21 9 / 2011

TN Acquired!!!

I have been denied twice for the TN visa. Below are a few tips for anyone who will be applying for that visa.

  1. You are only supposed to apply for your TN on your way to work. If you start work on Monday, then you are technically supposed to fly in on Sunday. There is no official definition of the grace period for TN visas.

  2. You need your Certificate of Graduation. A letter stating that you have completed your degree will not be sufficient (NAFTA requirement). For those of you who are from Waterloo, the To-Whom-It-May-Concern letter does not qualify. 

  3. They might search through your belongings. So if your TN application says “Computer System Analyst”, make sure you don’t have anything in your belongings that shows otherwise, aka your employment letter.

  4. Generally, women are nicer. My friend was about to get denied because he did not have an engineering degree while he was applying as a Software Engineer. He was about to be denied based on technicality until a female officer intervened and saved his ass. My female officer was also really nice.

  5. If you are in Vancouver, Point Roberts NO LONGER ACCEPTS TN visas. Let me remind you: You have to be on your way to work to apply for the TN visa. Point Roberts is a dead end. You cannot possibly be heading to work via that point of entry. 

  6. Last but not least, dress somewhat decently. No crocs, no shorts.

I am so glad I don’t have to wait 5 weeks for my H1B. 

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17 9 / 2011

Critical moment during my undergrad

I finally got an email today from the registrar’s office confirming my expected graduation. I am so glad everything worked out. I couldn’t graduate last term because I needed 2 additional courses. For the last 4 months, I couldn’t start work because of this.

Thinking back…

I almost failed CS 136 because I had Prabhakar. Don’t get me wrong, he is a pretty good teacher for the advanced. His terminology and explanation are extremely precise. I had a lot of difficulty in his class because I was practically a beginner in Computer Science. (I had only taken 1 CS course in my life prior to this with Dan Brown). My mentality in approaching CS was purely based on studying the textbook (which was terrible) and practicing questions behind the book (which had no answers).

It took me a while to realize the importance of RTFM-ing (Reading the f**ing manual) and googling.

As a result, I almost couldn’t continue my education in Computer Science at Waterloo. My transfer advisor, who was responsible in handling my transfer from ARTS to CS, told me that my CS marks were simply not good enough to enroll in their CS program. 

So I went up to Bryon Weber Becker ’s office and made a plea - I told him to give me another chance. I know I had the mental capacity for this field and I wanted to prove to UW that I could do it. 

He agreed. He enrolled me in CS241 and CS251 the following term. I aced them both.

His one small action enabled me a lifetime of opportunities - I went to Tsing Hua, started numerous projects and now I am in Silicon Valley awaiting for my TN visa for work.

I have yet to thank him.


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