Green Card adventure: Uwe’s detour to Colorado

Stressed out and unhappy, Uwe and his family decided to leave Germany for the USA 22 years ago. But the road to a new life in Colorado was not as easy as expected. Uwe shares his adventurous journey to the American Dream in this interview.

Uwe's immigration took him across multiple countries. Now he is happy in Colorado.

Uwe, there was an attempt to immigrate to the USA before you won the Green Card Lottery. What was the situation like back then?

Yes, that's right. Long before we won the Green Card Lottery, we fell in love with the country and its people. That was 22 years ago on a vacation in Colorado.

We weren't happy in Germany at that time because we had to work 14-16 hours a day, and it was mentally exhausting. When you are self-employed, the tax office is always pulling your legs. Also, the competitive pressure is just so stressful. For my daughter, things weren't going well either: the teachers at school were hostile and couldn't teach her anything.

In short, we were done with Germany. We wanted to start a new life somewhere else. I had a business lawyer who was originally from Fort Collins, Colorado. She was the one who gave me the decisive tip.

Then came that vacation, and we were so thrilled by life in the mountains and the friendliness of the people here that, upon our return to Berlin, we decided: we are going to move to Colorado!

Uwe and his family have moved to the small town of Fort Collins, Colorado.

What steps did you take to immigrate to the US?

We hired an immigration attorney to open a branch of my business (I'm a carpenter) in Colorado. Back then, we invested 12,000 German Marks.

We really thought we could get a Green Card this way, but we didn't have a work permit and were just investors. (Editor's note: The Green Card for investment in the USA is possible but costs at least $ 900,000)

"This is where I want to live!" That was Uwe's thought in 2001, and since then, he's been working on his immigration to the USA.

After that, we tried to create a job description to bring me over from Germany. However, you have to prove that no American could do the work in question. In the construction industry, it is almost impossible to do that.

But we really wanted to go to the USA, so we went to Colorado on a six-month visitor's visa, my then eight-year-old daughter, my ex-wife, and I. We sold and gave away all our belongings and flew with only five suitcases. Five suitcases! That was our life!

How do you explain to an 8-year-old that the whole family is moving to the US?

Of course, my daughter was worried about losing her friends. The easiest answer to that is, "You can keep your friends and make lots of new ones in the USA - how cool is that?"

She said, "Okay!" We packed her a little backpack with a stuffed animal peeking out the top, and off we went! For her, it felt like a vacation. What she needed to feel safe in her new home was a bed, a desk, and a chair. She always loved to draw.

Backpack with a stuffed animal: When emigrating with children, you need creativity and persuasion.

What was your first time in Colorado like?

It was a completely different life for all of us. We had so much more time. In Germany, we were always stressed, and my little girl had to take care of herself a lot. But in Colorado, we got to go out and do things together. We bought her a bike and a skateboard and had so much fun! Colorado has 300 sunny days a year!

We stayed in a hotel for the first ten days and then looked for an apartment. The private landlady was kind enough to make a 6-month contract, although a one-year contract would have been normal.

The first apartment in Fort Collins: Uwe's landlady gave the family a warm welcome.

We had told her our story, and the next day - when we were supposed just to sign the lease - she showed up with a van full of household items! It had it all: air mattresses, dishes, sheets, towels... She said: "I saw you don't have anything yet. Use my stuff as long as you want!"

That sounds very American.

Exactly, and if you are a foreigner, you are completely baffled! But that's how we came to know the Americans. Even with my daughter's school, they were all very generous. We managed to enroll her in a private school in Fort Collins because, as a "visitor," you are not allowed to use the public school system in the USA. It was a Christian school and quite small.

We were jittery on the first day of school. We dropped the child off in the morning, completely nervous, and when we came to pick her up at noon, she just waved from a distance and said: "I've already made friends, no need to come!" What a great way to get the brush-off!

She was welcomed so warmly! Everyone was curious. They taught her everything using sign language because she didn't speak English yet. The kids picked it up right away. On the first day, she came home with five English words, and the three of us did homework using a dictionary.

A little school in Colorado changed everything for Uwe's daughter Sarah.

You mentioned things weren't going so well at school in Germany. What has been going on there?

In Germany, my daughter had serious problems with her teachers. Not only did they tell her that she was weak in reading, spelling, and math, but they also used methods from another age, so to speak. That one time, my daughter must have said something wrong, and then she had to write a hundred times: “I'm a naughty child.” Like, are you serious?!

