I have shared on a few occasions about my life overseas. While living overseas was an incredible learning opportunity and a tremendous blessing for my family, our journey was not always easy.
One of the biggest stresses we experienced for the last 2-3 years while we lived overseas was obtaining a visa.
VISA: an endorsement on a passport indicating that the holder is allowed to enter, leave, or stay for a specified period of time in a country.
As long as my family obtained a visa and then maintained the requirements of our visa, we were considered legal aliens.
LEGAL ALIEN: a non-citizen who is legally permitted to remain in a country.
Lessons I Learned While Trying To Be Legal
1. Sometimes the leniency of the immigration laws change.
When I first moved overseas, it was fairly easy to enter and exit my host country. The rules were relaxed. As long as you paid the foreigner tax all was good. Payment was expensive and was expected as you left the country.
This was a legitimate payment (not a bribe), and you were issued a receipt upon payment. The longer I lived overseas, the more sophisticated the immigration system became.
Improvements in technology, increased sense of nationalism, and a general distrust towards outsiders can and will change a nation's stance on immigration.
And even if you have something to offer, it make little difference when you are not wanted.
2. Technology makes immigration laws easier to enforce.
In the good ole days, my family and I would leave the immigration office with blue or black ink on our finger tips (which was always a mess with an arm full of kids).
As technology improved, so did the tracking mechanisms. Now my information was not just being stored provincially, it was being sharing with other provinces across the country.
I had nothing to hide, but a small hiccup locally could become a problem nationally.
And although I support the advancement of technology, I understand that basic infrastructure is required to make technology operate well. On many occasions the in-operational technology caused more delays than the old ways. When the system was down, my family was in a bind.
3. A lot of the people I interacted with on a daily basis did not have a proper understanding of the immigration laws.
Only a few of my friends understood the complexity of the immigration process. Very few people I know had ever left the country before. In their eyes, all they wanted to know is that I was a good person, and I was able to provide them a good service (English education).
Until you have lived as a foreigner in another country, it is difficult to understand the requirements necessary to maintain legal status.
I would have never been able to understand the complexities of the situation until I lived them myself.
4. Ignorance was not an excuse for disobeying the laws.
The expectations for entering our host country was fairly understandable. It was the rules for maintaining our legal status that was complicated.
Even though the rules changed often, the bigger challenge was that the interpretation of the rules kept always changed.
But as a guest in our host country, claiming ignorance was never accepted.
5. Corruption was rampant. Strong-arm tactics were common.
I can only imagine the level of corruption that exists across all forms of government.
It was not uncommon to be asked for bride money. Extortion was another common tactic. Threats of jail time and heavy fees were a part of the game.
It was challenging to walk through the immigration process with integrity. We always tried our best to never allow corruption or fear drive our decision making. But honestly, it was hard to not cave in.
6. The process is costly.
There were costs associated with every part of the process:
- travel costs - we had to leave the country every time we wanted to request a new visa
- administration costs for new visas - these one-time fees were rather expensive (especially for a family of 7)
- monthly costs - there were also monthly fees to maintain our visas
- lost time - the process was so inefficient, but we had to make a time investment to make the process work
8. I was wrong, even when I was not wrong.
There was one time that we went in to process a monthly renewal and report to the authorities. During that time a national friend overheard that there was a system problem that needed to be fixed.
We were promised that the problem would be fixed, but after several days past our deadline, immigration still held our passports and the problem had not been resolved.
Everyday over the deadline increased the amount of the fine that we might need to pay. Four days later, we were informed that our visas would not be renewed and that we needed to immediately leave the country.
We asked for a letter to explain our situation but no letter was made. When we left our host country, we had to pay a fine per person, per day over the deadline.
We could not have changed the situation. We were at the mercy of others. And we were in the wrong, even though we had done nothing wrong.
Final Thoughts
Immigration is an important issue. For me it is also a personal issue. I had spent years overseas trying to obey the laws of another country (even when I did not agree with those laws).
I was not always treated fairly. The process was not always convenient. But I always tried to obey the laws of the host country that I lived in.
I fully understand why some many people would want to live in the United States.
- I am not asking people to reject their cultures. I didn't!
- I am not asking people to stop speaking their heart language, but I did learn how to speak the national language of the country where I lived.
- I am not asking for people to give up dreams and a better future. My time overseas was life changing.
But I did my best to live legally in my host country. I did my best to obey the laws of the land.
And I do the same in the United State too. My hope is that all of us (whether we hold USA passport or not) will try to live a law abiding life.
Your Turn
Let's continue the conversation in the comments.
- Do you feel that immigration is an important issue for the country where you live?
- Have you ever stayed a long time in another country and had to visit the immigration office?
- Do you feel like you do a good job of caring for people who are different from you?
Thanks for stopping by.
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/statue-of-liberty-landmark-liberty-1210001/