A Cuban who emigrated nearly four years ago shared a heartbreaking testimony on TikTok about the emotional weight of living away from her family, made even more difficult by an endless wait to obtain her residency in the United States, which has still not arrived.
Gisselle Vidal, who publishes under the username @gissellevidal0814, recorded the clip on August 12 without showing herself crying, although she admitted that she had already cried before turning on the camera.
"How sad is the life of an emigrant. My God, how I miss my family, it’s been like this since yesterday. I’m doing terribly, number one," he said in the video that lasted just over a minute.
The woman explained that next January it will be four years since she left Cuba, and that despite having applied for residency, she has not received any response from the immigration authorities.
"In January, it will be four years since I left Cuba; I applied for my residency, and I haven't received anything," she stated with visible exhaustion.
One of the most striking moments of the video was when Gisselle, who typically encourages other emigrants in her posts, wondered aloud who supports her during difficult times.
"I'm so tired. Sometimes you spend your time empowering others, talking about this and that to motivate them. But who motivates me when I feel this way? Who motivates me?" she questioned.
The testimony concluded with a reflection that resonated among thousands of compatriots: "It's a sad thing, gentlemen, to be far from family and have to make sacrifices. I am clear that when the sacrifice involves family, the blessings are greater, but it is hard!"
Gisselle's video joins a wave of testimonies that transform TikTok into a space for collective catharsis for the Cuban diaspora, where the so-called "migratory grief"—the simultaneous loss of family, environment, and status—is expressed openly and resonates immediately among hundreds of thousands of compatriots in similar situations.
Immigration attorneys have warned that the operational changes at USCIS have effectively halted adjudications under the Cuban Adjustment Act, without the law being formally repealed, leaving thousands of Cuban families caught in a state of uncertainty with no resolution date.
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