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Case Study: A Failed Attempt From the UK In the late 1990s, I was employed as a freelance programmer by Bethesda Softworks. The company told me (acting upon advice from its attorneys) that I could come to the United States and consult for the company "on business," via a business class visa waiver (when coming from the UK, you don't necessarily need a B-1 visa -- you can get a waiver which lets you visit the US). The waiver lets you to stay in the States for up to three months on business, and since I'd previously done a bit of consulting for the company's office in Copenhagen (while I was based in London), the idea seemed reasonable and certainly attainable. When I arrived in the United States, I was asked at the port of entry what I was going to do while in the country. I told the INS officer about my work for Bethesda (there wasn't any point trying to hide that fact, since the company name was on my airline ticket). I also explained that I had come to research a play, as I had just completed a drama course at Reading University in the UK, and Gallaudet University in Washington DC (a university for the deaf) has a good archive of material about famous deaf historical figures. (I have a partial hearing loss in both ears, so the subject is naturally of interest to me.) While my story about Gallaudet University was a bit of a digression in the conversation, I felt it was relevant, as I badly wanted to go to Washington DC. A few weeks after I arrived, Bethesda decided to hire me as a full-time employee in its US office. So the company applied to the INS for a H-1B visa. They told me that the H-1B would arrive within the three-month period that my visa waiver afforded me, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, the H-1B didn't arrive in time. As such, I overstayed my visa waiver period by about two weeks. When the H-1B "arrived" (actually what arrived was the INS clearance and labor certification), I was told that I had to go to London to pick up the actual visa. So I packed up most of the paperwork and flew back to London. I expected my trip to last just a few days. It didn't. At the United States Embassy in London, consular officials opened a comprehensive investigation into my past. First, officials questioned whether I really had a university degree. Then they questioned the legitimacy of my previous visit to the United States. The lawyer retained by Bethesda fielded both those objections, stating that I had a degree and that my previous visit was a straightforward business visit to debug the US version of a game, which couldn't be done in the UK. (We suspected we had problems with the US telecommunications network with the modem-based multiplayer game.) This back-and-forth with the embassy consumed my first few weeks back in the UK. Although I didn't know what was going on at the time. I waited for three months in the UK without hearing anything from the embassy, and during that time I wasn't pulling in any income. Things were getting very tight financially for me. Finally I received a letter from the embassy, which said something to the effect of "Based on what we have learned, we are unable to make a final determination about your visa. Please come to the embassy for an interview at such and such a time." I tried to find some legal representation for the interview, but the lawyer I contacted refused to help me, based on the fact that I was already legally represented by Bethesda's legal firm. As a result, I went to the embassy without a lawyer. That was a suicidal move. The interview went badly: it was conducted from behind a glass screen which messed up my lip reading, and it lasted a very long time. The consular official asked me about my qualifications (details they'd been through before with the lawyer), such as what university I attended, dates I was enrolled, subjects I took while I was there, and so on. I didn't it know at the time (I found out later from someone at Bethesda), but the reason for all of this grilling was that one of the consular staff refused to believe that a deaf person could possibly have my qualifications. I gave the consular officer the corroborating details he requested, then he went off for a meeting. When he came back, he was all over me about the start date of my paid employment, which I gave as the date the H-1B came through in the USA, and about the fact that I overstayed on my visa. I explained that I had no option but to leave on the flight Bethesda had booked for me, about a week after the visa expired. He asked me the same questions at least three or four times, and I kept giving the same answers. Then he left for another meeting. By this time in the interrogation, I was tired. I had been in the interrogated on and off for over an hour, which was even more tiring since I was lip reading through a glass screen. Upon returning for the second time, he asked me what reason I had given for entering the US when I first spoke with the officer at the United States port of entry. Probably because I was tired, I foolishly mentioned that I had also talked about the play I'd come to research. Once I had admitted that, the interview was over. They blocked my visa on the grounds that I had misrepresented my reasons for coming to the US. They said that I had told the officer at the port of entry that I was going to research the play, not to work for Bethesda - which was total rubbish. Some days later in London, I had a meeting with Bethesda's CEO, Chris Weaver. Chris said he would get me into the country somehow, and said that they would continue with the legal case if I continued with Bethesda. Weaver told me point blank that "What happened, happened, because you are deaf." He said he was very angry that I had been denied representation, due process and a sign language interpreter. I credit him for doing his best to fish me out of the mess. Ultimately I decided against continuing the battle, though. I had depleted almost all of my financial resources, I was wary of entering a long legal case that I might not win, and I had just received a solid offer from Acclaim in the UK. As such, I felt it better to cut my losses. However, I didn't want to let the matter go entirely. On Mr. Weaver's advice, I decided to contact the National Association of the Deaf in the United States about the matter. They confirmed the INS had a requirement to provide interpreters under the American with Disabilities Act. This should have applied in any US Embassy, since an embassy is considered "United States soil." Unfortunately, I never got my degree certificate back from the INS. But at least Bethesda picked up the tab for my rent in the United States for the period I was in the UK. My
experiences have not made me anti-American. I still have an uncle
in the States, plus my American cousins. All of my previous visits
to the country were fun. and I met many good folks.
Looking back, I try to view the experience as character forming. Perhaps I was naive about United States public officials. But I can't complain too much: my career in the UK has prospered since I returned from the United States. I worked on Stuntman for the PS2 - which went to the top of the charts in Europe - and I have a nice apartment a stone's throw from the beach. (That's something I'd never have in California, although there's not as much sun here -- I guess you can't have everything!) But I still haven't given up hope that one day I will return to America.
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