Another individual made the mistake of wanting to work in America. Bad idea.
By Nick Greenizan – Peace Arch News
Published: May 03, 2013 8:00 AMGeorge wants to go home.
Home to his fiancée and her 14-year-old son in Blaine, Wash.; and home to all his possessions, currently packed and awaiting transfer to Ohio, where he and his new family were planning to move last month to start a new life.
Instead, for the better part of three weeks, home for the 45-year-old Ontario native – who asked to be identified only by his first name – has been the backseat of his Acura TL, which he’s been living in with his dog since being denied re-entry into the United States on April 16, a day after the Boston Marathon bombings.
My favorite part of the article is the talk about the job title:
and told me they were not approving my TN visa, and that he didn’t really think I was a computer-systems analyst,” George explained. “He’d looked at my resumé and nowhere was that job title listed – it was always something similar, like application developer or software developer. But it’s all the same thing.”
It’s all the same. Depending upon the situation or who I talk to, my job title could be computer-systems analyst, software analyst, application developer, software developer, software engineer, computer specialist, information technology, database administer, solutions architect, programmer, technical supporter, web developer, business information developer, etc. The line between what one does and how it is called is not very clear and the more experience that one has working in other areas, the better.
By the way, last week on a week vacation, I drove 5 times into France, 5 times into Italy, once to Monaco and once to Switzerland with nothing but an expired Swiss id card which I used to check into the hotel and for a few other things. Yet, nobody cared. It’s not America.
This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read. It’s not really clear at all, just what needed to be “adjusted” regarding his TN visa. It’s pathetic that a border official has the power to deny a visa. Notwithstanding being separated from his family, it could be a blessing in disguise. Wouldn’t it be possible to confirm with his future employer as to the validity of his job title? Isn’t there any leeway for someone who has no criminal record, etc?
I remember once being questionned by US Customs in Miami over a decade ago after a return flight from South America after a business trip. After the usual question about the amount of cash I was carrying (which I suppose is not surprising given the drug trade– though I was returning to the US, not going to South America) the officer asked me about my profession. He asked my what my profession was, and I answered “IT”. “What is IT?”, he asked. “Information Technology.” “What is that?”. So I went on to explain my role in the company. He pretended still not to understand.
Is this ignorance on the part of the individual officials, or a questionning technique that they learn in some special school they go to? In light of George’s situation, I think that they often intentionally avoid listening to people’s honest explainations and look for subjective clues that may or may not correspond to the individual’s real situation.
I don’t understand the anecdote about “George” using an expired Swiss ID card. It may indeed be possible to check into a hotel in Europe with one, the hotelier might not look at the expiration date. Border controls are largely nonexistant in Europe these days, though if he had gotten stopped in a random customs control they might have checked with the Swiss authorities to see if he was actually still Swiss (or was this “Swiss ID” an expired Swiss residency permit or “carte de legitimation” i.e. for NGO, UN, and diplomatic employees?). I take it “George” is Canadian? No way he could have gotten to Europe and back without his Canadian passport (unless he flew private). So why didn’t he just show that?
What always upsets me about these individual testimonials is that the individual is often so afraid of reprisals (in this case his family caught on the other side of the border) that they never use their real name. There should be a process in Canada and elsewhere whereby the government can issue a press release stating that the person exists, must remain anonymous, and that they are investigating their complaint against the US, and the details of the situation that can be shared are X,Y,Z.
Otherwise US officials and congresscritters just blabber about “isolated, unconfirmed anecdotes” and don’t listen to our objections about they ways the US conducts its business.
@Jefferson D Tomas, that was me with the expired Swiss id card. I also showed the expired id card to the French police in December to report a theft. Yet, they either didn’t notice that it had expired or didn’t care, because they didn’t inform me of such. If they had, then I would have renewed it instead of returning with the same expired id card a few months later.
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The article fails to mention from which country he is an expatriate (they say his father is in Greece.) I was initially interested to read this article assuming he had been an expatriated American trying to return.He is in an unfortunate situation but the use of”expatriate” used in the article’s title is confusing.
@katy,
It does say … “the 45-year-old Ontario native”
Here is a bit of information on the TN visa they are not approving, the same type of visa which had been approved for prior jobs that this person had in the US.
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1274.html#poe
AND, a very relevant comment on the story:
Thank God I live in a place where courts have held that a non-permanent residents with unexpired visas have a constitutionally-guaranteed right to leave & return as they please within their visa’s validity period. No worrying every time my wife hops on the train to go on a business trip to a city across the border that on her way back, some uniformed ape on a power trip will kick her out of her home for a farcical reason like “immigrant intent” or what her CV says.
And hows that US-Canada cooperation thing going with Alberta in talks with the US to give US vets good jobs in Canada?
‘Pentagon officials tour oilsands as part of effort to recruit veterans to jobs’
By Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald March 29, 2013
…..”CALGARY – Representatives from the U.S. Pentagon were in Fort McMurray this week as part of an effort to get former American soldiers out of their combat gear and into careers in the Canadian oilsands.
The officials — part of a Pentagon program aimed at helping military personnel transition back to civilian life — were guests of the Alberta government, which has targeted veterans as one possible solution for the province’s labour-starved energy industry.
Deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, who is also the provincial government’s liaison to the armed forces, said the “Helmets to Hard Hats” program aims to recruit not just former Canadian soldiers, but U.S. and British soldiers as well. He said while the government would like to see every job in Alberta taken by a Canadian, right now, too many jobs are going unfilled”………
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Pentagon+officials+tour+oilsands+part+effort+recruit+veterans/8167280/story.html
Let me get this straight. A systems analyst with a visa, and a US job offer is stopped, denied entry and told that if he pursues it he’ll be banned from ever entering the US, but US vets are to be assisted to come up and get jobs in Alberta?
we should hire and train our veterans before we hire any US persons
it is one thing for immigrants to send remittances to help their families, entirely different to hire persons with obligations to support a foreign country whose programs and policies are harmful to Canada.
@Patricia, yep, each American working in Canada is taking Canadian money designed for the Canadian economy and donating it to the American war machine since America declares its citizens as being a “cost” if they earn non-US money outside of US jurisdiction which is not used to finance war.
Whatever you do, don’t mention to those at the borders of Mordor that you happen to be a medical marijuana user:
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/8544-medical-marijuana-users-banned-from-the-us.html
What always upsets me about these individual testimonials is that the individual is often so afraid of reprisals (in this case his family caught on the other side of the border) that they never use their real name. There should be a process in Canada and elsewhere whereby the government can issue a press release stating that the person exists, must remain anonymous, and that they are investigating their complaint against the US, and the details of the situation that can be shared are X,Y,Z. Otherwise US officials and congresscritters just blabber about “isolated, unconfirmed anecdotes” and don’t listen to our objections about they ways the US conducts its business.
You are exactly right! The sad fact is that I DO believe there are reprisals. I never got a single letter from the IRS in my life until I put some isaak-brock-related domains in my name. Even though I don’t owe any tax to the US, I still have to take the time to satisfy their inquiries. It’s not fun living thousands of miles away from the US and then getting these threatening letters.
@geez. What do you mean “put some isaak-brock-related domains in my name”?
@Geez, are you being audited??