First Week in Immigrant Visas

This week I began my work in the Immigrant Visa (IV) section of the embassy. Although I haven't yet conducted any interviews at the window, and have been limited to "shadowing" my fellow officers and completing routine "desk" cases to become familiar with the software, I know I am going to love it.

Some of the work at the window is surprisingly similar to the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) interviews I did in American Citizen Services (ACS), so at least I'm a little bit familiar with the expected outcomes and the questions necessary to arrive at an informed decision. This is in contrast to my first week in ACS, when I had no previous experience or knowledge from which to build a foundation.

The laws regarding immigration can be complicated, but that's part of the fun. It's like a puzzle, but with the ability to make judgments about how the pieces fit.

I can tell that the year ahead is going to be very rewarding. I like to work, and there's plenty of work to do. Santo Domingo is second only to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico in processing immigrant visas. Second in the world. The Dominican Republic is a nation of only 10.5 million people, but we process more immigrant visa applications than all of China (with a population of 1.37 BILLION, or 130 times larger). Yes, indeed, we stay busy. From what I can tell, we have a crackerjack team of professionals to get the job done. Usually, the section sees over 500 people every day. Crazy busy.

When I was in ACS and would ask my colleagues in IV what the work was like, there would always be a pause before they answered. They would carefully measure their words and say that I shouldn't expect the reasonable pace of ACS work. So I began to worry, to unconsciously dread moving to IV. But now that I have an idea of what the work is like, I'm really excited to get started. Maybe it's because I'm a consular-coned officer and this is what I'll be doing my entire career, but I'm genuinely looking forward to learning every aspect of the law, how to apply it, and all the nuances that make the work interesting.

I'll probably get "on the line" (i.e. begin interviewing) next week. Can't wait!