My way to USA
For several months I have been away from ReadCash, much to my regret since it is a platform that I love, but the reasons were important. I have found myself and am still in the process of migrating to the United States.
I'm not there yet, but I'm already in a situation of relative stability that allows me to be active with you again. And I will use the time I have available to tell you in several posts what my experience has been, the things I have experienced and the things I am experiencing while I am on my way to my destination.
Why do I leave my country?
As some know and for those who don't know, I was born and lived for 40 years in Cuba. Cuba is a beautiful island, the largest in the Caribbean, surrounded by seas and with a warm and pleasant climate except for some hurricanes from time to time. Abundant in fertile lands, beautiful landscapes and very beautiful beaches. Perhaps some have visited at some time for tourism, since it is one of their main economic lines. But Cuba has a very serious problem.
For many years it has had a Communist or Socialist system, it depends who you ask but the result is the same. Cuba has gone from being one of the main countries in America in advances and possibilities many years ago, to being the country in ruins and misery that it is today.
Although many Cubans (including myself) have tried to survive, adapt and try to improve the situation with determination and work; It is simply impossible. Many years of bad visions, terrible decisions, constant discarding of good ideas and intentions in favor of favoritism and stubborn decisions and in favor of the interests of the high powers have managed to erode the very basis of behavior of Cubans.
Sadly, the affable and always cheerful personality of Cubans, as well as their ever-present desire to help others, have been greatly degraded in Cuban society. They have been replaced by a constant need to take advantage of others and extreme selfishness in order to do what is necessary to survive. In Cuba today, most of the population lives day to day. It is not easy to live peacefully today, knowing that the food you have is not enough to eat tomorrow. And keep in mind that I say this myself, been a high-level professional, a software programmer who is well above the average income in the country and worked for one of the largest and most important companies in the country. Imagine the people with lower income or possibilities.
I don't want to dwell too much on this topic, the point is that the situation is terrible and at least in my eyes there is no way for it to improve even in the long term. I have a family consisting mainly of my wife and a 14-year-old son who I don't want to have this life any longer. I want my son to have a better future, or at least for him to have the possibility of forging a future that unfortunately does not exist in my country.
With this situation there is no other solution for me, I must manage to take my family to another country with better prospects. Fortunately, for political reasons, the United States has a law that favors Cubans and gives them the possibility of permanent residence after they spend a year living there. The Cuban Adjustment Law is a great advantage for us and places the United States as the most desired country for Cubans to emigrate to. Spain is another possibility through citizenship laws for descendants of Spaniards, but I did not have that option at hand. Furthermore, the United States continues to be the best option without a doubt.
Advance preparations
However, for Cubans it is not so simple to get to the United States. Visas are granted very rarely, lotteries are very scarce, family reunification and this year the Humanitarian Parol. None of which were within my reach. I only had one option left, illegal migration to Mexico, traveling to the United States border and asking for asylum or refuge. A journey I undertook alone, temporarily leaving my wife and son behind. Mostly because of the amount of money (in dollars) needed and that I did not have, but also to a large extent because of the dangers suffered during such a journey.
Once the decision was made, the first problem had to be overcome, the amount of capital needed. As I said, I am a Software Developer and the job I had in a Cuban company and that of my wife who is a professional also allowed me to survive fairly stable to a certain extent. But I evidently needed another source of income to raise the capital necessary for travel plans.
So, since I'm not the type of person who commits illegal acts like theft or shady dealings, I had to sacrifice a lot of my remaining time and look for a job (in addition to the regular one) for a company in another country developing remotely. This new job, although quite demanding, brought me 500 dollars a month, which is not much, but compared to my regular income it is immensely more. Better yet, I was able to save almost all of that money for future plans.
For several months I maintained that pace as much as I could and managed to raise something like 3,000 dollars until the moment a friend I have in the United States told me that he would help me with the plans for the trip and with the money I needed when mine was finished. Because you need much more than that for this trip as I will tell you little by little in other posts.
The time has come to make the final decision. We chose a date this year anticipating that it would not be so close to the end of the year. The end of the year is always a bit complicated because there is more force at the border and sometimes regulations change and so on. I decided to travel on October 18, 2023, there was no point in waiting any longer.
Final actions for the trip
As I said, I had to travel alone and leave my wife and son behind, much to my regret because we have never been apart, but it was simply unrealistic to wait to have all the money necessary for the three of us to travel. So, the idea is that I go ahead and in 2 or 3 years maximum I can bring them once I have my permanent residence. Meanwhile, I will help them by sending them money every month as long as I can to somehow replace my absence so that they can live a little better in the meantime.
Fortunately, I own one house and my wife owns another, so, although I couldn't and didn't want to sell the house, I was able to sell almost everything I had inside without affecting the comforts of my family that I was leaving behind. But I had to sell a refrigerator, freezer, air conditioning, a door, a window, a fence and several other things. I sold everything I could to raise a little more and bring as much money as possible because I was going to need it. Furthermore, although my friend was going to help me, I had to manage to be as little of a burden as possible.
Fortunately I was able to sell everything in time before the trip and in total I was able to raise 4,400 dollars, which although not enough, is at least most of the money needed. By the way, the journey begins in Nicaragua because I cannot fly directly to Mexico. You have to travel by land all the way from Nicaragua to Mexico and then to the border with the United States. And to give you an idea, the flight from Cuba to Nicaragua alone cost 1,750 dollars.
The day of the trip arrived
The last few days were full of stress and sadness. Between the pressure of selling everything that was needed, changing all the money into dollars (which in Cuba has to be on the black market) and the sadness of knowing that there were only a few days and then a few hours left to separate us for a long time. I can tell you that it is not easy, it is always a decision to separate from loved ones even if you know that it is for the best and that it is only temporary.
The separation was the day before the trip because we live in the center of the country and my trip was from the capital, which is about 500 km away. My family had to say goodbye to me like this instead of at the airport because it was problematic and expensive for me to take them to the capital to say goodbye and then return them. As expected, a lot of sadness and crying, painful.
On the morning of October 18, I arrived at the airport without problems and after a lot of waiting, a lot of lines, customs procedures and a lot of stress I was able to board my flight.
The hard part begins
There was no turning back, the path ahead was long and dangerous, but it was necessary for me to take it for the good and future of my family and especially my son.
In the following posts I will explain what the entire journey consisted of, everything I had to do and the countries I had to go through. Stay tuned