Thursday Feb 26th, 2015
A plea for my immigration status to be reconsidered
To whom it may concern
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Tee (I have deliberately omitted my full names because of fear), I am 26years old and I hailfrom Nigeria. At the moment, excluding my older sister who lives in the UK with her husband and family, the entirety of my family live in Nigeria. Although I do not speak any Nigerian language, I spent some time in the UK and I speak English as my first language, with intermediate Korean language being my second language. I have been in Korea since March 2008, 6 years now to be exact. I would please like to urge you to have an open mind while reading this and not let my nationality - I understand Nigerians do not exactly have a good reputation in Korea - cloud your judgment. I sincerely hope and I trust that my nationality will play absolutely no factor in your decision.
To introduce myself in more details, I suffer from a deadly disease known as Sickle Cell Anaemia or Sickle cell disease. I will briefly introduce and explain the disease. Put simple, this disease is a genetic disease whereby the blood is shaped in a sickle or curved way, as opposed to a normal oval/round way. Because of the way the blood is abnormally sharped, sometimes, blood flow stops and when it does, it clots, thereby causing blockage of blood flow in my body, causing a tremendous bouts of pain, referred to as a “pain crisis”. Pain crisis can occur at any time. It is especially frustrating because of its unpredictability. I could literally have pain now while writing this. Sometimes the degree of the pain is less, sometimes more. Throughout my time in Korea, I have had countless pain crisis and have been hospitalized on numerous occasions. I take my pain medication everywhere I go. I live my life, every single day of it with pain medications, just waiting for when the next pain crisis comes. For Sickle Cell patients, it is not a question of “if’ we will have pain, it’s “when’. I cannot overestimate the psychological toll this has had on me. I will talk more about that later. Back to Sickle cell disease. Unfortunately, this disease has no cure and in many cases, could become fatal and possibly lead to death.
According to Web MD (one of the most famous health site in the world), the average life span of an adult male with Sickle Cell Anaemia is 42 years. Going by the statistics, I am 26 years old now and I can only assume I have more or less about 16 years more to live in this world, and I would like to make every single bit of it count. Thus, that brings me to my reason of writing you this letter.
I’d like to explain in details, without holding any information back, the situation I am currently in and why I desperately need your help.
Until 3 years ago, I used to be a student, majoring in International Studies until I got expelled and my life changed forever since then. I received an email from my school, saying I was expelled. I had a (really) low GPA for 3 semesters (not consecutively) and it got me expelled. I tried to plead and reason with them, but to no avail.
I completely respect the rules of the university, as well as the rules for foreigners living in Korea. After all, the law of getting less than 1.0 GPA three different times and getting expelled was there long before I came to Korea and many other schools use this rule as well. It would be completely fair if I got expelled for being negligent. But that is not/was not the case.
It is absolutely no coincidence that in those 3 semesters where I got less that a 1.0 GPA, I was terribly sick during part and/or all of the semester. All three of them. Because of my disease, I was unable to concentrate in school. For all three semesters, I had pain crisis so terrible that in some cases, I needed help from friends or nurses at the hospital to pee. Just to pee! There have been countless times that I have wept and cried like a baby due to the humongous amount of pain I sometimes experience during pain crisis. All these cannot possibly be made up. I have tons and tons of hospital records to back up these claims.
To me, it feels like, even to this day, I got expelled for having a disease I have absolutely no control over. Sickle cell is a genetic disease and I was born with it. It has affected so many areas of my life, but never like this. I was like seeing 3 years of my life going down the drain. I appealed to the university and explained it was due to my disease (which my department knew), their reply was "I’m sorry about your disease, but we can't make an exception for you". And just like that, it was over. It felt like my life had stopped. I contemplated suicide, amongst other things.
