As an international student, these stories are quite relatable and the fact that there are always new plot twists in them is just so wild! Hope you'll be done with it all soon.
really hate it when the govt messes up and says "Oh well." I'm a US citizen, and they even mess my stuff up. When my father passed away I was also marked as "deceased."(Im a junior so we have the same name) This was more than 10 years ago and I've gotten it fixed twice. I have trouble filing taxes every year, I can't get a credit card, and it's really frustrating.
It’s not just the US. In the UK I legally didn’t exist. They had effed up the filing somewhere and despite being born and raised here, going to the offices several times with my birth certificate they claimed I didn’t exist. Took a few years to sort out. It’s BS.
I think I have been following you since you mentioned the first issue, but holy crap, these stories of the US immigration are absolutely exhausting and fascinating! You're right, as a US citizen, I don't know anything about the process or how it is done or the issue that can come up. Hope you get your green card back soon!
This country's given me no end of reasons to be fed up with its crap... ngl, though, if America makes Alanah leave the states I'm pretty sure I'll have to find a president to throw a shoe at
This isn’t the same experience I had. When I had to get my green card renewed it was a fairly simple, pay 500 for the process and then wait 9 months for the government to send you the new one. They used my same finger print and photo from my first card. My job however requires a letter with a seal showing that my green card was in the process which required a trip to my local visa building and a lengthy interview
Alanah "Alien of extraordinary ability 👽" Pearce, now THAT'S a business card! Edit - holy fuck Alanah, what a stressful situation. I remember your Instagram stories in the hotel in Australia when you weren't allowed to even open your windows and as fellow asthma gang that sounded super fun! 😭 Hopefully you'll have your un typoed Green Card soon and don't have to go through that crap anymore!
My family and I moved to the US on October 2000. We applied for a green card and should’ve had them within a year. Then 9/11 happen. Everything ground to a halt. We didn’t get our green cards until 2011. Meaning my parents didn’t see their families for 10+ years. I didn’t see my cousins for a decade. BUT when my green card came in my birthday was incorrect. Our paperwork was good but like your situation, they committed a typo. My parents had already booked the flights because obviously they were ready to see their families. I got the stamp you talked about in my passport and Our lawyer gave us a document that said “this person is a permanent resident of the USA but their card is getting reprinted” and he told us it would be fine to get back in. When we came back, I got stopped by immigration agents and we were put into a room and questioned for hours. It’s kind of wild how the agents aren’t trained on this special case, it seems like. Even though we had paper work to let us through and everything was okay, they still held us for hours. I just renewed my green card and I guess everything’s slow. I basically have another piece of paper that lets me travel while they’re reprinting a new card but I refuse to trust it. And they just sent me a new paper saying extending the time sooooo no travel for me anytime soon. Hopefully yours comes in quickly because I renewed my green card in March of this year and I still don’t have it
As a US Citizen I have learned some more about our immigration system from working with others who are in the process of becoming citizens and so on. It’s pretty crazy some of the stories and I feel really bad about it. It’s why I have said for awhile now that we need to fix our immigration system and make things easier and more streamlined. It’s crazy some of the things you have to go through.
@@runningbear6391 You're a complete and hopeless moron and your racism and psychopathic tendencies are showing. Go back to 4chan to being the pathetic incel you are and always will be.
This is basically the reason I didn’t go to the US and went to Canada. I knew staying in the us was much harder, while in Canada I could get a work permit after the diploma school I did here, and later apply for permanent residency (basically a green card). Today I’m already a citizen, been here pretty much the same time as Alanah. I think we actually talked about it when funhaus came to Vancouver a few years back
@@mx2000 not with permanent residency, you'd still need the same O visa, but with citizenship you just need like a letter or something, it's pretty easy... But I mean, I work remotely from Canada to the US anyway, so that didn't even make a difference
I’m so glad you shared this. Sometimes people don’t know how complicated, slow and inefficient the visa process is. Now imagine how complicated this would be if she didn’t have a team.
I was an international student in the US for 7 years and it was terribly stressful during COVID because there were limited flights out of the US where I was and I was planning on taking a long break. Went home, tried to reapply for my visa and was denied. So I haven't been able to finish my degree. Have to start over somewhere else now.
Most people would crack under this much pressure to achieve their goals. People like you inspire others to do better. Thanks for all the entertainment over the years.
So sorry you had to go through all of this. Thank you for opening up about this for those who may not understand the process associated with this system. Fingers crossed you get the green card soon, Alanah
I totally feel you. I'm a brazilian living in Germany for over 10yrs now. It is the worst feeling to know that your fate in the country depends a upon person working at the immigration office and that they can just deny your visa for no reason. Just because they can. I worked hard to get the German Citizenship and not having to deal with Immigration and Visa is the best thing.
I have seen my father and grandfather struggle with this my whole life since they immigrated from Cuba when my father was a child. Hate to see it has stayed just as difficult for getting a green card in America
Sweet baby Jesus and Holy Mary! Being a European resident the longest I've had to wait in all my travels was at London Heathrow, on a day when they had closed all but 4 of their immigration desks for incoming flights when I arrived there a few years back, and we had to queue for about 2 and a half hours to be allowed back in the UK. Your story is the stuff of nightmares, I simply would not have had the patience to go through all this. Kudos to you for staying the course. Hope you get the green card soon!
The processing time for something like a green card correction is on the dept, but the massively complex system? That's congress. I know it sounds like all these people are just incompetent (and some are), but the maze of rules and conflicting process steps, that's literally some generations of members of congress "tweaking" things several times a year and the dept has to try to comply with all of it. Every year congress changes the numbers of things from different countries. They also tweak requirements. It's crazy. I remember in high school in the mid-1980's they were all talking about "comprehensive immigration reform" and it's still not been done. Reagan just accepted gobs of people through amnesty. I honestly think the only way they will be able to fix it is to design new processes for specific types and offer those in parallel to the current system. Eventually it would all be replaced. Comprehensive anything won't pass for years..
I feel you. I filed my stuff in 2017, the pandemic happened, didn’t hear anything for +3 years, got my biometrics appointment in 2021, doctor’s examination a year later in 2022 and green card 1 month after that.
