I'd joined Microsoft in 1994 with just a few years left on my H1 visa, which was due to expire in April 1997. The company applied for my green card in July of 1995, and as per the process followed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, my case would be processed when my application date became "current". On the 10th of each month, the INS would announce which dates they were currently processing, and come January of 1997, it was about five years behind, still processing applications from 1990.
Bill Gates was at that time actively lobbying Congress to ease up restrictions on H1 visas. Worried that I was just months away from having to leave the US, I dropped him an email asking if he could do anything to help. I didn't hear back directly from Bill, but within a week, I got a call from a lawyer at Microsoft, asking to meet. We discovered that we could extend my H1 visa by 100 days to July 31 1997, which the INS granted. However, we didn't think this would make a difference, and on June 10, the INS was still processing applications filed in 1990.
Microsoft began making plans to transfer me to the Vancouver, B.C., office in Canada, just across the border. On July 10 1997, with 20 days left before I would have to leave the US, the INS released its monthly update, disclosing that it was now processing applications filed in July 1995. Magically, the so-called "current" date had jumped forward by five years, by just exactly enough for my green card application to now be processed. Had the "current" date moved by even a month less, this would not have been possible.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief, secure that my life would now not be turned upside down. The INS issued me an EAD (Employment Authorization Document), which permitted me to stay in the US indefinitely until my green card was issued.
If the story ended right there, I might have written it off as a remarkable coincidence and nothing more. What happened next was strange: on Aug 10 1997, the INS release its next update and the "current" date had moved back to 1990! A window had opened, as if only for me, enabling my green card process to move forward by a hair's breadth, and then closed shut just as abruptly. Whether it was the Universe doing me a personal favor, or just the Blind Watchmaker momentarily losing the plot, it's the reason I am still here in the USA.
Microsoft began making plans to transfer me to the Vancouver, B.C., office in Canada, just across the border. On July 10 1997, with 20 days left before I would have to leave the US, the INS released its monthly update, disclosing that it was now processing applications filed in July 1995. Magically, the so-called "current" date had jumped forward by five years, by just exactly enough for my green card application to now be processed. Had the "current" date moved by even a month less, this would not have been possible.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief, secure that my life would now not be turned upside down. The INS issued me an EAD (Employment Authorization Document), which permitted me to stay in the US indefinitely until my green card was issued.
If the story ended right there, I might have written it off as a remarkable coincidence and nothing more. What happened next was strange: on Aug 10 1997, the INS release its next update and the "current" date had moved back to 1990! A window had opened, as if only for me, enabling my green card process to move forward by a hair's breadth, and then closed shut just as abruptly. Whether it was the Universe doing me a personal favor, or just the Blind Watchmaker momentarily losing the plot, it's the reason I am still here in the USA.
