My immigration process: April 17th

Hello, my friends!
I'm already in New York! I arrived at JFK airport last Thursday night, 17th of April. It's been filled with amazing things for my first week here. However, I want to share my immigration precess story with you first because I can't go further without talking about it.

I have to admit that my immigration process was sooooooo tough at San Francisco Airport!

I arrived at the SF airport at 10:51 AM last Thursday. I had three hours for the connecting flight to JFK. I thought I might have been bored but it turned out to be such a tight schedule! I had only 15 minutes to transit because it took me more than two hours to go through the immigration process.

At first I was in a line at the immigration check counter as other passengers were doing. After waiting for a half hour, my turn came. The young immigration officer, maybe in his 20's, was jolly at first. He said my name amusingly. His face changed when he saw my visa.

(I might not remember the conversation correctly, but I'll try to reenact it.)
Young Officer: "Why do you have a visa?"
Me: "Because I'm hoping to stay in this country for a year."

YO: "What do you do?"
Me: "I'm going to be a volunteer at a nursing home!"
Y: "No, you can't. It's too long. Wait a minute."

And then he shouted to call someone. I thought my case was so rare so he didn't know what to do. But nobody came. He asked the officer next to him who seemed senior to him. He explained my situation. Then the elder officer said to me;

Elder officer: "No, No!! You can't stay that long. At most, maybe 6 months. You stay here for three months and go to the immigration office again and apply to expand your stay. You may be permitted or you may not."

Me: "Why? I have my visa, I have recommendation letters, I had even an interview at the Embassy in Japan!!"

E: "OK, show me the letters."

He read the letters from my sponsor,who is my church friend, and the nursing home staff, who is also my church friend. Then he said something to the younger officer. And the younger said to me,

Y: "OK, you have your passport and all documents and go to the room over there. They may give you permission or not. I don't know."


I went to the room, called "Secondary".
It was quite a large room. There were benches where maybe 30 people could sit down and wait. There was a counter in from of the benches, and a few rooms at the back. I put my passport and documents to the file box. Prior to me, around 5 people were waiting. Most of the waiters just went toward the counter and talked with an officer and that was all, they went out of the room. Fifteen minutes later or so, an officer called my name. He told me to enter the room at the very back.

A Latino officer (might be wrong but I thought so) was there. There was a desk with a PC on it. He sat in front of me and told me to have a seat. I said, "Nice to meet you, sir!" with full smile although my heart was tight with fear. His face didn't move at all.

LO: "Why do you want to stay here so long, for a whole year? That's too long. What is the reason for that?"
Me: "I want to stay here for one year to be a volunteer at a nursing home. I want to learn things from this opportunity, your culture, people's ideas, your wonderful care system and so on."
L: "Do you earn any money from it?"
Me: "No."
L: "So who will pay your expenses while you are here."
Me: "Myself as well as my partner living in Japan."
L: "Do you have enough money?"
Me: "Yes. I have my bank account balance sheet here."
L: "OK. But you don't have any health insurance, like Medicare. the medical care cost is so expensive here. What if you became sick? You can't pay it because it's so expensive."
M: "I have my country's National health insurance and if I became sick and have some medical care, 70% of the expenses will be back when I get back to Japan....." I tried to explain our system, but he seemed not to hear at all.

And he went on to say that medical expenses are so high in this country so I can't enter this country without it. And then 5 minutes later he moved on to the next topic.

L: "Why did you get this, a business visa.?"
M: "The B2 visa is business visa but the visa holder can't earn any money here. And the category includes volunteer work."
L: "No, this is business visa. That's it. NOT includes volunteer! Don't argue with me! I know better than you!"
M: "No! It includes volunteer! Please look up the category, please! I learned it."
He seemed to look for the category and got it. But....
L: "Here it is! It says this visa is for business. There is no word of volunteer!"
M: "No! So why could I get the visa for me? I applied it and had an interview at the general consulate. I told the interviewer same thing that I was hoping to stay in the US for one year and want to be a volunteer at a nursing home and they gave me a visa for me. Why I could do that?"
L: "You had an interview? So where?!
M: "Osaka. There is!"
L: "I know. So tell me who was the interviewer? Caucasian? Or other? How old was he?"
M: "I think he is a Caucasian in his 40's. He was a very nice person."
L: "OK. But, you understand, to be a volunteer for a whole year. It's odd! Absolutely odd, don't you think so? Then how old are you?"
M: "45 years old."
L: "There you go. If you were 20 or 23, it's OK. But you are 45, want to be a volunteer, and not to earn any money. It's totally ridiculous! Everybody thinks so."
M: "But it's been my dream! I tried very very hard to make my dream come true, sir. How can I explain it to you...? I teach elderly people's choir in Japan, and prior to that, I taught disabled people singing. Also I've been learning English. So I want to help people here, learn many things from you, and also bring my experience back to Japan after this experience. I once stayed in NY for three months and made a lot of friends there. I thought it would be great if I could stay there longer next time and build deeper relationship with people......"

