OK Guys, sorry for the delay,
This is what happened to me at the Charlotte (NC) Airport-POE.
We reached Charlotte at about 6 PM on January 6. There were only 2 lines one for the US-Citizens and the other 'infinite long' line for NON-Citizens. We had started our journey a 3 days back with requested Lay-overs at a couple of places. With 2 children of ages 2 and 5 we were extremely tired. Finally after about 45 minutes of ZIG-ZAGS within the devider( with all our hand-luggages, children, strollers, etc.) it was our turn. Now the air-ports are occupied with the US-VISIT thing(Photographs and finger prints for all NON-Immigrants). The Officer was not sure if ours would fall under the US Visit. A loud question towards one of the officers at another counter IS Immigrant Visa US-VISIT .....?. There comes another , still louder reply 'NON-US-VISIT'. He was satisfied and directed us to go to a separate waiting room. We both were holdind each of the children as they fell asleep. Now inside the waiting room, I was able to see a number of Students waiting for their turns to be called. Some of them after minutes of quesioning inside the closed doors come out crying, packing bags to get ready to depart. We were watching the same students very excited and happy while travelling. It was of a bit of worry for both of us. Finally my wife and I were callled seprately to have our finger-prints taken. We were asked to wait again. The lady officer who took the finger prints handed over the file to another officer and she left for the day.
Now after another 30 minutes, the officer came and told us that there was some problem with our immunization record. I was so frustrated altogether asked him What DO YOU MEAN ?. he said the the doctor in India (THANKS TO DR. SANJAN JOHN) has noted that our immunization record was in-complete and he cannot let us go(You may try to infect people around, once YOU ARE IMMIGRANTS)
. I checked the medical documents, and noticed that he has checked the wrong box. He had noted that all the immunizations were either given or NOT AGE APPROPRIATE , however in the last section of the immunization chart he checked the wrong box meaning VACCINATION INCOMPLETE AND HENCE NO WAIVERS REQUESTED .( By the way he had given us a couple of shots at his clinic and told us everything was excellent). Looking at the sheet, anybody with a little IQ would easily understand that this was a mistake(because the list of all vaccinations and dates were give clearly). But immigration officers are not supposed to act on IQ alone. Another half an hour discussion with acouple of other officers, arguments etc.... Now the Officer called his boss on his cell-phone and explained thesituation in a way that would have frightened the officer who was skiing in the mountains. He came back and told us that he cannot admit us, but have to DEFER OUR INSPECTION ( I had never heard of it before from any of these forums). A Lady officer suggested of contacting the Indian Doctor and clarifying it, but was immediately disdained by the officer.
Who suggested that we come back another day for the Inspection after getting certified by A PANNEL PHYSICIAN within the US that our Vaccination is complete( What would happen in the mean time, if we try to infect some body ?. He did not seem to have thought about it, neither did I brought it to his attention -. Anyway finally he took pictures of both of us, and asked us to fill in I-94s ( While inside the aircraft I thought I would never had to do it again, but was a bit too optimistic.) for both of us. Then he stamped the I94 card with a 'DEFFERED INSPECTION UNTIL-----" stamp. He took all our passports and, enclosed in a FEDEX box together with whole set of files and Immigrant Visas and asked us that we go to the BCIS offce in Atlanta on 28-Jan-04 for the deffered inspection. In the meantime he admitted us in to the country with NO-STATUS (Neither Immigrant, Nor Non-Immigrant as the consulate had already cancelled all our H- Visa stamps- Those of you familiar with the story of 'Trishanku' would better understand our state at that point). The officer said he was going to send the packet right way to atlanta with a Notice which read as follows:
"Subject Presented himself with an E21 Immigrant Visa for Inspection . Medical records showed that the vaccinations were incomplete and no waiver requested. However All the Vaccines were either given or marked AGE-INAPPROPRIATE. Subject is deferred to have a Public Health Doctor determine if he/she meets vaccination requirements.".
He said that since we were not 'Admitted' to the country, we would be in NO-STATUS and cannot work for my employer.
