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It was love at first sight


Well, it all started about 6 years ago, when I met my partner online. He is American and I am from Germany.

It was love on the first sight. After chatting back and forth for a couple of months over the internet and after several telephone calls, he decided to visit me in Germany for two weeks. Our love grew stronger and we more and more fell in love with each other.

I visited him a couple of times in the US and he kept traveling back and forth to Germany. It was easy for him to travel since he was already retired by then. For me it was a little more difficult as I still attended university in Germany. But still after a while traveling had gotten pretty expensive for both of us. The only way we could have a future together at this time was that I enrolled in a US university and applied for an F1 visa for students in the US.

I entered the US in spring 2001 on a visa waiver and after having talked to the counselor at the university in the US she advised me to apply for the visa in the US which later turned out to be the biggest mistake we have ever made. Since the foreign student counselor gave us the impression that she had dealt with many foreign student visa, we thought that this was the right thing to do. I started school in the US and after waiting for over six months finally the letter from the INS arrived. This letter provided me with the most horrible news I have ever heard. It stated that I entered the US with a visa waiver and thus I wasn’t eligible for receiving an F1 visa. Also it stated that I shall leave the country immediately or I would be deported.

We jumped on the next plane back to Germany, where it even got worse. Having arrived in Frankfurt, we visited the US consulate and applied for an F1 visa there. Three weeks later a letter arrived at my home address in Germany, stating that I was not eligible to apply for a visa, as I had overstayed my visa waiver. It also said that I was banned from the US for the next three years and that after these three years I would still have to apply for a visitor’s visa to be granted access to the US.

After this incident we decided to stay in Germany. Thanks to the German government, my partner has gotten a residency permit, as he is retired and financially independent. He sold all his property in the US and we bought an apartment in Germany. I finished school here, found a job and we are planning on living here and even may get married.

Still, entering the US for me is a major problem. Every time my partner goes back to the US, I cannot companion him. The US consulate is still giving me a hard time with a visa (even after almost 5 years now). I am starting to doubt if I will ever be able again to visit the US and my partner’s family and friends.

One might say that this isn’t all that bad. I am glad that this has worked out just fine and that we can live together in Europe. But the uncertainty and all the stress that we have gone through made us ill and me depressive.

On last word: I love the American people, I have made lots of friends in that fabulous country.

© 2006 Stichting Love Exiles. All rights reserved.