The O.C. Englishman's blog » Immigration

Still waiting for California DMV to send my driver’s license

The Englishman — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:00:09 +0000

I have been settling in nicely to my new life and have just about got all the things I need to feel at home – SSN, bank accounts, credit card, store card and driver’s license.

That last one though isn’t quite complete. This is because while I have passed my driving test, I don’t yet have my driver’s license photocard. Yep, although I passed on November 9, 2009, to date I’m still making do with a paper temporary license. This is of no use whatsoever as valid ID, so whenever I need to show some, I have to whip out my green card. I don’t like having to carry it around because to be honest it’s a precious document.

Why the hold up anyway? Apparently California DMV need to verify my eligibility to reside in the United States before they can issue the card. The fact that I showed them my green card when I applied for my license is apparently neither here nor there. Nope, they need further proof. Where this proof is coming from is anyone’s guess but it’s certainly taking some time.

In this day and age you’d think that one government agency could run a check on someone’s status with another agency at the touch of a button, right? Yeah, well this is the modern United States so no, no you can’t.

I was given a number to call at the DMV HQ in Sacramento for the ‘verification department’. However, this number would just ring… and ring… and ring until I got sick of it. I have now taken to writing letters to the inquiries department. The first was sent at the end of January (no reply) and the second sent this last week. From now on I am going to write to them every week. Hopefully somebody somewhere in the bowels of the DMV will get sick of my constant whining and do something about it.

Then again, this is the DMV we’re talking about…

I’m not a number, I’m a free man!

The Englishman — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:45:29 +0000

Here in the Land of the Free life is good so far. The sun continues to shine, I eat fine foods and wear my shorts a lot. However, I can’t do much else.

This is because before I can do pretty much anything to get me into American society proper, I need my social security number or SSN. It should be in the system and on its way. Hope so anyway.

Without this, I can’t open a bank account, start my business or even get my learner’s driving permit. Yep, it would seem that this one piece of bureaucracy finds its way into all aspects of life and without one you’re stuffed. It’s the one thing that connects all aspects of an American’s existence in this country. You use it to register for education, health, a cell phone, store card or car finance to name a few.

So are Americans free individuals or just numbers?

Things falling into place

The Englishman — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:17:31 +0000

My blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground, but that doesn’t mean that not a lot is happening.

On the contrary we’ve been busy doing social activities (tearful farewells, mostly) as well as getting through all the chores that need to be done to make the move go smoothly.

The biggest upheaval will be the movers who are coming to collect up our worldly possessions, cram them into a metal container and whisk them off across the Atlantic on a big ship.

After they’ve been, there will be a period of us sitting round on packing crates with very little furniture, whatever we can carry in a suitcase and the clothes we’re standing in.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate as we shall be leaving behind a surprising amount of items we’re not taking with us. After Jennifer and Dott have left on 4 June it will be my job to dispose of these items in whatever means I see fit.

Some of it (well, a lot of it) is junk, and some of it I shall offer to friends and family. I will also try and sell the good stuff, and also use Freecycle to prevent items being sent to landfill.

Our activities over the next two weeks are:

Continue to sort through our household items
Clean bikes, boots and shoes
Send plants to good home
Take Dott to the vet for her fitness-to-travel letter
Finishing touches to my visa application
Stand back and watch the movers pack up our lives
Travel to London for my visa interview
Take Jennifer and Dott down to Heathrow
Get Jennifer and Dott on the plane to LA
Sort out the rest of the house

After the last item, there will be lots of other fiddly stuff for me to do, which I don’t want to contemplate just yet!

Drop ‘n’ cough: Immigrant visa medical with Knightsbridge Doctors

The Englishman — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:57:55 +0000

Last Tuesday I ventured down to London village for my visa medical examination. I wasn’t looking forward to this part of the process, but as it had to be done I had to be a brave boy.

Taking the train from Durham, I got there nice and early (three hours to be exact) and after a bit of shopping in various establishments I got my Pret lunch and wandered toward the clinic.

