| Don't get me started on immigration issues. 2004 - I applied to do my Master's in the United States, I had great financial aid in a good school and great GRE scores. Student Visa? Neither approved nor Denied : Placed in indefinite limbo because I have a muslim name which brought up some flag in their database. Btw. my surname is the 'John Smith' of muslim names. I gave up and went to Canada to pursue my education at McGill. Fantastic experience. Eventually landed a job in US and got my H1B this time. Thought the visa issues were behind me. I was wrong. 2007 - My mom applied for a US visa to come visit me. Neither approved/nor denied (Section 221(g) - name check). 2008 - My dad and mom both applied for a US visa to come visit me.
Neither approved/nor denied - same reason. 2011 - After living in working in US for about 5 years and having gotten multiple visa stamps, I got to Vancouver to get my visa renewed. Placed under limbo again! Stayed in Vancouver for weeks before they 'cleared me'. 2012 - My mom applies again. Result? you guessed the answer. Visa limbo. I'm facing another visa renewal soon and I'm prepared for another night-marish episode. Oh yeah, forget about green card - the queue for my country has ensured that I'll be lucky to get it in this lifetime, pretty much screwing up my ability to take chances with starting my own start-up in the US. The thing is that I really like living in this country, the work opportunities and its people. But the more I deal with the immigration system, the more un-welcomed and temporary I feel here. |