USCIS

When INS became United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, only a fool could think that anything would change. Indeed, the system stayed the same - slow, unresponsive, and highly bureaucratic. Even the fact that "aliens" are called customers does not change a thing because the bureau works for itself and not the "customer". If the 61^st amendment is passed, that agency will be on top of my re-do list.

The best example of the quality of service is the situation that I am having right now. When I was at the interview two weeks ago, I specifically asked to put my file away into the next batch so that my appointment would be scheduled after the end of the semester. I hope that they actually did that, but nonetheless I got scheduled right on the day when I have a paper due. As a result, it is 2AM, I am in New York, and I have about four hours to finish up because I had spent about seven hours to get to my parents' place in Brooklyn, and the same trip back to DC awaits me tomorrow. The only thing that keeps me from going bananas is the hope that I will get the missing sleep time on the bus on the way back. Though something tells me that it's just wishful thinking...