Posted by french guy in WI. on April 26, 2003 at 13:47:05:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: New Euphonium Solo posted by Advice on April 26, 2003 at 12:59:36:
I'm sure you meant that light heartedly, but you have no idea how correct you are. I have a hyphenated last name and two middle names- shouldn't be a big deal, right? Well I won't go into to detail(I was actually made to sign papers saying I wouldn't- but nothing saying I couldn't mention the papers), but the week this xenophobafest started I got a call from my parents to call our immigration lawyer immediately(the lawyer is in Tennessee, my parents are on the East Coast, and I'm up near Northern Ontario).
Long story short, I was facing federal criminal charges based on 1)a name I used to sign up for a CD club(I used my real name), 2)the name listed as the administrative contact for a domain that I owned(same name with a different middle initial), and 3)the name on my phone bill(my real name using my full last name). The problem was that there was a discrepancy between these names and the name printed on my social security card. Well, social security cards(at least, mine) only allow for a first name, a middle name, and a last name, so only 60% of my name was on there in the first place. To make matters worse, they did not check my immigration file, which has all of my pertinent information(this would have cleared things up). How it is that the Immigration and Naturalization Service never bothered to check my immigration file is completely beyond me. My DMV records were also not checked.
With the help of a very kind and proactive senator, and the good fortune of having a prepaid legal plan(fortunate that I have it, unfortunate that it's necessary in this country), I was able to clear things up.
So, I could almost understand this if the descrepancies were with, say, my W2s or my Mortgage payments... but to know that I could go to jail or face deportation for subscribing to Mad Magazine using my dog's name absolutely blows my mind.
anyways, sorry for the rant and the absence of tuba related content... just thought I would share.
-A."who has way too many" W."initials" E. "and is only happy that" D. "he can laugh about these things when they're over with" L.