(To be Continued...)
This is what happened to me at the Charlotte (NC) Airport-POE.
We reached Charlotte at about 6 PM on January 6. There were only 2 lines one for the US-Citizens and the other 'infinite long' line for NON-Citizens. We had started our journey a 3 days back with requested Lay-overs at a couple of places. With 2 children of ages 2 and 5 we were extremely tired. Finally after about 45 minutes of ZIG-ZAGS within the devider( with all our hand-luggages, children, strollers, etc.) it was our turn. Now the air-ports are occupied with the US-VISIT thing(Photographs and finger prints for all NON-Immigrants). The Officer was not sure if ours would fall under the US Visit. A loud question towards one of the officers at another counter IS Immigrant Visa US-VISIT .....?. There comes another , still louder reply 'NON-US-VISIT'. He was satisfied and directed us to go to a separate waiting room. We both were holdind each of the children as they fell asleep. Now inside the waiting room, I was able to see a number of Students waiting for their turns to be called. Some of them after minutes of quesioning inside the closed doors come out crying, packing bags to get ready to depart. We were watching the same students very excited and happy while travelling. It was of a bit of worry for both of us. Finally my wife and I were callled seprately to have our finger-prints taken. We were asked to wait again. The lady officer who took the finger prints handed over the file to another officer and she left for the day.
Now after another 30 minutes, the officer came and told us that there was some problem with our immunization record. I was so frustrated altogether asked him What DO YOU MEAN ?. he said the the doctor in India (THANKS TO DR. SANJAN JOHN) has noted that our immunization record was in-complete and he cannot let us go(You may try to infect people around, once YOU ARE IMMIGRANTS)
. I checked the medical documents, and noticed that he has checked the wrong box. He had noted that all the immunizations were either given or NOT AGE APPROPRIATE , however in the last section of the immunization chart he checked the wrong box meaning VACCINATION INCOMPLETE AND HENCE NO WAIVERS REQUESTED .( By the way he had given us a couple of shots at his clinic and told us everything was excellent). Looking at the sheet, anybody with a little IQ would easily understand that this was a mistake(because the list of all vaccinations and dates were give clearly). But immigration officers are not supposed to act on IQ alone. Another half an hour discussion with acouple of other officers, arguments etc.... Now the Officer called his boss on his cell-phone and explained thesituation in a way that would have frightened the officer who was skiing in the mountains. He came back and told us that he cannot admit us, but have to DEFER OUR INSPECTION ( I had never heard of it before from any of these forums). A Lady officer suggested of contacting the Indian Doctor and clarifying it, but was immediately disdained by the officer.Who suggested that we come back another day for the Inspection after getting certified by A PANNEL PHYSICIAN within the US that our Vaccination is complete( What would happen in the mean time, if we try to infect some body ?. He did not seem to have thought about it, neither did I brought it to his attention -
. Anyway finally he took pictures of both of us, and asked us to fill in I-94s ( While inside the aircraft I thought I would never had to do it again, but was a bit too optimistic.) for both of us. Then he stamped the I94 card with a 'DEFFERED INSPECTION UNTIL-----" stamp. He took all our passports and, enclosed in a FEDEX box together with whole set of files and Immigrant Visas and asked us that we go to the BCIS offce in Atlanta on 28-Jan-04 for the deffered inspection. In the meantime he admitted us in to the country with NO-STATUS (Neither Immigrant, Nor Non-Immigrant as the consulate had already cancelled all our H- Visa stamps- Those of you familiar with the story of 'Trishanku' would better understand our state at that point). The officer said he was going to send the packet right way to atlanta with a Notice which read as follows:"Subject Presented himself with an E21 Immigrant Visa for Inspection . Medical records showed that the vaccinations were incomplete and no waiver requested. However All the Vaccines were either given or marked AGE-INAPPROPRIATE. Subject is deferred to have a Public Health Doctor determine if he/she meets vaccination requirements.".
He said that since we were not 'Admitted' to the country, we would be in NO-STATUS and cannot work for my employer.
(To be Continued...)
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