Dealing with IRS and INS this week has made me really frustrated.
1. IRS: I need tax transcripts from the last 3 years to prove my marriage status (among other things). I remember calling them and asking for them when I needed them last. This time, I get a lady on the phone who reads off the form number I need to fill out and send in. I ask if I can't request it over the phone anymore and she says no. Ok, I hang up, download the form and read across the top, "You may fill this form out to request tax transcripts or call us at our 1-800 number and request them over the phone." I called back and another lady took my info and told me I'd have my transcripts in 10 days.
2. INS: I have been told over the phone that my case is at the Baltimore field office. They don't have a number. If I want to discuss my case with the local officers, I ahve to make an appointment. I did. This morning at 7:45. I went in. I was told my case file was at the National Benefits Center in Missouri. What? But, isn't it processed here? No. But they told me on the phone. Oh, those people are contractors. They don't know what they are talking about.
3. SSA: Let's just throw this in there. I had to get my name changed in 2005 after I got married and my proof of legal residence was my I-20 which is the immigration document for students. The local SSA office in Thousand Oaks, CA told me it wasn't a valid proof document. Fine. Whatever. Then, in 2006, when I started working for them, my first project was working on the system that they use for SSNs. I read the list of proofs. The I-20 is listed as valid proof of legal status in the U.S.
4. MVA: When we moved from CA (Jeff) and MI (me) to MD, we went to the local MVA (DMV to every other normal person and state in this country) to get new licenses. Waited 3 hours. Got called up. I was told since I wasn't a citizen, they couldn't help me and I needed to make an appointment. I got red in the face. I spoke extra quietly and slowly ebcause otherwise I'd scream. I said if that was the case, why didn't they tell me at the entrance where they asked us why we were there. The supervisor came out and helped me personally. When I went home and checked on their website, sure enough, non-citizens needed to make an appointment UNLESS YOU WERE USING A GREEN CARD AS YOUR ID, whcih I was.
WTH times 4!!!
3 comments:
The horror story I could tell you about SSA where my husband is concerned. The government is a big cluster----you know what. So sorry you're doing all this battle with the bureaucracy, and hope it works out soon! I think they have evil overlords in each agency that just sit and think of ways to torture us.
Um, have you read about my horror story of going to India to attend my sister's wedding and getting stuck there for 4 months, awaiting a H1B visa stamp?
yeah, that's how I stumbled on your blog, through somebody else's post about your plight. Glad you made it through the Indian government and here (because the Indian one scares me more).
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