Tag Archives: immigration

Our Christmas Trip Is Finally Coming Together

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If you are a subscriber to our blog or a regular reader, you will know that whan I moved back to the UK from Florida at the end of July, I had to leave my two daughters behind (with their Mom), and since I am missing them terribly, like all Dads do, we decided to try and spend Christmas in Florida to I can at least see them for a week.

The problem with going to Florida over Christmas though is that this is high season, the time when flights and accommodation are at their highest prices, and also at their scarcest.

In the wintertime, South Florida is full of people from the East Coast of the USA and Canada, the “snowbirds” as they are known.   Some snowbirds spend a good three months in Florida to escape the bitterly cold winters up north, while others just visit for one or two weeks.  If you go to the beaches in South Florida over the Christmas period and look at the licence plates of the cars, at least 2/3rds of them if not more are from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and in the Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale area too from Quebec and Toronto.   Just listen to the conversations on the people on the beach too, and the all too familiar Hispanic voices are replaced by New York twangs and even more so by Canadian French.

Last week after much searching for a decent route at a decent price, we bit the bullet and purchased our flights.  The price was high, but not as much as we could have ended up paying.  It was actually cheaper than it cost to get Debbie over to Florida for Christmas two years ago, but we also don’t have direct flights, which I hope is not going to be a problem.   When taking a multi-leg flight, you need to allow for delays in schedule, and inbound to the USA as well for delays in immigration, where Debbie has already had issues, her last trip to Miami resulting in her being stuck in immigration for 15 hours!   But hopefully we will be ok this time, since we have a 3 hour layover in Raleigh/Durham before catching our flight down to Miami, and I also now have my USA Passport, which ought to help.

Last night we also bit the bullet and booked a place to stay.  It’s not a luxurious hotel or resort, it’s a typical family owned motel on Hollywood Beach, and although it cost a lot it will hopefully work out best for us.   The few reviews that we managed to find for the motel sounded more good than bad.  There is no pool or hot tub, it’s above several restaurants so it could be noisy at night, but it is right on the boardwalk and we will be able to eat and walk along the beach at night, instead of being stuck in a hotel away from the beach in the evenings.

There really were not many choices for hotels unfortunately, since prices are sky high, and most places are already fully booked.  Left are the hotels close to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, those on the interstate, and some high and low end places that are either too expensive or in a bad neighborhood.  Of the three places on the beach, one was $250 a night, way out of our price range, a second was $100 a night but in the middle of being renovated and with some horrible reviews.  The place we picked was about the only choice.

My biggest fear is that because we don’t land in Miami until 9:30pm on Christmas Eve, is that everything will be closed, and it will be 11pm at the earliest before we get to where we are staying.  Since few places open in Florida on Christmas Day, we could end up without any essentials like bread, milk, juice etc for a day.  However staying right on the beach, there ought to be some shops and restaurants open at least.  It’s going to be a different Christmas with no turkey and trimmings I am sure, but hopefully a good one.   Getting up on Christmas Day is going to be tough, since by the time we get to bed it will already be 5am UK time or later!  Probably a good day to just spend relaxing on the beach or the terrace.

Now we need to find a good deal on a rental car, which I hope is easier to sort out.  There appear to be plenty of choices at least from all the car rental companies, but even that is expensive.  I must remember to use my AAA (equivalent of AA/RAC in the UK) discount to save some money, but since we will be taking the girls out we need to have transport.  

I doubt that we will be spending many days on the beach, but at least we will be right there in the evenings, plenty of opportunities for walking, either on the boardwalk (promenade) or along the waters edge.

So wish us luck!  Hopefully the flights, immigration process, accommodation and weather all work in our favour.  Will post updates and photos later, also a video or two maybe…

I’m Now Officially A US Citizen

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Well finally as of 17th June 2009 I am a US Citizen, having had my Oath Ceremony yesterday.

The ceremony started with a lady from the immigration service singing the Star Spangled Banner, like she was doing it at a concert.  It was full of warbling, extreme high pitches etc, but her voice was definitely not good, so most of it was not only off key, but went up and down and croaked at the same time, with intermittent really loud sections.   It was like one of those American Idol auditions that is too painful to listen to,  and the woman sitting next to me looked at me as we sat down after the singing stopped and we both laughed, because of course the singer got great applause, and nobody dared to laugh for fear of losing their long waited for status for showing disrespect.

Then came several speeches, introducing people that were there, a couple of short videos, including one from the President, and then the Oath itself.

It was amazing how many people were there to be sworn in as new citizens of the USA, 170 people in all from 40 countries.   They called each country in turn with the number of people from that country who were being sworn in, and it went like “Albania 1, Belgum 1, Cuba 6, Colombia 15, France 2, etc.   More people from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela as expected, only 2 from the UK, and finally 30 from Haiti and 35 from Jamaica! 

