Green Card
Themes in this story: Becoming an organizer, dating while undocumented, choosing to pursue a green card through marriage, preparing and refiling documentation, medical exam complications, interview preparation and uncertainty, long periods of waiting, identity adjustment after approval
To be honest, I’m not sure I was ever really interested in politics. I think life just kind of thrust me into it. Around 2006, I found out that my parents and I had fallen out of the process that we’d been in to adjust our status due to the bad advice of a lawyer they were consulting with at the time. That was a big turning point for me politically.
I think there are two things immigrants are often told to internalize. One, if you're undocumented, don't tell anyone because you don't know who might share that information with the authorities. And two, if you want to adjust your status, you have to marry a U.S. citizen. Like so many people, I bought into both those ideas for a while. Until one day, despite my parents’ wishes, I just kind of tossed the first one out the window. I was about to graduate from high school and I knew that I wanted to go to college, so I became a really outspoken individual. I became an advocate and organizer.
For a long time I was resistant to a green card through marriage because I was determined to prove to myself, to my family, to this country that I could change the laws of this land if I advocated, organized, and basically screamed hard enough. I think as somebody who went through the journey of being undocumented, going to college, fulfilling a lot of the markers of success that were set out for me, I was very rigid that I wanted to be the one to legalize myself. I thought I was going to adjust my status through sheer force of will. But sometimes the plans that you have for yourself don’t work out and you have to take a different path.
There is definitely grief. I still have friends who are trying to figure out what to do, who don’t have options and don’t see any solutions ahead. From all my years of organizing, it became clear to me that not all undocumented people had the advantages I had from arriving in this country on a plane with a visa. Not everybody could just get married to obtain a green card. I met people who entered without inspection, crossing the border without going through a port of entry, and I learned that their situations were more complex. It’s a harsh reality to face.
I had recently moved to a new city, and a couple of friends of mine threw me a birthday party. That’s where I met Olivia. She offered me a glass of champagne. It’s wild how things work out sometimes. I could have told my friends not to throw me a party. We could have just met up at a bar and my future wife wouldn’t have been there. I could have never moved to that city. But it all did happen.
Yes. I’d applied for DACA back in 2012. I remember my mother telling me, They're not going to let you in because you were screaming at the president and you were on the news too much. I was a little nervous she might be right but I also knew I wanted to get a master’s degree. My DACA was approved and I started looking at programs. I couldn’t attend class during the day because I had to work, so I worked my nine to five and then went to graduate school five to nine. It was a lot, but I really wanted to finish the degree quickly. DACA was new and considered a temporary program. I was very aware that it wasn’t going to last forever.
She definitely knew right off the bat. But when I was single and dating it was a different story. I didn’t lead with it. I didn't want the other person to think I needed them to do me a favor. Once I dated a woman who essentially suggested that if we got married tomorrow, I could live a normal life and get a normal job. Hearing that at that time–I must have been like 22 or 23–it put me off. I said, What do you mean? This is my life. This is my work. I don't need to be saved.
It wasn’t that vulnerable for me because it just felt like the natural progression of our relationship. I remember when I came to terms with the fact that I wanted to marry Olivia and decided I was going to propose. Ultimately, what made me feel comfortable about the whole thing was that I didn’t feel like I was being pressured into it or pitied. It was fully my choice. Also, Olivia understood my situation and understood what would happen if DACA went away. A lot of people don’t know the system. But our relationship is very unique in that regard. We both thoroughly understand what is at stake.
We got engaged and our plan was to do a courthouse wedding and then figure the rest out. And then COVID hit and lockdown happened. The courthouse called and told us that our wedding was delayed until further notice because they were closing. **We paid $75 for them to mail us all the documents, and officiate ourselves. On my marriage license it says Oliva’s name three times under spouse, officiant, and witness. I remember thinking, Man, whenever this green card interview comes around, it's going to be the most unbelievable thing ever.
I started getting ready to file the petition. Thankfully, my employer at the time was gracious enough to pay for a lawyer, and we had a really good rapport. I started asking people who had gone through the process what I should look out for, and a friend told me that the hardest part for him was the medical exam. He told me it took him three tries to get it done because the doctor didn't sign it in the right place, or he used red ink instead of black ink.
