As many of you know, we've been in the United States for over five years.  Everyone asks us when we'll get our green card.  You know we've been working on it but this page will give you an idea of how complicated it can be.  The easiest way to do this is by listing events chronologically, I think.  Okay, here we go...

February 1998: Apply and get a TN employment authorization (like a visa) for Joe.  Lynda's combination of skills, experience and education doesn't qualify her for her own employment authorization so she becomes a TD or dependent of the TN visa holder.  The TN visa (a NAFTA visa) is good for one year and renewable indefinitely.  You cannot apply for a green card on a TN visa because the process takes longer than a year.

March 1998:  Joe begins working for ABS.  We're not sure if we're going to stay in the country for long enough to get a green card.

February 1999:  Renewed TN and TD visas.  Still thinking about the green card.  But we figured that we should switch to H1-b work authorization and H-4 dependant status so that when we do decide, we can start working on it right away.  The H-4 doesn't allow Lynda to work.  Volunteering is okay, but nothing that threatens a US citizen's job.  Canada extended work permits to dependents of US citizens with TN status in 2000(?) allowing them to work.  It was hoped that the US would extend the same benefits to Canadians in the US, but that didn't happen.  Oh well, more time for Lynda to work on the webpage and volunteer.

The H1-b is a professional visa and was very popular (at the time) in the tech industry (still booming in 1999 & 2000).  There are a limited number issued per year and it is good for three years.  You can apply for renewal only once.  After that you have to leave the country for a year before you can re-apply.  The H1-b authorizations are issued in October of each year and in several of the preceeding years they ran out before the year was up.  So we decided to apply quickly so that we wouldn't miss out on the October '99 ones.

October 1999:  Receive the H1-b and H-4.  Now we can apply for that green card.  There are three ways to apply.  One is to get married to a US citizen, one is to get a 'national interest' waiver and the last is to have your employer tell the INS that all their workers are so valuable that they can't let a single one go.  In fact, they can't fill all their employment vacancies, so they really must keep you.  This involves a lot of steps, but we're raring to go.

November 1999:  ABS lays people off.  This pretty much negates our green card application because layoffs make it all a big lie!  Thanks ABS.  Our immigration lawyer tells us that we'll have to re-start the green card application under the other scenario available to us, but we should wait until the summer.

August 2000:  Joe begins again the long process of the green card application.  You apply to the INS for a green card but must pass 'labor certification' -- a process whereby you prove that you're the only person out there who can do the job you are doing.  You are irreplaceable to the company precisely because you're the only one available to do your job.  But this means submitting to the labor certification process.  First you have to have a job description and your employer needs to create a job ad for your job (this doesn't sound good, does it?).  They must also prove that they are paying you the prevailing wage for a job like yours.  You must show all your education (order those transcripts!), and list all your employers so that both the state and the federal Department of Labor can check that you do in fact fulfill your job description.  You must also submit letters of reference from your previous employers.

May - November 2001:  Joe's job ad is placed in the Houston Chronicle, a trade journal, and on the internet.  Here's the nerve racking part.  The job ads run for about six months.  If anyone applies with the qualifications, there goes Joe's labor certification and bye-bye green card.  Ugh.  So now you wait and see and keep your fingers crossed.  Once the ads have run, all the applications received are reviewed and attached to the ad which is sent to the DoL.  Then they get to decide if any of the applicants are qualified.  September 11, 2001: hijackers with US visas crash into the World Trade Center (distroying it), the Pentagon and a field in Pensylvania.  Over 3000 people are killed.  A tragedy that turns the INS on it's head as it tries to figure out what when wrong, and how to ensure that it never happens again.  All immigration is tightened in the coming months.

May 2002:  Have to re-apply for the H1-b and the H-4 because they'll run out in October.  If they run out, we're out and all the green card stuff completed to this point is thrown out and we'd have to start everything again.  Let's not do that.

May 2002 - August 2002: Start gathering that paperwork!  You need your birth certificate (long form please) and certificate of marriage.  You need copies of all bank statements (domestic and any foreign) and copies of your tax returns for the previous three years.

July 2002:  Joe reads in an immigration email newsletter that he subscribes to that the INS is now allowing green card applicants to file two forms: I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien worker -- filed by the employer on behalf of us) and I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status) concurently.  This is a change in policy from when you had to file the I-140 and then wait three to nine months to get it approved and then file the I-485.  Joe immediately calls our immigration lawyers to tell her about the change.  She doesn't know about it when he calls.  Score one for Shusterman -- the newsletter author!

At this time we decide to apply for the green card from within the US.  Since we can file the two forms concurrently, this should cut down significantly on the waiting time (or so we thought).  Going the 'consular processing' route means that Lynda would still be unable to work until we have the green card, but has an advantage in that we would have the card as soon as the consular processing is done.  Staying in the US means it'll take longer to get the actual green card, but Lynda should be issued an employment authorization card sooner.  The I-765 Application for Employment Authorization goes in with the I-485.

