Jose Antonio Vargas gets an O visa: No longer undocumented

After 31 years, four months and 28 days

By Cristina DC Pastor

On December 30, 2024, the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico issued the famously ‘undocumented’ Jose Antonio Vargas a (d)(3) Waiver O Visa, a purely discretionary visa usually given to individuals “balancing social and humanitarian considerations,” according USCIS.gov website.

“My O visa was approved…after 31 years, four months and 28 days of living in the United States,” he said in a video message. “I was finally documented.”

As explained by Vargas, his O visa is not a green card.

“It does not make me a permanent resident, does not even put me on the path to U.S. citizenship.  But it can be renewed and  which  I hope to do,” he made clear.

His journey to a legal status started on Christmas day when he and three friends went on an anxiety-riddled trip to Mexico to apply for the waiver. They did not know what to expect. When they got there, he said, “Everyone thought I was Mexican because of my name” and also because of his immigration status.

His O visa is not a green card.

For the first time in 31 years, he left U.S. territory to cross the border. Vargas came to the U.S. on August 3, 1993, unaware he had no legal papers. He was 12 years old. He faked his status and checked the box “citizen” when applying for a job as a copy boy in a newspaper office. He won a Pulitzer Prize reporting with an investigative team for the Washington Post.

He revealed he was undocumented in a June 2011 essay in The New York Times, opening up his life to a plethora of  possibilities. He founded Define American, became an immigrant rights advocate, a filmmaker, a book author, an entrepreneur, a Broadway producer.

In Tijuana

“We arrived in Tijuana at 9 p.m.,” he shared, calling to mind how it all began.  

“Twelve hours later I was scheduled to be interviewed at the U.S. Consulate. I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t sleep. I’m not sure nervous is an enough of a word to describe what I was feeling. I came to the consulate with a  stack of documents — the taxes I paid, my college transcript from San Francisco State University, a list of my accomplishments, letters about my character from my choir teacher, my high school teacher and superintendent, my cousin and best friend. No piece of technology including an  iPhone was allowed to bring inside the building.”

Facing the consular officer, he was asked, “If your waiver is denied where will you go?” He replied he has a  family in the Philippines or that he could possibly find employment opportunities outside of the U.S.

“We stood the whole time,” he said.

“Toward the end as he (consular officer) gathered my documents he said you’ve been living in the U.S. for 30 years. Why would we now believe you will comply with the terms of this visa? Will you leave after the terms of this visa? The visa expires in three years. I took a deep breath and replied. ‘I could have stayed in the U.S. without status. However I’m 43 years old and want to show the U.S. government, the government I’ve been paying taxes to a country where I built my life that I’m interested in following immigration laws. I intend to honor this visa.’”

“It felt exciting and scary,” said Vargas. “Enlightening and disorienting.”

He thought that whatever happens should  the waiver be denied, his work of telling the story of how “migrants are reshaping and redefining the western world,” continues.

“My work is global,” he said.



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