Waiting to Work
What to do while waiting for your EAD card
The immigration process in the United States is not an easy one. This is something that anyone that’s experienced it knows, yet most Americans are luckily ignorant to.
I got married at the end of June. I am a Canadian citizen that married an American. After the marriage, we began the green card application. One thing to note, if you are looking to go down this path, the preparation of the application itself is a lengthy process. Getting the right documents and filling out all the forms and the back and forth with the immigration lawyers can take a month or longer! My application was sent in early September and since then began the WAIT. And though I wouldn’t call myself patient this long wait is excruciating for even the most tolerant.
Until my EAD arrives, I am unable to work. 2 months? maybe if I’m lucky… 6 months? could be… So how does one even prepare to be unemployed for such an undetermined amount of time?
I’ve been unemployed for 3.5 months now and I am anxious to start working! This inability to work leaves a feeling of being dependant and useless. Rarely in my life have I had so much time without work or school. Going through the process at a time of a pandemic does not help. I worry about the future. Scouring the internet for similar cases to mine I see stories of people waiting for 6–8 months and longer!
So What Can I Do In This Time?
Telling my friends and family about not being able to work results in some mixed responses. “You should be grateful for this time, when will you get a chance to do nothing again”, “Look at this as an amazing opportunity to use this time to advance yourself in any way you choose”, “Stay busy and the time will go by quick!”
Somehow none of those answers ever satisfy.
Now I could list a million and one activities that one recommends you do during this time while you wait. A simple google search for “what to do when bored” will give you a million more. Learn a language, take up a craft/ hobby, exercise, volunteer, etc. Or on the flip side, stay home, and enjoy the vacation, relax and catch up on rest. You may miss this when your career begins again.
I’ve been doing it all. Maybe too much. With the lack of employment came a desire for productivity and tangible evidence of time well-spent. I go to the gym and do yoga to manage my health and stress, I take online classes to learn more about coding to keep my skills fresh for when I can work, I attend Meetups to continue networking and continue growing my sense of community. But am I doing enough? The most careless thing to do would be to waste this precious time right?
But whatever you choose to do to fill your hours, here are two things you should be doing:
- Exercising Patience and Acceptance
Honestly, after the paperwork is sent in, there’s nothing you can do. Accepting that is hard, but when it comes to the US immigration process, it is entirely out of my control. So I am learning patience. I am working on accepting that this is not personal and to not blame myself.
2. Keeping track of your achievements
It’s easier to do more things when you are already doing things. An object in motion stays in motion. This makes it harder to stay productive and busy in unemployment. It can feel like your days go by without anything happening.
That’s why I find it helps me to keep track of what I’m doing. Whether it’s a list or journaling. Something I can look back on and see what I achieved over the last few days or months. Yesterday I watched a movie in French, the day before I discovered a new park in my neighborhood, and the day before I learned how to add a new feature to my app. Even on your most unproductive days, you are still doing something worthwhile, I promise you. Resting is productive and fruitful enough for some days.
How to handle looking for work?
This keeps me up at night. How do I work on my career at this time? I can’t really apply to jobs since I don’t know when I’ll be eligible to start working. How do I explain to future employers this gap in my career? How do I prove to potential new employers that I’m not lazy, that I don’t just take months off, and that I am in fact hardworking? After all, it’s not my fault I can’t work!
There are things you can do during this time to prepare yourself for a job. Start looking at positions, network, learn new skills, and practice old ones. All these things are very important, but keep in mind, it is also important to do things that will take your mind off the fact that you can’t work at the moment.
In the end:
Really the only advice to give is to do anything you can to keep positive. Though I can’t work, the pressure to be productive is as intense as ever, however, it’s important to focus on not measuring your self-worth on how much you get done in a day. This can be hard, especially for me.
I’ve worked really hard my whole life, and I will continue to work hard in my new life here in the United States and in my new career as a software developer. Maybe this break is exactly what I needed at this time.