July 22, 2002: As if those folks at the INS don't have enough to worry about, John Ashcroft announces that all immigrants and permanent residents must file a change of address card within 10 days of any move.  Joe immediately downloads the proper forms and mails them.  The INS is flooded with cards.  Oh, and as if they're not busy enough and worried enough, knowing that their agency is going to be folded into the Department of Homeland Security soon.

August 2002: New H1-b and H4s are approved for Oct 2002 - Oct. 2005.  The lawyer reminds us to start filling in the questionnaires we were given.  Normal questions like: mother's maiden name, date of birth, list all residences (US and foreign) where you have lived in the last 5 years, employment data, education, that kind of thing.  Oh and also:

Ugh!  There's even a question about Nazi affiliation and war crimes.  We're just sweet Canadians!

August 12, 2002: Special Registration begins.  Aliens (don't you just love that moniker? We're aliens in this culture... although, actually, sometimes we do feel rather alien...) from or born in certain specified countries (even if they hold citizenship in other 'non-threatening' countries) must go down to the INS and register themselves, submitting to fingerprinting (we will have to do that at some point) and photographing (coming up for us...).

September 2002: Now is the time we run around and get our physicals done.  If we'd had our imunizations forms from years ago it would have been good.  My mom said I had them but I couldn't find them.  (Found them much later with my childhood nickname on them -- they probably wouldn't have been acceptable).  So we had to get more shots.  Had to get that dang TB test too.  Since I've had a positive TB test  (from years ago, all fine now) I had to get the chest x-ray.  Then off to the photo place to get our photos taken.  There are a variety of them and they all have to be done just so.  Certain size, no smiles, right ear showing etc., etc.  We went to a place recommended by the lawyer where all they do is that stuff.  If we'd known about them we could have gotten proper sized Canadian passport photos made back in 1999!

October 2002:  To the lawyer's office to sign all our paperwork (we emailed her the completed questionnaires).  The I-140 and the I-485 are ready to go.  The I-765 is also filed for work authorization (mostly for Lynda since Joe already works) and the I-131 Application for Travel Document which allows Lynda to travel once she accepts work (and therefore can no longer be considered of H4 status).  All are filed by the lawyer with the approved labor certification.  When the INS receives these, they send us back receipt numbers for each of them.  The receipt numbers can be checked online with the INS.  Our receipt numbers show that our paperwork was received October 25, 2002.  And so the wait begins.

November 2002:  Joe immediately begins checking the receipt numbers and finds this message on the INS website:
 

Application Type: I131, APPLICATION FOR TRAVEL DOCUMENT Current Status:  Your I131 APPLICATION FOR TRAVEL DOCUMENT was received on October 25, 2002. We mailed you a receipt with information about processing. It is taking between 55 and 60 days for us to process this kind of case. We will mail you a decision as soon as processing is complete

Okay, so 55-60 days from October 25 -- that would mean that we should have it by late December sometime.  That's not so bad...  Oh, but even when we do get it, we have to apply for renewal 6 months before it expires -- it's good for a year.
 

December 2002 - March 2003: Joe keeps checking the INS website.  As time progresses, the "days for us to process this kind of case" keep increasing.  From 55 - 60 up to 150 - 180 days.  How frustrating.  In December Lynda seals her fate by writing in the Christmas Letter that she'll be working by spring.  Can you say jinx?
 

March 1, 2003:  The INS ceases to exist.  After 70 years the Immigration and Naturalization Service has been broken down into three separate entities under the Department of Homeland Security:

1. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP)
2. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) which handles deportation and investigation of immigration law
3. Bureau of Citizenship and Imigration Services (BCIS) which processes immigration and citizenship applications. --This is the one we deal with.

April 8, 2003:  I finally get Joe to show me how to check the receipt numbers online.  I know he's been doing it, but I want to see how it's done.  We look up my Employment Authorization application and get this message:
 

Application Type: I765, APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION Current Status:  On April 8, 2003, after approving your application, we ordered you a new card. Your card will be mailed to you as soon as it is ready.

and we figure -- oops, we've punched in a wrong number by accident.  We try again.  We get the same message.  Then we read it closely -- it's dated today!  OHMIGOD, we've actually gotten one!
 

April 17, 2003:  The Employment Authorization Cards arrive in the mail!  Yayyy!  Lynda can finally work.  Except she can't.  Without the Advance Parole document, she can't travel once she accepts a job.  So until that comes through, no work.  Given the state of her parents' health, she doesn't want to be unable to travel if necessary.  And there's a certain brother's wedding coming up in June (for which Lynda has already booked tickets and will be there for 24 days -- helping her Mom and Dad prepare etc....).  Can't look for a job and then ask for 3+ weeks off!
 