In Germany, the teachers always told her: "You did a really bad job! Do it again!” Here in the States, they would say: "You did an excellent job, but we can do better!" Obviously, that makes a big difference in terms of motivation.

That difference was immediately seen in her performance. She came here to Colorado as a foreign kid, and she placed ninth in the Math Olympiad right away! Tell me again that she had a weakness in math. The teachers in Germany just weren't able to teach her.

So you finally got to be where you belong. But on a temporary visa! What did you do to get permission to stay in the USA?

We went on trying to get residency with the immigration lawyer. He wrote a business plan for us that was two inches thick. I had to submit all kinds of bank statements and pictures from Germany, and we had to show how our business would benefit the community in Fort Collins.

Small-town USA: In Fort Collins, people are friendly, and the mountains are always in sight.

But the main problem was the visa stop! We entered the country on September 2nd, 2001, with our visitor's visa, and on September 11th, the attacks in New York happened. So the American government immediately put everything on hold. You couldn't get a visa for a long time.

Of course, we continued to work on our plan, but all we could do was hope and wait. During that time, we met a lot of great people, especially through our daughter's school. They were so nice to us and even invited us for Thanksgiving - the holy family celebration! Everyone tried to help us. They would sit down and wonder: how can we do this?

Things got to the point where another immigration attorney was hired from California, and eventually, it went all the way to the Senator and even the White House through local contacts. There was contact with the governor in Denver through the sheriff, who wrote a letter of recommendation for us. He wrote that we were important to the community and why we were needed here.

But it was no use. We were denied, and our visas expired. So in February 2002, we packed our bags and returned to Berlin.

How did you deal with that disappointment?

It was painful not to be able to stay in Colorado. However, we didn't want to live in Germany again under any circumstances, so when we got back to Berlin, I went to the European Employment Office and registered as a carpenter.

I was offered a job in Norway right away and just went there. My family came later because of school. And from Bergen in Norway, I participated in the Green Card Lottery every year.

We spent four years in Norway. It was a huge opportunity. But we weren't too happy there because we wanted to go back to the States!

Luckily, that dream came true! Do you remember the day you were notified of your win?

Oh, absolutely! Your message was in my inbox for ten days, and I had no idea because I was on a trip to Germany to visit my family. Then, back in Norway, I found the email! It said, "Congratulations! You won the Green Card Lottery!"

At first, I thought it was a joke! My friends knew that we wanted to go to the USA. So what if you get an email like that, you're all excited, and then they say, "April Fools!"

However, I had participated through The American Dream, so I could just call you guys and ask. I said to your associate, "My application number is this and that, and my email says I won." And then she responded: "Yeah, I can see it in my database! You won!"

At first, Uwe thought someone was trying to pull a fast one on him. A phone call to The American Dream clarified that he really had won!

And suddenly, you go, "Oh my God!" When you participate for four years, you kind of stop believing in the win. I've always participated through The American Dream because it feels safer, and the experts take care of everything. So I didn't have to go through the application or anything - it was pretty much automatic. It just became a routine.

So I was just overwhelmed with my feelings. Surprised and happy, but there was also a bit of fear. Like, what if I don't have all the documents I need?

I really enjoyed being mentored by The American Dream because if you have any questions, you just call them and don't have to worry about it. I just wanted someone by my side who had been doing this for a long time.

What happened after the winning notification?

Then things got going! Filling out forms and stuff like that! Honestly, it was a sobering feeling at first, because it takes a year or so after you win the Green Card Lottery before you get your Green Card. And I thought, "God! What are you going to do in Norway for another year?"

During his years in Norway, Uwe's heart remained in Colorado. Then, after four years, he finally got the call.

We really wanted to go back to the States! I guess I'm just impatient. We decided to make a change and moved to Canada after winning, so at least we were in America already. I had a job offer there, and we stayed in Canada for about nine months. Of course, we had to fly to Germany for the Green Card interview.

How did your Green Card interview go?

It was an adventure! My ex-wife had been married before me. This was in the former GDR, and after the wall came down, some districts of Berlin were merged. The documents had somehow been moved around, and we hadn't had a chance to get hold of the papers while we were in Norway. They always claimed that the documents could not be found.

So we were sitting at the embassy in Frankfurt without this one piece of paper. As feared, it became a problem: we were told that without the certificate, we could not get the immigrant visa!

