Update: Job for Jason

A small forewarning: this post will be fairly wordy, with not many pictures to keep you entertained.  For those with short attention spans or for whom reading more than the dialogue boxes in a comic strip is a bore, I have included paragraph summaries.


Just thought I'd let everyone know where the job application process is at.

The University of Southern California (where I will be working) has been plugging away at my application.  Last night I was told that I had not yet applied for the job online, and as such they hadn't even started on the background check.  So, today I filled out all of the requisite forms and hopefully that is now underway; the background check is estimated to take 5 days (though I have heard varying accounts of how long this has taken for other people).  This development was a bit of a disappointment for me.  I had applied to the position online previously (back in December), so I thought all of that was out of the way.  Something must of changed though, because the online job posting had a change in ID number and title, which means I needed to reapply for it; sadly no one told me about this.  Still it's all taken care of now, and hopefully the delay won't be too severe.  Paragraph summary: the job application is being processed; one small delay, but no major problems; background check is underway.

Also today, we (an administrative guy from the department I will be working for who has been handling most of the paperwork, a woman that has lots of experience with Canadian VISAs, and myself) met with the director of the Office of International Services (OIS).  Since the background check wasn't done, which also means we don't yet have an offer of employment letter, there wasn't much she could do.  Fortunately, except for the background check and a few signatures on a form, everything is in place to hand off to OIS.  Once OIS has the package of information, they'll process it, fill out some forms, double check the forms, and then finally give me the go-ahead; this should take them about two weeks.  By go-ahead, I mean, they'll hand me a pile of papers, which I'll take with me on a trip to Canada.  Upon returning to the US, I'll present this package of papers to the border guard and I should have my work VISA.  Paragraph summary: Once the background check and offer of employment letter are in place, it will take two-weeks before I can go and get my VISA.

Based on the times required for things to happen, I estimate that this should all be done in 3 to 5 weeks.  I think 3 weeks is definitely a best case scenario, and anything faster than that would be a miracle.  5 weeks gives lots of room for delays and things happening slower than expected.  Paragraph summary: 3 to 5 weeks and Jason should have his TN-VISA.


That's all for now.  I'll try to post updates as they happen.

Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it yet: I will be working in a research laboratory at the University of Southern California as a "Research Lab Technician".  More specifically I'll be managing, operating, and maintaining an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.  Paragraph summary: Jason will be working with a "science machine" at a university.