It’s a miracle that there is anyone left in some of the islands in the Caribbean.  I heard years ago that there were more Jamaicans in new York than there were in Jamaica, and probably the same is true for London, let alone South Florida.  I think that the more family and friends you have in another country, the more attractive the move becomes.

Well finally, I got my certificate, and a US flag to wave (I couldn’t help wonder if it was Made In China like so many other things these days which woudl be ironic), and then some forms to fill in.

I couldn’t apply for my passport there and then, so I have had to make an appointment at the Post Office to get that done.  Until I get my US Passport I can’t leave the country, which is a little bit worrying for anyone who has family or friends overseas, just in case anythign happens that requires you to travel in an emergency.

I also completed a form to update my Social Security status to Citizen, and felt sorry for the solitary guy from Social Security who had to deal with all the applications.  He had a desk outside the building, where it had been raining at one point, but in any case was really hot and humid.  The desk was in a corner of the building, and he had over 150 people both trying to take forms to complete as well as hand completed forms in to him, all in a narrow space.   It took a while for him to take my form because of people coming up and thrusting theirs in front of him, which was rather rude, and it’s not in my nature to do that.  When he did take mine I thanked him, which almost nobody else did either.   At least he acknowledged that.   They could have found a place inside for him and maybe given him an assistant, that would have helped a lot.

So now I just have to get my passport, and I will be 100% valid to come and go and won’t have to worry about my green card expiring either.

A Totally Wasted Frustrating Day

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I have to admit that today started out ok, I knew I had to get certain things done today, since I am flying to England tomorrow morning, however no sooner had it started than the frustration set in, and at this point in time, almost 2pm, I haven’t really achieved a lot.

On Monday I had an interview for my Naturalization (US Citizenship), and all went ok except that I had to provide proof that I am paying child support, which I am.   I expected the form providing details to arrive after some weeks, but no, when I got home Wednesday night there was a letter, telling me what I needed.

Reading the details of the forms they sent, which were rather vague, it seemed that I needed to provide a notarized letter from my ex-wife as evidence of my payments, so we arranged to meet up this morning close to where she lives to get this done, and then I would take the forms into the Immigration Office where I had my interview.

We were due to meet between 8am and 8:30am, after she took my daughters to school, but no sooner had I started my 25 mile journey south on I-95, than the radio announced that the road was completely closed southbound due to an earlier accident.   Well there was no easy way to avoid the block, and I know from previous experiences that the radio is usually a good 30 minutes behind with the status of accidents.   I mean, just how long can they leave a major highway completely blocked?    As I got closer and sat in traffic, the radio gave out more information, advising people to use alternative routes, but I stuck to my guns and sat in traffic doing a very slow crawl.   It seems that at 5am there was a head-on fatal crash, and although it was a few minutes to 9am when I got to the point where they were directing traffic off the highway, the road was still closed.

The trip, which would normally take 30 minutes on a good day and 45 minutes on a normal rush hour one, took me close to 2 hours!   Of course my ex-wife was peeved since she had a busy day lined up, and I knew that I would have to maybe sit for hours in the Immigration Offices, before heading back down there to take my daughters out tonight.

Well we got the documents notarized, I headed back north, traffic a lot easier this time, and arrived at the Immigration Offices.   A rather rude lady insisted that the form they sent me was an interview date, not the date that I had to have the forms returned by.   The documentation was rather vague, but it said in block capitals that “the documentation must be returned by 29th May 2009 at 7:15am.  It did not say this was an interview date, it said disctinctly to return BY THIS DATE!   So having got nowhere with the rude lady, I headed home, where I grabbed some oatmeal and a banana, it now being after 11am and I hadn’t had a bite to eat yet.

It was after 11am by the time I got home, and by the time I had eaten, changed the bed ready for when I come home from England in 3 weeks time, put some laundry on, and then Debbie came home from work.   I explained the situation with the papers to her,  and she suggested writing a letter and sending it off.  “Great idea” I thought, so I composed a letter explaining how vague the instructions were, enclosed the documents, put it in the mail, and at the same time turned on the sauna in the small fitness room on the 1st floor of the condo building.   I then did a bit of work online, watched some fo the American Idol show I taped earlier in the week, and went to take my sauna.

“Oh great!”  I get down to the sauna to find that someone has gone in and turned it off, it’s only lukewarm in there.  It needs a good 45 minutes to warm up, so I headed to the pool, got chatting to one of the residents here who is down by the pool most afternoons, did 20 lengths of the pool, and by that time almost an hour was up.   Headed back to the sauna and “oh yeah” nice and hot.  I knew something had to go right for me!   Had a good sauna and steam, then realized the time, hit the shower, and had to head out to see my daughters for the evening.

