How the alien's journey began

My immigration journey started out as a non-immigration journey in Sept 2009.  More specifically, I started out on a non-immigrant F-1 student visa, turned up at Singapore Changi Airport, and jetted off to the Land of Opportunity to pursue a Bachelor's degree.

Getting an F-1 student visa is as easy as it gets, especially since college apps are mostly online these days.  Write a college essay, answer a bunch of multiple choice questions, submit your SAT scores.  And then wait for a college to accept you.

Once you accept an admission offer, the International Office (if decent like mine) will give you a step-by-step guide on what paperwork to submit.  There are 3 things you need to prove to get the visa:

1. You have the money to pay your tuition (bank letter stating a balance will suffice).
2. You have no intent to immigrate to the US (remember, this is a non-immigrant visa).
3. You have strong ties to your country of origin (family, friends, permanent address).

There was an interview with a Consulate Officer at the US Embassy in Singapore, but really we ended up chatting because my documents were all in order.  And the Officer took away my passport at the end.

When  my passport came back, there was a shiny student visa in it, with a very grumpy-looking, black-and-white photo of me on it.  No, I don't like taking passport photos.

Fast forward 3 months and I'm trying to use this student visa to enter the US through Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).  The CBP Officer is a stern-looking dude, clipped moustache and all.  The first thing he said threw me off-guard, "Can I see your I-20 please."

My college's International Office did say that the I-20 was going to be very important, my legal presence in the US would depend on it, yada-yada, but as naive as I was I didn't think I needed it presented to a CBP Officer to enter the US.

So I kept my I-20 in a very safe place.  In a folder, and in the same luggage pouch as a stack of clothes hangers to throw people off about the folder containing important documents.

It was the epitome of bad situations thrown into the same pot: I just got off a 20-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean, I had only slept 3h in the last 48h, and I was removing a stack of clothes hangers while trying to gain admission into the US.  Being LAX, there was also a long line of people waiting to be inspected by the CBP Officer.

Mr. Stern CBP Officer takes the I-20, then fires a string of questions to make sure that I'm me.  In my flustered state I get my age wrong, then correct myself very quickly, he eyes me suspiciously, asks a few more questions, is satisfied that I'm not an impostor, and lets me go.

And this was how this Little Alien started out in the Land of Opportunity.

That's all for today, my fellow Aliens!