| Born
in Holland, Leo Mes legally immigrated with his parents and siblings to
Canada when he was eight years old. In Canada, he and his nine
brothers and sisters all completed college. They are medical
doctors, rocket scientists, psychologists, and computer
engineers. Mr. Mes has now been in the United States for
approximately ten years. Coming
to America
I was married to a US citizen, who had moved to Canada and had taken Canadian citizenship, so she had dual citizenship: American and Canadian. I was born in Holland and moved to Canada when I was 8 years old, so I also have dual citizenship: Dutch and Canadian. When we had been married for ten years, my wife became very ill with a chronic case of bronchial asthma and required a warmer, drier climate. My Dutch citizenship automatically allows for me to work and own property in any EU country, which would have allowed us to move to France or Italy. The south of France was our first choice, but she would not have been allowed to work in France and would have been allowed to stay for only six months at a time on a visitor visa. The USA was a more certain option since, as I was already married to a US citizen, I would have no restrictions in getting permanent residency (a green card). Spouses and family are afforded the highest priority for entry to the US and have no numerical restrictions. Keep in mind that she was already a US citizen, and there were no children who would be accompanying us. My legal status was the only one in question. However there were still all the formalities to be fulfilled. The first step was to actually obtain an application form. Just to get the form required a trip for both of us to the USA embassy in Ottawa. There was an initial screening as well as an explanation of the process before we could even obtain an application to start the process. The application form itself now costs the applicants $10 and only originals are accepted. The application had to be filled in and then submitted with a processing fee. I am not sure of the fee, but it was fairly hefty. In total the cost of the entire process was just under $1,000 (US). This was with me doing all the work instead of hiring a lawyer. There were numerous documents that had to be provided (all documents were required to be notarized, or provided from the originators in sealed envelopes): 1. A police report from the police in the city of current residence, stating that the individual is of good moral character and has no outstanding records or actions. 2. An RCMP report similar to the local report, but accompanied with formal RCMP fingerprints of the applicant(s). 3. A copy of the birth certificate, in English or translated into English. 4. Copies of Marriage certificate. 5. Copies of degrees, certifications or licenses. 6. Medical certification and chest X-ray. 7. Copy of personal résumé. 8. List of personal assets showing net worth to allow certification that applicant would not be a public assistance case. Half way through the process they decided to change procedures and require FBI fingerprinting as well, which mandated a trip to the consulate in Montreal just to take fingerprints. Once the application was received and processed to determine eligibility the real serious work of screening began. This included interviews with INS staff for a number of issues. Each interview was scheduled on different days (often weeks apart) with different staff members. In all, the process took a little more than seven months (and remember that this is the FAST process because it is the highest priority). The application had to be submitted from outside of the US and the applicant is not allowed to live in the US until approval is granted. Once the approval is granted, the applicant has three months to get to a border point to go through the formal immigration procedure at the border and make the formal move into the US. It is obvious the entire process is designed to discourage the applicant. They delay, they invoke mysterious rules and they take any opportunity to disqualify or discourage applicants. They make access difficult. For example they require applicants to travel to the consulate in Montreal for all processing, and they require all processing be done in person. Montreal was fortunately only a two-hour drive from Ottawa, but it required numerous trips. In my case, I experienced far less interference from INS because we had already been married for more than ten years, so the standard process required of applicants who are married less than two years did not apply. Furthermore, because there was a health issue with the US citizen that required her to move down before the next winter season, they took less of a confrontational approach than normal (from conversations with other applicants in somewhat similar circumstances). My status is Permanent Resident Alien and, even now, every ten years, my resident alien card expires, and I am required to renew it, so that I may have permission to remain in the USA. This entails my delivery to the INS of current passport-type photographs of myself (without my glasses, so they can have a good look at my face), and a completed application form. Leo Mes, D/FW Texas |