Right around the time my exam was scheduled, we had a family emergency and my wife had to fly across the country. It was still lockdown and we were both on edge. I went to my appointment and the doctor filled out a USCIS form. He asked me really backwards questions like, Do you know anyone who has had Black plague? Have you or anyone you know been infected by yellow fever? I must have made a face because the doctor told me he was just reading what was on the form. That was one of those moments where I realized that when people say our immigration system is outdated, this is what that means.
I signed the paperwork and they told me they were going to mail it to my lawyer. I got on the next flight to go meet my wife and her family. A couple of days later, I got a call from my lawyer. He said, You're not going to believe what happened. Some guy in our mail office opened your medical exam by accident, so it's null and void.
I called the doctor’s office and they said they could reissue the paperwork for $75 and asked when I would like to pick it up. I told them I was out of town and they explained that I needed to be physically there to sign it or it couldn’t be released. My only other option was to take the medical exam all over again in the city where I was staying, which would cost $500. I couldn’t leave my wife so that’s what I did. Thankfully, my employer paid for it. This time my lawyer went out of his way to make sure the mail room thing wouldn’t happen again. He had them send it to his home so he could be the one to receive it. Shortly after that, we sent the whole packet in and waited to hear about an interview.
It was strange because COVID protocols were in place so everything in the office was spaced six feet apart. I felt like I was in a pressure cooker, because it was probably one of the most important days of my life as an immigrant and I didn’t want anything to go wrong. Fortunately, it all went smoothly. They asked Olivia a few basic questions and then they asked me the rest. It was all straightforward.
My lawyer had advised me not to share more information than necessary and to be succinct in my answers. But I have a nervous personality and I basically started telling the interviewer my life story. My lawyer eventually interrupted to shut me up. I was expecting that there would be an eyebrow raised about our marriage certificate, but the officer said, COVID weddings. I've seen this.
The interview was in the summer and I don’t think I got my green card until the spring of the following year. I remember we chose not to renew my DACA because we were really banking on the green card coming through. By that point, I was just so used to waiting. Did I check the website for a status update? Yeah. Did I freak out sometimes? Sure. But I was also feeling a little more secure because by then we were in the Biden Administration. So a lot of the pressures and uncertainties of Trump were lifted.
Conflicted. It’s a benefit that is almost mythological for many of us. There's no denying that I didn’t have to live on edge anymore, but part of me still had to contend with it all. It's such a radical change from one day to the next, it kind of felt like whiplash. Overall, it felt good. I was thankful to Olivia, thankful to my lawyer.
Three years. Once I got my green card I had to start the process of getting a passport, which was very challenging because the Venezuelan government has no diplomatic relations with the United States. The Venezuelan immigrant Facebook groups and online forums were full of advice about how to navigate the system, including how to secure an appointment at the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico City. It was overwhelming to sort through it all, but once I finally got an appointment, my wife and I flew there together.
It was chaotic only because of the layover. We were delayed on the way out so our layover was shortened significantly. We had to run from one place to the other. Fortunately, there was no line at Customs. The agent looked at me, looked at my green card, looked at my travel document, didn’t ask me any questions, and just let me go.
The day that I got sworn in as a citizen, the lady asked me if she could see my green card and then she cut it in half right in front of me. She didn’t give it back or anything. That was it!
Am I relieved? Yes, it's a huge privilege. It’s ultimately what my parents came here for. I'm very indebted to my wife for her support and understanding throughout this entire process. And yet we live in a moment where fear is a weapon that's wielded against immigrants, naturalized citizens, and U.S. citizens. Part of me steps out in the morning to walk my dog and thinks, there is nothing preventing these people from saying that I'm not a U.S. citizen. So now I carry a passport card in my wallet and hope for the best. The funny part about that scenario in my head is that I worry more about my dog being left alone than I worry about myself. I can take care of myself, but damn you if you think I'm just going to let you leave my dog on the street!
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