Waiting on a big personal decision. Depending on how it goes, 2021 will either be a great year or another shitty one.
@pratik So I wrote about some personal news that has occupied our minds for the last decade especially these last two years.
@pratik Congratulations! So much time and such a rigmarole! You must be over the moon to have cleared that hurdle at last.
@pratik What a horrendous procedure. What a relief it must be for you and your wife to have cleared that major hurdle! I hope the rest of the process is relatively smooth.
@Miraz @frostedechoes Thanks a lot. Only those who know what an ardous process it is can understand the relief we experienced. It's been quite the journey so far.
@pratik Very happy for you! What an amazingly hard path you had to go through to get to this point! Please accept my sincere congratulations.
@pratik What a terrible ordeal. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to write about it. Those of us with the privilege of having been born here rarely see the pain we are putting others through and it helps to have you explain it.
@pratik congrats! While the whole ordeal sounds incredibly stressful, this is one of my favorite posts I've read on micro.blog.
@kordumb @philly Much thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed reading. Writing it gave me the opportunity to relive the ordeal one last time.
@pratik Congratulations!!! 🎉🎉 What a journey for you and your wife, it must be such an incredible relief! Here's to a hopeful future!
@Burk @portufraise Roller coaster is right. It was traumatizing to simply remember it again. Now I can finally laugh about the journey.
@ohbananajoe @munish Thanks for your wishes.
@kordumb Haha! Thanks. My wife remarked that it was incredibly detailed and wondered if anyone would be bothered to read it. I said, it was mostly for my sake as I wanted to get it out now and not later when I’ve pushed those memories away.
@philly Thanks. Your nickname and greetings from NM always messes with my head. I’m like, I thought he’s from Philadelphia 😊
@pratik congratulations! I remember when I got my green card. That was a long slog coming from the UK (to the point that my H1B hit its post-renewal expiration) but not nearly as bad as for those from India and China. I only travelled twice on Advance Parole. The 2nd time got pulled into secondary screening at Logan airport. The conversation was short and sweet but it was a very long and somewhat scary wait to be able to talk to the immigration officer.
@pratik I was lucky though in that my employer paid for everything. The H1-B, the lawyers, the green card fees... the only thing they didn't cover was my green card renewal (that's the next ball of stress inducing process to deal with, sorry!)
@pratik it’s a big deal and it will take time to sink in. In a way, your journey without looking over your shoulders, has just started.
@jpayne Interesting. Well, whenever I’ve traveled to India, I’ve always had to get my visa stamped so it would be nice to travel without that at the back of of my mind for a change.
BTW I’ve gotten pulled aside couple of times now by immigration for no reason. Once an immigration officer castigated me for spending so much time in grad school (I half-suspected my parents had put him up to this). Well, perils of flying while brown post 9/11.
@Munish That’s the part I’m looking forward to. Few months to go until I’ll be comfortably able to do that though.
@jpayne And my employers have paid for everything too except for the I-485 that’s next. Technically, the employer is not expected to. In the private sector, they do. I don’t think I can (comfortably) ask my public university to do that.
@pratik I didn't want to deal with that under the current administration so I punted the decision :)
@pratik it does feel good to have employers that have your back when it comes to immigration even if they have limits.
@pratik Congrats sir. What a long road. As an immigrant (though not to USA, and my circumstances were substantially different to yours) I'm glad that your patience and perseverance amidst the challenges bore their fruit in the end.
@vega Much thanks. You’re right in that immigrants are bound by a common thread but usually go through very different experiences. Knowing people with much harder paths has kept me humble just as people with easier paths made me frustrated.
@pratik I think the common takeaway in all immigration situations is perseverance in the face of adversity. It's quite disheartening when right, quiet perseverance doesn't seem to get anywhere, especially when the deck is stacked against circumstances you can't control (such as birthplace) -- while (ahem) "alternative avenues" appear more successful. So I'm happy that your long waiting has come to an end!
Lately I've been learning about the history/experience of Chinese immigrants in the United States (by way of a podcast), and it highlighted how the US has not had a good track record of handling immigrants, especially those of non-European origins. Seems like the challenges that you and your wife have faced have deep roots in US history: social attitudes towards immigration may have changed, but the structural "attitude" embedded in government policies remains, and probably will take a while to renovate. Systems are slow to change.