#binational

...Well, also and mostly, the main reason why it took me so long to draw this is that I'm a lazy procrastinator who takes forever to get started...

But yeah, I guess this is me starting a new series of vent comics for 'bout as long as I have inspiration, this time about my immigrating from France to the US! The tag will be "a parisian in cali" for those who'd rather skip that content, or conversely want to know what to follow 🙈

It's also now available on Webtoon and Tapas under the same title ("A Parisian in Cali") with a lil bit of additional content for context for those who might not know my art yet.

Jasmine Rodgers - El paisa

I can't believe it took me so long to draw this

Oh you know it. To be fair, we're in a pretty suburban place, so that means no flashy raids. It does mean a fuckton of police cars everywhere though and those do make me nervous (then again they made me nervous in my country too), but all in all that part's pretty alright.

Other than that, it's the usual immigration trouble that would've awaited me at any time, really. Like not being allowed to work or make any money here at the moment, or not being allowed to travel, or not being allowed to learn to drive (didn't need to in Paris) for a while, and still not being allowed to own a credit card either, or not having a social security number. And to fill in the forms to get permission to someday get all of those, you need to have supporting evidence of marriage like a joint bank account or a joint utility bill or joint insurance for example, which although not impossible to obtain, DOES for many companies come behind the wall of "oh do you have a green card/social security number/job" and it's like "nah man I'm literally coming to build some supporting evidence so I CAN get those someday".

...Anyway yeah. It's pretty tame but very limiting still, and I'm glad that part will end someday, I hope sooner than later. 'Cus the lil old Europeans savings I have are steadily depleting.

Here's the thing.

I'm moving to another country far from all of my family and almost all of my friends.

I can't drive which is kinda a death sentence over there until I've learned.

I'm coming from Paris to most likely living in a suburban area and the thought alone scares me.

I'm poor by US standards because I've only had a French salary up until now and my savings will surely be eaten through quickly.

I won't be allowed to work/make money in the US or leave the US soil after I've gotten married. First I'll have to ask permission and then I'll have no guarantee how long I'll have to wait before I'm legally allowed to even look for a job.

And speaking of jobs, I worked as a translator to the French language up until now, a skill which is largely useless over there, so who knows if I'll find work and what it'll be.

And speaking of language, arguably that one's minor, but I dread the idea of every single person asking me "where I'm from" within 1 sentence I've spoken, because of the accent I have that I can't get rid of.

So in many ways, regardless of the election result, I wouldn't have been okay anyway. I'm gonna be entering hard mode pretty fucking hard anyway because of general circumstances and age-old US law. My doomscrolling these days is more about USCIS file processing times, what documents allow you to get a learner's permit, and apartment listings and street views of suburban "parks" that look nothing like parks.

I mean... I hope not THAT MUCH of a lot? 'Cus like... It's a long painful process and I don't think it's that regular of an experience 🙈

Really it's like... A loooooot of paperwork and, let's be real, prying into your privacy from a lot of corners to check that your intent to marry, and then your marriage, are real and not fraud.

Several interviews for the same purposes also, that basically go out of their way to have you as stressed out as possible (but you mustn't appear stressed out that all of your future together depends on the whims of a person, or else you're gonna look suspicious!! ...yeah it's a whole thing; but ngl, it's still much better than leaving it up to AI or whatever), only for it to turn out typically much simpler than expected, if you're going there in good faith. (Also in our case, since we're both afab, we were told to possibly brace ourselves for homophobia, which thankfully didn't happen. And don't get me started on the can of worms that is showing that you "can count as romantic-coded" when I'm aromantic and both of us are asexual.

Also extremely random timelines that kinda take your life hostage for years because how long it's gonna take for your case to be processed depends on, kinda, luck, what agent sees it, how tight your private evidence is, and also, ESPECIALLY, how much the government is fucking things up around for you because legal immigrants are far from being a priority in the country, which makes sense I guess, it'd be the same anywhere else. We were lucky. Our case was fairly straightforward. The main thing that the government messed up for us was getting my social security number, and even then, that got settled fairly quick.

Also we spent a lot of money for an immigration attorney for peace of mind and not gonna lie, sometimes, it brought anything BUT peace of mind. They were slow to respond typically at the key parts of our case progress. But eh, I can't really say I'd know what it'd be like to do all of that WITHOUT an attorney, so... Y'know

Wishing you and your partner all the best, you do you! :)

Tbh I may sound a bit impatient because I'm under a lot of stress (heck, my father decided to add to the shitpile by trying to force me to invite someone I don't want to invite to the wedding today, so that's lovely too) but I do appreciate that people are concerned for my safety, if anything at all. I guess I just have trouble with the whole... "Why don't you do X instead" said like it's so easy. I had a lot of "Why don't you just move to the US" when I was mentally tortured by the travel ban and the fear thereof after, and again it's not the kind of thing one can do overnight. And it gets to me that people don't realize that to such a degree.

Also... Yeah, not realizing how things are in Europe and just projecting a lot of things. Some things definitely are better, like laws protecting workers in my country for one thing, no doubt about that. Political climate though? It's worrying. In a lot of countries we also have our fair share of scary lunatics right now, it's just that because they're now from the US they don't get talked about as much. But they're there. And they should ALL be dealt with, really.