Mysterious Brown Envelope -- mistake?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

The courier showed up this morning at 7.05am (rise and shine, cupcake!) with Bruce's passport and lovely CR1 visa, plus the Mysterious Brown Envelope. Now, Bruce listened very closely to the consular officer on the day of the interview, and to my repeated reminders not to open the envelope, so opening it in error is not the issue.

The problem is that there is what appears to be a printout of some basic biographical details stapled to the MBE -- name, date of birth, parents' names, address in the States, scan of Bruce's visa photo -- which has what may be a mistake on it. The item for "occupation" states that Bruce is a "Student/Children Under 16". Now Bruce is indeed a doctoral candidate, so he is a student. However, he is patently not under 16. I surmised that there are generic categories for occupations (e.g. Financial, Medicine, Administrative, etc) and "Student/Children Under 16" is one of them, i.e. students and children are lumped together for some reason. Bruce is worried that this is not the case, and that this tatty bit of A4 stapled to the MBE is going to keep him out of America because they will be expecting a 15-year-old boy and not someone 20 years older.

I'm calling the DoS at his request today for clarification, but do any VJers have experience or insight on this? I just want the satisfaction of knowing I'm right and he's wrong!

[William33 110]

The important question is, what visa class/type was issued in his passport?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

The important question is, what visa class/type was issued in his passport?

It was the right one, CR1. No problem with that. The big problem is that my husband is a total neuro! He's now worried that he might do something wrong like accidentally get into a car crash in the next week, killing someone and then be prevented from ever using the visa. I am sh!tting you not on that.

[Captain Oates 911]

The courier showed up this morning at 7.05am (rise and shine, cupcake!) with Bruce's passport and lovely CR1 visa, plus the Mysterious Brown Envelope. Now, Bruce listened very closely to the consular officer on the day of the interview, and to my repeated reminders not to open the envelope, so opening it in error is not the issue.

The problem is that there is what appears to be a printout of some basic biographical details stapled to the MBE -- name, date of birth, parents' names, address in the States, scan of Bruce's visa photo -- which has what may be a mistake on it. The item for "occupation" states that Bruce is a "Student/Children Under 16". Now Bruce is indeed a doctoral candidate, so he is a student. However, he is patently not under 16. I surmised that there are generic categories for occupations (e.g. Financial, Medicine, Administrative, etc) and "Student/Children Under 16" is one of them, i.e. students and children are lumped together for some reason. Bruce is worried that this is not the case, and that this tatty bit of A4 stapled to the MBE is going to keep him out of America because they will be expecting a 15-year-old boy and not someone 20 years older.

I'm calling the DoS at his request today for clarification, but do any VJers have experience or insight on this? I just want the satisfaction of knowing I'm right and he's wrong!

I reckon they just put the nearest category they could find in between chocolate biscuits - I would let sleeping dogs lay.

The mindset of bureaucrats is really scary and they are quite capable of recalling it for a couple of months while they sort it out if you raise an issue.

A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush so immigrate first and raise the issue after if you feel the need...

I cannot imagine it would be an issue at POE

[William33 110]

The important question is, what visa class/type was issued in his passport?

It was the right one, CR1. No problem with that. The big problem is that my husband is a total neuro! He's now worried that he might do something wrong like accidentally get into a car crash in the next week, killing someone and then be prevented from ever using the visa. I am sh!tting you not on that.

The Visa class/type is all that matters. You have the correct one, so no worries.

[TracyTN 237]

That is very strange. I agree with William that you are ok cos the visa classification is right, but being my paranoid self, I'd still call the DOS or consulate.

UGH immigration ####### never ends, eh?

Edited June 21, 2007 by TracyTN

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

That is very strange. I agree with William that you are ok cos the visa classification is right, but being my paranoid self, I'd still call the DOS or consulate.

UGH immigration ####### never ends, eh?

I'm giving the DOS a call after lunch -- can't hurt, could help.

It never DOES seem to end -- next 3 dates to obsess about are 19 August 2007 (departure day!), 21 May 2009 (start lifting those conditions) and 21 May 2010 (start naturalising my great British fool!).

[Ron/Sharon 0]

The important question is, what visa class/type was issued in his passport?

It was the right one, CR1. No problem with that. The big problem is that my husband is a total neuro! He's now worried that he might do something wrong like accidentally get into a car crash in the next week, killing someone and then be prevented from ever using the visa. I am sh!tting you not on that.

I sure am glad that you have everything hand. I think many of us are like your husband, and we won't be any better until we are together at home with the one we love. No matter how prepared we are we will always think the worse, we live in that fear.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Just off the phone with the DoS... Ha ha, I was right! Not a problem at all -- this is just one of their categories. Students and children are lumped together for some reason known only to them. Ahhhh, the mysteries of immigration...

[featherB 1]

That would have had me worried, too, and I'd have done exactly the same thing - wouldn't want to spend the entire flight sweating and panicking about being sent right back again due to not being a pre-pubescent boy!

Glad that all is ok, though!

[payxibka 10,045]

The classification Student/Child under age 16 does not necessarily mean Student AND Child under age 16 but simply Student OR Child under age 16

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

The classification Student/Child under age 16 does not necessarily mean Student AND Child under age 16 but simply Student OR Child under age 16

fwaguy, you read it just like I did. My husband is so worried about falling at the last fence that he was willing to read ambiguity into it -- and that some POE officer would say, "Dude, you don't look 15. Out ya go!"

Is it a surprise that one of his favourite sayings is "Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you"!

[TimsDaisy 0]

I totally get the last minute worries syndrome! I blame our culture's (both of ours - UK and US) reliance on irony as entertainment. "Wouldn't it suck if" seems to be the basis of most comedy and drama out there. So wouldn't it suck if he got to the border to find that a typo just scrapped months of work? Of course, that wasn't going to happen, but hearing it from the State Department Horse's mouth always helps.

Shadowy trees often look like monsters in the night!

Glad you got it sorted and confirmed No more scary-scary now!