In 2007, one year before I came to Korea, I lost my dad in a ghastly car accident. It was and is, and will always be the saddest thing in my life. And just like that, everything went downhill, especially from a financial point of view. Then, my dad was into pharmaceuticals. He imports medicines from Korea, with our brand name, to sell in Nigeria. It was very lucrative. In fact, that was how I got to know about Korea. After he died, it seemed the business died with him. I was so close with my dad, so much that I did not want to live in the house without him there. Because of my disease, I am quite fragile. So together, my mum and I, we decided it was best I left home. So I chose Korea. My mum has worked so hard to pay my tuition fees, right from when I was at Yonsei Language School studying Korean language, up to my very last semester at the University. Right now, all her struggles to foot those bills are all for nothing. I am the first son of my parents (in Nigeria, being the first son is a lot of responsibility and the whole family looks up to you) and my mum always talks about how proud she is of me. Up till now, she has no idea and thinks I am still in school. Apart from her getting angry about the money she has wasted in tuition fees, I am more terrified about disappointing her. I would rather kill myself so I will not have to watch her getting disappointed about me.
Getting back to my situation, due to the fact I was no longer a student, it meant I could not renew my visa. My visa expired and I am terrified to go back home empty handed, hence I, have been living in Korea illegally since this ordeal. You might think I could end this problem by simply returning back home, but I assure you, it is not that simple.
I have literally attempted killing myself twice. Twice! The thought of going back home to a “death trap” is traumatizing and one I would not, and frankly, cannot entertain. Everything in my life has gotten as bad as it can possibly get. The times I attempted suicide, I took an overdose of my pain medication, 30 pills of a 100mg prescribed pain medicine. I have no idea how I survived that. Perhaps I still have something to give the world and Korea. The second time was even worse. I took another 30 tablets of the same medication, but this time with a strong alcohol. I really wanted to die. I was tired of living a false life and thought (and sometimes still think) that is the only.
This brings me to the main reason I’m writing to you. I would like to plead with you and with the appropriate authority to reconsider my status and make me stay legal in Korea. Going back is absolutely not an option, and in a few moment, I’ll explain why.
That is where I stand at the moment. I have no home to call my own, I currently live with a friend rent free because I cannot get a decent job. During strenuous jobs like other illegal aliens is absolutely not an option for me because of my fragile health. My life is a complete wreck, I cannot exaggerate that enough. You might think the easiest solution to all these trouble is going back home, my country, Nigeria.
Unfortunately, like I mentioned earlier, I do not have that option, hence the reason I never, and still have not gone back. The reason is going back home is literally like a death sentence for me. Because of my disease, Sickle Cell Anaemia, and my extremely weak immune system, coupled with Malaria and other diseases in Africa, I can say with utmost certainty I cannot and will not survive there.
Then the other option is returning to the UK to join my sister and her family. Right now, that is an impossibility. I have looked into applying for a family residence UK visa, but I do not meet the eligibility list provided. She lives with her husband, her two kids and her mother-in-law in a two bedroom apartment. Joining them is an absolute no-no as the British government would not allow "overcrowding".
That leaves me with one and only option - remaining in Korea. I would like to plead with you to offer me a permanent residency in Korea. I would so much love to remain in Korea, legally. It is extremely exhausting being an illegal alien here.
If you would let me, I would like to make you see reasons with me.
Firstly and most importantly, I literally have nowhere to go to. Like I’ve mentioned numerous times already, going back to Nigeria is the equivalent of a death sentence for someone with my health and disease.
Secondly, I have been a model citizen, if you will. I have behaved and acted within the laws, rules and regulation in Korea. I have had zero troubles or problems with the law. I have never been involved in a fight whatsoever, I have never been accused of harassment, assault or any other accusation. I have never stolen anything. I have never "jumped" the subway without paying, absolutely nothing. My record here is 100% clean. Except of course living here illegally.
