In 1989, my aunts, granduncle, uncle, and cousin escaped Vietnam by boat. You may or may not hear about “boat people” – millions of people were, are and will still be risking their lives on the ocean to look for a better future. Vietnamese was not the only one but probably the most famous one. After the Vietnam war, the world witnessed millions of Vietnamese risking theirs and their family’s life on those small fishing boat try to beat against the Pacific Ocean waves.
After a few years living in one of the refugee islands, my family was lucky enough to all move to the evergreen Washington State. They worked hard to support themselves and to fund their dream of bringing the rest of the big family here. That’s where I came in the picture. In 2000, my aunts officially filed the immigration paper for the other 3 sisters and their family. I was 13 years old at that time, came to school one day and excitedly told my friends “guess what, I will move to America soon”. I didn’t know any better. The lengthy immigration process was not easy for a child to understand. Later I learned that if a child is older than 21 years old, they he/she is considered to be independent from parents and when parent move to America, he/she will not go with them.
In 2004, getting scared that I would be leave behind, my parent planed for me to go to the U.S first to study and then would meet them there after a few years. I failed the visa interview twice so I had to finish high school and take the entrance exam to the dental school. In Vietnam there is no undergrad program. We take the exam to dental school, medical school, engineer school right after high school and spend 4-6 years there (it’s 6 years for dental school) Maybe dentistry is meant to be for me.
On 11/20/2008, my family finally got the immigration interview. When we passed the interview, my mom confirmed with the embassy that my name was still there on the family’s file and got a nod. I texted my friends that I would move to the U.S with my family in a month and since there was so much to prepare, I would stop going to school in the next few days. I talked to the dental school’s office about the move and they said bring them the visa and they would end my attendance. My 21st birthday was on 11/25. On 12/2, we all went to the embassy to receive the visa. We were the last one there and one officer gently told my mom that my visa got canceled because I was then 21. There was nothing else to do. My survival mode was turn on. I went back to school, received a lot of help from my dear friends to make up for all the assignment I missed during the time and for that I am still grateful until now. Thankfully, I was still a 4th year dental student and got the chance to finish my dental school. Needless to say, you can imagine all the drama happened with a 21 yo living her whole life with parents. I told myself that day “America doesn’t want me”.
In 2010, my mom filed the immigration paper for me one more time. I graduated in 2011 and started to gather information about getting license in the U.S. Then I started preparing to take TOEFL and later NBDE. The first time I stepped in American soil was in 2013 on tourist visa. I applied to the advance standing program in 2015 and fortunately got accepted by University of Colorado. However due to finance situation, I had to defer one year. Came back to Vietnam with broken heart feeling like my dream was slipping away, I told myself to focus on working and gaining more experience. In 2016 finally I was offered the private student loan to cover for one year cost. At the same time my immigration file was processed but we predicted that I would get the interview in 2017. That would be too late for the program so I applied for student visa and came here in F1 visa instead.
If I waited longer to come here on immigration visa, I would get greencard about 4 weeks later. But since I came here on student visa, my mom had to file for visa status adjustment and the process itself dragged for almost 1.5 years. In April this year I went for the interview. It was quick, only 10 min. I think they have enough paper with my name on it. When they said congratulation, I was asking if they have some sort of paper as a proof of the result and they said no. I called my mom as I knew she was worrying for a whole day but carefully told her not to expect too much as everything can change last minute (my life lesson). I got the greencard in the mail 2 days later. I was thinking that the moment I got my greencard would be sort of historical moment since I spent 17 years waiting for it, but in fact I didn’t feel much that day. On 11/20/2016, I reached America with a one-way ticket (Well I think I purposely chose that exact same day for a closure).
One friend used to ask me, if I struggled so much to come to the U.S with no certain future, why didn’t I just stay in Vietnam, build a family and maybe opened my own clinic. I asked myself that question for a moment, but when you spent years building your dream, it’s not that easy to let it go. Living in America is a long-term dream, and practicing in America is even a bigger one. I saw a path, and I couldn’t give up on it. Maybe I am perseverant, or simply stupid. But judging on the current outcome that I just passed the board exam, I think I was not stupid. I hold on to these memories to remind myself everyday how lucky I am to be here and do what I love the most. Now back in 1989, I owe everything to my beloved ones who risked their life so I can live the American dream today.