Over it!!

How incredibly frustrating it is to be a non-resident alien in this country. It is unbelievable. I got offered two climbing contracts this fall in arizona. I am very excited about it and thought i could get a year long visa from nols. But again my excitement was foiled when i found out that i can only get a visa for the contracts i am working +30 days before and after. So what does this mean?

My current visa runs out on July 31st. There is no grace period for this visa so i have to leave the country on or before that date. My next contract doesn't start until late september. Thirty days before that puts me at the end of august. So we are talking less than a month without visa. So my options:

1. Leave the country before july 31st, reenter as a tourist. Leave country again in sept. and reenter on new visa. Leave country in december before visa runs out. Reenter as tourist, until my next contract. Wash, rinse, repeat.

OR

2. Leave the country by july 31st and not reenter until i have the visa. Which sucks! And repeat again in december.

What a nightmare at this point. And the whole time you gotta wonder will they say something about me entering and leaving on such a frequent basis. Will they stop me. Will they not let me in at some point. Will it seem suspicious. I hate it. Its beyond frustrating and stressful.

Thanx to Mr. Bush the whole process has become so exceedingly difficult and complicated. I mean its almost easier to just be an illegal immigrant.

And you'd think someone like me, who has gotten a BA and an MS in this country, who has lived here for 12+ years, who speaks the language fluently, who teaches at universities, who has had a secure job the whole time i have lived here, paid taxes, never lived off a dime this state has, you'd think they would just f-ing hand me a green card for my birthday! But no it doesn't work that way. It sucks. I am tired of it. Its unfair. I am over it.