Last week's diary Why I haven't blogged for almost two years was a surprise. It made the rec list, got lots of comments and tips, it found an audience and that was really nice. I know luck is a factor 'cause I've read great pieces (and written some) but they fail to find an audience. In last week's diary I said
The Republicans are not wrong about everything. Less intrusive government is not necessarily a bad thing. Fewer top heavy, insulated bureaucracies is a good thing. The Rebaggers are terrible at delivering on that but they're not necessarily bad goals. Bureaucracies, whether in the private or public sector are stifling and serve primarily to protect the bureaucracy. If you've ever tilted with an agency (or faceless corporation) you'll probably know what I mean. Doesn't mean we don't need regulation but it does need to be sensible and customer oriented.
and I'd like to expand on that a little bit...
Last week I also said that while I was on hiatus from blogging (mostly job connected) and that I got married. Behind that marriage is a story that relates to my statement above. I'm going to try and shorten it and provide more detail in the comments if needed. First, please take a moment and read this short interview. Sounds pretty good and sorta of sums up the Obama Administration and its goals. 'We're the good guys and we're here to do good things.' Just to be clear, I'm totally supportive of the President, goals etc etc. I think regulation is often needed, necessary and I do not agree with the Republican notion that less is always better, BUT there is a kernel of truth in their case and we ignore it at our peril.
The problem seems to be the 'system'. More specifically I caught a whiff of it in the interview
administrating a complex set of laws and my ability to understand the laws that we are tasked to administer, both their spirit and their letter,
and I'll come back to that.
The short story is, Xiaozhe and I met on the internet and our relationship grew over time. We graduated from email to IM to Skype. We dealt with cultural, language and time barriers (her night was my day and vice versa)and after a few months I took a trip to China and from there we decided to bring her and her daughter to America. My multi-entry visa to China took $179 and 10 days to obtain from the Chinese embassy.
I reviewed the process, filled out the forms and filed it along with about a $500 fee for a visa that would allow them to come for 90 days during which time we would have to get married or she would have to leave. I hope you get that. 90 days and either get married or get out, it's the law, the regulation, the you have to.
According to the USCIS web site, the visa should take between 3-5 months so we thought by April we would be together again. It was actually 15 months from when I sent the form in. That's not a typo. Why? Bureaucratic inefficiency for the most part. They sent me back papers to sign that I had signed, they sent my file to the wrong office and despite my best efforts (going thru my Congressman and Senator's office) I got no help from the United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS). In fact, as a citizen you're not even allowed to contact them.
Our 15 month wait is not unique, far from it so this is not an isolated case. Also, the amount of forms to fill out, information to find such as police records, medical reports, financials, etc is, shall we say, ridiculous. For instance, records, especially in other countries are not always available, or you have to travel to your home province (as she did) to get them. Also, she had to be interviewed at the 'nearest Embassy' at some point and if we hadn't met in person within the past year, we would probably be denied. The written rule is within two years but the unwritten rule is one. I hope you got that. There's the bureaucratic rule, then there's the real world rule. That's why I took a second trip, to make sure we'd be 'ok'. The interview, when finally granted, takes about 5 minutes BTW.
OK, so finally here, we wanted to get married anyway but again, the gov't telling us what and when and within 90 days is a bit galling. Then we start the process for 'Adjusting Status'. Now we have to prove that we're married because we want to be, it's not fake and so forth. More paperwork and BTW now we're into duplicate forms. Stuff we've sent them before we have to copy again and re-send (in part because they don't do sharsies with the State Dept!). This fee is now up to $2,200 ($1,100 each) and no, that's not a typo either. We also have to travel 3 hours to get fingerprinted even though they have been fingerprinted twice before. Again, a cost of $80 each. The interview (so I'm told) is very intrusive. One friend who has been thru it said, oh, they'll ask you things like what is her brand of tampon and favorite sex position. You pretty much have to get up on the table and do it in front of them.
Add in the plane tickets and you start to get the picture of how onerous, intrusive, inflexible, expensive and above all, how all this bureaucracy has Very Little to do with keeping the country safe and far more to do with making sure the bureaucracy can never be told it didn't do its job. USCIS employs almost 18,000 people and that doesn't include contractors. That's a whole other story.
All of the above doesn't cover the anxiety, fear, and worry that goes along with trying to work with this bureaucracy and system. Let's not even start with how almost impossible it is to come to this country legally, the expense alone is pretty high. Now think of it if you leave in another country and you want to come here legally. BTW, USCIS has filed for another rate increase in most of the visas.
Despite the lofty words of the USCIS director going back to that interview, it doesn't touch the reality of the system. There's a whole lot of reform that is needed. This is an agency that clearly needs transparency, accountability, and a far less intrusive and onerous process. The Service in this agency's name needs to be restored.
From this point forward, it will take 2-5 YEARS before my family will have their green cards and ANY sense of security. Again, our case is not unusual and the intrusiveness of the bureaucracy doesn't end. Take the case of a British couple who owned a restaurant, owned a house were not behind in their taxes, yet, because their income did not meet the 'guidelines' were kicked out. Even after an appeal and an article in the NY Times they have to sell their business and leave.
I hope I've made the case for reform and I'm planning to help that along and when I'm ready to 'do something about it' I'll ask for help. I will close with a plea for a friend of mine who is stuck in another maze, the welfare maze. I met Darla in Richmond, Va. My ex girlfriend and Darla worked together at a grocery store. Darla had a day job and a night job, a single Mom trying to raise four kids and she was doing a great job but it was damn tuf. We pitched in from time to time, took the kids overnight or to the park, got pizza etc. I helped Darla with a little money, negotiated with a dealer on the price of a used car and over time things seemed to get better. We moved away, then broke up but stayed in touch with Darla.
This week, Darla contacted me. She hasn't had a night job for a while, can't get help in the system..well, technically she's on a waiting list from hell, even for a shelter and she needs four months rent as a security deposit. She's a good Mom. Her oldest went into the Navy (despite my fears) but he has a wife and baby and limited means, the next oldest graduated HS and is accepted to college, next is in HS and on honor roll. Darla has done this for years, working lower end jobs, sleeping 4 hours a night and living in or close to the welfare system, going thru job training, etc. If you feel like helping her raise the security deposit contact me at pbsustain at aol.com and THANK YOU for reading.