Not my favourite opera (i.e. Verdi’s Otello) but she was a pleasure to hear and see, as always. Goosebumps during the Willow Song were de rigueur.

Took a look at the pile of ebooks moldering on my hard drives, how much I spend at Barnes & Noble or Borders, and the fact that by the time I was in Singapore, I already had two books finished in my bags, and had to buy two more before I caught the flight back… decided it was time to give ebook readers a try.

Now we’ll see how long it takes for them to ship it, they are deeply back-ordered.

I’m in Singapore on business (traveling with my green card for the first time, yay!) and last night a few colleagues and I went out to Clarke Quay, a newly revitalized district with some trendy bars (including one called ‘clinic’ with wheelchairs, cocktails served in perfusion bags on stands, and wait staff in nurse drag… to give you an idea).

There was one of those fair-ground attractions that basically consist of a metal cage attached to a giant slingshot, the purpose of which is to throw you into the air at what they claim is 5 G’s, then let you fall back down, then up, down, etc… while the cage spins freely, meaning you are sometimes falling face first for a good 5 or 6 stories.

Anyway, one colleague asked if I fancied having a go, and I got all male about it and pretty soon, we were strapped in and screaming our heads off!

They gave us a video of it, I’ll download some tools and rip it to youTube, so you can all see where testosterone can get you…

After a short, polite and very helpful interview with an Immigrations officer this morning in Newark, I now have a stamp in my passport which serves as my temporary Green Card until I get the real thing in the mail in a few weeks. I am now a permanent (but conditional) resident of the United States of America.

Gosh…

Mostly I can’t wait to use the faster lane at immigrations on re-entry!

So, to recapitulate, here is the process we went thru:

We got married in April 2007, and filed for the Green Card in July, which should have been in plenty of time before my visa expired in February 2008… except the fees changed, our lawyer thought we had filed under the cutoff date and Immigrations begged to differ. Lost a few months on the back and forth, until I told the lawyer it wasn’t about saving money (having already spent nearly $4,000 between the fees and the lawyer), it was about having the paperwork done in time.

In parallel, my employer kicked off a visa renewal, just in case. More on that later.

So in November, I was called in for some fingerprinting, pictures of my silly grin, etc… they call that the ‘Biometrics Appointment’. I must say, I was impressed by both the courtesy and efficiency of the people running dozens of us applicants thru that particular process, but I was starting to get rather worried about timing.

My lawyer estimated 90 days from the Biometrics to the temporary papers (which are also optional, with additional fees) allowing me to work and travel while waiting for my Green Card… but it was smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, and they were backed up since the infamous rate change. Since my employer was not having much luck with the visa renewal, I went on New Year break with the possibility that I’d have to take a month or two without pay between the end of my visa and being allowed to work again.

Happily, when I got back, the work authorization was in the mail, and the travel permit soon followed… as well as an appointment for the final interview for February 12, 2008 – just a few days after the visa expired… the temporary work authorization cost more than I would have lost in salary over those few days… but it saved us a lot of hassle and worry.

The final appointment, again, was very civil and friendly. We went over some papers to the effect that we did live together (joint bank statements, insurance in both our names for car and apartment, etc…), the officer asked a few subtle questions about our families and personal histories, but almost as banter while we shuffled papers. Skillfully done, and pretty soon we were going over the practicalities of when the Green Card would arrive, what to do in the meantime, and how to make it unconditional after two years of marriage.

So all in all, it went faster and more smoothly than expected, all personal interactions with Immigrations personnel were courteous and professional, and the lawyer offered to pay the difference between the old fees and the new. We’re both very happy to have this sword of Damocles no longer dangling over our heads!

Oh, and the visa renewal? Still not finished, and proof the Green Card path was the right decision.

Green Card interview is tomorrow morning, bright and early!