Immigration & The American Dream

My husband is an immigrant, coming to this country not for the usual attainment of the American dream but for something far more magical.  He came here for me.  This alone put us in a place of uncertainty, not fully understanding the lengths & hoops we would have to go threw for the cost of our love.

The immigration process is a very intense & economically expensive operation, requiring of you not only to be able to fill out many legal documents in a foreign language,  but also not be aloud to work until your legal working papers are recieved.  For us, legal consul wasn't an option in the budget, raising 2 daughters on a minimal wage while Eran was awaiting his GreenCard.

We had to be economically creative & magical in this time frame, that led us to seeking out the advice & help from Jewish Family Services.  We had a Russian immigrant secretary/ paralegal that helped us complete & file his immigration paper work, understanding the process from both sides of the equasion.

The suggestion upon our first phone call was to get married as soon as possible, which would legally change the paperwork from a fiancé status to that of a married couple.  So we booked an appointment with the Novi Court House & got married a month later.  During this time we also needed to have all of Erans Israeli legal documents translated & stamped with an official seal for proof & authorization for documentation for the American goverment.

Eran was legally not aloud to work during this time, facing deportation as a punishment if he was caught earning a wage under the table.  While many people decided to go this route to support their life in America, this however was never going to be an option for either one of us.

We struggled living off my salary as a manicurist, scrapping pennies to get by.  While Erans parents were 100 percent supportive back home in Israel offering us help while believing in our dream, It was my former parents here in Michigan that where choosing to be oppositional & hurtful taking sides with my Ex husband in hopes of trying to bring us down.

You learn very quickly who is on your side & who has now become your opposition when things get a little bit tight in your life.  You see really fast the people you can truly count on & the people who never  had your best interest at heart disappear.  Life creates pockets of time to allow for an energetic evaluation of who is going with you to the next phase in life & who is being let off at the next stop before ascending to higher ground.  This was one of those times when the universe was working its magic in motion.

Between all the paperwork, the documents you need to produce, the finger prints, interviews, proof of the relationship, everything being translated, the money spent & then lastly having to find & ask someone to sponsor you was enough to make you want to have a melt down.  The time doing it felt like eternity at the mercy of the government bureaucracy, holding the fate of your destiny in its hands.

Within 4 months of our immigrations submission, Eran was granted his temporary Green Card which changed the entire dynamics of his not working situation. Sometimes you have to be willing to risk in order for growth, taking on chances where on the outside looking in might appear to be a 50/50 in your favor.  You have to be prepared to commit to a process that is entirely out of your control & administer patience as its antidote.

Many times people give up on things that require so much time, work & energy because it seems like a too much of a personal investment.  Many things that tend to come around really easy, will probably end up without having a strong life force that is required for longjevity.  This is a reminder to KEEP GOING FOWARD.  Peace Love Faith Hope

 Updated Repost March 2016