IMMIGRATION

Last week was a tough one for me as a lawyer, but moreso for my client.

Immigration and the Department of Homeland Security is incredibly bureaucratic with more rules to follow than an Orthodox religion.  Tons of them are written down, but even more are not.  Or there’s a “local exception” that they only tell you about when you’ve either showed up to do something or have just committed a major faux pax.

So to get around this, the lawyer talks to everyone he can about the situation to get tips, take their best guess and go forward.  As anyone who’s ever dealt with a bureaucracy realizes, you can be technically right and still lose just because the person on the other side of the desk has decided that you will lose.

So last week we had an appointment to go for a citizenship interview.  These are normally pretty routine.  You need to be able to speak and understand English, to read and write simple sentences in English, and to pass a history / civics test that is somewhat complicated but not impossible.

There’s a “Medical Waiver” exception if you have a legitimate reason that you can’t do the exam or the English proficiency stuff.  You fill out the appropriate form, get a doctor with actual knowledge of the patient to attach their opinion and records, and submit it. 

Sounds easy, right?  Other lawyers and the instructions were all clear – be as detailed as possible, attach supporting documents, etc.  So that’s what I did, only to be met with an officer who denied the application because (paraphrasing) “the supporting stuff is too complicated.  I just need one sentence that says your client can’t learn English or history.”

Oh, and he considered the Spanglish that he observed us using to communicate – lots of gestures and facial expressions included – to be sufficiently proficient in English.

The problem with this, of course, is that we were counting on approval of this routine request.  As a result, the client didn’t prepare for any of the tests.  A “Pop Quiz” is never fun.  When it’s thrown into an already stressful situation with such tremendous importance to the individual, it can be overwhelming.

He actually did pretty well, passing the reading and writing, and about half of the interview (which essentially amounts to going through the Citizenship Application and confirming the answers in English), but 3 out of 10 on the civics and history questions won’t do it. 

So it was a very long and somber ride from Charlotte to Hickory.  And then a lot of days in  bed with the blankets over his head for my client. 

And in two months we get to go back and try again.  Assuming I can convince him to get out of bed and study in the meantime.