Hi guys! To start the year off right,
I've decided to make this first video answering one of the questions most...
that I receive the most here on the channel
about what I did
to immigrate
to the United States.
So today, I'll tell you a little bit about my story.
Well, in fact, I didn't have any plans to live in the United
States
for good or to stay here for a long time.
In fact, I came
to participate in an exchange program called Work & Travel which is
a work program, temporary work in the United States
you come
during your...your college break and stay here for 3 or 4 months
working
at ski resorts or at...
at McDonald's. In my case, I was working
at mall kiosks in California,
so I came
in December of 2007 with the J1 visa which is for
exchange programs. It...this visa is used by people who come to work in temporary jobs,
some graduate students also come with
this visa
some professors who come to the United States to teach here for a certain
period of time also use the J1 visa,
so I came with the J1 visa
and the visa would expire in March of 2008. An then,
I wasn't really pleased with college life in Brazil,
so I decided to stay here a little longer, so I took a leave from college in Brazil,
but I wasn't able to renew the J1 visa
because it wasn't renewable. It's a temporary work visa
for a predetermined period of time, so there was no way I could
renew it.
And the, what did I do? I changed my status.
And what does that mean? I was in J1 status,
I changed my status to F1 which is a students visa,
usually used for university or academic programs with
the goal of obtaining a degree.
But I thought that my English...
besides the fact that I didn't understand the American education system, I thought that
my English wasn't enough to go to college in the United States,
so I decided to take a few months of English classes
at an English school, a language school and then,
I started the process of change of status
I think it was around February of
2008, a month before my visa expired
and I got...they approved my change of status around...
in
June
of 2008.
But while I was waiting
for the approval,
I was able to study and stay in the country because
while they are deciding about your case, you can stay in
the country. If,
in the end, they had decided to deny my change of status, I'd have had to leave
the country immediately,
but in the meanwhile, I could study, so I took some English classes
and then, I got the approval,
and then, they...
in order to get the F1 visa....I was in the F1 status, but I didn't have
a visa on my passport because
for you to get a visa, you have to leave the United States and go to an
American consulate or embassy, so I returned to Brazil
and then, they gave me the F1 visa
and then, when I returned to the United States, I already had a student
visa,
but I was still afraid to take college classes because I thought that
for you to take classes in the United States, to pursue
an academic degree,
my English...I thought that I had to have perfect English skills,
which isn't true. You have to
be able to understand the lectures, you have to be able to write and express yourself,
but you don't need to have perfect English skills,
but I did it slowly because I thought my English wasn't enough, so
I started taking some college classes, as a test, they weren't part of
a university program,
they were classes I took here and there
and then, after I realized my English was enough,
I started college.
and then, I started for real in 2009.
An they had given me the F1 visa dor 4 years,
but the F1 visa
expired before I finished
college,
so I had to renew the F1 visa about a year before I
graduated, I
renewed the F1 visa,
so the person, the consul,
she asked: How long are you staying the U.S.?
And then, I told her. By that time, I had already been with my Argentine boyfriend for a long
time
and we were planning to live in Argentina, so I told her: I will
graduate
and I'll move to Argentina, so she gave me
two more years of the F1 student visa.
And then, I graduated,
and then, my idea was: after you graduate, after you obtain a diploma with the F1 visa,
they have a program here called OPT
and after you get your diploma, you can try to find a
job
and work in the United States for a year.
If you've studied
engineering or hard science, they allow you to work here for up to two years
and my area was social sciences, so I could stay for a year and I've applied to this program
and I thought: when this program ends,
I'll try
the H1B visa which is a work visa,
which you...
the H1B visa is a little complicated because you need to find a person who not only
wants to hire you, but also sponsor
your visa
and they have a...
a limited amount of this visa, so
it's not very easy to obtain, but some people do,
but then, in the end
I was already engaged and then, after I graduated, I got
married,
so
my husband already had the green card by this time.
When I first came, he didn't have a green card, but then, by that time,
he had already got his green card, so by extension,
by marrying him,
I could apply for the green card.
But what happened was that
I thought that it would be a fast process because we were working
with an attorney and she had told us that there was
a change and they were....
that the green card would be issued very fast, but I ended up waiting for two
years
and only this year (2015, actually), I obtained my green card. And,
for a while, I couldn't leave the United States because
I was in this transition and I han't received any document
that allowed me to leave. But shortly after, about a year after I had applied,
they gave me a little card that allowed me to leave the United States,
even...leave and return, even without a visa and without a green card because I didn't
have a visa, nor a green card. So every time I returned
to the United States, they would take me to that special room at the airport because
I was in this transition,
without a visa and without a green card,
but I never had much trouble to return
to the United States.
And this years (2015, actually), I obtained my green card, so
that was my story. So I,
firstly, started with the J1, changed to a F1 visa and then
obtained my green card through marriage.
And one thing that a lot of people mix up is green card and citizenship. My husband, he
is not an American citizen,
he has a green card, which is the residency,
so
the easiest way to immigrate is getting married to an American
an American citizen
because then, by extension, you can apply.
And to obtain the citizenship,
first you have to have the green card, and after 5 years with the green card, you can
try to obtain the citizenship.
But there are also many other ways to come
work and immigrate. I'll leave some links below for you
because today,
on the Internet, you find information about
all types of visa,
all possibilities,
so I'll leave some links here for you about the visas I've mentioned
in this video and other links as well.
As long as you're not lazy to read because the website of the American government explains
everything, everything, really everything, so as long as you're not lazy to read, you'll understand
the rules
of immigration
and I hope this video has clarif...
clarified? Have clarified some questions you have because I always receive
questions about this topic.
In fact, there is a person who
always leaves comments on my videos, this person keeps bothering me all the
time.
I believe she thinks I'm ilegal or that my marriage is fake. No, my marriage is not
fake,
I was with my husband for a long time before
we got married and we had been engaged for a year,
so
in fact, he didn't even have a green card before, he got it later on
so,
this is my story and this...
I hope I have clarified some questions
and I'll see you next week.
Kisses!