Thirdly, I genuinely would love to help the Korean society as a whole. In the past I have joined volunteer groups where we go visit orphanages or handicap homes and help them with their daily chores. I also have a big dream of opening a website in Korean and English language that would offer everything to foreigners like myself living in Korea. Of course I do realise those types of websites already exist, but presently, at the moment, I am working on incorporating anything and everything a foreigner, or even a Korean native will ever need. Things ranging from K-pop news, Korean entertainment news, subway and bus information of every stop, visa, restaurant, vacation, sightseeing, language exchange, jobs - full time and part time, leisure activities such as bars and clubs, dating and relationship, learning Korean language and many more. All from one place, without having to go through the trouble of finding these information from different websites. I already bought a domain and I am presently building the site.
Lastly, helping me with this problem can be the next step in improving the relationship between Korea and Nigeria. My story could inspire a lot of people. I could also help people with suicidal tendencies (given Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world) and show them it actually does get better. The possibilities are endless.
I am ready to give back to Korea, I am ready to serve the country, like its citizens. All these are impossible being an illegal alien here.
English academies will not hire me because technically I am a Nigerian and they believe I do not speak fluent English, which could not be more wrong. I cannot speak for the whole Nigerian community in Korea, I can only speak for myself. So even though I am a native English speaker and I speak English as my only language ( and intermediate Korean language being the other), and even though I have 5 solid years of teaching experience, everything you can possibly think of, to all age groups, I still get rejected.
Outside teaching English, there are lots of things I would love to do but my illegal status prohibits me from doing almost everything. Unlike other Nigerians who use physical strength and work at factories, my extremely weak health means doing that is not an option to me.
I have pondered writing this letter for 3years now. After extensive search, I came to the conclusion that this type of thing has not been done before, granting a foreigner a permanent stay in a circumstance as mine, at least not one that I know of. I realise this is almost a mission impossible thing to ask but I am at a point in my life now where asking and pleading is the only option I have.
I got inspired by a story of a woman in the 1500s that against all odds, she was helped by President Abraham Lincoln and she had the sentence on her husband overturned. I am desperately hoping this will have a similar happy outcome to that of hers.
I live from hand to mouth, I have no place of my own and currently reside with a friend and have no hope of getting a good job because of my visa status.
I have big dreams that can only be achieved with a legal immigration status. I plan to go back to school and finally get my degree, then do a full time job here. I have lost count of how many times I have been rejected for a "gig" because I could not provide a visa. All these problems would go away if I had a visa.
I have nowhere to go, absolutely nowhere. I am not married to a Korean, at least not at the moment, I have no kids in Korea, yet I plead with you to grant me a permanent residency in Korea.
I know I am asking for the impossible, but what am I to do? Please put yourself in my shoes. I am asking and pleading with tears in my eyes that you grant me permanent stay in Korea.
According to scientists, if I actually have about 20 more years to live, I would like to make it count. I would love to spend those remaining years of my life happy, doing something meaningful with my life. Without a visa, I am almost guaranteed to be miserable for the rest of my life.
Please overturn my visa status. Please give me a chance to have a better life than the sad one I am presently living. Please give me the chance to become "somebody" in life. Please give me the chance to go back to school to get my degree. Please give me a chance to get a good job and hold my head up high with pride, rather than hiding it with shame. Please grant me a permanent stay in Korea.
Because of fear, as it is impossible to predict what the outcome of this letter will be, whether it will be successful or whether it fails, I have decided to omit my present address and phone number. Assuming this plea fails, I am extremely terrified with you finding me and sending me back home. I would rather kill myself then go back home.
I cannot stay and wallow in this misery forever. If this somehow gets rejected, I am definitely not going back home. If this fails, which I hope it doesn’t, I have decided to end the pain and suffering and finally end my life and making sure I would have absolutely no chance of survival this time around
Please kindly write me back through my email - [email protected]. I opened the email specifically for this purpose. I was/am too scared to using my real email address and you tracing me back in case this fails, which I sincerely hope it does not because if this fails, I can almost guarantee my life will be over. Literally.
I look forward to hearing back from you with my fingers crossed and hoping for a good news.
Yours faithfully.
