Greetings friends!
I am finally back with another blog post for you all, and excitingly this is my first post coming to you from New York!
Back in November 2019 (almost a year ago now), I announced that I would be moving to New York to do a research internship at Columbia University. Since then many things have changed... and then changed again... and then again. Nobody could have predicted a year ago that we'd all be living through a global pandemic, and whilst I'm as sick as the next girl of hearing the C-word (no, not that one), ultimately my life these last few months, like everyone else, has been ruled by it.
In spite of the 'rona, I made it out to New York to live out my dreams, and I am incredibly lucky, there's no two ways about it. BUT! That doesn't mean it was extremely difficult to get out here.
If you follow my socials you'll already know a snippet of the trials and tribulations it took to get here, but today I thought I'd give you an insight into the last couple of months of my life. Largely in an effort to apologise for my silence on this blog, and also so that when I advise you not to try to move across the world during a pandemic, you'll know exactly why!
Border Blockage
Most of you will know that back in March the US decided to close it's borders to a list of countries, including the UK. I'll be honest, I was naïve back then and whilst I knew the virus might stick around, I didn't think Trump would keep his pal Boris out of the country for very long. Unfortunately for me, and as a surprise to everyone else, the POTUS actually stuck to this ban, and as the months ticked on it seemed less and less likely that I would make it to New York for my placement.
Then, one Friday night after I'd finished my Fish and Chips, I noticed an email on my phone from gov.uk with the subject line "Update - USA Travel Advice". I had subscribed to these emails back in December as a requirement of my placement agreement, but rarely they contained anything of relevance. It was strange, I knew that this one was going to be different. I just had this feeling when I saw the email that this was going to be the one that changed everything.
And it did.
The update said that students travelling from the UK on a J-1 visa could now apply for an exemption to the travel ban and that embassy services would begin to resume for this purpose.
From then on, it was all go.
Paperwork problems
We got the go ahead from Columbia to start the visa process in late July and I was very eager to get going with the paperwork after having waited so long for this news. I recalled reading months before that you should start the visa process 10-12 weeks before you plan to travel. Having only 6 weeks between then and my original start date in September, I decided to move my placement back to October. And I thank myself for having that foresight a lot, because as it turned out, even the October start date was very difficult to meet.
I got to work on the paperwork immediately, and wow there was a lot to get through. It's a pretty common perception that American immigration is long and tiresome, but I wasn't quite prepared for how much information they really need!
I sent the paperwork to the admin assistant at Columbia, who (for the purpose of this blog post) I will call Wendy. Up to this point, Wendy had proven to be extremely helpful in getting together the paperwork for me to complete and send back to her. She told me that it would all be processed on her end within a week of me sending it. The deadline for the paperwork to be sent to Wendy was set for the 25th August. But, of course, I actually sent the paperwork on 12th August, just to be extra organised and give myself as much time as possible.
By the 18th August I hadn't heard from Wendy, which was slightly unusual because she was pretty good at replying to emails. So I just dropped her a line to make sure she'd gotten my email with the paperwork attached. Wendy replied and said she hadn't. Which was odd, because when I went to resend it to her I just forwarded the original email and it seemed to suddenly appear in her inbox... but I really know nothing about technology so I gave her the benefit of the doubt!
Wendy said she was extremely busy that week and that she would get onto the paperwork the following week (when the original paperwork deadline would have been), which was completely fair enough. So off I went to Devon for a week and left my paperwork in Wendy's capable hands.
Or at least, that's what I thought.
Post-Devon Drama
When I got back from Devon at the end of August, I hadn't heard from Wendy (even though I hadn't told her I was on holiday) but I wasn't worried. All things considered, I was feeling pretty relaxed knowing that the paperwork was now someone else's problem.
That inner peace quickly turned to panic when I discovered in early September that Wendy was no longer at work, and had taken a holiday. Unbeknownst to me, there was nobody else who could process my paperwork. So my only opportunity to get a visa had just flown herself to France and wouldn't return until 8th September. 3 weeks before I was due to fly out to New York.
That would have been stressful enough, but when Wendy returned to work, she informed me that the paperwork I had filled out was no longer valid as the system had been moved online at the start of the pandemic, and despite it being her job, she had neglected to clarify this.
Now, I will give some benefit to Wendy and say that we all make mistakes. But three weeks before I am due to fly across the world was NOT the time to make this mistake. Especially given that the system had been changed 5 months prior to this, in March.
So I had to complete the paperwork again, starting from scratch, on the new system. Which, FYI, wasn't working the first two days I tried it.
But I did it, and it was completed for a second time in record speed, and it was back to being someone else's problem to process.
Consulate Complications
When I received my paperwork in the post the following week I was so relieved. I was convinced the hard part was over. (I just did a really big sigh as I was typing that).
