Real Immigrant Stories

The people below are not alone.  Our broken immigration system affect tens of millions of lives every year.  Too often, their stories go untold, please read what they have to say.  Do you have an immigration story that you would like to tell?  Click here to share your story.

Anonymous, California

I am a Russian national married to a US citizen for 3 years. We have been together for almost 10 years, 6 of which we have spent living together in my native St-Petersburg, Russia.  Since 2002 I have had several tourist visas to the US, visiting my future husband’s family and exploring the area where he grew up. During my visit in 2005 my then boyfriend (future husband) came with me and decided that he needed to stay in the US (he is involved with a Professional Medical Transitions business). He proposed to me and we got married in December 2005. We applied for my adjustment of status, based on marriage to become a US citizen.  We still do not have an answer.  Just because my husband is 31 years my senior the USCIS has made up unbelievable and ridiculous stories about us “not living together” and not having enough money in the joint account (my husband has suffered a stroke in 2006 and is not working full time, because he is still recovering), etc.  We have submitted every possible piece of evidence to prove our valid marriage, have paid all dues, have applied, received and reapplied for my EAD, fingerprints, etc. We have filed an appeal after our case was denied, though none of the people who could testify that we have a legitimate marriage have been contacted.

I feel like we are all alone and no matter how many applications, papers, requests, appeals we send and pay for, we would not be considered for even a fair investigation of our case. USCIS has been keeping our case hostage and would not send it to the Board of Appeals for over 7 months now… I don’t know what else to do and who else to contact for help. My congressman has been informed about my case since day one and has been trying to assist us, but nothing is developing and it seems like my status will never be determined.  The worst thing about this all is that my husband and I have been together for so long - most of marriages don’t even last half of that time.

Please do something about the immigration process and help those, like me, who came to this country legally, have obtained necessary documentation, have been working and paying taxes, complying with the law and actually improving this country’s education system.  I am an Academic Manager of a English language school for International students.

This is my story in a nut shell - I just hope that someone would read and maybe recognize themselves in it and join together to finally make the USCIS do something.