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Green Cards in our hands!

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  • 23-06-2015 7:18pm
    #1
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭


    Just picked up our perm cards from our attorney's office!

    It was a strange process - originally, we were going to follow the track that my company offered - however because my wife is a physician - they (the company lawyers) actually recommended that we go via her. We had to adjust her status first, then make me the "beneficiary" holder. Then adjust my own status again. A lot of forms and waiting around but the lawyers knew what they were doing. The reason that they wanted it done through her? Cheaper. Because it was "national interest waiver", all filing fees were waived.

    Through a number of layers of bureaucracy with my company and ourselves, they agreed to work on our behalf on the condition that I remain with my firm for a period of 2 years or else pay the lawyer fees (which was my original agreement).

    I really can't believe it. It was weird the last couple of years on the L status. We settled really well into the US but were aware it technically could end. And now it won't.


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    #2
    Nelly 21
    Registered Users Posts: 626 ✭✭✭Nelly 21


    Congratualtions!!!!

    Also thanks for all help regarding US travel! You're always on hand to help someone out!!!!


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    #3
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 10,022 ✭✭✭✭cena


    Super jealous. Any spare green cards :p

    congrats


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    #4
    Novella
    Registered Users Posts: 13,713 ✭✭✭✭Novella


    Congratulations!

    There's no better feeling than getting your green card. I have a two year conditional gc at the moment but the relief is immense, knowing you can definitely stay here. :)


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    #5
    Recognition Scene
    Registered Users Posts: 112 ✭✭Recognition Scene


    Congrats, expecting mine soon.


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    #6
    InTheTrees
    Registered Users Posts: 9,900 ✭✭✭InTheTrees


    Congrats. And you get to use the "US Citizens & Residents" line at immigration now.


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    #7
    Novella
    Registered Users Posts: 13,713 ✭✭✭✭Novella


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    Congrats. And you get to use the "US Citizens & Residents" line at immigration now.

    You know, I just flew back to the US from Ireland on Sunday and they made me get into the other line which was really long! I told the lady working there who was directing people where to go that I have a green card but she pointed at my Irish passport which I was holding and said, "You have an Irish passport, you go in this line."

    I noticed some other people with green cards complaining about it but that's how she wanted things to go.


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    #8
    SHOVELLER
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭SHOVELLER


    Novella wrote: »
    You know, I just flew back to the US from Ireland on Sunday and they made me get into the other line which was really long! I told the lady working there who was directing people where to go that I have a green card but she pointed at my Irish passport which I was holding and said, "You have an Irish passport, you go in this line."

    I noticed some other people with green cards complaining about it but that's how she wanted things to go.

    It's based on what passport you hold.


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    #9
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    SHOVELLER wrote: »
    It's based on what passport you hold.

    And how busy the line is. The priority is US citizens. If there are a lot of them on flights then they will move GC to the All Others line.

    Conversely, I have gotten off flights and if there aren't many US citizen to go through, they will let "others" go to the US line.


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    #10
    Gandhi
    Registered Users Posts: 976 ✭✭✭Gandhi


    Congrats!!! No more need to worry about endless visa renewals, and whether the laws will have changed by the time your next one is due. The yanks are stuck with you now.

    Surprised you get stuck in the other line for passport control. I always went in the citizens' line and they only ever looked at the green card, not the passport. I got my US citizenship soon after 9/11, so not really surprising that things could have changed.


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    #11
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    Gandhi wrote: »
    Congrats!!! No more need to worry about endless visa renewals, and whether the laws will have changed by the time your next one is due. The yanks are stuck with you now.

    The irony is that the wife is off to Liberia with MSF for 2 months and I am off to Brazil for work next week.


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    #12
    biddywiddy
    Registered Users Posts: 440 ✭✭biddywiddy


    Gandhi wrote: »
    Surprised you get stuck in the other line for passport control. I always went in the citizens' line and they only ever looked at the green card, not the passport. I got my US citizenship soon after 9/11, so not really surprising that things could have changed.

    This seems to be a recent change. My husband and I flew from Dublin to the US last month and he was in the same queue as me for the first time - he has a Green Card, I have a visa. Previously, it was Visitors (incl visa holders) in one line, US Citizens and GC holders in the other. Now it's split by passport.


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    #13
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 10,022 ✭✭✭✭cena


    iusedtoknow wrote: »
    The irony is that the wife is off to Liberia with MSF for 2 months and I am off to Brazil for work next week.

    what is MSF??


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    #14
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    cena wrote: »
    what is MSF??

    Medicin san frontier (doctor's without borders)


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    #15
    ProudDUB
    Registered Users Posts: 11,569 ✭✭✭✭ProudDUB


    Delira & excira for you !

    What colour are your cards? When I got mine, I was oddly disappointed to find that it wasn't green, it was pink.

    It's the little things ! :D


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    #16
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    ProudDUB wrote: »
    Delira & excira for you !

    What colour are your cards? When I got mine, I was oddly disappointed to find that it wasn't green, it was pink.

    It's the little things ! :D

    The united states of america bit is green alright - the rest is just as bland as a drivers license.


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    #17
    InTheTrees
    Registered Users Posts: 9,900 ✭✭✭InTheTrees


    Novella wrote: »
    You know, I just flew back to the US from Ireland on Sunday and they made me get into the other line which was really long! I told the lady working there who was directing people where to go that I have a green card but she pointed at my Irish passport which I was holding and said, "You have an Irish passport, you go in this line."

    I noticed some other people with green cards complaining about it but that's how she wanted things to go.

    Interesting. Hopefully she was an idiot.

    Did you noticed whether the sign still reads "US Residents"?


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    #18
    C.D.
    Registered Users Posts: 670 ✭✭✭C.D.


