
May. 11th, 2005 07:18 pm (UTC)
And even then that person was wrong...(it should have been Britain, like it says on the passport info page).

I once accidentally wrote Canada in that box by mistake - it was a land border and I was stressed. The guy processing grilled me on loads of stuff (because my work permit was about to run out) and then didn't notice this and stamped it. I noticed it later on and crossed it out and corrected it. I was then really worried the next time I went down to the US because I thought they'd get me for committing some sort of wrong-doing. They didn't say anything but on the way back I surrendered that one early!
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marzapane
May. 11th, 2005 06:19 pm (UTC)
I think they're trained to say that to boost your feelings of patriotism towards the homeland, but I'll admit it works.

By the way, the upside of FedEx losing your passport is that I learned you can get BOTH a new US passport AND an Italian student visa in just one day. Not sure if they have an unpublished policy on emergencies such as that or if it was just my tearfulness that got the job done. It certainly changed my thinking that all immigration officials were heartless.
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owlfish
May. 11th, 2005 06:28 pm (UTC)
So many of them don't say it though. I'm sure it is part of training, but you're right, it works. I wonder how many other countries do the same?

I'd forgotten how phenomenally organized and responsive both governmental entities were to your fiasco! Still, lest anyone reading this get their expectations up: apply for your first passport/renew your passport at least six weeks before it expires. They're not usually that fast.
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amaliedageek
May. 11th, 2005 05:36 pm (UTC)
Are you applying for a spousal visa, or the HSMP?

I post on a board for American expatriates in the UK, and I've never seen anyone outright denied a spousal visa; there have been delays with requests for clarification or additional paperwork, but never an outright refusal.

(I'm here by way of oursin.)
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owlfish
May. 11th, 2005 06:11 pm (UTC)
I'm applying for a non-spousal/commonlaw visa. I've lived with my SO in Canada for the past four years, so we easily qualify on that count.

I'm heartened to hear that delays are more likely than denials. Delays are no problem - that's part of why I'm applying a good two months before I would particularly like to be over there.
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amaliedageek
May. 11th, 2005 06:35 pm (UTC)
Unmarried Partner? At most I've heard of refusals due to insufficient time spent together; since you have four years, I really think it should go smoothly. Did you use eFasttrack to fill out the paperwork?

We're hoping for a interoffice transfer, ourselves.
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owlfish
May. 11th, 2005 06:54 pm (UTC)
I will be applying through eFasttrack as soon as the last of the paperwork arrives, which shouldn't be more than a day or two from now. I'm planning on going to Chicago in person in two weeks with the paperwork. One passport going amiss via express mail is easier to deal with than both of our passports and all our other paperwork going astray all together.

Good luck with a smooth interoffice transfer!
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kashmera
May. 11th, 2005 07:24 pm (UTC)
You won't get turned down just like that. They would ask for clarifications and try to find a work around if there are problems. Since you are telling the truth about your current situation and what you want to do then this gives you a strong standpoint if there are problems (which I doubt there will be). You know (and most likely they know) that you are not the sort of person they are trying to keep out.
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( 13 comments — Leave a comment )