Although I'm planning on submitting my fingerprint next year for an FBI background check regarding an international residence visa application, I decided to get it done earlier to mitigate any potential delay due to my fingerprints being rejected along the way for any number of...
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Although I'm planning on submitting my fingerprint next year for an FBI background check regarding an international residence visa application, I decided to get it done earlier to mitigate any potential delay due to my fingerprints being rejected along the way for any number of reasons, and also to be able to have a positive experience throughout my overseas retirement process.
I was attended to by Griselda, a very personable and professional young lady, who during the set up process asked very casually for my place of birth, at the time I thought that she was just making small talk (I cherish a uniqueness about my spoken English). Besides, I've previously provided my enhanced AZ DL which by its nature, already established my US citizenship status, furthermore, the unmistakably "VETERAN" designation is proudly printed below my picture. It wasn't until I got home and inspected the fingerprint card, that I realized that under the "citizenship box" in the card, she inputted my former communist country of birth (of which I'm no longer a citizen), and not my actual U.S. citizenship.
Common sense dictates that citizenship and country of birth (nationality) may have two different answers as well as serve different purposes. I've explained previously that the reason for the fingerprints was for an FBI background check in order to apply for an international residence visa, I was dumfounded by this inaccuracy.
I drove back to the office after talking to her over the phone and kindly asking for a correction. Once there, I waited for her to contact someone else to make sure that she was on the clear, to make the necessary correction. Only then I was able to get a corrected fingerprint card proudly indicating my allegiance to the Greatest Land on Earth.
Try I did to no avail, to discreetly get her to take a step back and look at the situation from afar, sort of with a global mindset (politics, legality, international affairs, etc.), while explaining to Griselda how straight forward and simple this question is to fill up accurately, if we just keep it simple and uncomplicated by writing down the citizenship of the individual as it relates to the reason for the fingerprint, rather than the "place of birth". But she is firmly set and unmovable in her paradigm: "WE'VE BEING TRAINED TO ASK FOR BOTH, PLACE OF BIRTH AND CITIZENSHIP, AND THEN COMBINED THEM AND COME UP WITH AN ANSWER", she stated. Mind you she only asked for my place of birth, and at no point did she asked for my citizenship. I pointed this fact to Griselda first over the phone, and later when I returned to the office, not surprisingly I got no response.
While I was seating and waiting for a resolution, Griselda invited me to study a binder that she was holding, so that I could convinced myself that she's acting responsibly and in accordance to the law and guidelines as specified in her training, I declined... you see, I've travelled through this "planet earth experiment" long enough to be quite aware of my own flaws and ignorance, and truly understand that indeed admit when we're wrong is one of the most difficult things to do as humans, I know because I'm constantly checking myself and honestly it's still difficult, so I choose to be a gentleman, I choose peace. I politely thank her, and swiftly left the office.
I sincerely feel sorry for her, apparently this is as much a personal mix-up, as it is a managing/training issue, in which perhaps due in part to Yuma being a border town, this "adjustments" are locally implemented to attenuate the individualized growing migrant population of customers, thus creating a workplace culture, in which this "modifications in services" are not being well-thought-out, causing unnecessary waste of precious time on all sides, when the stereotypical assumptions don't fit the bill .
I once again encourage Griselda (and those in leadership position brave enough to act) to learn and grow from this objectionable experience, and make the indispensable restructuring to minimize/avoid this kind of disservice to the community.