Wow, that was insane. But also such a shame - the US Embassy in Slovenia and Croatia had spots open for foreign nationals. Couple of friends of mine went through a similar rigmarole and they literally flew there and made it work. But all in all - thankfully you got through :) EDIT: The ''room'' you were in is where they double-check all your data if it corresponds to your claims. If they find any discrepancy they interrogate you and/or send you home (and lock you up for 24hrs or longer) if you don't meet their criteria. This happened to a family member of mine.
@@AlanahIRL Then that's weird. The two respective embassies had a shitton of appointments throughout 2021/2022 - maybe you were just unlucky and they were all booked right when you and the people helping you were checking. At least you made it through! Fingers crossed for this green card nonsense to finally end. A colleague of mine waited 7 months for his green card when certain corrections had to be made.
I am glad you made this video as I had no idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to work here if you aren't from here. What a ride lol. Even more respect for the work you do.
I've worked with the USCIS before, and the thing they always told me to tell resident foreign nationals was to never leave the US if you're here legally under any visa or green card status. There are just too many variables or misinterpretations possible that could hold people up or prevent them from returning for a prolonged period or ever. Hope it goes well, Alanah.
@@AlanahIRLI agree it’s bad, but there have been plenty of situations where said foreign nationals didn’t have the ability to work anywhere due to their specific employment or had the financial ability to be stuck elsewhere for long periods. Even a minor hiccup can be financially crippling or worse if a resident national has to miss paychecks and/or is suddenly paying for a prolonged hotel stay on top of their existing financial obligations. There honestly were cases aplenty where someone got stuck out of the US for long enough where they were then without work after being let back in, only resulting in them having to move out (if they had even been allowed back in). It’s sadly a nightmare situation, as you’re obviously well aware, and most people don’t have the ability to keep their employment status up if away from their office for a prolonged period.
Yeah, I guess that’s true, I am fortunate enough to be able to work remote. I still wouldn’t do it - I’d choose another country versus being stuck in the US permanently.
@@AlanahIRL not trying to be mean you can always leave if you don't like our process or not to come if i had such a problem i wound not everyone always complains about the US every country has its policies
A green card is permanent resident status. Pretty much the only right you don’t have is to vote at that point. I’ve travelled internationally with my status hundreds of times and never been held up.
My brother visited Mexico with his family and the way they were treated by American border check on their return was like a full on interrogation. I told him he should have carried his CIB on him that day for the sake of irony (Certificate of Indian Blood, a document that says you are Native American basically) I don't think many Americans realize how stressful those experiences are, or just how much intimidating it can be dealing with immigration agencies.
And to think I hate going abroad just because of the flight times/airport wait times... The government got one thing correct at least, you definitely have an extraordinary ability! The ability to deal with *stress*
US immigration and border security is the absolute worst. Every time I interact with them it's just such a bad experience, so much stress and they always feel so needlessly accusatory. Never had experiences like that entering any other country.
@@RicochetForce Exactly. Every single "open border" country has had skyrocketing violent crime since adopting the policy. ALL of them. There is a reason it was hard to become a citizen here in the U.S. If it were easy, this country would be just like those others...and NOW that is what is happening. I guess Alanah could change ethnicity and perhaps adopt a certain religious affiliation. Then she could stay and have more perks and benefits than actual citizens do under this administration. As of now, she only checks one box correctly (female). She is still straight and white. Both are cardinal sins, obviously.
@@sammysokosammysoko That is incredibly rude. (Edit: In response to your reply, I was specifically calling out your comments about race, religion, and sexuality, not you politics.) On behalf of the vast majority of Americans and as a fourth generation American myself I would like to assure Alannah's international viewers that the loudest voices do not speak for the majority.
@@pigs18 Incredibly rude? It is a fact as plain as day. I made light of it in my comment, but it is absolutely the truth. Your feelings are irrelevant if they do not align with the truth. I believe data, numbers, and my own eyes. There are now MILLIONS of new undocumented immigrants here who are being walked across the border who will NOT be deported under any circumstances under this awful administration, while people like Alanah are struggling to stay. It is why one party desperately tries to change voter registration laws to NOT require citizenship or, at the very least, to not require proof of identification of any kind. That is the only way they stay in power (pretending to care.) What do you think happens when you do this? The reason those people are leaving where they are is because they don't like it there. But when they don't have to go through a proper vetting process they just bring "there" to here. And it is happening, whether that observation hurts your little feelies or not. And who are you to "speak for" anyone else anyway? Fourth generation? LOL that's pretty much everyone here. You get no "victimhood points" for that virtue signal. Try harder.
While your journey is much worse, this reminds me of my first passport application. They got my first name wrong, and to fix it by mail was to long ( b4 leaving the country ), so I had to drive to Detroit to correct it. Shenanigans ensued, but I got my passport fixed. I'll never forget how mad the agency's employee was at me for being 15 minutes late, despite their mistake and my very interesting journey of being in a new city for the first time, far far from home.
Getting PTSD from hearing this and if for some reason I didn't believe you had experienced this, the fact that you say, I didn't have the green card in my hand yet so it felt like something would go wrong, fully shows that you have also dealt with this terrifying process, where it really is up to the mood of whichever bureaucrat you deal with and everything that can go wrong, will go wrong
@@lostforever773 They're not joking... It's very much possible to have PTSD from something like this... Perhaps the wording wasn't quite right, but the story could certainly trigger someone who's experienced similar bureaucratic nonsense
@@lostforever773 That's why I said perhaps the wording wasn't quite right: I understood OP's intent, and nowhere in their comment did I sense they were making a joke or light of PTSD. I know I sometimes accidentally say something is giving me PTSD rather than what's actually going on, i.e. I'm having a PTSD attack/spike or something's triggering my PTSD or reminding me of traumatic things I've been through. There's also the possibility that "getting" meant something more like they could see/understand how this whole process and the issue could cause or contribute to PTSD.
I once worked in California and took a trip to New York. On my way back I had a few hour transit in Texas and they wanted to stop me from continuing to my connecting flight while demanding I REAPPLY FOR MY WORK VISA because they didn't trust it. I called my boss and told him to talk to the TSA guy to let him know that that's not how things worked. Not the same but still kinda very the same. I've been in a few US waiting rooms. My airport troubles stem from the fact that I share a name with some guy who red flags the US airport system.
