![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/norrma.jpg\")
We
\n have been a happy household at the Dowbrigade lately, the lovely Norma
\n Yvonne has finally been granted a Green Card. Its seems that at last,
\n after six years of marriage, five-and-a-half years after our initial
\n Green Card interview, after six sets of fingerprints (they expire every
\n year, who knew?), dozens of days lost to endless lines and wooden-bench
\n waits, recalcitrant clerks and misplaced portfolios, the Department of
\n Homeland Security, currently In Loco Parentis for the Bureau of Citizenship
\n and Immigration Services, has finally come through, although only after
\n our feisty Immigration Lawyer threatened the agency with the dreaded
\n Writ of Mandamus.<\/p>\n
Yes, fans, the Dowbrigade, thorough his legal counsel, a somewhat shady
\n shyster found working the rejected riff-raff outside the Tip O’Neill
\n Federal Building, and against good sense and sober advice, threatened
\n to sue the Federal Government for
\n neglectful inaction on his case. And it worked! Two weeks later
\n the unofficial notification arrived, and the Senora Dowbrigade was able
\n to get a stamp in her passport declaring her a legal US resident and
\n allowing her to leave the country and visit her family for the first
\n time in three years.<\/p>\n
So far be it from the Dowbrigade, at this stage of the game, to criticize
\n the DHS. For us, the Bureau is now a paragon of American efficiency
\n and thoughtful, caring paternalism. So yesterday, when the official-looking
\n envelope arrived addressed to my wife, bearing the return address of
\n the Department of Homeland Security as well as ominous inscriptions like
\n "Official Business" and "Return Service Requested" I was not worried. I
\n have every confidence in my government. However, considering the possibility
\n that it contained time-sensitive material ("Should you not appear in
\n person to claim your Green Card within 14 days of this notification,
\n it will be rescinded and you must begin the application process again."),
\n we opened the envelope, although as a sensitive and PC spouse we do not
\n usually open Norma Yvonne’s mail.<\/p>\n
It was a beautiful official certificate, printed on high-quality bond
\n paper, with a high relief lithographic seal reading "The United States
\n of America" and entitled: Notice of Action. The action they
\n were notifying us of was the "Creation of Record of Lawful Permanent
\n Residence"<\/p>\n
This work of bureaucratic art, aka Form I 797 (Rev. 09\/07\/93) N, is
\n a real American original, to be cherished and saved as an important and
\n official record of one of the milestones on the path to US Citizenship. The
\n Dowbrigade suspects this one will be framed and stored safely with the
\n family heirlooms like the Marriage and Baptism Certificates. After all,
\n receiving your official notice of the "Creation of Record of Lawful
\n Permanent Residence" only happens one in your life. Or so
\n I thought.<\/p>\n
Today’s mail, recently retrieved, brought THREE MORE letters from the
\n Department of Homeland Security. This unprecedented attention did
\n create a moment of panic. Has the government changed their mind?
\n Did they discover my radical past as an SDS organizer? Do they have a
\n series of new hoops we must jump through to grab the brass ring of citizenship?<\/p>\n
Image my relief to discover that nothing much has changed. The
\n three new letters contained three additional, identical copies of Form
\n I 797 (Rev. 09\/07\/93) N; all four were originals, not copies, and all
\n made out identically to Norma Yvonne. Four perfect, pristine copies
\n of this unique government document. Welcome to the United States
\n and congratulations on your permanent resident status.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have been a happy household at the Dowbrigade lately, the lovely Norma Yvonne has finally been granted a Green Card. Its seems that at last, after six years of marriage, five-and-a-half years after our initial Green Card interview, after … Continue reading