Mixed Insurance Banners Health Insurance for Visitors to USA

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sharing a -kinda rude- story that could help others

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Sharing a -kinda rude- story that could help others

    Hi there,

    I'm currently adjusting status after getting married to a US citizen last year, we filed all our forms in February. I've been following this forum since the beginning of last year, before we even thought of getting married and it has been extremely helpful to say the least. Thank you to all of you who share your experiences here.

    I have recently had a fairly interesting experience that may be worth sharing to help someone eventually.

    I'm 23 years old and a pilot/software engineer. I develop apps that help make aviation safer and improve the technology that pilots have access to, everyday. My wife is 21 years old, and we last entered the US through a land border between Canada and the US on July 1st, 2017. Since we had no intentions of getting married then, even tho we have been together for almost 4 years, I entered the country as a B2 tourist visitor. Our idea was to organize a place to stay in California, near her family so I could go back and get an appropriate visa to go to Flight School and return to the US to improve my flight certificates (ratings). After getting everything situated in California, we decided that it was ideal for us to get married, since we've been together for a fairly long time and love each other. Plus it would also supposedly make things easier.

    We got married in October, 2017, with her family and my family at the wedding. Got all the documents together with *********.co (sorry if advertising isn't allowed, they're really helpful and affordable tho!) and filed in February. The problem I'll talk about came a month before we filed, in January.

    Since US law states that no one may enter the country for the sole purpose of flight training as a B2 tourist visitor, and after a few calls, I figured it would be okay for me to have private/individual instruction time with a certificated flight instructor who's a friend of mine. My purpose when I entered was not to attend flight training, but to organize a place for us to live before I applied for the proper visa.

    Before starting flight training,TSA requires that all non US Citizen flight student candidates apply and receive flight clearance through the Alien Flight Student Program (AFSP). The program's terms of service clearly says that you must in the country lawfully, to be able to attend flight school. I was cleared by the program just a couple days after applying, in October, and started flight training. Everything was going perfectly fine until January. That's when a person who identifies himself only as "Team member #24" from the Alien Flight Student Program decided to e-mail my flight instructor saying that "in a few days, your student will be in the country unlawfully and therefore his legal presence in in jeopardy. You and him will receive an e-mail notifying both of you that the flight clearance will be revoked. We highly encourage you to inform your student to call ICE to find out what his next steps are.".

    Pretty scary, huh? Well, interestingly enough, that e-mail included some pretty straight forward threatening-with-deportation statements, which should be completely off TSA's jurisdiction, and it was only sent to my instructor. So I wake up one day to a call from my friend saying "Hey dude, uh, TSA says ICE will be going after you and you're illegal and we can't fly anymore". Trying not to freak out and thinking it was a joke at first, I tell him to stop messing around and send me the e-mail. Once I got the e-mail, couldn't hold myself from freaking out and replying to it demanding a proper and formal, and appropriate, notice to me from TSA, or whoever Team Member #24 was.

    That's when I get a call from a person who asked me not to share his name with other people, but his position is supposedly Section Chief at the Alien Flight Student Program. He says that Team Member #24 is one of his team members and proceeds to being out-of-this-world rude/racist, telling me that I'm illegal, that ICE will be in touch with me soon and some other inappropriate things that I choose not to remember. After a few minutes of listening to that and trying to explain what was happening and that I'm married to a US citizen but being interrupted and disregarded, I decide to tell him that I'll be pursuing legal action if my flight clearance gets revoked after that completely inappropriate form of communication. He then completely changes his position from "get out of my country you illegal bastard" to "It's not our mission to make you fail, we can better investigate your situation"

    He then tells me that I'll be out of status soon and therefore my legal presence will be in jeopardy. Funny enough, my I-94 expired in December. If he wanted to say that I would be out of status, I was already out of status by over a month when he called. I then asked him if threatening someone with deportation was at all in his power/jurisdiction, he says no, that TSA is only a tool to improve national security and is nowhere responsible for deportation. I then ask him if they had approved me for months before threatening to revoke my clearance, why would they see me as a national security threat. He says TSA works closely with other agencies such as ICE and follow orders from them. I asked to see what the order from ICE was and he was reluctant to really clarify what he had been told from ICE. Really seemed that he just got a simple expired I-94 warning and decided to go on a anti-immigrant rant since it's the Trump era and he can say whatever he wants :/

