So, this happened! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙏🏽" title="Folded hands (mittlerer Hautton)" aria-label="Emoji: Folded hands (mittlerer Hautton)">
After 8 years of going through endless visa paperwork, work sponsorship and immigration stress - I am so relieved, grateful and happy that this country that I& #39;ve called "my home" since 2013 will finally grant me British citizenship (post ceremony) https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💙" title="Blaues Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Blaues Herz">

It hasn& #39;t been easy. In 2014, I only had 4 months after wrapping up my masters degree to find a sponsor to switch my visa from student to work. After plenty of interview rejections (because of my passport), I managed to get a work visa 1 week before my student visa ran out.

Once I was finally on a work visa, I realised how difficult it is to actually change sponsors. You see: your work visa is tied to your sponsor so changing a job meant getting a work visa from scratch. It doesn& #39;t matter how strong of an applicant you are IF you need a visa.

Over the next 5 years, I managed to switch sponsors twice. Each time, it was a financial burden and there was the constant stress of collating my entire life in a series of paperwork and the & #39;waiting game& #39; of the decision that will come through. Will my application be accepted?

One time, my change of sponsor work visa got rejected due to a mistake that my potential employer wrote in their Certificate of Sponsorship. I lost my application fees even though the mistake wasn& #39;t from my end. The employer ghosted me and never responded to my emails after.

When I was finally granted indefinite leave to remain in April 2019, I no longer needed a sponsor. I applied for a job and got an offer within one week. I cried that day because I realised this is what & #39;normal& #39; feels like for strong candidates who don& #39;t require visa sponsorship.

I speak to students all the time who are in the same position I was in back in 2013. I tell them that it IS possible. It& #39;s really hard work, it& #39;s stressful, it& #39;s nerve-wrecking and it& #39;s easy to lose hope. But it IS possible for this country to finally become your permanent home.