Wacken slips through my grip....

[JayKeeley]

Wow - this really isn't my year for festivals. No ProgPower and no Wacken!


If you haven't heard (or read in the 'Enslaved Tour' thread), the INS have fucked me over and I will not be going to Wacken this year.

I just felt the urge to share my misery with all of you...backstage pass as well.....waaaah! Well, at least it's just me and the rest of the gang can go have fun on my behalf!!

Anyway, not wanting to take the risk of travelling outside the US with an expired L1 visa (and thereby getting stuck in London, or worse still, Canada), I have decided to forfeit my trip and defer my travels to the Mecca of all Festivals to 2004, by which time everything should be kosher. And before that, once everything goes through, I'll go over to England anyway to see my folks and friends.

So now, I will frame my backstage pass as a reminder of what we (Royal Carnage) accomplished in such short time, and rest easy knowing that there is a backlog of only 100,000 visa/green card applicants in NY alone...should take no time at all, heh....

Now if only the INS didn't waste all that time issuing student visas to the dead plane hijackers (after 9/11).

 

[NAD]

Now if only the INS didn't waste all that time issuing student visas to the dead plane hijackers (after 9/11).

Probably the most stunning incident post 9/11, that was just plain stupid. :Smug:

Excellent song choice my friend.

 

[Ayeka]

Bummer dude. Well, if it's any comfort, I'm not going Wacken this year either!

When you go England you should go Bristol on August 24th

 

[Demonspell]

That sucks, and the real victims of post-9/11 security issues in international travel have been ordinary passengers, not suspicious ones...

 

[bloodfiredeath]

Color me ignorant on the whole subject, but doesn't your wife being American easily pave the way for you to JOIN US? Or do you just not want to...

 

[Doom]

Color me ignorant on the whole subject, but doesn't your wife being American easily pave the way for you to JOIN US? Or do you just not want to...

Don't do it!!

Just kidding

 

[lizard]

wife AND child, right?

 

[JayKeeley]

Color me ignorant on the whole subject, but doesn't your wife being American easily pave the way for you to JOIN US? Or do you just not want to...

The urban myth is that if you marry an American, you automatically get a green card or citizenship. That's not true - it might have been at some point, but it isn't that way anymore (regardless of 9/11).

I have a family application for green card, and since I am married to a US citizen, the turnaround process is supposed to be 2 years (as opposed to 4-6 years if you go direct, or through an employer).

Well, now that 9/11 occured, I have no idea where my application is. The whole thing is turned upside down, and although I am frustrated with the INS, I do understand the scrutiny that is required these days.

 

[haddsie]

Color me ignorant on the whole subject, but doesn't your wife being American easily pave the way for you to JOIN US?

We thought that once upon a time too, but what we have discovered is that it's never easy. It's an unbelievably long (and I think I heard it's more like a 9 year turn-around for a regular Green Card appl.), complicated (I can't count how many hours I've logged at the photocopier just preparing for different parts of the process), and very expensive prospect to become a legal immigrant to this country. It is truly shocking. I'm convinced it must be a million times easier to just come here illegally. I honestly don't know how people do this, esp. the ones who don't have lawyers to help them sift through all the paperwork and requirements!

 

[lizard]

time to change your name to Manuel Laborioso and go underground!

 

[JayKeeley]

time to change your name to Manuel Laborioso and go underground!

Alternatively I can pretend to be a non-English speaking NY taxi driver named Yusuf Islam. They'll roll the red carpet out for my ass.

Ouch!

 

[Ayeka]

Heck, come back to England in the back of a truck and you'll get a nice house and a mobile phone >_< I think I might try that. Go on holiday and try sneaking back into the country. Probably more worthwhile...

 

[JayKeeley]

Heck, come back to England in the back of a truck and you'll get a nice house and a mobile phone >_< I think I might try that. Go on holiday and try sneaking back into the country. Probably more worthwhile...

Can anyone claim political asylum and move into a church basement? If so, the world could be my oyster. I'm thinking Cayman Islands: tax free income, sunny beaches, and turtle soup.

 

[Papa Josh]

What you do is go to the show, fly to fucking Mexico and hop the border like all of the chicanos do down here in Texas. Didn't you know, everything illegal enters this country through the Texan border.

 

[JayKeeley]

What you do is go to the show, fly to fucking Mexico and hop the border like all of the chicanos do down here in Texas. Didn't you know, everything illegal enters this country through the Texan border.

Well, along with lizard's idea of changing my name to "Manuel Laborioso", this idea could be the ticket. The only thing is, I don't mow lawns very well.