This is a long due post but I think this story needs to be written down somewhere and people need to know the challenges foreign nationals face in U.S. (especially those from developing countries).
I came to USA in Fall 2014 to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, so definitely I was on student visa. Close to graduation I got to learn that, the student visa becomes invalid on the graduation day even though the length might be longer in your visa. To stay in the U.S. after graduation and look for jobs you've to apply for F1-OPT extension, which allows you to work for a year with the same status. However, you must be able to secure a job within 90 days of your graduation. I was the lucky one, I already had a job offer before graduation but still there's some particular timeline by which you've to apply for OPT and it can take up to a month to receive your Employment Authorization Card (EAD). All that worked out, I started my job and it's been almost a year now. My employer's sponsored me H1B visa and that got approved as well. Now you need to get the new visa stamped on your passport in case you travel outside of U.S. You can stay within USA without any issues but if you cross the border, you'll have to show the visa to re-enter. Well, that's how generally things work except for Canadians. BUT you can't do it within USA even though you're living in the damn country! The options are - going to your home country, Canada or Mexico and again, they don't tell you how long the process will actually take. There's something called "Administrative Processing", in which case they might decide to dig into your case and that'll prolong the whole process.
I don't plan to just stay inside USA border for unlimited time. I'm an academic librarian and I travel pretty frequently for conferences. So, I finally managed to take the time to travel wholly to take care of the visa stuff, and I decided to come home even though it costs me a lot more money and 30+ hours journey just in case there's any issue. Also, I must include that I had to face the new electronics ban on airlines rule because I don't have too many options other than using Turkish or Emirates Airlines - both are not allowed to carry laptop or any electronics bigger than mobile phone when you're flying to USA. So, I had to leave my MacBook home because I don't feel safe checking it in my main luggage.
Anyway, I arrived home without any trouble and went for the interview the following morning. The appointment was at 8:30 but I couldn't reach the window until 10:30. First of all, there was about 2 hours wait time for 5 mins interview. Then I could finally attend the interview and the consular officer and she said it'll be ready in 3-4 business days and that I should receive an email. On the 4th business day I check their website for any option to track my passport because I didn't receive any email from them and it says my passport is still with the U.S. Consulate and that it can take up to several weeks! It also says to follow any instructions given to me at the interview. But there was no instruction given unless confirmation that my passport will be ready to pick up! Also, they tell you in case of Administrative Check not to contact until 60 business days, by which they hope to resolve your case.
So, I've a proper job and I earn money using my brain and time. Do these people value any of these? I've been living abroad for 8 years now and I don't have any background here at all. If they needed more documents during the interview to check my background I could provide them all. This is not a rational or logical system and this is not how it's supposed to work. Also, most Americans have no idea this is something foreign nationals go through and it's my duty to explain this. I know most will empathize but I want some rational people to fix this system. Now I just need to wait and see whether I can be back to work in U.S. on time or I've to buy another one way ticket with hundreds of dollars!
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Update: So, there wasn't any issue on my side with visa processing. Apparently, that was a system error and affected others as well. However, the error message was confusing, user experience issue I guess. In the end I just want to reiterate that there should be a better and easier way to process visa, especially for those who are already living in USA. In the age where most things are digital and digitized, spending a good amount of time and money for a printed visa does not seem to be an efficient way to operate. Unfortunately that's how immigration systems still work but they can at least try to simplify the process.
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Update: So, there wasn't any issue on my side with visa processing. Apparently, that was a system error and affected others as well. However, the error message was confusing, user experience issue I guess. In the end I just want to reiterate that there should be a better and easier way to process visa, especially for those who are already living in USA. In the age where most things are digital and digitized, spending a good amount of time and money for a printed visa does not seem to be an efficient way to operate. Unfortunately that's how immigration systems still work but they can at least try to simplify the process.
