[gorbachev]

Agreed.

When I was getting my green card, USCIS actually lost the one they had already printed. A very kafkaesque situation for which there didn't appear to be a clear process to resolve. I knew I didn't have to leave the country over it like you, but I had no idea if I'd be able to start in my new job, which came with a very significant, almost life changing, pay raise. The USCIS officer I went to see about the situation basically told me "not my problem", and nothing else.

It all turned out ok in the end, but the week or two I didn't know what would happen were the most stressful days of my entire life.

[dkjaudyeqooe]

Reminds me of the time the authorities forgot to sign my passport application at my citizenship ceremony. They sent me an email (!) saying I had to refill the form and pay the fee again and send it to some random office address. I went to the local govt office where this had to be notarised and forwarded and they told me perhaps 10 times that this was not normal procedure and that they took no responsibility for the outcome. I replied the same number of times that I had received these instructions (which I showed them) and if I didn't follow them I wouldn't get a passport.

It was stupid and aggravating. You could see on their faces that they thought if they told me just one more time that I'd come to my senses and do it the "approved" way. They never did accept that I had no choice in the matter but eventually accepted my application and I got my passport a while later.