It was situated in a posh Victorian gothic mansion with buzzer entry. Now I knew where it was I still had an hour to kill so sought out somewhere to sit to eat my lunch. All the garden squares were locked up (anti-social poshos) so I ended up on a bench on a corner near the office. I sat and watched motorists trying to run down pedestrians while I ate my lunch and stressed.

Eventually my time came for my appointment with private medicine. I walked up the steps to Bentinck Mansions and pressed the intercom. Ominously the door buzzed with nothing being said. Gingerly I entered and walked in to reception. I dropped my documents with the receptionist and was directed to the waiting room. I was instructed to complete the first part of their assessment of me (I thought I was paying them to do this) and then waited.

My appointment time came and went. This wasn’t any better than the NHS! Eventually I was called into a room by a grumpy South African nurse who asked me if I had a record of my inoculations. That’ll be the piece of paper I handed in at reception and is now sitting in the pile of documents in front of you.

We established I did in fact need tetanus and MMR jabs, but I was gracefully allowed to get this done at my GP (for nothing) rather than by them for £50+. That done, I was marched down to the x-ray woman who was also South African and even more grumpy.

I was shoved around in front of the x-ray thingy and chastised for not actually knowing how to stand or where to put my arms. Sorry about that, but as I’ve never had a chest x-ray, I have no freakin’ idea what to do. Whatsoever.

So far my experience of private healthcare wasn’t up to much, but then as I HAD to go to them for the visa, I expect that a bit of civility and decency wasn’t included in the cost.

After another wait I finally was called by the doctor and taken into the room of doom. We ran through some questions (drug addict? alcoholic? Loon?) and established that hypothyroidism was in fact a thyroid disease (not just a bit sick like I thought) so I should have ticked the box. Well, that’ll teach you for making me fill out YOUR forms. They were supposed to be the experts after all.

After the paperwork, the once-over began. Luckily she didn’t linger long on my man-bits, to my relief. Despite all this, my heart rate was rather high. This was commented on, and I tried to explain that it’s not everyday I get poked with a big needle and thrown around an examination table…obviously. I was tersely commanded to “Relax!” which didn’t seem to help much. Hmmm, must work on your bed-side manner.

Anyway, long story short while I held my bleeding arm elevated and she completed the last of the paperwork, she tried to get all chummy and chatty so I played along. I just wanted out of there.

Soon we were done and I was relieved of £180 and free to go. I made a dash for it and got to King’s Cross in time for the 2.30pm train. I was home by 5.30pm.

Phew.

“Your mission, should you decide to accept it…”

The Englishman — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:01:20 +0000

On Friday a rather disappointing, small window-type envelope plopped through the letterbox. It was from the Immigrant Visa Branch at the US embassy in London.

I say “disappointing” because it was my eagerly awaited next-steps instructions for obtaining my visa. I was expecting an application pack but it contained just one sheet of paper. Pah.

It did, however, contain full instructions in the form of two URIs for their website where all the relevant information could be found. Yes, it would seem the US immigration service have gone all ‘paperlight’ and high tech. Maybe they’re taking liberties by assuming everyone has Internet access but I’m ok – you may have guessed I have such facilities.

I will say it is a shame they haven’t progressed beyond courier font on their letters but who am I to judge (Note to immigration officers: I’m not judging. Courier is so… so… 80s. Nice retro. I’m lovin’ it. Honest).

So, to business: what do I need to do now? It seems straight forward, I am happy to report. I have to gather up certain documents and let the embassy know when I have all my ducks in a row. They will then give me a date to attend for interview. I also will have to schedule a medical examination for a full “bend over Mr Hobley” going over. That should be fun – just warm your hands first, doc.

To distract me from thoughts of having my nether parts prodded, I’ve been assessing the documents I need. Yes, documents are far more my cup of tea and less intimate.

There’s a nice long list but I won’t need to get them all given that I’m neither an axe murderer, ex-army, divorcee or in need of translations. So, here it is, my document hit-list:

Birth certificate
Passport
Marriage certificate
Affidavit of Support
Police certificate
Photographs

I have my original birth certificate but as it’s a bit _ahem_ old. I’ve already ordered a couple of new copies to be on the safe side. If you Google ‘birth certificates’ you will get a lot of companies offering to obtain them for you. That’s nice of them! How much? Ooo £20 – £30 to you, guv’nor.

