07/23/2002   English German
  Edition # 38  
San Francisco, 07-23-2002

Finally, the Green Card

Angelika Hooray! Hooray! The Green Card is here! Miracles still happen. We are now "Permanent Resident Aliens," as it's called in the finest bureaucratic American English. We still can't believe it. The word "Alien" always amuses us greatly because no one in everyday language refers to a foreigner as an "Alien." That would raise eyebrows and be politically incorrect. The term is "Foreigner." When people hear "Alien" here, they think of extraterrestrials and the movie "ET," but the "INS" (INS = Immigration and Naturalization Services = American immigration authority) doesn't care about that. Oops, I'm digressing.

Some time ago, I announced that I would report on our third and final - extremely nerve-wracking - Green Card step. If anyone would like to read my previous explanations about the Green Card again, they can do so here: Rundbrief 09/2001.

And since I don't want to be difficult, here's a quick summary of steps one and two: We were allowed to apply for the Green Card because Michael's professional qualifications are beneficial to the American economy, as there is (or was) a shortage of American software engineers, which they sought to address with well-educated foreigners--this is known as immigration for employment reasons ("green card through employment").

AOL applied for Michael's Green Card. The first step was to prove to the relevant labor authorities that Michael was not taking a job away from any Americans, meaning that there was indeed a labor shortage in his field. The authorities issued the highly sought-after "Labor Certificate," which is needed to proceed to the second step. By the way, it has become significantly more difficult to obtain a Labor Certificate. Due to the weakened American economy, there have been many layoffs, which have eliminated the shortage, meaning that there are now enough Americans entering the job market.

In the second step, the American immigration authorities checked whether Michael really had the necessary qualifications to fill the position at AOL. The third and final step was to transition from non-immigrant status (people with visa status) to immigrant status (people with green cards). The application is usually submitted to the relevant immigration authority in America and is called "Adjustment of Status." Throughout this process, I once again played the "apron strings card" (original quote from Michael). By this, Michael means that I only got the green card because I am married to him. Family is a big deal in America.

Even at the last step, it was all about filling out form after form. If you woke me from a deep sleep, I could still recite off the top of my head the exact dates of Michael's military service, the companies he has worked for and for how long, including the corresponding company mailing addresses, how long we've lived at each address, and so on. But don't panic, I won't write about every single form required in the third step. I'll just share the milestones with you.

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