While I was explained he started to read recommendation letters and said,
L: "Shut up! Let me read these!"
Then he seemed to google the nursing home's website. I glanced into it and thought it was the wrong site.

L: "I can't find this woman's name here!" He meant the staff who wrote one of the recommendation letters.
Me: "She works for the nursing home. I'll show you this." I showed him the staff information which I printed it out last night to learn about the nursing home on the plane.
L: "OK. She is in a management staff. Then, I can't find another woman's name either."
M: "She is my sponsor, and my friend. She doesn't work here. We met each other at our church."

Again, he went back to the same topic like "It's too long, for a whole year, without any income, without a health insurance!! No. You understand, huh?" Things like that.

Then an Asian officer came into the room and started to talk with the Latino. The Latino claimed how odd I was and they shouldn't have given me permission.

The Asian officer turned around toward me. And asked brief questions like;
"How long are you going to stay here? One year? What are you going to do? Oh, volunteer? OK. Like internship? Yes. Are you going school? NO? OK. Are you earning any money? No money? OK." I looked at his face. His face seemed kind, very different from the Latino's. I said, "Believe me." with tears. He responded, "OK. I understand." UNDERSTAND!! What a wonderful word to hear at that time!

And the Asian said,
"We are making a confirmation process from now. Making phone calls to your sponsor and the staff of the nursing home and other things. You sit down and wait over there. OK?"

I went out of the room and sat down on one of the benches. Tears continued to run down and didn't stop all the time while I was waiting. In my mind, I was thinking, "Why should I have this tough time again here? After finishing all the process in Japan. It was tough enough for me. And I got a visa finally. I thought 'finally'! Wasn't it enough? Then I made time for this, prepared everything for this. My family and my friends in Japan are backing me up. Also my friends in NY are waiting for my arrival. Why should I go back to Japan now? Why can't I stay here for a year with a proper visa!!"

While I was waiting, the Latino made phone calls. My friend, and my sponsor, told me later, he asked her like:
"Are you expecting someone today?"
"Yes."
"Someone from Japan?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Naoko xxxxx."
"Are you charging her for the rent?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because she is my friend."
"Do you know she is here without any health insurance? If she gets sick, the medication expenses would be paid from American citizens' tax!!! What do you think about it!!!"
Li: "There are 45 million people without a health insurance. If we have just one more person, so what?"

(Latino guy got angry....! But I loved my friend's idea!)

And outside the room, beside the counter, the Asian officer talked with other two senior officers. The two officers seemed so tough. "No, she can't! It's too long!! Strange!" I overheard several words.

Then I heard the Asian said, "Why not? Not earning any money, do a good thing. What's wrong?", a kind of this. He seemed to defend me.


Maybe I was waiting for around 30 minutes as I cried heavily. I was desperate. Then the Latino called my name. "Naoko, come here!"

He said, "I talked with your recommendation writers. One of them said that the nursing would take care of you in any way. Look. I didn't like the way the other talked to me. She was rude! Anyway, I'm going to give you an admission to stay here for a whole year. But remember, you can't earn any money. You don't have any health insurance if you get sick. OK? You can go back to your country earlier if you need."

I thought I needed to be polite to him so I said, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean it."

Then the Latino said, "You didn't hurt my feelings but your friend did. Remember."

And in the very end, he said, "But you understand, if I go to your country, and say I want to be a volunteer for a whole year, you must think it's odd. Everybody thinks so. I'm sure. Right?"

I nodded with a resignation.... I couldn't agree with him because I'm here to do the thing! But I thought I should have done that to get out of the situation.

When I met my friend at the JFK airport at midnight, we hugged each other so tight and she said, "You made it! You did it!". We cried each other.


Now, as I'm writing this, my eyes start to be filled with tears. I don't know why, but it was so tough and I never forget about it.

Anyway, I made it! I should have fun for the rest of the time here!!!

I'll tell you happier things from now on! Please keep visiting my blog!