ins, once again
july 25, 2002
;)
the gods must have taken heed to all the horrible experiences i've had at the INS in the past years because what a significant improvement it was during our most recent visit there.
apart from the months and months (we're talking nearly 1.5 years) of waiting and never getting any sort of reply from them and thinking that our applications were lost in their "deportation" pile, we finally got another letter requesting us to go in for yet ANOTHER interview. granted, an interview is better than no interview but the stress leading up to an interview is always overwhelming indeed. however, being used to the whole INS process now, i at least have an inkling of what negativity to expect regardless of how well we prepare ourselves.
to our surprise this time, we were summoned to appear not at their main downtown location but at one of their regional offices. so we arrived about 30 minutes before the interview and to my surprise, they even let me IN this time considering the interview was actually for K and not for me. usually at the main downtown office, they make anyone who doesn't have anything to do with the INS process to wait outside. for hours. and hours. and hours. without chairs. without shade. without lavatories.
abusive i tell you. hell just read my old INS horror stories and you'd know why i shiver each time i hear the word INS.
but this time, they let allowed me to go in (shocking, i know) and told me to sit at the white chairs while K went to sit in the blue chairs below the american flag. there were also red chairs as well. red. white. blue. how absolutely patriotic. eventually a guard led those in the blue chairs beyond the main door and up the elevator for the interviews. the rest of us just sat in the white chairs waiting for them and who knows what the folks in the red chairs were there for.
i was too busy observing folks and lapping up the air conditioning to really do anything else. and i was trying to keep my eye out for the security guards so that they won't use their force on me when i sneaked in a photo here and there. i wouldn't want to end up on the streets like at the main downtown office. :p
K returned downstairs in less than an hour after we split up and he relayed to me about the terrible interviewer he had upstairs. when K started to ask the man how his day was, the guy immediately held up his hand to K's face to stop him. now, perhaps small talk isn't permitted during the interview but i would think a casual question as a polite gesture should be tolerated in nearly any environment. i mean, it's not like we're talking about burning cdrs. :p and does he really have to do the "talk to the hand" motion as well? shit! so the rather portly man in his constant grimace went through the motions with K and questioned him on some of the documents i prepared for him and really got nasty with some of the stuff about our money matters. c'mon, i would say most of us who have stock portfolios aren't doing well at all at this time! doesn't the man read the newspaper? regardless, K passed whatever he needed to pass and did fine but it still doesn't surprise me at how cocky the majority of the INS folks i've encountered are. just because they wield the power to grant certain things and they think that they have the authority to cast you out of this land or allow you to stay, doesn't give them the right to treat immigrants as second class human beings, let alone citizens. :p
i can understand how difficult the INS has it with the number of cases they need to do and the fact that there are so many illegal marriages and such but it's really unnecessary to get nasty at those who just want a better life in America. won't they give a benefit of a doubt to those who are here for the right reasons? and would it really kill you to treat people with kindness instead of suspicion?
