Visa Drama!
I'm sure Mom will want to hear the details.
I'm still down in New Haven on my six-month J-1 visa. It ends on Monday (July 18). After that, I'm supposed to be allowed 30 days to "wrap up my affairs" down here, according to the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS). Which would be great, because due to circumstances, I'm still frantically collecting data and will be right up until the end date.
However, the twist is that the customs officer who stamped my passport at Toronto was not all that... well, charitably, let's just say apparently he didn't know the rules. (Many of them don't seem to - the guy who checked my documents on the way OUT of the country at Hartford grilled me for not having a passport visa entry stamp. You know, the one that's not required for Canadians). Anyway, customs guy put the wrong date on my passport. OISS ignored my first email asking about this, but when I called to follow up they looked at my passport, found it was incorrect, and said they would try to get the error fixed. From what I can tell, if they don't pull it off before Monday I may have to take a quick trip out of the country to come back in as a tourist (but no one will say for sure). I really want to make sure I'm complying with everything so I don't end up on any blacklists, so everyone please keep your fingers crossed. (Also can't really afford a quick trip to Cda... but hey).
I said to the OISS lady, "Should I panic?" She said, "Not yet." Guess I'll be following up today to see if that's still the case!
That said, at least data collection has finally kicked into gear. I had no luck at all in all of June - lots of no-shows, lots of kids who had complicated hair (can't fit the EEG net over braids or weaves very easily) and absolutely no data. However, I've run seven kids in the last four days so it seems like I might get quite close to my target of 29 (currently at 25). I booked one for Monday... only day she could come in, sort of awkward if I'm on a plane, but I might plead with one of the interns to run the visit for me.
At least it's never boring, I guess...
I'm still down in New Haven on my six-month J-1 visa. It ends on Monday (July 18). After that, I'm supposed to be allowed 30 days to "wrap up my affairs" down here, according to the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS). Which would be great, because due to circumstances, I'm still frantically collecting data and will be right up until the end date.
However, the twist is that the customs officer who stamped my passport at Toronto was not all that... well, charitably, let's just say apparently he didn't know the rules. (Many of them don't seem to - the guy who checked my documents on the way OUT of the country at Hartford grilled me for not having a passport visa entry stamp. You know, the one that's not required for Canadians). Anyway, customs guy put the wrong date on my passport. OISS ignored my first email asking about this, but when I called to follow up they looked at my passport, found it was incorrect, and said they would try to get the error fixed. From what I can tell, if they don't pull it off before Monday I may have to take a quick trip out of the country to come back in as a tourist (but no one will say for sure). I really want to make sure I'm complying with everything so I don't end up on any blacklists, so everyone please keep your fingers crossed. (Also can't really afford a quick trip to Cda... but hey).
I said to the OISS lady, "Should I panic?" She said, "Not yet." Guess I'll be following up today to see if that's still the case!
That said, at least data collection has finally kicked into gear. I had no luck at all in all of June - lots of no-shows, lots of kids who had complicated hair (can't fit the EEG net over braids or weaves very easily) and absolutely no data. However, I've run seven kids in the last four days so it seems like I might get quite close to my target of 29 (currently at 25). I booked one for Monday... only day she could come in, sort of awkward if I'm on a plane, but I might plead with one of the interns to run the visit for me.
At least it's never boring, I guess...
Labels: visas
posted by Anne at 4:30 AM
6 Comments:
uh oh, panic time.
"Dear Anne, I was just notified by the person at Customs that your record does not show up in their system. I don’t know what to tell you except if you’re planning to stay on for a bit beyond 7/18 that you leave and return as a tourist. I sent a scanned copy of your documents so I don’t understand why the information isn’t in the system. "
I will be on pins and needles waiting for the resolution of all this.
me too.
Hope you get it sorted out....in your favour!
My supervisor has been super helpful in pinpointing the nearest border... apparently when he was at Harvard they had to do this more than once. I guess I'll probably hire a car - Mark says it's five hours each way, could get 'er done in a day if I wanted.
Not really how I planned to see America but hey.
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