The first time I felt like an IMMIGRANT!!

Well it happened…………after being in the United States for 12 years I officially, for the first time, felt like an immigrant!!  And this happened AFTER I finally received what I’d being waiting for, for the better part of a decade.
This is the story:

Back on September 1st, 2011 exactly 2 days after the 12th anniversary of my arrival in Minnesota, (my 12yr anniversary post)  I got news from the USCIS that my green card application was approved.  I knew that this was very close to happening as I had received a request for further evidence back in the middle of August.  The evidence, namely proof I was still employed in the same line of employment under which my original application was filed and that I’d remained in legal standing in the USA since the application was filed in 2005, was returned to them and in under two weeks I had received the final notification……..kinda fast considering it had taken 6 years to get to this point.

Apparently the email and text notification system of the USCIS is set to send out emails/texts at 2am, at least that’s the time this notification came through – email and text.  When Jeanna’s alarm went off at 4am, for work, I rolled over and checked my phone, which is a normal nightly event for me, I saw that I had a notification that my case had been updated.  This could only mean one of two things………approval or denial!! Half asleep, I managed to sign into the website and see the update.  It said: YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!!
My reaction………HUH?  Really??  Was this really happening??  For so many years I thought I had my reaction all figured out, I knew for sure that I’d freak out………right?  I mean 6 years is a long time to wait for something, especially for someone as inpatient as me.  And now it was happening, and what reaction did I have?  Disbelief, complete and total disbelief.  I put my phone down, slowly, I rolled over and put my arm around Jeanna and whispered in her ear, “You know that notification system I have with my green card?” She replied, in a still sleepy voice, “Yes?”  I said to her, “It just said my application has been approved!”  She rolled over and looked at me, surprisingly with the same disbelief I had, and said “NO WAY?!?”
Right………so the disbelief was growing.  I mean there it was, in black and white, yet still I couldn’t believe it, and until I confirmed it with my immigration lawyer in the morning I didn’t want to ‘Facebook publicize it’, except of course to my parents.  I whatsapp’d my mom to see if my dad was home, he wasn’t 🙁  I told her to call me none the less, insisting NOTHING was wrong, as my mom is a worry wart.  She called, of course irate that something was in fact wrong.   I reassured her that all was fine and I passed on the news!!  It appears my mom was the only person to actually believe the news.  She was ecstatic and the first question……..”Can I put it on Facebook?”  To which I replied no, for the above reason, pending final approval from the lawyer 😉

So now what?  It’s 415am and I’m wide awake.  I talk with my mom and dad via Whatsapp (BTW the best App ever) and kill time, now it’s 5am and I’m laying here, supposed to go back to sleep….yeah, that didn’t happen.

So back to the reason, the reason this event, So back to the reason, the reason this event, that should have being monumental in my life, made me feel like an Immigrant for the first time.  Don’t get me wrong I KNOW I’m an Immigrant, this has not slipped my mind at all.  Heck I still say zed instead of zee when pronouncing the letter “Z”.
However, for the most part, since I got here I pretty much blended in.  I mean I don’t look much different then the average, white, American young lady, barring my accent of course.  I lucked out when applying for my State ID and Drivers License in that my immigration status was not put on the face of the cards, as it should have been.  As well as a few other slips in important facts/documents that did not noticeably identify me as an ‘alien’.   So overall I went through life pretty much unnoticed.  Granted employment was a little harder, but I had a great education and had advanced certifications to back me, so the employment came relatively easily, including the sponsorship and payment of my immigration paperwork/lawyers etc, and I have maintained gainful employment ever since my graduation in May 2003.

But now, now that I had this card, NOW I felt different?  While this made no sense at all, it still just felt different.  I mean in general life was going to be easier, employment, travel, etc. etc.
I think it boils down to the fact that NOW, after 12 years, it really, really hit me that this is it.  I’m NOT going home.  I finally had PERMANENT RESIDENCE in the United States.  Granted this is what I had pursued, this what I had and still do want.  But now it’s real.  I have this green card (literally) in my wallet that says, after 12 years, you finally have a permanent home.  And this, this made me feel like an IMMIGRANT!!!!!  The definition of immigrant is, A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another, and now this is ME!!! 

I am a 1st Generation Immigrant to the United States.