Help Bring Luis Home!

Hello everyone! We are Luis and Carli, a long distance couple facing many obstacles to being reunited, and we could really use your help with closing the distance between us.

We met and fell in love 5 years ago, but we knew that our relationship would be hard at the time. We met online through a mutual friend, sharing interests in Dungeons and Dragons, playing that and other games together, and eventually getting to know each other so deeply we fell in love. Over the course of our 5 year relationship, we have both worked hard to achieve our career goals in order to have the life we want to have together. Luis is a Mexican Scholar, brought to the USA with a full ride scholarship to study the social impact of videogames. Through hard work and dedication, he got his PhD in Media and Information at Michigan State University. Carli’s lifelong dream of working at Disney World as cosmetologist took her to Florida, where she gets to bring beloved characters like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and other princesses to life on a daily basis, as well as working magical parades and events to bring joy to all who visit the resort.

Unfortunately, Luis’ graduation from Michigan State University in the spring of 2022 came at an awkward time, and through no fault but timing and misfortune, he wasn’t able to secure work that could keep him in the United States. Luis needed to find a paid scholarly position so he could extend his stay, time that would have allowed him to plead his case to stay in the US with Carli. So right now, he is back in his home country of Mexico, nearly 1,900 miles away from Carli, where she is trying her best to handle things on her own in the US.

A lot of people may be asking; “Well, why not get married?” The truth is, in hopes of getting the ball rolling on migration, we got legally married at the courthouse in March of 2022…only to learn that getting your foreign spouse to stay in the US is no longer that easy. We were able to finally close the distance after Luis graduated…for three months. We were able to move in together, at long last! And then, he had to leave.

What makes this even harder on our hearts is that the US government doesn’t even view our marriage as legitimate unless we’ve been married for two years! And to even add on top of that, the scholarship that enabled Luis to do a PhD program in the USA barred him from legally migrating for two years after graduation, which was why he had to leave so soon. (Although at the time, he also wasn’t expecting to fall in love during his time as a student.)

We still haven’t even gotten to have an official wedding. As a matter of fact, because of Luis having to leave, our wedding that we had been planning to have with our beloved friends and family had to be canceled altogether.

While researching the requirements for migration, we’ve found another hurdle: The fees, both from legal documentation and attorney representation. We will need to fill several forms and send them out to the right people, and these processes are complicated, so having a lawyer helps immensely, because they know exactly where and who to send the paperwork to.

So that’s why we’ve come to you for help: an attorney has helped us budget for the process through a consultation, and it’s looking like we need around $6,000 USD so we can get things together. We both have full time jobs; however, Luis’s income is barely enough to help cover for both his living expenses in Mexico and help keep a roof over Carli’s head in Florida. The Mexican Peso is much less than the US Dollar, and the gap in currency has taken a deep toll on the both of us, as well.

We are both hard at work, saving as much as we can, if and when we can, but as the time approaches for Luis to initiate the immigration process to finally come home, the combined income we get is gone just for living expenses alone. Any small $100 we manage to save has to be immediately taken back out of the bank for bills, car payments, medicine for Carli, and other necessities.

Which is why we have made our particular goal a bit more at $10k. $6,000 of the money will go to attorney fees and paperwork to get Luis processed, and the additional $4,000 will be used solely for living expenses, to allow both of us to have a little bit of cushion for financial stability, and allow us to breathe a sigh of relief.

If any of our friends and family donate, we will graciously, gratefully, and gladly accept your donation to bring Luis home, no matter how small, in lieu of a Wedding or Housewarming gift when we get to finally have the celebration. Anything to help bring Luis back could count as a Christmas or Birthday present for the next decade even, because if we finally get to be together for good, that in of itself is the gift of a lifetime.

Any and all help will be welcomed. Our dream is still happening, because we refuse to give up, and we know even miracles take a little time, but if anyone can help us get to that miracle, we would be oh so very grateful. Our plea for help was written around Thanksgiving 2023, so let’s try to bring Luis back home in time for the holidays next year in 2024!

Thank you so much for your time in reading, sharing, and perhaps assisting.

Happy Holidays,

Luis and Carli.