After reading Jose Antonio Vargas’s article about being an illegal immigrant I am annoyed.

Before things get confused, I’m glad that he has come all this way and has been able to do all the things he’s done (both journalistically speaking and with his life). I am proud that although being a foreigner he was able to work arm-to-arm with amazing people and in media outlets that I dream of just being able to step in.

That said, I’m not thrilled, happy or sentimental about his coming out.

I’m from Argentina. I’ve always had a tourist visa to travel around USA (a common vacation destiny for my parents while I was growing up) with all the paperwork and money that required. When I was 20 years old I wanted to experience living in the country where dreams come true, and so I applied for an F-1 visa and worked as a ski instructor in California. Freezing my hands and ears off while teaching how to do the pizza to celebrity’s kids. I paid my taxes and before the visa expired I was back home telling my friends all the amazing stories.

I had earned enough money to buy my own skiing gear, my own computer and even a digital camera. I was still in undergrad and having that amount of money was a dream come true.

However, not for a single second did I even think of staying illegally in the country. It wasn’t at all about the fear of getting caught – I had met people there that had been working illegally for years – or the sadness I could cause my parents if I did so. It was more about how I would ruin chances to people from my country who wanted to have the same experience. I was convinced back then that the more we do things correctly, the easier it will be for coming generations to travel and work in the US.

In 2010 I decided to pursue a long dream I had left on pause for several years: earning my masters degree in Journalism at Columbia University.

Again, tons of paperwork and paying thousands of dollars for a student visa. But it was my dream, so I was absolutely willing to do so.

I enjoyed my year in New York so much that I applied for positions that would allow me to stay there.  But again, I needed a new visa and although I had spent more money that I ever had in my pocket, I had to pay to get another status that would allow me to work.

To my delight, I was getting offers left and right. Unpaid internships, paid internships, full time positions. I truly believed that the planets were finally aligning and that I was going to be able to work in New York for a couple of years and enrich even more my experience.

Little did I know.

For being an “alien” (term I’ve come to find revolting) I had to show all my papers to the employers to make sure everything was in order. My work authorization has yet to be approved (although I started the paper work over two months ago) and suddenly I saw doors slamming against my face.

Even one of the places where Vargas was able to work without anyone caring about his status shut me off days after saying “the job is yours” leaving me, needless to say, crushed.

So, not to sound bitter, but the morale of the story I’m getting by reading all the tweets that accompany the link to Vargas piece saying “what a great story” or “this is so wonderful” is that you have to do things wrong to be able to succeed in the US.

And that also leaves me wondering if I really want to keep on investing my strength and effort to stay legally, work and pay taxes in a country that is doing it’s best to push me away.

I’ll keep on trying as much as my patience can stand, but the discouragement today is greater than ever.