The Almighty Above.........

The almighty above has a funny way of making everyone realise that he ultimately holds all the strings and you better believe in it, otherwise, all the comforts that you take for granted could be gone in a blink. Sounds Heavy? Read Below.......

I, unfotunately, realised this during the last few months. Having completed my Masters degree from US, I seemed to be settled after landing myself a good job in the foothills of Rockies. Or so it seemed. My H1B visa had expired after 3 years and I had to visit a US consulate to get my new visa stamped on the passport. Since I was visiting a friend of mine in Seattle, I figured that its best to cross over the border and visit the US consulate in Vancouver for what seemed to be a routine visa stamping. Since Vancouver and the nearby surroundings (Read Whistler) make for a perfect vacation, Nirali decided to join me as well. Everything was going as planned - Seattle was beautiful, Colts won the super bowl, drive to whistler was mindblowing and even the visa interview went well.

Feb 6, 2007 - We were suppose to visit the consulate, collect my passport with a valid visa, finish the sightseeing with a trip to Stanley Park and head back to Seattle, where our flight to Denver was suppose to leave at 8pm. While Nirali was fixing breakfast for us in the beautiful condo on the 27th floor of a skysraper in Vancouver downtown, I went to the consulate, hoping to be back in an hour. After going through the painful formalities of the consulate (you know what I am talking about if you have been to ANY US Consulates), it was finally my turn to be called on the bullet proof glass counter facing a white middle-aged blonde lady. What transpired there for the next few seconds completely turned my life topsy-turvy for the next 4 months. US government had decided to witheld my visa paperwork for "extra investigation". At a cursory hearing, it sounded like something that would last another few hours, but then I was assured that this process might take upto 3, possibly 6 months. It took me a few minutes to realise that this means I cant enter States until the investigation is over. Phew! All of a sudden, I started thinking about all that I might possibly lose - My Job, My House, My belongings, Friends, Girl Friend - all for no apparent fault of mine. Even the typical vendor escalation technique that we are taught in the telecom field didnt help. The manager of US Consulate reconfirmed that my paperwork has been referred to FBI (Can you believe that!) and even US Consulate cant do anything about it.

WHen I came back to the condo, Nirali didnt believe a word of what I said. Ofcourse, why should she? Afterall, it is suppose to be a routine visa stamping. I already had a valid visa approved by the department of homeland security. After going through my passport closely, she was convinced that I dont have any sort of visa to enter into States. Our immediate problem now was to minimize the losses. We sat down and started planning next steps. Here is what came out of that discussion - Nirali must go back to Denver by the same flight that night, I must stay in Vancouver for another few days to see if anything can be done to expedite this "investigation", we must take professional advice from a lawyer, I must let my bosses at work know immediately about what happened, we must look for cheaper housing in Vancouver - spending $100 per night in a beautiful condo overlooking Vancouver downtown isnt exactly the best use of money, especially when the vacation was over.

Well, staying back in Vancouver for another 2-3 days didnt help. Getting past the arrogant and rude security guard at US COnsulate in Vancouver was impossible, so I couldnt meet any immigration officer in person. Indian Consulate couldnt help much either. Finally I decided to fly back to my home country - India on 9th Feb. While the next 100 odd days were full of adventures, they were frustrating at times. The traffic, the pollution, the heat, etc were nothing compared to the frustrating times I had with the immigration officers over phone and emails. All i got out of them was "Sir, your application has been referred to FBI. We have no idea how long it will take. We can only inquire after your application has been pending for 90 days". Luckily, Virtela (my employer) has an office in Mumbai which I helped setup in the Fall of 2003. Therefore, I was able to continue my job from there which is how I am still employed. If not for this, I am sure I would have either lost my job or put on Short Term Disability. Thank You, Virtela!

Anyways, this ordeal was finally over on 9th May when I got a call from US Consulate in Vancouver that all the "investigation" is finally over and my name cannot be found in the criminal books, rape cases, etc, etc. While I understand what the US government is trying to do, what baffles me is the fact that something like this would take over 3 months.

I finally managed to secure a visa appointment with Mumbai Consulate on 15th May. My hands were shivering and my heart throbbing at 200 times per minute standing across a similar bullet proof glass counter. Anyways, all went well and I finally got my passport back with a valid US visa. Phew! Needless to say, I booked a flight for next week and now I am finally back in States, sitting pretty in my house on a beautiful Colorado summer day.

While all of this was extremely frustrating, I feel that this was a good test of character and I am a stronger person now that I was before. It also strengthened my belief in the almighty above. Eventually, he holds all the strings......................