About 16 years ago, I had applied for a “Diversity” visa to be able to live with my boyfriend at the time. I had zero interest in moving to the US prior to that but it so happened that year I got selected to receive the visa!

I will tell you about my process of obtaining what is mostly known as a “green card” permanent residence visa and my process of adapting to a new culture.

I Got a Green Card, How Lucky Was I?

According to the Diversity Visa program statistics listed here, every year about 1 percent of applicants in Turkey are given this visa. In fact, this rate is very high since Turkey is included in Europe within the program structure. Had Turkey been accepted as part of the Asian continent, this rate would have been reduced by half, due to a larger pool of applicants in Asia and the allocation of visas to this region being lower. This is because the Asian population currently in the United States is very high resulting in less visas issued to this continent – in direct proportion to the program’s goal of bringing “diversity” to the country.

What Happens After the Visa Is Issued?

In fact, things like document preparation etc. that need to be done after the visa is issued are neither very expensive nor difficult to do. The main thing is to enter the country within 6 months after receiving the visa and to enter and exit at least once every year after that. However, If you ever want to become a citizen, which is granted to green card holders after being in the country for 5 years, then you must spend at least six months of those 5 years within the United States.

It was not economically possible for me to travel back and forth between Turkey and America as a newly graduated person who did not have much support from the family at that time. My only chance was to be able to come here once and for all and figure out a way to stay.

How did I make a living in the US?

Surprisingly, when I first came to the US, I was unable to hold a conversation with an American for more than 3-5 minutes. Even though my college courses were fully in English at METU (it didn’t help that it was an engineering degree not very focused on English speaking), I realized the skill to speak another language was vastly different from the skill of writing and comprehending written material.

So what did I do? 

I placed myself in a master’s degree program! This provided me with two incredible benefits: First, a diploma from an already recognized school in the US (as compared to my school even though it is one of the top universities of Turkey), and secondly, scholarship money! This was one of the biggest benefits of being a permanent resident – being able to get student loans that were 4 times the actual cost of classes to be able to afford living till I found a job. (I’m still paying back that student loan, that’s another topic for another day🙂)

When the master was finished, my spoken English was still not very good. I realized that I had to get a job and improve my language once and for all, and with some luck and some practice, I got a job in a call center that dealt with home appliance dispatching! Even though I worked there for only 9 months, as you can imagine, my English took an incredible quantum leap and in 2011, when the economic crisis was just loosening its grip on the job market, I got a job offer in one of the most prestigious companies in the US.

Getting used to Life and Culture

Between 2008 until the summer of 2012, I actually never left the country. Being separated from my family and friends, being in an ever deteriorating toxic relationship and trying to get used to a new country, a new language, learning to earn money for the first time in my life, I had found myself in a very deep depression, but for some reason I never thought of going back to Turkey.

This country had already somehow impressed me. There were things that I couldn’t put my finger on exactly, but felt while I was living: Being in a country where social rules and law work (comparatively speaking) fairly; being able to get promoted at work directly related to my work without being judged for young age, race or sex; meeting people from different countries with very different opinions, learning about their cultures and ability to enjoy different cuisines… Everything aside, Being able to make my own living, owning a house and a car in a few years after starting my career, without a penny of help from the family, impressed me a lot. It made me feel like I was establishing my own freedom.

As a result…

Of course, a lot has changed in the 14 years I’ve lived here. While getting used to the culture of another country, I got the chance to look at my own culture from outside in. I gained a new perspective, established new values. While I thought I wouldn’t be able to make friends who don’t speak my native language, I met my husband, expanded my circle of friends, and somehow adapted to living here.

I think like every immigrant, the longing for my country, for wanting to speak my mother tongue and eating the food I grew up eating has never ceased, and actually it has become increasing a bigger need every year. Sometimes I find myself wondering where exactly I belong. However, the answer is very clear, I now have more than one “home” to which I belong, and unfortunately, I am doomed to miss the other when I am in one, and I am lucky enough to say that there is more than one place in the world where I feel I belong to.