Alanah, I hear you, I feel you. My naturalization was put on hold, because I’ve stapled the $1K check on the 2nd position and not the first, claiming there was no check……….. and yes immigration fees… because of special circumstances I was kept as a resident alien for 5 years, and under scrutiny, because I’m married to a action US Army soldier…. So Army pushed for me to become a citizen, which I wanted, else my wife would’ve probs with the SC…. USCIS thought of it differently…………….. I , lost count of the hoops and red tapes I’ve had to overcome to “satisfy” the immigration authorities…… so I can relate!
Yep. I’m very familiar with all of this because i’ve lived in the San Diego-Tijuana border since I was born so I know about green card and special permits like your O work visa. My sister has a TL visa which is related to NAFTA and every year she has to renew. I had a green card and had to renew twice and as soon as I could apply for citizenship I did. No longer do I have to live through this kind of bs. The reason you can’t come back when you’re applying for a green card is because the process from outside has to be done from an embassy while if you’re inside the country you need to do it through immigration services. So if you leave you need to restart through the embassy. Yeah, weird, technical and a nightmare. There’s also visas that are stamped (with glue) to your passport. There’s a lot of airports that don’t know these. In Egypt I had that problem back in 2010. It was crazy. But yeah, it’s a freakin nightmare. There’s no unified documents that show all these different documents to regular workers in airports. The guys at the border in Tijuana know all of them so that’s not a problem as it’s the most transit heavy border in the US and maybe the world but every other place including LAX can be a nightmare
Damn, I got stressed just listening to that. Had to check how much time was left on the video to see if my nerves could take any more. Must have been hell for you. Glad you finally got back in and sorted(ish).
I was young enough that I only remember bits and pieces of the process my parents had to go through when we moved state side. I do know it took from 2002 till 2010 to get the physical card. When I applied for the renewal in 2020 I did so in January and managed to finally get it in September. I had started a new job in august because I was laid off in July thanks to Covid, when the card expired. My work place didn’t have to do anything special as they use e-verify for work eligibility but I did have to head to Denver to an ambassador passport/visa place and do an interview to get a letter with a stamp to give to my work place to show that my visa was in the process. I was able to do all this in country, in the state I live in. I haven’t actually traveled outside of the US since 2016 but customs was a pain getting back into the states even with a green card and passport.
I went through so many emotions watching this. I couldn’t help but breakdown and laugh @ 16:58 onwards 😂 thank you for sharing! My ambition to work in the US has decreased significantly after watching this.
Hopefully, your fixed green card isn't considered a replacement green card. My mom's replacement green card took well over a year to come in, but apparently, it can vary drastically since my dad's replacement was processed within a month even though his renewal was submitted after my mom's.
Ooof sorry to hear you went through all those ouch experiences, and benevolent wishes in regards to your relations and friends. And so as not to spoil it for any accidental wandering eyes who are still watching the video.. best wishes to your future endeavors and future travels where ever they may be.
I'm glad I live in Europe. The only way I'd go there is just for vacation and staying for a week or 2 at best. Wish you all the best with all of this mess!
off topic: an ad came up just as you were about to say what you job title at RT was so for me it went something like this 'My job title when I was at Rooster Teeth was- ONE HELL OF A UTE!' XD
As a Brit in the USA since 2006 I understand how infuriating it is. The hoops I had to jump through are ridiculous. People constantly complain about being not doing it legally but hot damn it would have been easier lol
As an American who has been living in the UK for the last 19 years on an indefinite leave to remain, all I can say is that it's the same poo here but different toilet.
I feel your pain. I was on H1B and they gave me 1-year visa stamp. Could not travel anywhere internationally after it expired, otherwise I would have to go to the embassy to apply for a new stamp. The visa interview was a tiring process I didn't wanna do anymore. Luckily I got my GC after almost 3 years of staying in the US. I hope you would get yours with the correct info soon. :)
Good to hear that the process is still as screwed up as ever. I moved to the U.S early 00s when I got married. The U.S Immigration, in their wisdom, lost my whole file once, and the fingerprints twice. Hopeless. Loved the 13 years (mostly) that I lived there (Nashville), but happy to be living once again in Sydney!
@@AlanahIRL Yup. The Nashville Immigration office. Twice. In a 6 week period. That was 2002/3. Sad to see they’ve been just as on the ball with yours. Hopeless. Loved living over there, and I do miss it, but as the saying goes, there’s no place like home.
As a retired Federal civil servant I completely understand; convuluted laws/rules. One doesn't understand until having to deal with them. Hope this tangled bs doesn't happen again.
I subscribed to your channel purely because of your stories, they're always so well told 👌 I think the video that made me subscribe was the "What's it like dating a pathological liar" video! Keep it up!
I have been on a TN visa for the past couple of years and same thing I had to renew every year. Under the TN only certain high demand jobs are allowed and in my employment card given to me by my employer it always said software developer and one year one guy that was checking the documentation got all uppity about it not saying computer analyst and wanted to turn me away, i showed him the past visa stamps and he was still all high and mighty.
Happy you will go to Australia for Christmas. Had the pleasure to meet you in person during your days at IGN at tge 10 year anniversary. You have gone a long way for sure since then. I still can't believe you used to play at Temple.
In the 1990's I dealt with some fiancé visa stuff. That was relatively easy. There were still some odd hops and we had to make a couple trips to the immigration office in the DC area. I mean, it's near DC so it should make it straightforward? Nawp. I think we had to get a similar "group appointment" where they gave you a day to show up by a certain time along with some hundreds of other people. The first time we had a pretty simple process question but you still had to wait in a huge line to get to a desk to ask. We arrived just before the cutoff time. It's a pretty big room, like 80 yards long. The line, which stretched to the entry doors, had a few hundred people, all waiting to get to the information desk where they would queue you for the different windows depending on your need. I had to go to the restroom so I did (left her at the end of the line ). When I came back in (these are the doors that "shut" at a certain time but the bathrooms are through them), I guess it looked like we were trying to sneak in after the cutoff? One of the information desk people saw me at that door and called me to the front. I'm guessing they intended to boot us for being late. I had to walk allllll the way down past these hundreds of people to answer an annoyed "why are you here??" I explained the question we had. He spent a couple minutes looking it over and getting details. Then he answered the question and we could leave. He ended up having me skip in front of everyone who had already been there for a couple of hours. Some in the front were angry. The rest probably figured we were being kicked out. I hadn't intentionally jumped the line and had no way of changing that we skipped ahead. It was all a really convoluted process. About the only part of all that which made sense was the biometrics check where they ran her prints and face through a new scanning system that compared her to lists from Interpol and everything else. That was kind of new and cool (again, circa 1990's).
