Adriana is a student advisor and the director of a university Dream Center. When she got her master’s in school counseling she had no idea it could lead to employment sponsorship. After support from her network helped her secure the university’s approval, she worked with Path2Papers on her paperwork–including the D3 waiver. Adriana chose not to return to her home country of Guatemala for consular processing. Instead, she stayed with friends in Lima where she had her interview and thoroughly enjoyed traveling for the first time since she’d become undocumented a decade earlier. Adriana safely returned to the U.S. with her H-1B visa in January of 2025.
I graduated from undergrad in 2021 and started my master’s that same summer in education and school counseling. Coming from a developing country, we didn’t have school counselors or psychologists. We were lucky if we had teachers. On top of that, my research showed that there were almost no people of color in these roles, which motivated me even more. I never saw it as an avenue toward any sort of documentation. I got it because I knew that it would help make me more competitive in the job market.
I found out that I couldn’t get licensed for clinical work in my state as an undocumented person. It was devastating and I knew I had to change course. I was anxious that after that huge investment of time and money I wasn’t even going to be able to find a job.
I decided to launch a consulting business for first generation students like myself who needed support. A lot of the time, our parents don’t speak the language and haven’t gone to school, so they can’t help us navigate U.S. systems; we have to figure them out on our own. That can be tough and it discourages very talented people from pursuing their goals. I wanted to be that middle person to help people find their way through these obstacles and keep going. Once I realized that they couldn’t afford to pay me, I had to pivot toward contracting with universities and nonprofits so that students could get my services and my time paid for by someone else. That’s how I eventually landed a position at the university where I got both of my degrees.
I wanted to be that middle person to help people find their way through these obstacles and keep going.
I started organizing a lot of special events for my students at the university, including one about work visa sponsorship. I contacted three other universities in the area so we could come together to do one big undocumented student support event. And that’s where I found out about the D3 waiver and the H-1B process. I never had the slightest idea that if I finished my degree and got hired somewhere, I could be sponsored. I didn’t think it was possible as an undocumented person. After that event I was intrigued but still in disbelief, so I called two lawyers to confirm.
I never had the slightest idea that if I finished my degree and got hired somewhere, I could be sponsored. I didn’t think it was possible as an undocumented person.
I knew I had to make my case a priority for my supervisor so I went out of my way to gather supporters among the staff beforehand. They all agreed that if the topic came up they’d back me. I also emailed contacts with influence in immigrant and undocumented spaces, asking them to reach out to the university’s president on my behalf.
As predicted, when I asked my supervisor about sponsorship, she said she’d look into it, but it was clear she wasn’t motivated. Three weeks went by and she still hadn’t told the president anything. I kept following up, but in the meantime, one of my contacts had been in touch with the president who then asked to see me. It really was the people that helped me advocate for myself that made that possible.
The president told me the university was willing to help me, but they’d never sponsored a work visa before so they didn’t have their own legal team. She said they’d put my lawyer on retainer, but I needed to do the work of finding someone to take on my case. I knew immediately that I wanted to connect with Dan Berger from Path2Papers. I had never met him, but I’d heard his name many times and everyone told me he was one of the best in the field. We got on a phone call, he asked me questions about my immigration story, and we went forward from there.
Once all the paperwork was submitted things happened pretty fast. I found out I was eligible in early November. By December 25th I got an email from Dan that said everything was approved and I had to leave the country.
I’d already decided that I didn’t want to go back to Guatemala for the interview, so I talked to my best friend who’s Peruvian, and I asked if I could stay with his parents instead. I spoke to Dan about it and he told me that they’d had an H-1B approval go through Lima but none in Guatemala. That reinforced for me that it was the right decision, so I booked a flight. My friend talked to his parents and arranged for them to pick me up from the airport. I spent the last few days of the year with them, celebrated the new year, and then my interview was on the 2nd of January.
