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Hello everyone my names Gian and I just wanted to share a bit about myself I wish I had signed up earlier but better late than never I suppose. I was born in the Philippines, moved to the United Arab Emirates at the age of 2 with my mother to live with my father who had a job working in Dubai. When I turned 13 my family decided to leave for the US to try for an even better life. We arrived in the states in 1997 I was 14 my younger brother was 4. From what I know my family tried several ways to get us all documented but lots of problems arose and with that our visas ended up expiring. Living undocumented was a tough ordeal I'm sure many of you know but I remember vividly instances of friends and family getting their drivers licenses for the first time and me just siting there wondering when ill ever be able to even do that. It was even harder after high school I just ended up going to a community college for a couple years and due to me not really being motivated due to my situation, I didn't see any way to progress even if I did get a degree, I ended up dropping out. I would spend my time in and out of depression for a couple years trying my best to keep my mind off things by extensively indulging in video games during my down time and helping my mechanic father make ends meet fixing cars. I remember hearing about the dream act and being a little skeptical about when it would pass but lo and behold it finally did, so last September my family hired a lawyer to work on both mine and my younger brothers cases Im 29 and he's 19 now. We both filed our cases together and sent them in on October 16th 2012, on November we both got our biometrics done and then on December my brother had his approved I was so happy for him he finally had a life to look forward to it was a joyous Christmas for sure but there was still mine to wait on. I knew in my heart that I would be approved, my record was spotless I had more than enough evidence to prove everything they needed but it was the longest few months I probably went through. I never really checked on my case status i figured i would just get annoyed checking on it if nothing was going on. Until around the end of march I got a severe urge to do so, I opened up the uscis website and typed in my receipt number. When I read the status my jaw dropped and saw that it was already on card/document production I screamed out loud for my parents and brother to see and hugged them as hard as i could. All our hard work and sacrifice finally came through I was approved on march 28, 2013 and the card was delivered to me on April 3rd. I turn 30 on the 17th and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present.

People born here don't know how lucky they are sometimes I used to always wish I was. I actually wrote a lengthy thank you letter to President Obama and his administration for their work on deferred action hope he gets to read it he's changed the lives of thousands of people like us and good luck to you too Amber in all your future endeavors!

I know the feeling, missing out on all that in the past it was hard but the future can only get brighter from here keep striving! And welcome

Thank you Amber it definitely was a shock to hear that I met all the requirements at first, still can't believe life as it is right now.

Cool man I remember a little can't speak much Arabic now. Keep up the hard work it'll pay off! Thank you Laste31 don't worry you'll go through the same rush of feelings too

Congrats to you and your siblings!

Welcome Ivan77c and good luck with your case.

Thank you skootA!

Thank you! belated congrats to you too

Congrats

Someone up there is looking out for you man even through your adversities you're still here waiting on your case. You're pretty lucky stay positive your approvals next.

I've got my fingers crossed for you! Hang in there I know the feeling I wish I had found this forum before I got approved would have helped with the wait.

Thanks bro, iam not a mechanic but I do know how to fix up cars a little learnt a thing or two from the old man. Thank you JoseG! The only texts or emails I received was when they received my case initially, even when I was approved I never got any I found out when I checked on the status. Thanks engineer2mike! Wish you the best too bro! Shukran! You speak Arabic? Had to learn a little when I lived in Dubai lol Thanks Gino10 we all deserve to get approved I know lots of people like us have gone through alot.

Thanks tinkerbell1 it truly is a dream come true how about your case? Approved? Or still pending? ///edit sorry was on my iPhone didn't see your case status hang in there yours will be arriving soon too!