Oh my goodness.. All of this sounds overly complicated and I'm soooo sorry this happened to you (even though I do really enjoy hearing your stories lol). I hope your trip next week goes smoothly and you get the green card back soon so you can avoid all that unneeded stress for any trips into and out of the country after that. Drama aside, have a good time with your family!
I can kind of relate to this story in an indirect way. I had a co-worker travel to the UK for her two-week vacation this past summer, but her visa got denied on the way back. Why? Apparently the immigration officer thought her H1 visa was some sort of study abroad visa even though she finished grad school three years ago...AND her major was in chemical engineering, which is considered to be a highly sensitive field. She was forced to find additional paperwork and approval from her "academic advisor" even though she's no longer in school. All the while searching for last minute AirBnBs and Starbucks with reliable wifi where she can still do her work and meetings remotely...for another month. Our immigration system sucks. I really wish it was better for those who want to study and work here. Hoping for the best for you, Alanah!
Holy shit! I am so sorry you have to go thrugh that. It's such garbage. I live in this country, and the US government still screwed me up the poop shoot. They took 2+ years just to not believe anything I said or accept any documentation from me about unemployment, and now I owe them 7k+ dollars. That was a nightmare. Actually, it still is. I am too poor to get lawyersto help me, maybe things would have been different for me then. UGH. What a shithole country this is.
You are brave. I probably wouldn't have left the country until I got the physical card lol. Unless I found plenty of online evidence from other people that they didn't have a problem with the special stamp or visa extension or whatever + confirmation from lawyer. I would advise getting global entry afterwards. It happens in background but eventually will make the whole thing trivially easy. Also with GC, make sure you save any traffic tickets and so on + proof of payment. You *may* need to show them if you ever apply for citizenship. Never ever leave any government fine or citation unpaid. There is a question in the form that you must answer truthfully and if you have unpaid stuff, it can come in the way.
I had to get married to be able to skip these headaches. We were not even "ready" but it was the only way with their stupid paperwork lol. Not regretting it at all, but I hate how living through a visa (even for someone like me in France) is such a pain in the back
You deserve the title "Content Creator" because I was entertained by every moment of this Storytime video, even though I watched your previous videos about being stuck due to Visa. I don't blame you for being frustrated, and amazed by your patience.
This is an absolute nightmare of a story, good on you for keeping on and persevering through this shitty situation, the US immigration system got a little fucked during the 2016 to 2020 administration 😅
As someone who just finished an immigration process after 2 years. I get ALL OF THIS, i had issues with local and federal goverment about that and its a pain. I hope your resident card gets soon to you.
I was not expecting you to say that after you got card had M on it. I laughed out loud how you said it. But yes I’m sure this type stuff is very frustrating.
Malta!!! I would sooo love to visit the Popeye Village!!! Kinda like a bucket list thing. Just someplace I knew I wanted to visit, as soon as I heard it existed.
@@AlanahIRL Oh that stinks... I can't image it faired well through COVID. I just remember, years ago, seeing pics of it being populated and ran as a tourist destination. Just seemed like such great idea! Takes me back deep into my childhood and tickles those nostalgia feels. Thank you for the unfortunate sad news :-( and enjoy your trip home! :-)
As an international student, these stories are quite relatable and the fact that there are always new plot twists in them is just so wild! Hope you'll be done with it all soon.
@therotten6152 Point me to the easy way of doing it illegally and I'll happily do it.
really hate it when the govt messes up and says "Oh well." I'm a US citizen, and they even mess my stuff up. When my father passed away I was also marked as "deceased."(Im a junior so we have the same name) This was more than 10 years ago and I've gotten it fixed
twice. I have trouble filing taxes every year, I can't get a credit card, and it's really frustrating.
It’s not just the US. In the UK I legally didn’t exist. They had effed up the filing somewhere and despite being born and raised here, going to the offices several times with my birth certificate they claimed I didn’t exist. Took a few years to sort out. It’s BS.
You were literally a dead man walking.
That's just governments. They don't get performance reviews, just elections.
I think I have been following you since you mentioned the first issue, but holy crap, these stories of the US immigration are absolutely exhausting and fascinating! You're right, as a US citizen, I don't know anything about the process or how it is done or the issue that can come up. Hope you get your green card back soon!
This country's given me no end of reasons to be fed up with its crap... ngl, though, if America makes Alanah leave the states I'm pretty sure I'll have to find a president to throw a shoe at
I'll lend you my steel-toe.
This isn’t the same experience I had. When I had to get my green card renewed it was a fairly simple, pay 500 for the process and then wait 9 months for the government to send you the new one. They used my same finger print and photo from my first card.
My job however requires a letter with a seal showing that my green card was in the process which required a trip to my local visa building and a lengthy interview
Alanah "Alien of extraordinary ability 👽" Pearce, now THAT'S a business card!
Edit - holy fuck Alanah, what a stressful situation. I remember your Instagram stories in the hotel in Australia when you weren't allowed to even open your windows and as fellow asthma gang that sounded super fun! 😭 Hopefully you'll have your un typoed Green Card soon and don't have to go through that crap anymore!
🧢
My family and I moved to the US on October 2000. We applied for a green card and should’ve had them within a year. Then 9/11 happen. Everything ground to a halt. We didn’t get our green cards until 2011. Meaning my parents didn’t see their families for 10+ years. I didn’t see my cousins for a decade. BUT when my green card came in my birthday was incorrect. Our paperwork was good but like your situation, they committed a typo. My parents had already booked the flights because obviously they were ready to see their families. I got the stamp you talked about in my passport and Our lawyer gave us a document that said “this person is a permanent resident of the USA but their card is getting reprinted” and he told us it would be fine to get back in. When we came back, I got stopped by immigration agents and we were put into a room and questioned for hours. It’s kind of wild how the agents aren’t trained on this special case, it seems like. Even though we had paper work to let us through and everything was okay, they still held us for hours. I just renewed my green card and I guess everything’s slow. I basically have another piece of paper that lets me travel while they’re reprinting a new card but I refuse to trust it. And they just sent me a new paper saying extending the time sooooo no travel for me anytime soon. Hopefully yours comes in quickly because I renewed my green card in March of this year and I still don’t have it
As a US Citizen I have learned some more about our immigration system from working with others who are in the process of becoming citizens and so on. It’s pretty crazy some of the stories and I feel really bad about it. It’s why I have said for awhile now that we need to fix our immigration system and make things easier and more streamlined. It’s crazy some of the things you have to go through.
