My god its cold! -7°C The day before yesterday we work up to snow, and today it has started again but with a really strong wind. Bear that in mind when I tell you about today.
Yesterday I got my new Credit Card. So what right? Getting a credit card here is a big deal. If you don’t have credit you get charged over the odds regardless if what to get a loan or mortgage. Even getting a mobile phone contract you have to put money down long before you are allowed to use the service. AT&T for example wanted to charge me $400 per line (one for me and one for Sarah) due to a poor credit rating. And with this you don’t even get the handset… bloody ridiculous!
Last Saturday Sarah was told (by the bureau of Motor Vehicles “BMV”) that she couldn’t sit her driving test as her Social Security Number “SSN” Card had her maiden name on it. Although you can’t get reissued a SSN you can get a bit of paper called an NUMI that proves that you name has been changed on the system without getting a new card.
Today I went for a walk in a gale force winds and snow blowing in my face with a wind chill factor of -7°C to the federal building about 8 blocks from when I work. I know the routine, since I have been here several times before. I said hello to the armed guards, go through the metal detector, get frisked, got in the elevator, walked in to the Social Security Dept (SSD), took a ticket and sat with all the other muggles. 45 minutes later my number gets called. I have my speech and documents already:
“Hi, I am looking to get a NUMI for my wife. She has a social security card from when she lived here before fifteen years ago. She has this as back then you needed a SSN to open a bank account. She is here with me on a H4 spouse Visa when means she can’t work. Please could you change her name on the record and provide me with a NUMI, so she can sit her driving test” I say in a very organized way.
“In order to do than she needs to fill in this form” said with eyelids half closed and a get out of that one Sherlock expression on her face.
“You mean like this” as I present it to her
“signed?”
“yep”
“have you got proof that you are married”
“Yep, here my passport, my SSL & our marriage certificate” boom boom boom, we are 3 for 3.
“Do you and your wife have the I94 document?”
“yep! Here you go” boom boom, there is nothing that this woman can ask me that I don’t have an official and original document for.
She then goes on to type details in the computer… Than it happens… One big “Computer says no” moment.
“The computer is asking me for her i766 work permit” – she says
“She doesn’t have one, nor will be able to get one, as she is not allowed to work here on her visa” I say with mind panic.
“I need the i766 to complete the change of details form on the computer” she says
“Well I can’t get it, but you could still change her name just so she can do her driving test, right!”
“Sir, I cannot process you application with the documents you have given me, Do you understand what I am telling you” she says in a stern voice with the two armed guard poking their heads up out of their security booth like mere cats.
Crestcom training then kicks in – you will love this one Keith.
“I can see you are getting frustrated with me. If I were in your position I would have had those guards chuck me out by now. I come pushing all these foreign looking documents that look like monopoly money under your nose asking you to do something that the system won’t let you do. Thank you for putting up with me. Can you think of anything that could help me?” I say in my calm voice, fluttering my eyelids (not that doing that flittering eyelids helps.. she probably though I was having a seizure.
“Well, I can get you a letter to the BWV saying that your wife does not need a SSN… What’s your address?” she says with a little smile
“144 cool creek…”
“Coal creek?
“No, cool creek”
“Cold creek”
“Cool creek… like, You dude, cool!!”
God, not this again!
She also gave me the address of the Department of Homeland Security “DHS” to see if I could get Sarah a work permit (but I think this futile.)
To summarize, for Sarah to get a driving license she needs to go to the DHS for a i766, return to DSS so the SSN is OK, to print a NUMI so the BMV can let her do the test to get her license… I think it is time to add an acronym myself. This is BS.
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