The massive headphones created an arc on his youthful
head that obscured and became part of his face. On Skype, it was hard to
tell where his dark hair began and the headphones ended. Only the worried
brow revealed his true feelings.
“My wife thinks she’s coming to live with me in New
York next month.” He whispered this, to be sure nobody else could
hear. To be fair, he was sitting in a cubicle in a crowded office and of
course he wanted to keep this conversation private. “I’ve already quit
this job and my new one starts in three weeks. We can’t live in Paris any
more. I gave notice on the apartment.”
His cell phone rang.
“Bonjour mon amour. I’m just talking now to the lawyer about your green card. No,
everything’s fine. Just a few final details.”
He hung up and paused, not knowing what to say
next.
“So, you haven’t told her yet?” I asked.
“So, you haven’t told her yet?” I asked.
Sometimes it's a challenge for an immigration lawyer like
me to get the whole story from a client. They tell you the parts that
they think will help their cases, and leave out the bits that are
painful. That’s why I’m careful when I agree to do a green card for a
married couple. I want to talk to BOTH the husband and the wife for this kind of case. Two
perspectives, two truths, create a stronger case.
“No, she’s too busy for this. And I didn’t want
her to know that our wedding has completely screwed up our plans.”
“It’s too bad,” I said. “Your fiancé visa
for her was just about finished. She would have been on the plane
with you next week if you hadn’t rushed off to get married. A married
couple can’t get a fiancé visa. Now she’ll have to wait in Paris for maybe a year.”
“I know that.” His vitality of 25
years sapped out of him as he faced the first real problem he’d ever
known. “I just thought it wouldn’t matter”.
Fortunately, we could find a solution.