![]() Although I had Canadian citizenship, I was born in China. The lawyer mentioned possible complications that could lead to delays. So it wasn’t just that I felt both alien and criminal: the words were plainly there. One form was titled “Petition for Alien Relative.” Another: “Application for Advance Parole” (“parole” allowing me to travel for absolute emergencies, which the lawyer said to avoid). ![]() On each form, we triple-checked dates, addresses, and the spellings of our names. ![]() Now it was as if, through him, I were trying to steal status or jump the line. Grad school was my sole reason for coming to this country, and had I not met my husband I would not have stayed. In addition to the forms, we had to provide: photographs of ourselves and my work visas our marriage license and birth certificates notarized letters confirming that our marriage was genuine and the sealed results of a medical exam showing that I was thoroughly vaccinated and not a carrier of any communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, or gonorrhea. Once we submit these forms, she said, your status will be in flux. I reminded the lawyer that I was Canadian, and she said that to leave the country and try to come back was to risk being held up at customs for not having a clear residency status in either Canada or the U.S. The lawyer said that the average case took at least eleven months now, since the prior Administration had stalled many green cards, since the prior Administration had wished to limit immigration from certain countries. My husband asked how long we would have to stay put. I could travel within the U.S., but leaving the country was tricky. Renewing my work visa yet again seemed like a complete waste of everyone’s time, so we’d hired a lawyer for my green-card process and, in one of the six-minute phone slots we had with her, she told me to stay put during the period between the application submission and the interview. My husband was an American citizen, and we lived in New Jersey. It was not that, in year three, I couldn’t travel, but to do so was ill-advised. I stood in front of the frozen-food section, occasionally opening a freezer door to grab something, then changing my mind. The first night, I drove to a twenty-four-hour supermarket. ![]() Around this time, I developed insomnia and began driving by myself at night. When borders reopened, everyone began travelling again, in full force. Countries closed their borders to other countries that had closed their borders first. ![]()
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