Carissa Kilbury
Spring 2022
Kent Paul knew the United States was where he belonged. His first experience with the U.S. was attending an American school while he was living in the Caribbean as a child. He called himself the Dutch equivalent of a Navy brat, and his family followed his dad’s Navy Chaplain career to different Dutch territories as a child. The American school taught him English, but also piqued his curiosity about the States. Later, in high school, Kent participated in a tour of the Northeastern United States and Canada with the Oddfellows, designed to instill the values of the United Nations and American ideals.
“America has sort of like a founding vision and it’s like a strong idea of what it’s about. Even though people disagree about what it’s about, they have strong opinions about it. I felt like in Holland, nobody really knew where they were going.”
When it was time to apply for college, Kent decided to pursue an American degree. He expressed his interest to his school’s college advisor, and she said, “well, you know, you research how that works and get back to me.” For Kent, this ended up being the first example of how moving to the United States would work – you just have to figure it out. Kent applied to Drexel University, and after finishing his undergraduate there, began law school at Temple University.
Now, nine years after first coming to the U.S., Kent sees himself as an American, “I think it might not be true for everyone, but for me, really from day one, I felt like, yeah, I’m an American. And that’s still the same. […] I feel more at home in the U.S. than I ever felt at home, at home.” Still, migrating to the United States wasn’t a perfect experience. Kent explains the class divide in the United States is far more visible than in Holland; “Other people that are like going to college, they’re living a totally different life than I guess probably all the other half of Philadelphia.” Kent also spoke about the “immigrant stereotype” and explains how he tries to avoid mentioning that he’s a migrant, because people start treating him differently. They try to be inclusive by relating to him, but they end up just assuming that Kent is different in ways that might not be true. He also explains that Americans do not really have a strong conception of Holland, at best, and misconceptions, so it’s hard for Americans to relate to – All Americans know about Holland is biking and ice skating. Kent acknowledges his privilege in his ability to hide that he’s a migrant. He doesn’t have an accent and has “Americanized”, whereas many migrants do not have that ability.
Still, as American as Kent is, the immigration legal system is still an obstacle he faces. Kent feels like he, and other international students, have to work harder to stand out. To stay in the U.S. after graduation, Kent has to find a company willing to vouch for him and sponsor his residency. Kent wants to stay permanently, so the end goal is citizenship, but Kent’s path to citizenship looks like it will take fifteen years. Kent has lived in Philadelphia for eight years at this point, and has one year left in his law school education. Then, he has one year before a company needs to apply to sponsor his residency. That process will take another year before Kent’s residency is approved. Then, Kent will have a green card and be a permanent resident. Another five years has to pass before Kent can apply for naturalization – that would be 2030, and Kent will have been living in the United States for half of his lifetime.
Kent says if he could patch one problem with the American immigration system, he would make an easier path to citizenship to those who have lived in the U.S. for long enough: “if you’ve lived in the US for, you know, X years, I think that by itself should allow you to apply for citizenship and residency. […] You’re already part of society at that point.”