Unfiltered Story #297502

I am the youngest of three children, and have always been the most academically motivated of us, so going to college was a no-brainer for me. My mother is the one who dealt with applying for financial aid, and I just focused on my studies.

However, when it came time to deal with financial aid for my second year, it became apparent that there was something strange going on.

Mom: “I don’t know why they’re asking for a copy of your birth certificate as proof of citizenship again. I submitted it last year, and either way, they have your social security number, so they should already know from that.”

Me: “Huh. That’s weird.”

After a bit of investigating, we discovered the problem: my SSN listed me as a legal alien, NOT a citizen!

Mom: “I think I know how that happened. I remember the day I went to the Social Security Office to get you your social security number. You were still just a baby, and I had all three of you kids with me. It was also really crowded with a lot of immigrants. I bet the lady at the counter had processed so many cards for them that she put you in as a ‘legal alien’ out of sheer habit!”

Me: “Wow! So I spent the first 19 years of my life as a US-born legal alien, huh? That’s pretty funny!”

Brother: *teasingly pointing up towards space* “I always knew you were an alien!”

And that’s the story of how I discovered that I was an alien!