What I really wanted to talk about here was the recent fun I/we have gone through as part of life in U.S. as a non-permanent resident.

The first was after waiting over 2 months for my new visa to arrive (I’m back on the NAFTA-based TN visa, which is the yearly one my wife has been on for the last 8 years, and will be until we clear the line and begin the process again), I had to update the paper-work at the payroll office where I work. After doing that, they told me I also need to update the information in the GLACIER system. GLACIER is the system the government uses to track tax information for non-resident aliens. In essence, it’s a memory test of unrelated information designed to tell you something at the end so blindingly obvious, you’d rather fill out a tax return. As I started filling it out, it was basic info; no-brainer things, some of which was already filled in. Then you get to the section that asks you to detail your presence in and out of the U.S. since 1986. The “out of the country” is required for as long as you’ve been legally in the U.S., so for me, that’s 8 years. We don’t spend a lot of time in Canada or traveling each year, so that’s not too bad. The other part – “in the country before that period”, took a little more thought. After all, in 1986 I was 15 and still in high school. Having relatives in the U.S. that we visited on a semi-regular basis made this a little challenging. Two things came out of this: one was being told to “do your best, they don’t really check it”, and second was getting to the end of the form to be triumphantly (as much as a web form can, anyway) told “Hey! You’re eligible to pay taxes!”. I could have told them that, and without the memory test.

The second event just happened, and while this is to be attributed to life post-911, it’s still annoying. As mentioned, we have lived and worked in the U.S. for 8 years. During that time, we’ve held New Jersey state driver’s licenses, and have had to renew them twice, as they expire every four years. At least that used to be the case for us. Recently, NJ switched to a “digital driver’s license”. In moving to that system, they did something deviously clever. To get your new license, which is all about security: are you who you say you are, you need to provide various forms of ID in a point system: you get different amounts of points for different pieces of ID, from 1 to 4 points. With the caveat being you can only use, at most, 2 1-point IDs, this ensures you have ID from the higher point values. As non-permanent residents, none of the 2-point IDs applied to us (well, I guess if I had an FAA-issued pilot’s license), so that meant the big 4-point ID was our passports, with our work visas in them, and in that is the cleverness. By forcing you into that position, you’re forced to let them know you’re a non-permanent resident without them having to ask. The result? Your driver’s license now expires 90 days after your visa, and for us, that means we’ll be renewing our licenses every year. Michelle even caught a bonus: her current visa expires in May, so she’ll be back in the MVC even sooner. The only saving graces are the fact that they pro-rate the fee (I paid ~$12, and Michelle had to pay ~$8), and it only took us 15 minutes, plus driving, which only added maybe 10-15 minutes.

Maybe it’s just that there’s been a few of these recently, but I used to be fairly complacent about the 5 year thing, and now I just want things to move along. Oh, well, back to waiting. At least I’m not really been hassled the way I’ve read stories about other non-Canadians. I have a way that lets me stay and work in the U.S. legally for as long as someone wants to employ me, and that means I’ll be putting up with the little hassles that crop up from time to time. It is fun, however, to talk about them, and get people’s (ie American citizens’) reactions to things their governments put me through! Is that wrong?

The first step was for Princeton to sponsor me for an H-1B visa, which happened within the first year we were here. After that, it was a waiting game, and it was never really clear to me where the hold-up was. It seemed like it was Princeton dragging their heels (and I think that was the bulk of it), but there could have been other factors. You would think that during the 5+ years following the H-1B that someone would have said something, but it was mostly silence.

Finally, in eary 2005, things started happening: Princeton actually hired a law firm specializing in immigration law to go ahead with my green card application. Things started promisingly enough, but in a wait for some legislation to pass, most of 2005 was again spent waiting. Toward the end, the information necessary for step one, labour ceritification, was compiled, and again, things seemed to be progressing. That, however, was short-lived due to the back-log of labour cert. applications, and it was necessary to get me back on the NAFTA visa in order for me to stay and work in the country.

Fast-forward to now: a few weeks ago, we had a conference call with the lawyers, which basically revealed that while the labour certification back-log had been cleared, the problem simply transferred to the next step: the actual green card process, and that if immigration reform legislation doesn’t go through, it could take another 5 years to get to me.

Well, it now appears we’re in for some, if not all, of that wait as the immigration bill fell apart last week. The focus in the media was all on the so-called “blue card” for illegal immigrants, but included in that were also the steps neccessary to get the green card process moving again. I think this is enough of an issue that it’s not just going to go away, so I don’t think it’s going to take the worst-case 5 years, but it’s not looking like anything is going to happen in my case this calendar year.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal – I can keep reapplying for my TN every year – but permanant residency would give me more flexibility in terms of doing some outside consulting, as well as switching jobs, should I ever want to do that.

Stay tuned for updates as they happen (but feel free to do other things while you’re waiting – it could be some time…).