USCBP - US Customs and Border Protection

What blog about immigrating to the US would be complete without an account of our visa-getting experience? I guess everyone's first US visa experience is always peppered with some excitement.

Here's our story:
On August 16th Christopher and I drove down to Buffalo, NY with the intention of getting our visas, for me a TN so I could work, and for him the spousal TD that would allow him to attend school in the US (but not work). The border official at the Peace Bridge that we got was extremely rude to us. After she asked us our citizenship and had taken our passports from us to inspect, she then asked the standard question inquiring about the purpose of our trip . I replied "I would like to talk to someone about getting a TN Visa". She proceeded to give me a hard time saying that I should rephrase what I had said, using the words "apply for a visa" instead. I guess asking to talk to someone about "getting a visa" is too presumptuous on our part. Or maybe I insulted her by asking to talk to someone else. But I knew from all my research online that those booth officials are not the ones that issue the visas. Anyways, I rephrased myself with the suggested wording "I would like to speak with someone about applying for a TN Visa". But she still wasn't happy. "Do you want to apply for a Visa or not?" she barked at me. "I would like to apply for a TN Visa" I replied. No response. She then moved on to her next target, Christopher.

She accused Christopher of being presumptuous by applying to the University of Connecticut Law School without having a visa first - saying that he had done everything "all wrong" (which we still totally disagree with). Afterwards she barked all sorts of things at us asking Christopher for a form we had never heard about before and telling us "It's my job to protect the border". In the end she sent us inside (which is all we had wanted in the first place) and we waited to talk to an immigration person who wasn't overly friendly but at least competent in his job, not rude to us and ended up giving us our visas. One thing he asked us was why we were trying to get our visas on August 16th when my offer letter stated my first day of work as August 28th. Taken aback, I meekly replied "I thought it would be prudent to get our visas prior to my first day of work?" Thankfully, this seemed to satisfy him. Plus the fact that the USCBP officer sitting next to him said "It's only 12 days from now" - thank goodness for him!

All in all, the whole thing was quite a harrowing experience. Christopher and I were chattering about every little detail on the drive back to Toronto. Over the next week we slowly recovered from our state of shock over the whole process.

Now, I believe it is possible to get your visa at the US Embassy or Consulate if you live far from the border. But, if you can steel your nerves for the worst and keep your tongue in check for a few hours, I would say that getting your visa at the border is the way to go.