@@runningbear6391 You're a complete and hopeless moron and your racism and psychopathic tendencies are showing. Go back to 4chan to being the pathetic incel you are and always will be.
I hate it. We're a land of immigrants and make it so hard for new ones to come here.
This is basically the reason I didn’t go to the US and went to Canada. I knew staying in the us was much harder, while in Canada I could get a work permit after the diploma school I did here, and later apply for permanent residency (basically a green card). Today I’m already a citizen, been here pretty much the same time as Alanah. I think we actually talked about it when funhaus came to Vancouver a few years back
Can you work in the US with your Canada permanent residency? Because that might be a faster path than applying for greencard in the us.
@@mx2000 not with permanent residency, you'd still need the same O visa, but with citizenship you just need like a letter or something, it's pretty easy... But I mean, I work remotely from Canada to the US anyway, so that didn't even make a difference
@@runningbear6391 lol you are a great example why I prefer Canada
@@runningbear6391 ya the best country of the world with great Trumpers🤔😃😅
@@runningbear6391 you clearly have no idea what you are talking about
I’m so glad you shared this. Sometimes people don’t know how complicated, slow and inefficient the visa process is. Now imagine how complicated this would be if she didn’t have a team.
I'm sorry you had (and still are) going through this lady. Stay positive and stay safe on your next trip
I was an international student in the US for 7 years and it was terribly stressful during COVID because there were limited flights out of the US where I was and I was planning on taking a long break. Went home, tried to reapply for my visa and was denied. So I haven't been able to finish my degree. Have to start over somewhere else now.
Most people would crack under this much pressure to achieve their goals.
People like you inspire others to do better.
Thanks for all the entertainment over the years.
I don't know how she had the patience for all of that. I'd have long since started throwing shit, especially once the government messed things up.
So sorry you had to go through all of this. Thank you for opening up about this for those who may not understand the process associated with this system. Fingers crossed you get the green card soon, Alanah
I totally feel you. I'm a brazilian living in Germany for over 10yrs now. It is the worst feeling to know that your fate in the country depends a upon person working at the immigration office and that they can just deny your visa for no reason. Just because they can. I worked hard to get the German Citizenship and not having to deal with Immigration and Visa is the best thing.
I have seen my father and grandfather struggle with this my whole life since they immigrated from Cuba when my father was a child. Hate to see it has stayed just as difficult for getting a green card in America
Thank-goodness you were able to get through, Alanah!! 🙌
That sounds so stressful!! I would literally be crying all the time!
Sweet baby Jesus and Holy Mary! Being a European resident the longest I've had to wait in all my travels was at London Heathrow, on a day when they had closed all but 4 of their immigration desks for incoming flights when I arrived there a few years back, and we had to queue for about 2 and a half hours to be allowed back in the UK. Your story is the stuff of nightmares, I simply would not have had the patience to go through all this. Kudos to you for staying the course. Hope you get the green card soon!
The processing time for something like a green card correction is on the dept, but the massively complex system? That's congress. I know it sounds like all these people are just incompetent (and some are), but the maze of rules and conflicting process steps, that's literally some generations of members of congress "tweaking" things several times a year and the dept has to try to comply with all of it. Every year congress changes the numbers of things from different countries. They also tweak requirements. It's crazy. I remember in high school in the mid-1980's they were all talking about "comprehensive immigration reform" and it's still not been done. Reagan just accepted gobs of people through amnesty. I honestly think the only way they will be able to fix it is to design new processes for specific types and offer those in parallel to the current system. Eventually it would all be replaced. Comprehensive anything won't pass for years..
I feel you. I filed my stuff in 2017, the pandemic happened, didn’t hear anything for +3 years, got my biometrics appointment in 2021, doctor’s examination a year later in 2022 and green card 1 month after that.
Wow, that was insane. But also such a shame - the US Embassy in Slovenia and Croatia had spots open for foreign nationals. Couple of friends of mine went through a similar rigmarole and they literally flew there and made it work.
But all in all - thankfully you got through :)
EDIT: The ''room'' you were in is where they double-check all your data if it corresponds to your claims. If they find any discrepancy they interrogate you and/or send you home (and lock you up for 24hrs or longer) if you don't meet their criteria.
This happened to a family member of mine.
They must not have had open slots at the time, we checked every single country!
@@AlanahIRL Then that's weird.
The two respective embassies had a shitton of appointments throughout 2021/2022 - maybe you were just unlucky and they were all booked right when you and the people helping you were checking.
At least you made it through!
Fingers crossed for this green card nonsense to finally end. A colleague of mine waited 7 months for his green card when certain corrections had to be made.
I am glad you made this video as I had no idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to work here if you aren't from here. What a ride lol. Even more respect for the work you do.
Congrats Alanah. You’re one of the bros now 🤜🤛
I've worked with the USCIS before, and the thing they always told me to tell resident foreign nationals was to never leave the US if you're here legally under any visa or green card status. There are just too many variables or misinterpretations possible that could hold people up or prevent them from returning for a prolonged period or ever.
Hope it goes well, Alanah.
That’s silly tbh, while it is difficult it’s never worth being a prisoner to the US.
@@AlanahIRLI agree it’s bad, but there have been plenty of situations where said foreign nationals didn’t have the ability to work anywhere due to their specific employment or had the financial ability to be stuck elsewhere for long periods. Even a minor hiccup can be financially crippling or worse if a resident national has to miss paychecks and/or is suddenly paying for a prolonged hotel stay on top of their existing financial obligations. There honestly were cases aplenty where someone got stuck out of the US for long enough where they were then without work after being let back in, only resulting in them having to move out (if they had even been allowed back in).