Honestly, I didn’t really plan for the worst case scenario. I left my house with just a carry-on suitcase like I was coming back the following day. I was hopeful that it was going to work out. I’m a faith-driven person. I believe that what’s meant to happen is going to happen. And the fact that I wasn’t looking for this opportunity but it just came to me made me feel like it was meant to be.
I was hopeful that it was going to work out. I’m a faith-driven person. I believe that what’s meant to happen is going to happen.
I’m from a very small town in Guatemala and I knew that if I went back there I was going to be home all day thinking about the visa. I knew people were going to ask me all kinds of questions after not seeing me for 10 years. That’s why I chose to go to Lima instead. In Lima nobody knew me, but it was a big city so I was always busy. I was doing things every day by myself, exploring different neighborhoods, making friends. I went to Machu Picchu. Being able to have fun and forget that I was waiting on the approval or denial of something so life-changing made all the difference. I lived my Peruvian adventure to the fullest.
Being able to have fun and forget that I was waiting on the approval or denial of something so life-changing made all the difference. I lived my Peruvian adventure to the fullest.
It went pretty smoothly but the officer had never heard of the D3 waiver so he had to ask his supervisor. She knew a little more about it, but she thought it was only for DACA recipients. I told her that my lawyer had explained to me that it was for anyone with a degree from the U.S., including undocumented people. That’s when they told me they were going to file the waiver on my behalf and that I just had to wait. They gave me a piece of paper as a receipt.
I was confused because there was another H-1B applicant right next to me who was coming to the U.S. for the first time. She was told hers was approved but I never heard those words about mine. I walked out of the interview and sent Dan a picture of the paper they gave me. He said it was normal and just confirmed that they were keeping my passport for now and they’d email me when the waiver was approved. That was on a Thursday and on Monday morning I received the email saying that I could pick it up the following day.
I was so focused on getting back before Inauguration that I bought the cheapest return flight I could find without realizing that it had a layover in Texas. Not having traveled for the past 10 years, I’d forgotten that you have to go through Customs as soon as you touch U.S. soil.
When I arrived in Houston, I showed the officer my passport. She called another officer over and they put me in a big room with a lot of people. It had smaller rooms within it where they were calling people in for further questioning. I could hear the staff saying nasty things about how Trump was going to get rid of all these people soon. Things like, “they’re not going to last long here, you just watch.” It was really disturbing.
I waited there for two hours without knowing what they were going to say or what was going to happen. When I got called, the officer asked me what I’d studied, where I worked, and what I did for a living. I answered those questions and that was it, he let me go. I was lucky that I had a long layover so I didn’t even miss my connecting flight.
I feel like the visa has unlocked some things I’ve always wanted. I’ve never had benefits from a job before because I was never an employee. So I am finally getting to experience that, I’m finally able to apply for my clinical mental health license, and I can have paid time off like everybody else. The visa gives me peace of mind and makes me feel safer. Is it perfect? Definitely not, but it’s something.
One thing that’s hard about it is that now I don’t qualify for undocumented student aid, but I don’t qualify for FAFSA either. So it’s not black and it’s not white, I’m in this gray space. My university does offer the benefit of free tuition after two years of employment, but it’s only for master’s degrees, so if I do the PhD, which I know I want to do, I’ll have to finance it myself.
My advice is to reach out to your support network in every way. That was key for me. It’s what got my employer to say yes to the visa and it’s what made it possible for me to have fun while waiting for the interview. Knowing that I had people who believed in me and would advocate on my behalf was huge.
Knowing that I had people who believed in me and would advocate on my behalf was huge.
As someone who was fully undocumented, it felt like there was so much more to gain from this process than there was to lose. With any investment, it’s never a hundred percent safe, but if you don’t do it, you’re not going to reap the reward. It’s already really difficult to be an undocumented professional, and opportunities like this don’t come every day. I wasn’t going to let it pass me by just because I was scared. I didn’t want to look back and regret that I could have taken a chance to make my life a little bit better.