Thank you for sharing their story. One of the most infuriating parts of dealing with any immigration system is the total lack of flexibility and understanding on the part of the government. They are dealing with human lives, yet the system lacks any humanity.

I don’t doubt that the U.S. system is extremely complicated, but my experience with the EU leaves a lot to be desired as well — during the few weeks in which I waited for an ordinary UK visa renewal with my passport stuck at the Home Office (I paid a lawyer over 500 GBP, who screwed up my application and made it take longer as well), my grandmother died and was buried. I was unable to return home to the U.S. to be with my family because doing so would have nullified my visa application and caused me to be deported from the UK.

I was almost denied entry to another European country where I had a perfectly valid work permit & visa because I didn’t register with the local town hall within 8 days of my arrival (which was practically impossible for a number of reasons).