    Congratulations. I had an enormous feeling of relief at once I had mine in hand. We were single income at the time and my company had had lay offs a few months previously so there were some sleepless nights. Got out of there pretty quickly.

    You can now choose (freely) to live and work anywhere in the US or Europe! Always amazes me to think that and think wistfully that I most likely won't take advantage of that incredible opportunity.


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    #19
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    C.D. wrote: »
    You can now choose (freely) to live and work anywhere in the US or Europe! Always amazes me to think that and think wistfully that I most likely won't take advantage of that incredible opportunity.

    Yup - it is kinda overwhelming to be honest. We both like our jobs here on the west coast, but we are thinking of heading East eventually - perhaps to the midwest or to NY/Boston.

    We moved here because of my career, but the next move is going to be for my wife's. She loves where she is and has at least another 18 months to go with her work, and I have to stay put for a couple of years or else pay back the lawyers fees - but I'd say we'll be on the look out for somewhere else in a year or two.


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    #20
    Novella
    Registered Users Posts: 13,713 ✭✭✭✭Novella


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    Interesting. Hopefully she was an idiot.

    Did you noticed whether the sign still reads "US Residents"?

    I can't remember what the sign said actually, maybe it said "US Citizens" and that's why I had to go in the other line? I really only asked because I'm seven months pregnant and the US line was so much shorter so it would have saved me standing in a hot, crowded place for a long time.

    A lot of other gc holders were kicking up a fuss. There was one family traveling with a young child and one of the parents had a US passport and the other had an Irish passport and a green card and they didn't want to be separated but the lady told them that they couldn't go together and the man was so annoyed about it.


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    #21
    biddywiddy
    Registered Users Posts: 440 ✭✭biddywiddy


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    Interesting. Hopefully she was an idiot.

    Did you noticed whether the sign still reads "US Residents"?

    We flew back from Dublin in May and the lines were split by passport. US Passport holders in one line, everyone else in the other. So, for the first time, my Green Card carrying husband was in the same queue as me.


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    #22
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    biddywiddy wrote: »
    We flew back from Dublin in May and the lines were split by passport. US Passport holders in one line, everyone else in the other. So, for the first time, my Green Card carrying husband was in the same queue as me.

    Here, whenever I land in SF my colleagues that were already on green cards would go straight through through the US/Green card lines with no questions asked.

    Maybe it's different when you do pre clearance.


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    #23
    biddywiddy
    Registered Users Posts: 440 ✭✭biddywiddy


    iusedtoknow wrote: »
    Maybe it's different when you do pre clearance.

    This is a new (to me) change in Dublin. We flew through Heathrow on the way to the US after Xmas, so hadn't precleared in over a year.

    Previously, in Dublin, I would go in the Visitors queue (I'm on a J1) and my husband would join the US residents queue. Then, after preclearing, we'd join the big queue, basically in a corridor, for US security. Now, a newer, much bigger area is open. You go through US security first (and this process seems much more efficient than the former setup) and then queue for preclearance (US passports vs everyone else).

    When we cleared immigration in Newark in January, the situation was as you describe: US residents vs everyone else.


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    #24
    Bayberry
    Registered Users Posts: 707 ✭✭✭Bayberry


    Novella wrote: »
    A lot of other gc holders were kicking up a fuss. There was one family traveling with a young child and one of the parents had a US passport and the other had an Irish passport and a green card and they didn't want to be separated but the lady told them that they couldn't go together and the man was so annoyed about it.
    This is actually the same for Irish citizens who are married to a US citizen (or any non EU citizen) arriving back in Ireland now. Their spouses must go in the non-EU line, so you're supposed to split up, but they won't make an issue of it if you use your Irish passport in the slow lane and stay with your non-EU spouse.

    Welcome "home". I sometimes wonder whether it's worth the money to renew my Irish passport.


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    #25
    él statutorio
    Registered Users Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭él statutorio


    iusedtoknow wrote: »
    Here, whenever I land in SF my colleagues that were already on green cards would go straight through through the US/Green card lines with no questions asked.

    Maybe it's different when you do pre clearance.

    I always go through the US/Green card line too, never a problem.


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    #26
    daycent
    Registered Users Posts: 842 ✭✭✭daycent


    Congrats! Must be a big relief.... I'm also on an L visa and the GC feels a long way off... another few years in limbo for me!


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    #27
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 10,022 ✭✭✭✭cena


    I would love to get a sports visa for the level two ice hockey coach exam I passed.


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    #28
    jaymcg91
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,015 ✭✭✭jaymcg91


    cena wrote: »
    I would love to get a sports visa for the level two ice hockey coach exam I passed.

    Lol, pretty sure you have to be world class to get those visas :p.


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    #29
    iusedtoknow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,698 ✭✭✭iusedtoknow


    cena wrote: »
    I would love to get a sports visa for the level two ice hockey coach exam I passed.

    sorry buddy, but without years of experience and an extensive background in the sport (such as playing it professionally in a league) you'll be towards the back of the line for coaching jobs. There are tons of players in the US and Canada that go into coaching


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    #30
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 10,022 ✭✭✭✭cena


    jaymcg91 wrote: »
    Lol, pretty sure you have to be world class to get those visas :p.

    It was through the international ice hockey federation that the exam was done by.


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    #31
    cena
    Registered Users Posts: 10,022 ✭✭✭✭cena


    iusedtoknow wrote: »
    sorry buddy, but without years of experience and an extensive background in the sport (such as playing it professionally in a league) you'll be towards the back of the line for coaching jobs. There are tons of players in the US and Canada that go into coaching

    That is what Ireland is lacking A rink where us coaches can get more experience. Etc


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