Understanding the U.S. Immigration System

It took me about a fortnight to recover from jetlag and begin adjusting and transitioning. This is when I started searching and learning more about the U.S. immigration system.

What follows will be an account of how I completed my green card application, became a U.S. citizen and petitioned for my family. I will discuss other U.S. visas/immigration processes that I learnt about in pursuant of assisting my parents and siblings to join me in the U.S.

Topics of discussion will include:

Visa extension
Green Card Visa process
Petitions
Fiancé Visa
Work Permits
Exchange Students
Naturalization

Please bear in mind that immigration is a lengthy process. For example, I petitioned for my siblings in May 2007. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is currently processing siblings' petitions received in 1999. I will refer back to this point and explain further when I discuss petitions.

New Orleans, Louisiana

I arrived in New Orleans, La. on Aug. 14, 1998, after a 35-hour bus ride from New York.

Nicole and her husband picked me up from the Greyhound bus station in downtown New Orleans. It was about 2:00 a.m., two hours behind scheduled arrival time. I had travelled through ten U.S. states* and changed six buses en route. I had $20 to my name.

Nicole and I met in Harare three years earlier while she was in Zimbabwe as an exchange student. We stayed in touch and she wrote me an invitation letter which I needed as part of my visitors’ visa application process.

I lived with Nicole and her husband for about six weeks and then I moved in with her mom, whom I would also call mom to this day. Nicole’s family became my adoptive family.

They have been wonderful to me.

*New York-New Jersey-Delaware-District of Columbia-Virginia-North Carolina-Tennessee-Georgia-Alabama-Mississippi-Louisiana.

Arriving in the U.S.

We landed at John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 12, 1998. By this time I had learnt that Noma had a ten-year work visa. I had a two-year visitor’s visa.

Noma was first in line at the immigration counter.

The officer seemed to ask her a lot of questions. She kept reaching into her purse for additional documents of sorts. For the first time, I noticed that Noma had mottled honey brown skin. She was roughly 5’2, with high-arched hips. She wore her hair in dreadlocks. Noma was 38, I was 25.

I couldn’t hear their conversation but I could see Noma balancing on her left leg, then her right leg and back to her left. She needed strength. I needed strength.

I suddenly noticed that my palms were sweating. I was nervous. Not scared, just nervous. For some reason I started focusing on the officer's head. It was big for a man his size, I thought. He was short and had a tiny frame.

He stamped her passport.

Completely faithless I stepped forward to the counter. My legs were heavy. Numb. By this time I’d consoled myself of my back-up plan. I’d return home and complete my green card application if my entry was denied.

"Is this your first visit to the U.S?" he asked me.

“Yes,” I responded offering half a smile, my lips felt like they were coated with a thick layer of clay, as if they would crack if I smiled an inch wider. My mouth was as dry as cotton.

“How long do you plan to visit ma’m?”

“Three months.” I said, trying to sound convincingly confident. I could hear my heavy Zimbabwean accent echoing and in contrast to his.

“Where do you plan to stay for the duration of your visit?”

“New Orleans, Louisiana.”

“Welcome to America, enjoy your visit!” He stamped my passport.

“Thank you.” I replied constraining my emotions.

I could feel my heart spinning in cartwheels. I was ambivalent; happy to have been granted entry into the U.S., but what if this whole coming to America thing was a mistake?

I’d replay the dialogue and the officer’s “welcome to America” words for many months after my arrival.

I joined Noma at the luggage claim section. She was granted a 90-day stay, I was granted 180-days.

We parted.

I took a shuttle bus to the New York Port Authority.

That was the last time I saw Noma.

14 Hours in Cairo

I flew Egypt Air from Harare to New York via a 14-hour layover in Cairo, where I stayed at the Moevenpick Hotel, provided by the airline.

I met a Zimbabwean woman during the layover and we ended up sharing the hotel room and traded our life stories for the remainder of the journey to the U.S. We would stay in touch only shortly after our U.S. arrival. I will call her Noma to protect her privacy. She was heading to Syracuse, New York. I was heading to the deep southern U.S. state of Louisiana.

