All through February I tied up all my loose ends in Halifax, paid off bills, got rid of furniture, and decided what I was bringing and what was staying. We had set the date for the wedding. May 8 would be the day, my visa was good for 6 months and we had to be married within 90 days of entry so we naively decided that I would enter two months before we got married leaving a month to apply of Adjustment of status. After all things were going so smoothly so far we had a false sense of confidence that we knew exactly what we were doing.
On March 4 1999 I was at the Air Canada Cargo Terminal sending off to Phoenix all my worldly possessions, one trunk and few boxes. I guess I would really be starting off fresh!
The Big Move – March 5, 1999
I left for Phoenix on March 5 via Toronto. This is where I would be going through immigration. I only had a little over an hour between flights. So I hoped the process would be relatively smooth. Reading on the internet, most others experiences had been at road crossings, so I really didn’t know what to expect.
Fortunately I got into Toronto a little early, Toronto is a big airport and you have to walk for seemingly miles. I got to the right terminal and went through the large US immigration area. I got in line and it moved pretty quickly as it was full of mostly pale Canadians going to Florida on March break. When I got to the INS officer he saw my big envelope, rolled his eyes, and appeared to sigh with annoyance! With that vote of confidence I meekly told him I was entering the US on a K-1 visa. He took my envelope and passport. Opened the envelope and told me to follow him. I was taken to small waiting room and was told to wait, and someone would be right with me.
Minutes seemed like hours, especially because I had a flight to catch in 45 minutes! Finally a young man in uniform came to get me and asked to have a seat at his desk. He looked through the file that had been in the envelope, checked my passport, asked to see my plane ticket. I had bought a return ticket because it was cheaper, so he asked if I had plans to return to Canada. I said no and explained that the return ticket was cheaper and to note that I made the return trip on April fools day, as a joke.
He seemed to be taking his time, and it did not inspire confidence that he pulled out the largest 3 ring binder I had ever seen, and began to page through looking for something. Finally he pulled out a stamp and stamped my passport and visa, and explained that I could not leave the US until after my adjustment of status. I said I understood and asked him about working in the US. That seemed to confuse him and he went back to his large 3 ring binder. He told that I could get that in Phoenix. At this point I didn’t care as it was getting very close to the boarding of my flight. I hurried off to catch my plane. I still had enough time to call Tracie and tell her I was on my way!
I arrived in Phoenix around noon where Tracie and Leif met me at the airport. I was here! It didn’t seem real at all. I hadn’t seen Tracie in 6 months and left the cold snow of Nova Scotia for the warm desert of Arizona. Tracie had taken a few days off work, so we went on a mini-holiday to Sedona. I would need that holiday for the battles with INS to come.
Phoenix INS Office – March 8, 1999
Having learned in September that it was very important to get to the Phoenix INS office EARLY, I found myself in line at 7:00 am. I had two things that I needed to get from INS, my temporary work visa, and to find out if we could go to St. Thomas for our honeymoon. This is where I started to realize that immigration law in the US is more of art than a science. I was able to get the temporary work visa, but they told me that I should have gotten that stamped on my K1 visa at the port of entry. The visa was dated to the expiration of my K1 which was June 5, 1999. On the question of whether I could leave the US proper and go to a US territory, my answer was less then definitive. The person I asked went over to talk to her supervisor, who then called over a few other people who seemed to be discussing the question for a few minutes. I figured if it was that unclear the answer would be no.
When the clerk came back she told me that, "I should" be alright! Not exactly very comforting. But I had my work authorization, which allowed me to get my drivers license and my social security card. My drivers license was dated to the end of my K1 visa, and my social had a disclaimer that it was only valid with INS approval. But least I now had an identity and was able to start looking for work, and focus on the big day ahead.
The Big Day – May 8, 1999
We got married on Saturday May 8, 1999 at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio. The wedding went without a hitch and everyone seemed to have a great time. We left the next day for St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, and arrived there on Monday. All week long I had this uneasy feeling about when we went back to the States would there be a problem getting back in.
Our week in St Thomas ended all too soon. I thought we would be going through immigration in Miami, which is where we got our connection back to Phoenix. Instead we discovered when we got to the airport that there was pre-clearance in St Thomas. My heart was racing like it never had before. Images of me being stranded in the St Thomas airport were dancing in my head.
The Big Blunder – June 3, 1999
With my visa about to expire I went back to the IRS office to apply for my EAD. I had always assumed that at least this part of the process would be automatic. At least it had been for others that I had read about online.