One of the great sayings I internalized a long time ago is “The essence of a picture is the frame.” If you have a big frame you can draw a big picture; if you have a small frame you must draw a small picture.
These talks on the radio cannot go on forever and ever. There are limits to a listener’s patience. After three or so minutes you get tired, you tune out -- and I am not blaming you: all listeners tune out after a few minutes. There is only so much information one can absorb at one time. So the story I am about to tell you is too long to tell in all its details. I am shortening it so you can understand it & absorb it.
I told all of you that I married a British lady on July 17th of this year. Four weeks ago she want back to England to be with her daughters -- she is a conscientious mother who feels a deep obligation to her daughters despite her new marriage to a foreigner, an American.
We bought airplane tickets for her to return to America on September 24 and we bought tickets for the two of us to go back to England on December 23rd. Since the duration of her stay in America was going to be 91 days, and Visa Waivers -- the kind of entrance document she used every other time she came to see me -- are only good for 90 day visits, we phoned a very expensive U.S. Embassy hot-line in London -- a $2.50 a minute hot line -- and asked for advice.
The young lady on the line said that since my wife only wanted to spend short periods of time in America there was no point in applying for Resident Alien status -- she was told to apply for a six months Visa. She did apply -- and she was turned down and told not to apply again.
I must explain what “being turned down for a Visa” means. It means that she is not allowed to come to the U.S.-- and more important -- once she has been turned down for a Visa she cannot apply for a Visa Waiver. In other words, she cannot, under any circumstances, come to visit me. She cannot step foot on American soil.
What can she do? After all, she is my wife, she wants to come visit me; she want to be here with me.
The woman on the $2.50 a minute U.S. Embassy hotline was totally wrong and landed us in deep hot water. My wife must apply for resident Alien status -- a process that takes at least 6 months and often a year -- and during that lengthy process she may not set foot on American soil.
But all she wants to do is visit me. She can’t. She is not allowed to. She must apply for resident alien Status.
What is most infuriating is that no one warned us that this would happen. In fact we seem to have been tricked: please apply for a Visa. Did you apply?” Good. Application denied -- and now you can’t come here for a year.
What was our sin? Why could she come freely before and suddenly she can’t now. Our sin was that we got married. If we hadn’t married she could come visit me. We are being penalized for getting married.
Believe me, had we known this, we would not have gotten married. We would have waited to get married until a point where I could spend six months to a year over there--while she went through the lengthy application process. But we can’t do that now. Now she is over there and they won’t let her in here, and I am over here working full time.
They tricked us and forced us apart. I cannot begin to tell you how angry we are, but they got us -- and there is nothing we can do.
Copyright © 2004 Henry Morgenstein