My name is Koeun (Grace) Lee, I am originally from South Korea. I have been in the U.S. for almost 15 years under student visa studying piano. For past 5 months, I have been working so diligently to get my visa situation settled to stay and work in this country after the 15 years of education. I was offered a position at a well-respected institution in June, but my immigration attorney did not include the employment offer in my visa application, and I received a request for further evidence from the immigration services. I lost the job and a total of $10K over that. I retained another attorney to respond to the request and fix the problem, now my case with additional evidence is in immigration service’s hands for reevaluation. However, I received a total invoice of another $10K yesterday from my new attorney, and no successful outcome is guaranteed. I only have next two weeks to find out whether I can even stay in this country or not. If my visa case is denied, I will have to leave this country, and neither the government nor my lawyer will pay for my moving expense and a plane ticket to go home. I really do not like to ask people for money, and I never have in my life for this huge amount, but this is serious and urgent. I really hope I never have to ask for this kind of thing again in my life. 

I am not afraid to say that America has been a home country to me. I love my American friends and family, and they are meaningful people. There would have been no way for me to make through this far without their support for my American dream. After thoughtful pray and long conversations with trusted people close to me, I decided to do my best to overcome my difficult situation. With my entire future as a musician potentially at stake, I took a leap of faith and hired a new competent lawyer to work on my visa case. My new lawyer and I did our best to prepare the response, but again, a successful outcome is not guaranteed. I may not have a choice having to go back to my home country in the end after I have done everything I could.  

Thank you so much for your support in advance and please pray for me…whatever my future holds. Whatever you can contribute will be greatly appreciated. If you can pray for my family, or simply share this with someone...you have already helped. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this.