    Having a better understanding of the situation after calming down a bit, I asked him if USCIS documents would be acceptable. He says absolutely yes, that they take any USCIS document that shows my legal presence not in jeopardy. After calling USCIS and being told to make a in person appointment at the local office, the officer at USCIS tells me that even tho I'm out of status, I'm obviously not illegal and that all the receipts should work as proof of the ongoing application and that TSA had to recognize them. I then filed the receipts with my application to the Alien Flight Student Program, after having my clearance revoked in February. Only to get another call from Mr. Section Chief saying that those receipts don't mean anything and they can't take them. Once again without holding back his anger, he says that his in-office lawyers responsible for processing application documents couldn't accept the receipts and that "It sounds to me that in your situation it looks like either someone in the government has made a mistake or your marriage certificate is **** and you're actually illegal, which I'm more prone to believe the second option". As you would imagine, I didn't want to talk to him after that and haven't received my flight clearance back yet. I personally decided to wait as long as it may take for the green card to get processed and I may shove that in his great face and leave him with no option to revoke me again.

    Now going back to what I do, this guy is probably a pilot. Most people in the aviation industry have their pilot license even if just a private pilots license,or recreational. This guy likely uses applications and features I have developed, frequently, to help keep him safe. Yet, obviously not knowing that, he didn't hold himself from saying things you would usually hear at a Trump rally, to me on the phone. If that ever happens, just know that you're not alone. It happens to lots of us, and if you have a solution or a way to respond to insults that you feel was efficient, please share! Maybe we can slowly remind this nation that its base relies on immigrant talent, immigrant workforce and immigrant will that made it the powerful beast that it is today.

  • #2
    Ridclous, sorry to hear hopefully once you get EAD you will be able to push back into the program maybe even go above that morons head. Even better go work for the firm who makes the safety software directly and send him daily emails with your signature of US residency.

    Also where would they deport you to? Montreal? Vancity? I think the ICE agent may ask to come along. You should have told him sorry man I aint illegal I know you upset about not having free healthcare or maybe hes just upset about the winter olympics still.

    Comment


    • #3
      Since it does not allow you normally work, you could also try to expedite your EAD/AP combo card by contacting congressmen and explaining yourself. Especially if you and your wife rely on your paycheck a lot. All the best!

      Comment


      • #4
        That's crazy! But I'm not surprised at all. On that night when Trump won the elections, I already knew that ignorant employers or people would have their own narrow-minded views about what exactly is an illegal status in the USA. You definitely had to be prepared though because anyone who didn't whould have handled that man differently.

        I know there are loop-holes to enrolling in a program or getting a permit to fly when you don't have the required visa or authorized document to do so, but all in all I think staying under the radar and waiting in line like everyone else is best. Some people on this forum are going to extreme measures just to expedite their process to have their documents quicker then have to go through long complicated adjustments, etc. It's too much if you ask me!

        Be patient and let the chips fall where they may. I'm sure you've learned a lesson here and you wouldn't go through this immigration process in this manner again, Heck I wouldn't! My biggest regret is not being patient and waiting for my spouse to petition for me through consular processing! This is America and s*** like what you just said will continue to be a problem.
        Filed I-130, I130A, I-485, I-765
        Priority Date: 01/22/2018
        Date Received NOA Letters: 02/02/2018
        Courtesy Letter for i693: 02/20/2018
        Biometrics Done: 02/21/2018
        Interview(rec' approval letter): 05/31/2018
        EAD card in production: 06/02/2018
        EAD card in hand: 06/07/2018
        SSN card in hand: 06/09/2018
        GC approval/production notifications: 07/08/2018
        Card mailed notification: 07/09/2018
        I130 & I485 approval letters received: 07/09/2018
        GC in hand: 07/11/2018

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by kaylip View Post
          That's crazy! But I'm not surprised at all. On that night when Trump won the elections, I already knew that ignorant employers or people would have their own narrow-minded views about what exactly is an illegal status in the USA. You definitely had to be prepared though because anyone who didn't whould have handled that man differently.

          I know there are loop-holes to enrolling in a program or getting a permit to fly when you don't have the required visa or authorized document to do so, but all in all I think staying under the radar and waiting in line like everyone else is best. Some people on this forum are going to extreme measures just to expedite their process to have their documents quicker then have to go through long complicated adjustments, etc. It's too much if you ask me!

          Be patient and let the chips fall where they may. I'm sure you've learned a lesson here and you wouldn't go through this immigration process in this manner again, Heck I wouldn't! My biggest regret is not being patient and waiting for my spouse to petition for me through consular processing! This is America and s*** like what you just said will continue to be a problem.
          My biggest regret is not adjusting my status when OBama was president. People that went through it at that time are telling me things weren?t perfect but the process was way much better than it is now. EAD?s were strictly given within 90 days and such.

          Comment

          {{modal[0].title}}

          X

          {{modal[0].content}}

          {{promo.content}}

          Working...
          X