It’s sadly a nightmare situation, as you’re obviously well aware, and most people don’t have the ability to keep their employment status up if away from their office for a prolonged period.
Yeah, I guess that’s true, I am fortunate enough to be able to work remote. I still wouldn’t do it - I’d choose another country versus being stuck in the US permanently.
@@AlanahIRL not trying to be mean you can always leave if you don't like our process or not to come if i had such a problem i wound not everyone always complains about the US every country has its policies
A green card is permanent resident status. Pretty much the only right you don’t have is to vote at that point. I’ve travelled internationally with my status hundreds of times and never been held up.
At this point I would have just been like "fuck it I'm Alan Pearce now."
Not that easy either, look it up
@@lostforever773 no shit, it's clearly a joke
@@loirigudo a bad one
My brother visited Mexico with his family and the way they were treated by American border check on their return was like a full on interrogation. I told him he should have carried his CIB on him that day for the sake of irony (Certificate of Indian Blood, a document that says you are Native American basically)
I don't think many Americans realize how stressful those experiences are, or just how much intimidating it can be dealing with immigration agencies.
And to think I hate going abroad just because of the flight times/airport wait times...
The government got one thing correct at least, you definitely have an extraordinary ability! The ability to deal with *stress*
Man I got secondhand anxiety just hearing this story, sorry you had to deal with all of this!
US immigration and border security is the absolute worst. Every time I interact with them it's just such a bad experience, so much stress and they always feel so needlessly accusatory. Never had experiences like that entering any other country.
We have a political party that is actively working to defund and weaken our immigration services.
@@RicochetForce Exactly. Every single "open border" country has had skyrocketing violent crime since adopting the policy. ALL of them. There is a reason it was hard to become a citizen here in the U.S. If it were easy, this country would be just like those others...and NOW that is what is happening.
I guess Alanah could change ethnicity and perhaps adopt a certain religious affiliation. Then she could stay and have more perks and benefits than actual citizens do under this administration. As of now, she only checks one box correctly (female). She is still straight and white. Both are cardinal sins, obviously.
@@sammysokosammysoko That is incredibly rude. (Edit: In response to your reply, I was specifically calling out your comments about race, religion, and sexuality, not you politics.) On behalf of the vast majority of Americans and as a fourth generation American myself I would like to assure Alannah's international viewers that the loudest voices do not speak for the majority.
@@RicochetForce You watched this video and still question why we call for reform?!
@@pigs18 Incredibly rude? It is a fact as plain as day. I made light of it in my comment, but it is absolutely the truth. Your feelings are irrelevant if they do not align with the truth. I believe data, numbers, and my own eyes. There are now MILLIONS of new undocumented immigrants here who are being walked across the border who will NOT be deported under any circumstances under this awful administration, while people like Alanah are struggling to stay. It is why one party desperately tries to change voter registration laws to NOT require citizenship or, at the very least, to not require proof of identification of any kind. That is the only way they stay in power (pretending to care.) What do you think happens when you do this? The reason those people are leaving where they are is because they don't like it there. But when they don't have to go through a proper vetting process they just bring "there" to here. And it is happening, whether that observation hurts your little feelies or not.
And who are you to "speak for" anyone else anyway? Fourth generation? LOL that's pretty much everyone here. You get no "victimhood points" for that virtue signal. Try harder.
I feel your pain, as a green card holder. I've had those sudden 2-4 hour stops at the INS department.
This is crazy and a lot to process to go through.
I feel what you’re going through. I’ve been through something similar and it’s unfair how hard it is to change your borders.
Man it's so hard when you are not a citizen of a country this story sounds like a nightmare to live through but you seem very calm about it 😄
While your journey is much worse, this reminds me of my first passport application. They got my first name wrong, and to fix it by mail was to long ( b4 leaving the country ), so I had to drive to Detroit to correct it. Shenanigans ensued, but I got my passport fixed. I'll never forget how mad the agency's employee was at me for being 15 minutes late, despite their mistake and my very interesting journey of being in a new city for the first time, far far from home.
The US Government. Those M/F ers!!
Reminds me of Papers, Please. Time to get scanned.
You got Hank Hilled at the last minute...
Sorry you are going through all this. Hope this nightmare ends soon💜
Well I'm glad you got back, but what a headache!
"Alien of Extraordinary Ability" that is a super cool title LOL
Getting PTSD from hearing this and if for some reason I didn't believe you had experienced this, the fact that you say, I didn't have the green card in my hand yet so it felt like something would go wrong, fully shows that you have also dealt with this terrifying process, where it really is up to the mood of whichever bureaucrat you deal with and everything that can go wrong, will go wrong
PTSD isn't funny
@@lostforever773 They're not joking... It's very much possible to have PTSD from something like this... Perhaps the wording wasn't quite right, but the story could certainly trigger someone who's experienced similar bureaucratic nonsense
@@DaniCal1forn1a but not cause PTSD, which is my point
@@lostforever773 That's why I said perhaps the wording wasn't quite right: I understood OP's intent, and nowhere in their comment did I sense they were making a joke or light of PTSD. I know I sometimes accidentally say something is giving me PTSD rather than what's actually going on, i.e. I'm having a PTSD attack/spike or something's triggering my PTSD or reminding me of traumatic things I've been through.
There's also the possibility that "getting" meant something more like they could see/understand how this whole process and the issue could cause or contribute to PTSD.
I once worked in California and took a trip to New York. On my way back I had a few hour transit in Texas and they wanted to stop me from continuing to my connecting flight while demanding I REAPPLY FOR MY WORK VISA because they didn't trust it.
I called my boss and told him to talk to the TSA guy to let him know that that's not how things worked.
Not the same but still kinda very the same. I've been in a few US waiting rooms.
My airport troubles stem from the fact that I share a name with some guy who red flags the US airport system.
Wait why did anyone ever ask for your details on a domestic trip? (Sorry nevermind I just finished your comment lol that’s FUCKED)
@@AlanahIRL Haha. No worries. Sorry to comment on your UA-cam videos. You've likely been added on a watchlist or two now.
Just be cool!
Oh you don’t need to apologize!
