I started looking at the original file and found it contained Ascii character 0 or Null. So my first response was to try isnull(column,’-') in the query, but that didn’t work

I checked the lookup tables and found that a join was matching and returning an empty string.

On reading the BCP manual I found this

out copies from the database table or view to a file. If you specify an existing file, the file is overwritten. When extracting data, note that the bcp utility represents an empty string as a null and a null string as an empty string.

So nulls are converted to empty strings and empty strings are converted to nulls? Who thought this was a good idea?

So I changed my sql to be NULLIF(column,”) and now everyone is happy.

Fortunately after my years of dealing with the USCIS I decided to print a copy of my pay slips so I am 99% sure I have the payslip I need at home.

I also noticed a similar thing when I closed a credit card, all of a suddenly you loose access to the online records, the same thing also happened when I closed a bank account.

This whole save the environment go to e-statements and e-bills is just an excuse for the company in question to save on printing and mailing costs. If they really wanted to save the environment they would allow you to access the records for 5 years after closing the account, that way you don’t have to print at your own expense copies of the statements.

So make sure you have copies of all your bank statements, bills, pay slips before you terminate your relationship with a company because you are more than likely going to be loosing access to the online versions of those documents as well.