To be employed and to get a Social Security Number, I need to apply for it 10 days after my arrival to the USA. I have been to the SS Office already three times, but I am still not in the system yet.

That means that I am illegal, still illegal.

However, that disappoints me much less than Russian bureaucracy. I called Sberbank to check my account balance, at once started telling my card number, and the first question that I heard was: "Chto vam nuzhno". That woman spoke to me as if she was doing me a favor...

I will never understand why someone gets surprised about that some people leave Russia... And why brain drain happens...