Alanah, I hear you, I feel you. My naturalization was put on hold, because I’ve stapled the $1K check on the 2nd position and not the first, claiming there was no check……….. and yes immigration fees… because of special circumstances I was kept as a resident alien for 5 years, and under scrutiny, because I’m married to a action US Army soldier…. So Army pushed for me to become a citizen, which I wanted, else my wife would’ve probs with the SC…. USCIS thought of it differently…………….. I , lost count of the hoops and red tapes I’ve had to overcome to “satisfy” the immigration authorities…… so I can relate!
Yep. I’m very familiar with all of this because i’ve lived in the San Diego-Tijuana border since I was born so I know about green card and special permits like your O work visa. My sister has a TL visa which is related to NAFTA and every year she has to renew. I had a green card and had to renew twice and as soon as I could apply for citizenship I did. No longer do I have to live through this kind of bs. The reason you can’t come back when you’re applying for a green card is because the process from outside has to be done from an embassy while if you’re inside the country you need to do it through immigration services. So if you leave you need to restart through the embassy. Yeah, weird, technical and a nightmare.
There’s also visas that are stamped (with glue) to your passport. There’s a lot of airports that don’t know these. In Egypt I had that problem back in 2010. It was crazy. But yeah, it’s a freakin nightmare. There’s no unified documents that show all these different documents to regular workers in airports. The guys at the border in Tijuana know all of them so that’s not a problem as it’s the most transit heavy border in the US and maybe the world but every other place including LAX can be a nightmare
Damn, I got stressed just listening to that. Had to check how much time was left on the video to see if my nerves could take any more. Must have been hell for you. Glad you finally got back in and sorted(ish).
I had to take a break while watching this, I got so tense. Sorry about your troubles. Freaking bureaucrats.
Dude, that sucks that you gotta go through so much of that nonsense. Hope things get easier once the correct card finally comes in.
Jeez sorry to hear all of that.
I was young enough that I only remember bits and pieces of the process my parents had to go through when we moved state side. I do know it took from 2002 till 2010 to get the physical card.
When I applied for the renewal in 2020 I did so in January and managed to finally get it in September. I had started a new job in august because I was laid off in July thanks to Covid, when the card expired. My work place didn’t have to do anything special as they use e-verify for work eligibility but I did have to head to Denver to an ambassador passport/visa place and do an interview to get a letter with a stamp to give to my work place to show that my visa was in the process.
I was able to do all this in country, in the state I live in. I haven’t actually traveled outside of the US since 2016 but customs was a pain getting back into the states even with a green card and passport.
I went through so many emotions watching this. I couldn’t help but breakdown and laugh @ 16:58 onwards 😂 thank you for sharing! My ambition to work in the US has decreased significantly after watching this.
Hopefully, your fixed green card isn't considered a replacement green card. My mom's replacement green card took well over a year to come in, but apparently, it can vary drastically since my dad's replacement was processed within a month even though his renewal was submitted after my mom's.
Ooof sorry to hear you went through all those ouch experiences, and benevolent wishes in regards to your relations and friends. And so as not to spoil it for any accidental wandering eyes who are still watching the video.. best wishes to your future endeavors and future travels where ever they may be.
This is the best CGP Grey video so far
It seems like a ridiculous situation. However just keep on pushing through. It will take time but just keep on keeping on
I'm glad I live in Europe. The only way I'd go there is just for vacation and staying for a week or 2 at best. Wish you all the best with all of this mess!
European bureaucracy ain't much better
@@lostforever773 never read anything about it that said it’s worse than the US one but could be.
@@al112v4 I meant generally
off topic: an ad came up just as you were about to say what you job title at RT was so for me it went something like this
'My job title when I was at Rooster Teeth was- ONE HELL OF A UTE!' XD
As a Brit in the USA since 2006 I understand how infuriating it is. The hoops I had to jump through are ridiculous. People constantly complain about being not doing it legally but hot damn it would have been easier lol
Dam... I wouldn't even take the risk of traveling unless it was to see family. I would get a little to agitated to keep going through that
God you have to love your job to deal with all this nonsense. Hope the green card issue gets fixed soon.
As an American who has been living in the UK for the last 19 years on an indefinite leave to remain, all I can say is that it's the same poo here but different toilet.
I feel your pain. I was on H1B and they gave me 1-year visa stamp. Could not travel anywhere internationally after it expired, otherwise I would have to go to the embassy to apply for a new stamp. The visa interview was a tiring process I didn't wanna do anymore. Luckily I got my GC after almost 3 years of staying in the US. I hope you would get yours with the correct info soon. :)
Makes for a great story and you told it well. I’m surprised you are taking it so well. I’d be livid.
Good to hear that the process is still as screwed up as ever. I moved to the U.S early 00s when I got married. The U.S Immigration, in their wisdom, lost my whole file once, and the fingerprints twice. Hopeless.
Loved the 13 years (mostly) that I lived there (Nashville), but happy to be living once again in Sydney!
THEY LOST YOUR PRINTS!?!?!?
@@AlanahIRL Yup. The Nashville Immigration office. Twice. In a 6 week period. That was 2002/3.
Sad to see they’ve been just as on the ball with yours. Hopeless. Loved living over there, and I do miss it, but as the saying goes, there’s no place like home.
LOL WHAT
😂 the twist at the end lol 😂
This is unreal, I'm from Melbourne Australia and I had no idea how all this works
I didn't think it's this full on!
When you’re subbed to so many Alanah adjacent things that you didn’t even notice IRL didn’t post for a month…
👀
These videos are really informative.
Thanks for sharing!
As a retired Federal civil servant I completely understand; convuluted laws/rules. One doesn't understand until having to deal with them. Hope this tangled bs doesn't happen again.
This is a nightmare to go through... Also, congrats on your residency!
Im an Alien, Im a legal Alien. 👽
I subscribed to your channel purely because of your stories, they're always so well told 👌 I think the video that made me subscribe was the "What's it like dating a pathological liar" video! Keep it up!
Hats off to you Alanah. I would not have that much patience. Sounds like you have the worst luck
I have been on a TN visa for the past couple of years and same thing I had to renew every year. Under the TN only certain high demand jobs are allowed and in my employment card given to me by my employer it always said software developer and one year one guy that was checking the documentation got all uppity about it not saying computer analyst and wanted to turn me away, i showed him the past visa stamps and he was still all high and mighty.