Cairo sits on the banks of the Nile River. It is humid and densely populated. Ancient mosques are everywhere. On impulse Noma and I went on a guided tour of the Pyramids of Giza, on the west bank of the Nile River. In my mind it would have been foolish not to take the tour having come so close.

When we arrived in Giza, Kneph, our tour guide cited dates and various statistics but I was too absorbed into the massive structures to notate the facts. We toured the Great Pyramid of Khufu and went into the king and queen’s chambers. Then we rode on camelback and visited the perfume palace. I gazed at the Great Sphinx. Breath taking.

I did not have a camera. I promised myself I’d return to Cairo. That was almost eleven years ago. I will return to Cairo.

Birth Tourism

I haven't heard the term birth tourism used frequently but the National Public Radio (NPR) today aired a story discussing birth tourism.

Ted Hilton is the architect of a move that would prevent illegal immigrant families with U.S. born children from accessing temporary financial aid and job search services in California.

Hilton argues that such access encourages and maintains birth tourism; as such the U.S. government should bar illegal immigrants' offspring from citizenship status. Parents currently qualify based on their (citizen) children's needs.

If the measure passes, parents would have to provide government issued identification before they can obtain a birth certificate for their newborn.

I am happy to leave the debate to our lawmakers and political pundits, but I can't resist saying that children do not choose where they are born; I did not choose to be born in Zimbabwe.

The U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the U.S." It is not illegal for a woman to give birth in the U.S.

I digress!

Selection and Notification

I had never heard of the lottery but entered the day I saw the advertisement in The Herald. Then I forgot about it until Mar. 16, 1998, when I received a letter from the State Department.

I was selected!

"Congratulations!" It read. "You are among those randomly selected and registered for further consideration in the DV-99 diversity immigrant program for fiscal year 1999..."

Selection and winner notification usually takes approximately six months from the lottery's closing date. Lottery winners who are outside the U.S. must complete the visa application process prior to entering the country. My situation was unique because I had already applied for and had been approved for a visitor's visa to travel to the U.S.

I wrote to the Department of State requesting to be processed within the U.S. due to my pre-arranged travel plans. My request was approved and I arrived in the country on Aug. 12, 1998.

The Green Card Lottery

Interesting coincidence. When I moved to Harare, I lived in the embassy district on a block next to the American embassy. I walked past the embassy everyday for more than three years on my way to work, town and the park.

I was reading The Herald sometime in late 1997 when a small rectangular advertisement in the bottom right-hand corner of the paper's last page caught my eye. The advertisment was posted by the National Visa Service inviting entrants to the U.S. Green Card Lottery.

The U.S. Green Card Lottery is a diversity immigrant program administered by the United States Department of State. The U.S. government annually issues approximately 50 000 diversity visas to citizens of eligible countries randomly selected from the lottery pool.

If you are interested in entering the lottery you must visit the State Department's website and do the following:

• Check to see whether you are from an eligible country (see page 13)
• Make note of the current or next lottery's opening and closing dates
• Prepare your entry materials; usually basic personal information and two headshots as specified on the website. Importantly: You must strictly follow the photograph specifications, failure to do so will automatically disqualify your entry.
• Submit your entry as early as possible

Dreaming of America

I always dreamt of America as a young girl.

Studying, living and working in America.

The great America...I remember thinking! I always envisioned it as the center of the universe, the country where for most dreams the sky is the limit. I wished to be here.

Two years prior to graduating from high school I started concurrently applying for admission into U.S. universities and for scholarships. I didn't leave a stone unturned, exhausting all my network contacts yet still I ended up empty handed. I kept running into a common thread: Foreign students were ineligible for scholarships and federal aid of any kind. I was ineligible!

My dad suggested that I attend college in Zimbabwe whilst continuing my search for U.S. scholarships and study options. My efforts proved futile. It was impossible to find a private sponsor.

At 21, I moved to Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city. At the time my family was living in Kadoma, 140 kilometers southwest of Harare.