April 19, 2003: While working on this webpage, Lynda discovers that her birth certificate is incorrect.  Again.  Her mother's maiden name is not on the birth certificate, her mother's married name is.  She'll have to get that fixed when in Vancouver in June...  Then we'll have to file some sort of amendment...  Hope this doesn't drop us to the bottom of the pile...
 

April 2003:  Joe finds this information online:

That doesn't bode well....
 

April 30, 2003:  Joe checks the BCIS website to find this message:
 

Application Type: I131, APPLICATION FOR BCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT Current Status:  On April 29, 2003, the document we made based on the approval or registration of this case was mailed directly to the person to whom issued.

 

April 2003 - July 20, 2005?:   Processing of Green Card.  According to the latest information on the BCIS website, when you check on our Application for Adjustment of Status you get this:
 

Application Type: I485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status Current Status:  Your I485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status was received on October 25, 2002. We mailed you a receipt with information about processing. It is taking between 990 and 999 days for us to process this kind of case. We will mail you a decision as soon as processing is complete.

...and we think that the 999 would be higher if they could input a four digit number...  Let's see how long this will really take.
 

May 2003:  Joe reads online that the BCIS office handling our Green Card (in Mesquite, TX) has not processed a single Green Card Application in over three months.  Hmmmmm, wonder what that's all about...
 

July 2003:  Service Center Phone Lines Closed - On June 9, the BCIS stopped accepting telephonic inquiries from the public at the agency's service centers. All inquiries, except those in premium processing cases, must now be made directly to the BCIS's National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at (800) 375-5283.

January 2004:  The BCIS Texas Service Center is currently processing applications for Advance Parole travel documents from June 2003.  Joe read somewhere that it was taking them ten months to process Advance Parole requests.  This is for a document that is only good for one year!!!  So two months after you get it, you have to apply for the next one?  Listen, the process to get a green card is taking upwards of three years, why are travel documents only good for one???!  I may miss a wedding because of their pokiness and we applied for renewal as soon as we returned from Vancouver for my father's memorial. They received it December 17 so at this rate, we might have it in time for the wedding, but will it be in time to buy tickets at a reasonable price?
 

March 2004: Joe demonstrates to a friend how you can look up information online to see the status of your paperwork.  As a model he inputs our Advance Parole Travel Documents numbers and gets this message:

 

Application Type: I131, APPLICATION FOR BCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT Current Status:  On March 23 2004, the document we made based on the approval or registration of this case was mailed directly to the person to whom issued.

Though when he checks the BCIS website, it says they are still only processing stuff from September of 2003 (we submitted in Dec. 2003) -- so I guess they need to update their information.  Good news for us though.
 

August 2004: The case status on our greencards has been updated to show that it will take from 850 - 900 days .  Wow.  I can't decide if I'm excited that it's supposed to take less time or just weary of it all.  Here's what the page says:

 

Receipt Number: xxxxxxxxxx Application Type: I485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status Current Status:  Your I485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status was received on October 25, 2002. We mailed you a receipt with information about processing. It is taking between 850 and 900 days for us to process this kind of case. We will mail you a decision as soon as processing is complete.

October 2004:  Lynda and Joe present themselves at the INS office on Bissonet and Fondren in Houston.  They received their letters to present themselves in the mail in September.  Joe's appointment was for Thursday October 21 at 11am.  Lynda's appointment was for Friday October 22 at 3pm.  They received the letters one day apart too.  So Joe makes the 40 mile round trip on Thursday and gets fingerprinted on this cool machine that digitizes the prints immediately.  Five minutes later, he's done.  Lynda makes the 40 mile round-trip the next day and accidentally presents Joe's letter.  When she gives the guard the correct letter, he asks: "Why didn't you just come with your husband yesterday?"  Arrrrgh.  Because I do what my letter tells me to do even if it doesn't make sense.  (I really don't expect the INS to do things that make sense -- or we'd be done already!)
 

December 8, 2004: Joe is starting to check the BCIS website more frequently.  Since they've been down to get fingerprinted, it seems likely that something is happening with their file.  Joe looks up our receipt numbers and finds this message:

 

Receipt Number: xxxxxxxxxxxx Application Type: I485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status Current Status:  This case has been approved. On December 7, 2004, an approval notice was mailed. If 14 days have passed and you have not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

WHOO-HOO!!!!!  Unbelieveable!  Now that only took 774 days (see April 2003 entry) or...

1135 days
from beginning of Labour Certification to Green Card Application Approved.

Of course we have to make an appointment online to take in our photos and get our passports stamped.  After that they will mail us the actual green card.  Stay tuned for more and we finally finish up the green card process.  And even after we get that, it doesn't really end -- Citizenship comes after that.  After all, if we're going to live here we want to be able to vote!