I wouldn't expect anything extraordinary coming out of IGN either. Then again, they are the ones that set that bar.
What an insane roller coaster. Glad you’re on the other side of it.
Happy you will go to Australia for Christmas.
Had the pleasure to meet you in person during your days at IGN at tge 10 year anniversary. You have gone a long way for sure since then.
I still can't believe you used to play at Temple.
In the 1990's I dealt with some fiancé visa stuff. That was relatively easy. There were still some odd hops and we had to make a couple trips to the immigration office in the DC area. I mean, it's near DC so it should make it straightforward? Nawp. I think we had to get a similar "group appointment" where they gave you a day to show up by a certain time along with some hundreds of other people. The first time we had a pretty simple process question but you still had to wait in a huge line to get to a desk to ask. We arrived just before the cutoff time. It's a pretty big room, like 80 yards long. The line, which stretched to the entry doors, had a few hundred people, all waiting to get to the information desk where they would queue you for the different windows depending on your need. I had to go to the restroom so I did (left her at the end of the line ). When I came back in (these are the doors that "shut" at a certain time but the bathrooms are through them), I guess it looked like we were trying to sneak in after the cutoff? One of the information desk people saw me at that door and called me to the front. I'm guessing they intended to boot us for being late. I had to walk allllll the way down past these hundreds of people to answer an annoyed "why are you here??" I explained the question we had. He spent a couple minutes looking it over and getting details. Then he answered the question and we could leave. He ended up having me skip in front of everyone who had already been there for a couple of hours. Some in the front were angry. The rest probably figured we were being kicked out. I hadn't intentionally jumped the line and had no way of changing that we skipped ahead. It was all a really convoluted process. About the only part of all that which made sense was the biometrics check where they ran her prints and face through a new scanning system that compared her to lists from Interpol and everything else. That was kind of new and cool (again, circa 1990's).
Oh my goodness.. All of this sounds overly complicated and I'm soooo sorry this happened to you (even though I do really enjoy hearing your stories lol). I hope your trip next week goes smoothly and you get the green card back soon so you can avoid all that unneeded stress for any trips into and out of the country after that. Drama aside, have a good time with your family!
I can kind of relate to this story in an indirect way. I had a co-worker travel to the UK for her two-week vacation this past summer, but her visa got denied on the way back. Why? Apparently the immigration officer thought her H1 visa was some sort of study abroad visa even though she finished grad school three years ago...AND her major was in chemical engineering, which is considered to be a highly sensitive field. She was forced to find additional paperwork and approval from her "academic advisor" even though she's no longer in school. All the while searching for last minute AirBnBs and Starbucks with reliable wifi where she can still do her work and meetings remotely...for another month.
Our immigration system sucks. I really wish it was better for those who want to study and work here. Hoping for the best for you, Alanah!
Holy shit! I am so sorry you have to go thrugh that. It's such garbage. I live in this country, and the US government still screwed me up the poop shoot. They took 2+ years just to not believe anything I said or accept any documentation from me about unemployment, and now I owe them 7k+ dollars. That was a nightmare. Actually, it still is. I am too poor to get lawyersto help me, maybe things would have been different for me then. UGH. What a shithole country this is.
You are brave. I probably wouldn't have left the country until I got the physical card lol. Unless I found plenty of online evidence from other people that they didn't have a problem with the special stamp or visa extension or whatever + confirmation from lawyer.
I would advise getting global entry afterwards. It happens in background but eventually will make the whole thing trivially easy.
Also with GC, make sure you save any traffic tickets and so on + proof of payment. You *may* need to show them if you ever apply for citizenship. Never ever leave any government fine or citation unpaid. There is a question in the form that you must answer truthfully and if you have unpaid stuff, it can come in the way.
Congratulations on your residency! I'm sorry to hear that it has been so sloppy, and I hope it gets sorted out quickly and you have Happy Holidays!
I just noticed Rahul said in the new funhaus video he went to Nicaragua last year 👀👀 how long have you guys been dating omg that's iconic
Omg what an ongoing stressful nightmare 😭😭😭😭😭
Alanah lookin very stoic in the thumbnail.
I had to get married to be able to skip these headaches. We were not even "ready" but it was the only way with their stupid paperwork lol. Not regretting it at all, but I hate how living through a visa (even for someone like me in France) is such a pain in the back
What a nightmare. Even something as simple as filling for unemployment is a nightmare here. It's ridiculous
"the squeaky wheel gets oiled" should be harassing them every week.
@10:23 In the land of Australia, it is 3AM most of the time, lol.
You deserve the title "Content Creator" because I was entertained by every moment of this Storytime video, even though I watched your previous videos about being stuck due to Visa. I don't blame you for being frustrated, and amazed by your patience.
This is an absolute nightmare of a story, good on you for keeping on and persevering through this shitty situation, the US immigration system got a little fucked during the 2016 to 2020 administration 😅
This story is stressin' me out.
Alanah Pearce: Green Card holder
Rated M For Mature
This is like when Hank Hill's DL said F
Hoping things go smooth on your up coming trip to see your family! Enjoy your well deserved vacation
As someone who just finished an immigration process after 2 years. I get ALL OF THIS, i had issues with local and federal goverment about that and its a pain. I hope your resident card gets soon to you.
I was not expecting you to say that after you got card had M on it. I laughed out loud how you said it. But yes I’m sure this type stuff is very frustrating.
Malta!!! I would sooo love to visit the Popeye Village!!! Kinda like a bucket list thing. Just someplace I knew I wanted to visit, as soon as I heard it existed.
The Popeye Village was honestly kinda sad :(
@@AlanahIRL Oh that stinks... I can't image it faired well through COVID. I just remember, years ago, seeing pics of it being populated and ran as a tourist destination. Just seemed like such great idea! Takes me back deep into my childhood and tickles those nostalgia feels. Thank you for the unfortunate sad news :-( and enjoy your trip home! :-)
@@MrMattMagoo It's just run down and sorta empty/there isn't really anything to do. Beautiful scenery but not much going on inside.
@@AlanahIRL Dreams shattered 😥 haha I'll be ok. Enjoy your day Alanah!
Ughhhh that is so frustrating!!! Fingers crossed you get your new copy soon! 💖
It's stories like this, which is why I don't like travelling internationally. The whole process is going to devour my soul.