It’s All About Better Opportunities. I’m “legal;” she’s not.

I heard this from a lot of people: “We have something in common. We want better opportunities for our lives.” But, there is a big difference in our stories. I was given the opportunity to become “legal”. My counterpart did not. I moved to New York City in the year 2000. I traveled with my US tourist visa, which I was lucky to get. That’s what people would say when they knew you were applying for a visa to the US: “good luck!”

I applied for my tourist visa so I could travel to the US as a gift for turning 15 years old. It was my quinceañera gift. Back then, things related to immigration seemed to be a little easier. I spent two summers in New Jersey when I was 15 and then when I was 17 years old. My tourist visa was good for five consecutive years. So, when I decided, at 19, to leave my home, spread my wings, and move to Amsterdam to live with my aunt but my student visa was denied (I thought visas to Europe were easier to get), I decided to use my still active US tourist visa and move to New York City to live with my uncle instead.

Unlike so many people who come to the US because they can’t stay in their home countries for reasons including financial or safety challenges, I chose to move abroad to find and build my own future with my own hands. It’s not like my parents kicked me out of my house. I was actually going to school back in Colombia. I could have just stayed home, and most likely, things would have worked out well. I probably wouldn’t have been able to accomplish all the “crazy” dreams I’ve been able to achieve in New York City but I guess I’d have managed just fine since none of these “crazy” ideas would have come to mind in my native town of less “crazy” and open opportunities. I’m sharing all this to make the point that I was conscious of the decision I was making to move to another country with my tourist visa that I knew would expire in six months, and where I didn’t know how I was going to manage life in the new country afterwards. Nonetheless, that’s exactly how it happened.

My counterpart didn’t have the opportunity to make a conscious decision to leave her country and move to this one like I did. She was brought here when consciousness was still nonexistent, and it’d take years for her to realize her unwelcome status in the place where she felt a sense of belongingness and where she grew up calling it home. Unlike my counterpart, I knew at some point I’d be welcomed. There was a possible route for me to become “legal” that made me feel that there was a light at the end of my tunnel.

My dad also moved to New York City in his 20s. With the help of someone he says he’d forever be grateful to, he was able to become “legal” in this country. Because of my dad, I had a possible pass to freedom! He could help me get a green card! Though, when I decided to leave Colombia, my dad had no plans to move to New York City, but circumstances changed. The financial situation in my home in Colombia became so dire that my dad had to make the decision to leave my mom, my brother and my six-year-old sister behind and move to New York City in 2001 to work and make ends meet at home.

Once in New York City and after getting a job, my dad applied for me to become a “legal” resident — there was light at the end of the tunnel for me — great! However, I had to wait seven years for this legal process to be complete and obtain my freedom. During that time, I experienced the same challenges that my counterpart and many other immigrants go through when they are not “legal” in this country. Yes, there was light at the end of my tunnel but during those seven years I waited for my pass to freedom, I couldn’t leave the country. I couldn’t have a bank account; I couldn’t receive financial aid to pay for school. I wasn’t “legal”.

However, I was legal to get a tax ID to work and pay taxes. Just as my counterpart and many others who work every day in this country and pay taxes but are not considered good enough to be welcomed and obtain the same freedom I got when I became “legal”. Like them, I experienced firsthand how it feels not to have the same freedom and the same rights as everyone else. Although, those rights became a reality for me, my counterpart who was brought here unaware and many others who come to this country for the same reason I did, looking for a better life, don’t get to have the same pass I got. I’m “legal,” she’s not.