In 1996, at the age of 19, Jannika, came to the United States. She always imagined traveling the world, so leaving her home country, Finland, wasn’t scary. As a world champion synchronized figure skater, she came to the US for international competitions as early as age 13. During one trip to the US, Jannika visited a top art school in New York and decided on a fresh start in America.
During college, Jannika made money working on campus because student visas do not allow for an off campus job. She realized she would have to find a company to sponsor her visa after graduation, as did the other 40% of the school’s international students. Graduates who can’t find a company to sponsor their visa are sent back to their home country, making finding a job very competitive.
Jannika did have her visa sponsored, but found changing jobs, the workload, and making more money difficult. The company could discontinue her visa, send her back to Finland, and she’d lose the life she had built in America. She worked an unreasonable and unhealthy amount of hours to the point where she was getting physically sick. But in this situation, there was nothing she could do.
Jannika applied for a green card knowing it is a long and complicated process. The easiest way to get a green card was by marriage, but she wasn’t ready and hadn’t met anyone she felt strongly about marrying. She started the green card application, but was told it would cost at least $10,000. The way she was working, that didn’t look possible, but she also didn’t have a choice. She started putting money aside.
Soon after, she met her future wife, Emily. Once gay marriage became legal, she proposed to Emily. They got married 3 days later to quicken the process of her green card.
Jannika and Emily moved to Durham and now own a house with a vegetable garden, have two dogs, and Jannika has started a competitive synchronized skating program of her own in the US, Triangle Formation Synchronized Skating. After 10 years of living in the US, she still waits for her green card. If she never met Emily, Jannika says she “would be in the hospital due to the terrible working conditions.”
She worked hard to live in the United States, but the United Stated and I are lucky to have her!