Er, well can’t I just go to the official government website and order one for £10 (or £7 if I know the GRO number)? Yes. Yes you can. How stupid do these third party ‘services’ think we are?

Anyway, that’s all sorted. Next up: passport. Sorted, of course. I get about a bit. Marriage certificate is also another homer because marriage is the whole reason I’m going to (hopefully) get my visa.

The affidavit of support is going to be a bit harder, but (un)fortunately not for me. This is something that Jennifer is going to have to work on. She needs to cover two main areas with this. 1. Prove we have the means to support me so that I don’t become a ‘public charge’. Believe me, I want this too as I don’t fancy pan-handling in the street or sleeping on park benches. 2. Jennifer also needs to show she has ‘domicile’ in the US. This means that she has ties to the country, and this is proved by showing possession of bank accounts, bills, housing and such like. We’re lucky as we’re able to meet both financial and domicile requirements but there’s going to be some leg work on Jennifer’s part.

The police certificate isn’t the usual CRB that we obtain here in the UK to prove we’re not a danger to small children when getting jobs. No, it’s actually a sort of pat on the head from ACPO, which is rather odd given that ACPO is actually a strategic body rather than the ‘police’ per se. Again, I ain’t complaining, and will shortly be sending off my £35 for the privilege of getting a letter from them stating that I am a good, fine upstanding member of society… or at least that I’ve never been caught doing anything ‘naughty’. (Note to immigration officers and police: I’ve never done anything wrong. Ever. Honest.).

That just leaves the photographs. Nip down to Tesco’s or the train station for a set of four and we’re done. Except no, they want American sized photographs. Sigh. Where does one get such photographs done in Durham? I’m sure that a photographer will relieve me of cash for the honour. However, I have a cunning plan. As I am soon heading to Americaland for a wedding, I shall be able to get some taken there for a hopefully reasonable sum of cash.

And that, folks, is that.

Apart from the anal probe.

Immigration – let’s get notarised

The Englishman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:54:34 +0000

So, as you may guess (how?) I’m not actually IN the OC at the moment. Before that can happen, there are a number of hoops that need to be jumped through and lots of long boring paperwork.

We’ve already filed the I-130 which, for those who don’t know, is the petition for a spousal visa made by a US citizen. In this case that’s Jennifer, my wife. As we live in the UK, we are able to use the service provided at the US embassy in London. After getting all that initial paperwork right, we have now been presented with our next challenge: proof that our marriage is ‘bona fide’.

We’ve been asked to provide three sworn affidavits from people who know us stating that our marriage is genuine. *Humpf* of course it is! Anyway, being upset about it wasn’t going to help so we started scratching our heads and thinking about who we could ‘volunteer‘ for this onerous task. Jennifer also has to get a document notarised explaining the circumstances of our relationship and how this led to our wedding (Er, because we love each other?).

We drew up a shortlist of suitable candidates and started making enquiries into costs and such like. We soon discovered that in the UK public notaries are actually quite rare. They are usually solicitors – but here’s the catch – not ALL solicitors can notarise. So, what does that mean? Yup, supply and demand rules apply. As there are only 900 or so notaries in England and Wales and a small handful in the northeast it costs an arm and a leg to get a document notarised. The two we found in the northeast charged between £80 and £140 (plus VAT). What?! Just to sign and stamp a document.

Our initial plans to get some fine upstanding members of society soon evaporated. We were going for cost effectiveness. In the US we figured it would be cheaper so we asked a couple of friends there to do a statement for us. These weighed in at the princely sum of $10 each. That’s more like it. Our third was done by a friend in Cardiff, Wales, and that cost £50. Jennifer’s was nearer £100.

So, all in all it’s a crazy-bonkers example of how much of a rip-off legal services can be (in the UK at least). This was especially as Jennifer’s visit to the notary lasted approximately 5 minutes and the guy didn’t seem to know what he was doing. He had claimed to be “highly trained”. Yeah, right.

It still remains to be seen whether the notarised documents from both the UK and USA will be up to standard for the immigration service, but that’s another story. We shall find out in due course.