Happy Ending to the Deportation Saga

As soon as I got home from my near deportation, I emailed my company (a bit ticked off) about the incident.  I was sure someone had screwed up my visa but it turns out they have sent plenty of consultants to Australia on the 977 visa with no problems.  No one knows why I was singled out this time.  We scheduled a conference call for the next day to discuss my options.  It basically came down to this:

1. Work remotely from the US - possible, but not ideal.  The whole reason I was in Sydney was because they wanted someone on site to run the project.  That would also prevent me from my NYE and beach vacation plans right after New Years (more on that in a future post).
2. Train a replacement over the next few weeks - also possible, but probably wouldn't happen.  There wasn't anyone available locally and it would take too long to get someone up to speed.  We are at a critical point in the project and it would put the project at risk.  I also would like to see the project through, so I didn't want to do this.
3. Get a different visa - this was my favorite option because it would allow me to keep my travel plans back home as well as coming back into the country.  However, after a lot of online research on Australia's immigration website and a few conversations with people on long term visas, it would take too long, cost too much and be more hassle than it was worth since I am leaving relatively soon.
4. Stay in Australia through Christmas and stay until the end of the project - not desirable, but the easiest way to go.  I didn't want to stay through Christmas for obvious reasons, but we were all drawing to this conclusion.

I finally accepted this fact and said, "Now I'm just going to have to tell my mom that I can't come home for Christmas."

Ok, so I played it up a little.  There was a collective "Awwwwwwwwwwww" on the other end of the phone as our deployment, travel and legal representatives (all female, all mothers) showed their sympathy.  They told me they would get back to me with I was expecting some kind of compen$ation.  I was pretty down because I had been looking forward to some time at home as well as my family's traditional trip to Kentucky to visit family and friends.  And let's not forget about my puppy love.  About a half hour later, I got a phone call from our deployment manager that went something like this:

"So, Jay, we talked to Tom and Trish (*husband and wife team that own/run my company*).  They would like to fly your parents to Sydney for Christmas."
"Uh...... WHAT?"
"Since your brother is coming out for New Years, maybe you can move his flight up and you can all be there together.  Do you think your family would go for that?"
"Let me think.  YES.  I don't know what to say... thank you!"

I need to find a Santa hat ASAP...

How cool is that?  Did I mention that I love working for BackOffice Associates?  Even before this saga, I have been lucky to have the opportunity to travel and grow professionally among such a great group of people.  I've learned a lot in the past few years and owe them a lot already.  I'm really glad I went with a small company out of grad school instead of one of the big consulting firms, because something like this never would've happened at Accenture or Deloitte.

We worked out most of the details and my parents will be here from December 21st-27th.  My brother is going to fly in with them and leave, as originally planned, on January 12th.  I depleted all of my Marriott points to put my parents up in the Circular Quay Marriott overlooking the opera house which is where I stayed during my first two weeks in the city.  It's not that close to my apartment, but I figured it was the best spot for such a short time.  Now I'm figuring out all of the places I want to show them.  I've already played tour guide a few times, so I think we will have enough to do.  And of course, we'll spend Christmas Day on the beach.  This will probably be the most memorable (and unexpected) Christmas of my life.  I can't wait!

Deported... almost

As I returned from my trip to Fiji, I went through Customs expecting some scrutinizing for my souvenirs containing wood.  I stepped up to the official and handed them my passport plus declaration card.  They promptly asked me to come through and step to the side because someone needed to talk to me.  When I asked if this was about my souvenirs, they said no.  Hmm...

After a bit of a wait, a lady started asking me about my visa (a 977 short term business visa).  It's good for 90 days at a time for up to a year, as I understood it.  I made the trip to Fiji because my 90 days were up and went home twice for the same reason.  No big deal, right?

They sat me down in the Customs area and I watched in envy as everyone else filtered through the lines, off to freedom.  I looked back longingly as I was escorted into a little room with a camera in the upper corner, large window in the back plus a small table with a chair that was bolted to the floor.  I had this vision in my head of The Bourne Identity when he plays mute through his interview at customs until he whooped up on the agents and escaped.  I couldn't find a YouTube video of it, so this approximate reenactment will have to do.  PS - I am the one in the American flag shorts.

While I had already busted out in my head, a guy came into my interview room putting on blue rubber gloves.  Suddenly my big cajones shrunk and drew inward and I tightened my... other muscles... and took a big gulp.  I think he saw the fear in my eyes as he stepped toward me and picked up my bag off the floor.  "I'm going to look through your bag now."

"Oh."

I silently sighed in relief and watched as he pulled out and carefully expected all of my clothes from the trip.  Penetration averted.  After he was satisfied that I wasn't smuggling anything, he left (I totally could've taken him out if I wanted to) and a woman came in.  For the next hour and a half she asked me questions into a tape recorder and took notes.  Why are you here?  What kind of work you do?  Do you get paid in US or Australian dollars?  What other countries have you been to?  How much money do you have in your wallet?  When do you plan to leave again?  And on and on and on.

The interrogator would come in and talk to me for half an hour and then leave for ten minutes to speak with her manager, then come back in and repeat the process.  I'm not sure if they were trying to make me sweat or change my story, but I just went back to reading my book every time they left.  They even asked for my local coworkers' phone numbers

About two hours later we got down to the heart of the matter.  One of the stipulations of the visa is that it cannot be used for "ongoing work".  They felt that I was breaking this rule.  The 977 was only supposed to be for conferences, meetings, training, etc and even then for six weeks at a time.  Why is it valid for 90 days if it was only designed for six weeks?  Well, they couldn't answer that one.  I didn't want to make them mad enough to ship me out, so I let it go.

My plans were to go home from December 16th-27th, come back until the end of the project and leave on February 5th.  The lady told me straight up, "We are going to let you in this time, but if you come back into Australia on this visa you will not get in."

By that time three hours had gone by and as they released me from interrogation there were no other passengers left in the airport.  The baggage belts were motionless and there were only a few employees milling around.  They had to go find someone to turn on the X-ray machine for my bags, because apparently doing a hand search wasn't enough.  Then they had to find someone else to unlock the exit doors - I was lucky there were any taxis in the queue.

"Home" at last.

More on the outcome in my next post.