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Topic: Denied at the border (Read 1684 times) |
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David Lucifer
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Denied at the border
« on: 2002-03-19 11:54:02 » |
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[As many of you know, my girlfriend Tracy and I were moving down to LA for a couple months so I could work on contract for an AI startup. Here is the message I sent to friend and family about why we never made it to LA.]
Our move to Los Angeles came to an abrupt end at the US border crossing near Abbotsford, BC when my application for a TN visa was rejected by the US immigration officer. Peter Voss of Adaptive AI Inc. is going to talk to an immigration lawyer about a possible appeal, but I doubt that I have a chance getting through with an offer from the same company, even if they do change the job description. In the mean time I plan to finish up the work I had started for A2I2 from Canmore and continue looking for other opportunities.
David
p.s. Here's the account I emailed to Peter:
When I stopped at the border I told the customs officer that I wished to apply for a TN visa. He told me to park under the canopy and gave me a slip of paper to present to the immigrations officer. When I got inside I presented the paper along with the documentation I brought: the offer letter, my degrees, my resume, a financial statement and a letter from my lawyer regarding the purchase of my house. He shoved back the latter two saying they were irrelevant. He was already in a bad mood.
He asked for an offer letter, and I indicated the letter that I had given to him. He said that wasn't an offer letter and I said that was it. He then asked for the original (probably because it was signed in black ink, it looked like a photocopy) and I said it was the original. He asked for copies of the degrees, and I said I hadn't brought any. I asked if where I could make some and he said not here.
He then asked me to explain "in laymen's terms" what I was going to do for work. I said I was going down to program. He said that programmers weren't covered by the NAFTA treaty and I would be refused. I said that part of the computer systems analyst job I was offered entailed programming and he asked how much. I said probably 50% (thinking that analysis, design, testing, meetings etc. could easily take up 50%). He said that I was a programmer as far as they were concerned and I would be refused entry. I asked how much time a computer analyst was allowed to program and he said that it was not allowed to tell me. I asked what if I programmed 49% of the time, and he said he was not allowed to tell me anything or give me any advice on what to say.
He went off and made a copy of the offer letter. When he came back he asked what I would be doing as a computer systems analyst. I told him what I thought he wanted to hear: As a systems analyst it is my job to analyze problem domains by reading relevant literature or interviewing experts in the field and build models of the essential features so they can be translated into software systems. I use object oriented analysis and design methodology such as the Rational unified process and I use the UML modeling language for design notation and create class diagrams, state diagrams, use case diagrams, etc. The inspector said that sounded OK, but I'm not allowed to also be a programmer. I said in a startup company of 6 people we are all expected to do multiple jobs, but he said no, that was not allowed.
He entered the denial into their database, and wrote up a new slip of paper for me to give to Canadian customs so I could get back into Canada.
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Mermaid
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Re:Denied at the border
« Reply #1 on: 2002-03-19 15:53:29 » |
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I heard a similar account like this a couple of weeks ago.i.e. qualifications do not justify the job description. The appeal should work even if its with the same company/employer. It may take a while though...Good luck.
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billroh@churchofvirus.com
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Re:Denied at the border
« Reply #2 on: 2002-03-19 16:50:03 » |
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I don't know David, you Canadians can be pretty shifty. Look at the Olympics after all! What could be worse for this country than a bunch of young, bright, educated people wanting to live, work and spend their money in the US.
I am willing to bet that:
1> A different officer might have bee more understanding
2> It is in your best interest to redefine your job to something they will like. The info necessary must be freely available somewhere.
It must be distrubing though. I sympathize with you.
Oh, aren't you Married now?
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Mermaid
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Re:Denied at the border
« Reply #3 on: 2002-03-19 18:31:37 » |
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Apparently, the idea is that if people who are overqualified to do programming jobs enter the country, they would be denying the thousands of young men and women who are at entry level trying to fill up the programmer positions. Seems valid to me. It's all in how you phrase your job description. There is enough precedence for an appeal to succeed. This time around, David Lucifer, you are not a programmer. Ok? It's not like you are lying. Do not expect the INS guy to know the difference between the job description of an analyst and a programmer.
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David Lucifer
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Re:Denied at the border
« Reply #5 on: 2002-03-20 01:47:38 » |
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Quote from: Mermaid on 2002-03-19 18:31:37 This time around, David Lucifer, you are not a programmer. Ok? It's not like you are lying. Do not expect the INS guy to know the difference between the job description of an analyst and a programmer.
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Actually if I said I wasn't a programmer I would be lying. I could certainly do so, and I suspect most programmers get through that way.
The INS guy did know the difference between an analyst and a programmer, it was my mistake to assume that he didn't or that the differences were irrelevant. The truth is that I am both and I would be expect to do both for this position at Adaptive AI Inc., but apparently that is not allowed.
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