My wife left the interview in a hurry and took a five-hour train ride from Frankfurt to Berlin to clarify the matter with the authorities in Berlin-Kreuzberg. And you won't believe it: they actually found the papers! A fax was sent to the embassy in Frankfurt, and a short time later, we were able to pick up our passports with the immigrant visas.

Wow! Did you immediately immigrate to the United States after that?

So to speak. I waved my immigrant visa in front of my boss in Canada and said: I'm quitting! It was funny because the guy wasn't very nice, and somehow he was pretty sure that I was completely dependent on him for my Canadian work visa.

So we packed up a van, and off we went. This time it wasn't just five suitcases. We had accumulated a few things in the meantime, which we put away for the time being. We had saved enough money to support ourselves for six months and then moved back to the hotel in Fort Collins for the first 10 days.

Then, of course, we had some things to do: apply for a Social Security card, find an apartment, and open a bank account. Luckily, the American bureaucracy is only 20% of the German one, so it only took a few days.

Quietness, peace, water, and mountains: Colorado life is slow.

What do you think is the best thing about living in the USA?

I see a lot of happy people here! Everyone says hi, the neighbors are super cool and stick together, we have barbecues in the street. Living here is just a joy!

The mountains start just 5 minutes from my house, and I feel so happy when I go out in the morning. My partner's family lives near the reservoir in Fort Collins, where you can go canoeing. They have horses, and I can come there whenever I want.

By the way, Fort Collins has been voted one of the best small towns in America several times. They compare the standard of living, income, safety, etc. We're often in the top 10, and we're a growing, vibrant small town because we have a lot of students. But then again, I can just take my trailer and go up into the mountains where I don't meet a soul.

Riding their motorcycles through the Rocky Mountains or having a drink in a Western saloon, Uwe and his partner Kelley enjoy life in Colorado to the fullest.

The mental stress I had in Germany is completely gone. There's no competition here, either. They say: "Envy is the German form of recognition." When you meet a German, the first question is, "What do you do for a living?" Or they want to see if you drive a better car than they do. Here, it doesn't matter.

I now work at the university as a maintenance manager for a 70,000-square-foot sports center, I have a solid income, pay $ 23 for health insurance, and I only have to work 4 days a week. When I'm 65, I'll get 65% of my income as a pension. That’ll be 25 years of service at the university. I don't have to worry about a thing. No existential fears. It's incredibly relaxing.

Uwe loves the outdoors in Colorado. Even after 16 years, he is still excited to leave the house.

How has living in America changed you as a person?

I'm a much nicer person. More open and generous. I didn't have that in Germany because I mainly had to deal with myself there. Here, I have peace, and I can share my experiences and give advice to people who also want to move.

Being in a different place in the world and not someone with all the advantages and benefits from birth changes you. I had to adapt and fight for my right to live here. That is a very important step. Other than that, the cultures are similar.

Uwe's daughter Sarah was 8 years old when the family left Germany. As an adult, she joined the U.S. Navy.

One very inspiring thing is the national pride in the USA: Americans are proud to be Americans. I have been a dual citizen since 2016 and have both a US passport and German citizenship. When you watch hockey or baseball, and they play the national anthem, you automatically put your hand over your heart. It's part of the game, it comes naturally.

I didn't want to give up my German citizenship because I still have many ties to Germany. My father is in Germany, my mother is buried in Germany. All my childhood and youth memories are from there, and I am still in touch with people who regularly send me pictures of the Baltic Sea. It touches my heart, and I also love being a German in America. It always gives people something to talk about.

What advice would you give to other people who are dreaming of living in the USA?

What really matters are the experiences you have in life, not the things you own. I have seen this in my daughter. She doesn't remember what toys she had, but how we gathered berries and caught fish.

I have to tell those stories over and over again. That's what sticks. You can always rebuild material things, but you will never get back the time you spent waiting and hesitating.

Remembering, not dreaming - Uwe has arrived and is happy to help others emigrate.

We were so devastated when we had to leave the US, but I got to live and work in Norway and Canada! What a chance! It's almost like a game. You get kicked out, and then you just jump back into the field. The worst thing that can happen is having to go back. You can always go and look for a new apartment.

My advice is: follow your dreams and don't let negative people discourage you! If you want to be safe, don't tell anyone about your plans, and just do it alone! You want to die with memories, not with dreams!