The next step was booking an appointment at the American embassy in London. When I had thought about this appointment previously I had been struck by fear, but when I was actually logging into the embassy website and filling out the forms, I didn't feel nervous at all. I felt panicked and rushed and stressed, but not nervous. I filled in the forms, I got my visa picture taken, I paid the enormous visa fees (so. much. money.) and I hit submit.
The slide on the page asked me to schedule my appointment with the consulate. No problem, I thought. This is the final hurdle. Ha ha.
The calendar to select your appointment date was grey, the way it looks when all the dates are full. So I reluctantly clicked to move onto the month of October. Grey again. November? Still grey. December? Grey again! According to the calendar, the next available appointment at the US embassy was 5th August 2021. Crap.
I got on the phone with the embassy before I'd even had time to process this. It had to be a mistake, didn't it? They couldn't possibly be booked up until August next year? Not when there is still a travel ban? I was directed to a visa helpline, and the guy on the other end of the phone, in his thick American accent said "unfortunately ma’am, that is the correct date". I was shocked. I didn't say anything for a moment, so he continued to speak. "You can apply for an expedited appointment but you must first select the August date and then you may appeal this."
After he hung up, I typed furiously at my keyboard an appeal to the US consulate and crossed my fingers.
2 weeks to go before I was due to fly.
Despair and Denials
I woke up the next morning to an email from the London Embassy.
"We regret to inform you that the U.S. Department of State Consulate in London was unable to approve your request for an expedited Visa application appointment. Your original Visa application appointment has not changed."
It took me a while to read the whole email because the words "we regret to inform you" told me it wasn't good news. I shut off my phone, rolled over in bed and closed my eyes. I was so tired of the obstacles by this point, I just wanted to sleep. And for that sleep to be restful. But, of course, I wouldn't sleep until the situation was fixed. So I got up out of bed and I forwarded the email to the immigration office at Columbia and to my internship supervisor. By this time, Wendy no longer replied to my emails, so I didn't bother to copy her in anymore.
I asked anyone of importance to write a letter of recommendation, and I gathered these into an email to appeal the decision. They used phrases like "not subject to Presidential Proclamations" and "a devoted young scientist". I read the letters as though they were about someone else, but sent them anyway, with my last hopes riding on these phrases.
Then I waited. And it was a long wait.
On 22nd September (8 days before I was due to fly to New York) I was finally awarded an Emergency Appointment at the Embassy for the 25th September (yes, three days later). I had never felt weight lift off me like that before. I did it! I got the appointment!
I said nothing. I just slowly walked around the rest of the day waiting for something else to go wrong.
Appointment Aftermath
I travelled up to London on the Friday. It was raining and the wind was so bad it was impossible to keep up an umbrella, a fact I wasn't aware of when I panic-bought a £12 umbrella at Paddington Station that lasted all of two minutes. The embassy was intimidating. Finding the entrance was a struggle in itself.
I was in the embassy for around 90 minutes. Under normal circumstances, they tell you at the end of your interview whether or not they are granting you a visa. But like everything this year, it's no longer that simple. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, the visa application has to be reviewed by Homeland Security and they decide whether or not to grant your National Interest Exception - which is basically just a piece of paper that says whether letting you into the country is worth the covid risk you bring with you.
So I went home with no idea whether I would get my visa. It was 6 days before I was due to travel, and regardless of what happened next it seemed unlikely I would make it to New York for the 1st October.
All I could do was wait.
Visa Victory
I got my passport back in the post a few days later. I knew it was coming but I didn't know if it was coming with a visa in it. Opening that envelope I was exhausted. I know I should have been nervous, or anything really, but I wasn't. I was just so ready for the process to be over, one way or another.
The passport was marked on the visa page by a small slip of paper that contained my National Interest Exception. I saw the visa in my passport and couldn't quite believe I was looking at it. I'd never seen a visa before, let alone one with my name on it.
It was done, I had done it!
Welcome to New York
I flew to JFK airport five days later.
Those five days are a blur. When I arrived in my apartment, jet lagged and stinking of aeroplane, I was overcome with emotion. Excitement, fear, joy, apprehension, relief and maybe above all else: FATIGUE. An excellent reminder that my body cannot cope in situations it used to thrive in.
I used to thrive on pressure, I used to love long journeys, I even found them relaxing. At the end of a stressful day, I felt accomplished even if I was tired. Now I cannot feel anything but exhausted.
In spite of all that, I am in New York. I get to live the dream!
My 14 days of Quarantine ends on Tuesday. I am armed with my negative covid test result and a determination to explore every inch of this city!
So was moving to New York difficult? Absolutely.
Was it worth it? Absolutely.
Signing off in my best American accent: love y'all!
Charlotte. X
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