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In July 2001, I came to Minnesota to live with my husband, who came to work for a big company. We came here because we wanted to have a family and give our kids a better opportunity in life, just like our parents did back in Mexico when they gave us a private education despite the big sacrifices they had to endure.
In 2005, while pregnant with my second baby, my husband lost his job and we found ourselves in a difficult position, our visa was sponsored by the company he used to work for, so we were in this dilemma whether we could go back to Mexico and start over or try to find another job to be able to stay here and keep our home. After praying a lot, we decided to stay. My husband found a job in a small firm which provided us with a visa. A few years later, we could apply for our permanent residency. This was a road full of difficulties because our paperwork was lost for a while in the immigration system. We couldn’t leave the country at all until they found our files and processed them. It took over five years for this to happen. Meanwhile, we lost loved ones, including my dad, who I couldn’t see again or even attend his funeral.
On December 1, 2012, we finally received notification that we had been approved to be permanent residents. We cried with joy and felt like a big burden was lifted. It’s been five years already and now we can apply to become citizens. We are looking forward to this big step, because we will be able to finally call this land our home, which has given us so much. Our beautiful kids, our Church, our community, our friends, and so many wonderful things.
Thanks for letting me share my story with you.
Elvia Huitron