I normally see my daughters ( aged 4 and 8 ) on a Saturday and take them to breakfast and to the park, but sometimes, like today, I take them out for pizza.  Of course this meant a 25 mile drive south for the second time today, I picked them up, took them to the park at the soccer fields where they play, had a good kick around, then out to the pizza buffet, and back to their house.

I had to leave them early, because I had remembered earlier that I had to pick my suit up from being altered.  It wouldn’t be ready until 5pm, and of course I would be with them at that time, but the store was open until 9pm.   Of course the store is 5 miles north of where I live and also west, so I had an hour to make the 35 mile trip.  All was going well until just before I had to exit the highway, when I came across another accident which almost blocked the road.  I had a minor panic for a minute, thinking I would be stuck and not able to get to the store in time, but the traffic kept flowing and I made it.  PHEW!

Now I don’t need the suit for my trip to England.  I need it for a dance the night after I get back.  My 8 year old is in the girl scouts, and they have an annual “Me And My Guy” dance where the Dad’s take their daughters to the ball.   She enjoys it, but I feel a bit awkward not really knowing any of the other Dad’s.   I suppose I could have picked the suit up the day after I return from England, but the last thing I want to do is to have to worry about that when I have jet lag and am about to have a late night.

And so I finally return home at 9pm, tired, sticky, frustrated, actually really tired, and the guy I rent with wants to know if I want to take a walk.  Having eaten way too much pizza and needing the exercise I agreed, so we took a good 4 mile walk around the lake and through part of the golf course, which is always nice.  We both enjoy walking in the evenings, the exercise is good after a meal, it’s nice to be off the road where there are fewer lights and the stars are clearer, and fortunately tonight we were a bit later, because if we don’t time it right, we have to dodge the sprinklers.  It all adds to the fun, but these walks are great for clearing your head and letting off steam as well.

So 9 hours after I started this article, it’s about complete.  I am exhausted, ready to hit the hay, and hopefully tomorrow will see a couple of good flights, no delays, a smooth ride, and a happy Debbie waiting for me at the other end.

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I GOT MY USA VISA!!!!

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Well, it finally arrived!

Four whole months after my interview at the US Embassy in London, and the help of my M.P. (Member of Parliament), this arrived:

Please be advised that we are now in a position to issue your US Visa. Please resubmit your passport to us for visa issuance. Note that you have three months from the date indicated above in which to resubmit your passport.

Three months?  It was on it’s way the next day!!  Of Course, this email was quickly followed with:

We regret the delay in responding to your inquiry. We have been waiting for information on your case from the Non-Immigrant Visa Unit.

Why the wait?  Where have they been?

I have to say, I’ve been appalled at the way this has been handled. This all started to go wrong when Tony and I decided to ‘do things properly’ and get a Non-Immigrant USA Visa to allow my to visit to the USA for a year. How often do you get the opportunity to have a whole year off work to spend in another Country?

At my first interview, I was asked questions about Tony that I simply didn’t know the answer to… why would I know what his social security number is? The consular officer that interviewed me obviously had a hunch that she wasn’t comfortable with and so denied me the visa.

As the Chief Immigration Officer at Miami quite rightly summed it up ‘ I was denied a visa because some A**H*** was having a bad day’ Some bad day. Some bad day that took away my only chance to have a year out. Some bad day that caused me to be held for 15 hours at immigration. Some bad day that left Tony stood in arrivals all night long not knowing what was happening. Some bad day that cost us in changing flights and re-applying for interviews. Some bad day that my employer went to a lot of trouble for and then did it all over again so I could return to work early. Some bad day that meant I had to find somewhere new to live from 4500 miles away. Some bad day that worried my kids, my parents, my friends not to mention Tony and myself. Some bad day that meant I couldn’t even go through the United States in transit. Some bad day that meant Tony and I couldn’t spend time together last week when I had the week off work.

I hope she doesn’t have another bad day any time soon. I appreciate the authorities have to be very careful over who they approve for visa’s, but when you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, have a government job for which your criminal record has to be checked reguarly, meet all the required criteria, have documentation to prove you intend to return and funds to support yourself, why does it come down to someone’s gut feeling? A gut feeling that left me almost having a nervous breakdown.

A gut feeling that will leave me feeling sick every time I travel to the United States in the future. A gut feeling that will almost give me a panic attack as I go through immigration and see those men in black waiting to check me out.

Surely the system isn’t right if it relies on gut feeling? Do these officials have any idea of the impact on people’s lives when they make these decisions? Her gut feeling was that I wanted to live in America. If that’s what I wanted, why bother going to all the trouble of getting a year off work?

Apologies for sounding angry, but somehow I feel I’m entitled to. Here’s something to make us all smile though – Funny Immigration Video I hope you enjoy it :)