- I am a columnist and radio-talk show host. I came to
America in 2001. Six months later I married an American. At his insistence,
we immediately began the process of acquiring a Green Card. To this end,
my husband and I made countless trips to a Russian Immigration Lawyer in
Philadelphia. As my sponsor, my husband had to provide proof of his ability
to support me. Bank records and tax returns were demanded. I had to provide
details of my employers for the past ten years. Then there were the affidavits,
certificates of birth, marriage, photographs of us in happy times etc.
-
- I was fingerprinted and photographed (specifically with
my ears showing). I was blood-tested and AIDS tested and psychologically
profiled by a designated doctor.
-
- On December 13th, exactly as per the movie "Green
Card," we went for our final interview in Callowhill, Philadelphia.
There, we were asked the predictable questions which would provide evidence
that we were a bona fide married couple.
-
- The interviewing officer was entirely satisfied. In response
to his statement "I can tell you are a married couple" I quipped
"Do we look that bored?"
-
- He promised us that the Green Card would be issued "within
weeks." The reason for the delay, he said, was "because of 911."
The FBI are requiring "extra precautions."
-
- There is something no doubt ironic in the fact that 911
is my birthday.
-
- A year later the Green Card still remained elusive. Every
attempt to find out its status quo was thwarted. No information is given
by telephone from Callowhill Road in Philadelphia. You have a choice; drive
to Philadelphia and join a line that stretches around the block. Then subject
yourself to being searched ("Cap OFF!") and take your chances
with an obnoxious official who will decide your fate on a whim. Or so it
seems.
-
- "Clear the room! Clear the room! All information
needed can be accessed via the website!" bawls an official who seems
to be gleeful about your misery.
-
- In any event, his claims about the ease with which you
can access information are adjacent to the truth. Despite the unashamed
demands of money for information on the internet, (I recall the amount
to be $50.00 for each time you attempt to access the site), I was left
no better informed. The e-mail response that "We will respond by mail
within the next few days." is simply not true. They don't.
-
- Time dragged by. While waiting for the Green Card to
be processed, my Employment Authorization Card expired. The Russian lawyer's
telephone was now disconnected. Curiously. I am the first person to baulk
at conspiracies, but it did occur to me that the swiftness with which he
took our money and then failed to deliver the Green Card, made me wonder
how many other desperate Green Card seekers have been fleeced by lawyers
who then 'disappear' into the ether. I also wondered, come to think of
it, why it was that no-one in his office could speak English.
-
- In the meantime my International Driving License had
expired. I was told by the Motor Vehicle Bureau that due to the incomplete
status of my Green Card application, I could not apply for an American
License.
-
- After some six weeks of marriage I realized that I had
married a violent and controlling man. My marriage became increasingly
abusive. Isolated physically, and mentally abused, my life was a nightmare.
Marriage counseling didn't work. The psychiatrist saw my shocking state
and warned of total collapse. My husband's rages were frightening. He would
kick doors in and overturn heavy coffee tables. Once he nearly killed my
Pomeranian. I took to sleeping in an attic room in the Mill we lived in,
with a hay-ladder propped against the door.
-
- My husband's narcissism was such that he demanded utter
obedience and 100% attention. Any imagined slight to his ego was punishable
by the most extreme means.
-
- He now started using the Green Card as a threat and his
violence towards me escalated.
-
- Most rows ended up with him threatening to throw me out
in the street and "forget about your Green Card."
-
- The police became regular visitors to our home. Finally
I was admitted to Doylestown Hospital. While at the hospital, I was CAT-scanned,
extensively blood-tested and counseled by a psychiatrist. The diagnosis
was bleeding ulcers and an abusive husband.
-
- Soon after I was released from the hospital I left the
marital home, fearing for my life.
-
- Six months after leaving him, my husband made good his
threat about seeing me out on the streets with no work and no Green Card.
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- He withdrew his petition of support for the Green Card.
-
- It remains a deep mystery how having pledged to support
me in the application for the Green Card, he could withdraw it because,
as he admitted to the judge in court, he "was very, very angry."
-
- Where, one wonders, in this land, so densely thicketed
with laws, are the laws to protect the abused spouse who is legally attempting
to obtain a Green Card?
-
- As a columnist and radio talk show host, I had enjoyed
considerable public acclaim both in SA and in the UK. Now I find myself
in a desperate situation: homeless, jobless and Green Card-less in a foreign
land. I have no Medical Insurance, no car and no recourse to any help.
-
- When my husband withdrew his support of the Green Card,
the lawyer appointed by my Domestic Violence counselors became very anxious.
-
- "Since he has withdrawn your application for a Green
Card you are theoretically stateless and illegally here." I gazed
out of the window of her office and looked at the Latinos meandering down
the street, laughing and joking and joshing each other and wondered if
I would wake up from this nightmare to find I haven't done my geography
homework.
-
- She advised me to see a lawyer who specialized in Green
Card cases. I went to see Mr Large Fromage, borrowing the $80 for the initial
consultation.
-
- Mr LF boasted a great deal about his successes and told
me that he would have to have $7000.00 up front in order to take my case.
Naturally he couldn't guarantee that he could deliver.
-
- I returned to my Domestic Violence lawyer. She advised
that I retreat to a convent or a women's shelter, lest my husband's attempts
to get me deported are successful.
-
- I am now applying for the Green Card through a Non-Profit
Organization that deals in abused and battered women whose spouse's have
withdrawn their Green Card application support. (This is apparently a common
practice employed by spiteful spouses who are seeking revenge for a marriage
gone bad or wanting to escape from the Community Property Division laws
that exist in certain states by having their foreign brides deported.)
-
- Although this is a noble Non-profit Organization they
still require money: $385 dollars to file this, $185 dollars to file that.
Why, I wonder, can't they access the records that the INS already has in
their files?
-
- I am now required to undergo another full medical examination
- which I must pay for, all over again. I have gone through yet another
finger-printing process to get FBI clearance - which I had to pay for all
over again. I have had to go to the local police station and PAY $15 for
each report filed regarding abuse. How bizarre that the victim has to pay
to present proof that they are indeed victims.
-
- Is this not a further form of brutality to visit on an
already abused person?
-
- Frankly, I can't see why my manic husband shouldn't be
required to pay for all the new processing since he was the one who self-admittedly
yanked the Green Card petition in anger.
-
- The wheels of "The Bureau of Bureaucracy" turn
like molasses laced with laudanum.
-
- I have been in America for four years now. I can't get
a paying job because of not having a Green Card. The lawyer at the Non-Profit
Organization has told me that it will be 'at least six months to a year'
before my Green Card will be processed - that is IF it is successful.
-
- This horror has put me into a deep depression - but of
course I can't get medication for the depression because I don't have medical
insurance.
-
- I have been told by many people to seek employment illegally.
Hello?
-
- Maybe I should go to Mexico and wade across the Rio Grande?
I might get better treatment.
-
- How curious that there are illegal aliens pouring over
the borders, who have instant access to all manner of perks and programs
and free cell phones. Some of them have no English whatsoever.
-
- Yet me, with more degrees than a thermometer who is -
was - a huge believer in America the Land of the Free and the Home of the
Brave and who would like nothing more than to contribute to this great
nation, is rejected..
-
- What am I missing? Could someone explain? Can someone
help me out here?
-
- When 911 happened, I was in awe of the way the nation
rose as one in support of the victims of the horror. I proudly wore a t-shirt
emblazoned with the legend 'Proud to Be An American.'
-
- I no longer wear it.
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