It takes an abundant amount of time, money, and paperwork to legally immigrate to the United States. The first step of the immigration process is obtaining a visa, a step that was difficult for my parents. There are multiple types of visas, depending on the purpose why one wants to move to the United States, such an employment, family, refugee, immigration, and marriage visa. My father first applied here as an immigrant, and when he arrived in the United States, my mother applied for a marriage visa to join my father to start their new lives together. They both went to the United Nations office in Baghdad, Iraq, a complicated six-hour drive from Slemani, Kurdistan to proceed with the preliminary steps. When he filed for permanent residence, he had the choice to pick the three top countries he wanted to live in which he wrote; Denmark, Canada, and the United States. The only problem that arose with that, however, he did not know anyone who lived in the United States and couldn’t find a sponsor, which is essential in order to come here. A sponsor is usually a permanently residing U.S citizen …show more content…
Despite having a high cap amount of allowing immigrants into the country, why does the process of obtaining lawful permanent residence status take so long? Today, it takes the double amount of time then it was for both my mother and father to wait for residency and officially move to the United States, however, it was still a lengthy process. If one is currently seeking permanent resident status in the United States, the process one would follow will depend on whether they are already in the U.S or not. If one is not in the U.S, such as my parents, one has to apply for an immigrant visa through consular processing with a U.S. Department of State embassy or consulate abroad. This procedure involves lengthy and key