Sung immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea at eleven years old and is a former DACA recipient. He has been a nurse for more than ten years and works at a well-known university hospital as a critical care response nurse. The hospital sponsored his green card application, which he received in 2018. He became a U.S. citizen in 2024.
“Following the crash of the Korean economy in 1998, my family came to the United States on a tourist visa with $300 in combined savings. We eventually overstayed our visa because our family did not qualify for any form of immigration relief, even though my father submitted family petitions on my behalf. I was shocked and found out I was potentially eligible for a green card through employment if I became a nurse, but I needed experience and a hospital to sponsor me.
DACA allowed me to work as a nurse, which in turn gave me the needed experience to eventually be sponsored by an employer and obtain a green card. I don’t think I truly knew what my options were until I received a legal consultation from a qualified immigration attorney. And I would have never considered some of those impossible options—like an employment-based visa or green card—without that screening.
You just never know what you can qualify for. I think people should get a consultation for immigration options because they don’t really know what their options are. And I don’t think I truly knew what my options were until I received that legal consultation.
The screening is what really helped in the whole process. I encourage DACA recipients to get a consultation with Path2Papers to explore whether they are eligible for employment-based immigration visas.”