Why My Morning Sucked

Some clients are unable to successfully complete the citizenship exam due to medical or cognitive impairments to their learning ability.  As such, there is a Medical Waiver for applicants so they can get citizenship even if they can't learn English or the civics questions required of most people.  It's a medical waiver so it requires that a doctor provide a detailed but accessible account of why the patient is unable to learn.  USCIS occassionally comes out with new versions of the form as they did late last year.  One of my clients is getting this waiver so I sent the following e-mail last night to both her case manager and the staff psychiatrist that already completed the old form.

Hi!


Here is the most recent form of the medical waiver from USCIS. They are picky about which format they accept so I will send in the old format for *client*’s application and then we can fill out the new version to bring with her to the interview. She will need an interpreter to come with her to the interview since she will get the language waiver. The answers from her old form look great but we just need to tweak them to fit exactly with the new wording. Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this form or the citizenship process as a whole.

This morning I open my e-mail to this.

Chelsea,


Please be more considerate in the language you choose in your emails. Next time it would be more appropriate to simply inform me that a more recent form needs to be completed. No need to comment on the quality of my work or imply that adjusting my answers to a new format would not be clear to me. These forms take a fair amount of work and time that we (the med staff) do not have. As you have no part in this work, saying that 'we' have to tweak the form is irritating and condescending, and does not generate a desire to collaborate. I apologize for being short, but it had to be said. Thanks for your attention to this in the future.

Needless to say, I was not terribly pleased by this e-mail.  I'm hormonal and super stressed from job searching and being homeless in 15 days so I started crying.  I commented on the quality because it was exceptionally well done and as someone who has seen many of these forms completed improperly, I thought it was worth noting.  If I wasn't doing my job and applying for citizenship (a 10 page application along with a 4 page fee waiver which takes work and time from me), the med staff would not ever see this form.  If it's filled out in an unclear or insufficient manner, the client does not get the waiver and all of my work is for nothing.  I haven't shown it to my supervisor or sent a response yet but it ruined my morning.