Fedora Castelino left India when she was only four months old, eventually settling in the United States at the age of six as a dependent on her father's H-1B visa. Now almost 19, she's staring down a deadline: In just two years, she might have to deport herself.
Castelino is one of over 200,000 "Documented Dreamers," dependent visa holders who were brought to the U.S. legally as children and have resided here lawfully since. If they can't secure a work visa or sponsorship for a green card before turning 21—a process made far more difficult by extreme application backlogs and wait times—they're forced to self-deport. "It's so hard to realize that I've lived here basically my entire life—this is actually not my home," says Castelino. "Even after finishing all my schooling in America, I'm still not in a home country, which is really hard to accept."
