Simon Lopez’s trip to Mexico should have only lasted a week.
He planned on returning to UF to teach organic chemistry before the start of the Spring semester.
But a month later, he’s still in Mexico — and doesn’t know when he can leave.
Lopez, a UF chemistry professor who is originally from Venezuela, went to Mexico City in December to complete his visa application. Due to processing delays, he hasn’t been able to return to Gainesville.
Despite the delays, he is still assigning homework, creating exams and scheduling virtual office hours for his class.
“I’m a Gator now so for me it’s really hard to be outside Gainesville,” Lopez said.
Lopez initially came to UF as a researcher and adjunct professor in 2014 while on a J-1 visa, he said. This visa gave Lopez the opportunity to travel to the U.S. through a work and study based exchange program, as long as he returned to his home country after a year.
Due to the economic and political crisis in Venezuela, Lopez and his family decided to stay in Gainesville and apply for a waiver that would allow them to stay indefinitely.
After attempts to receive the waiver, the Venezuelan government denied it to all Venezuelans in 2015, Lopez said.
“If you’re outside Venezuela, the government will put a mountain that you need to climb in order to obtain something from them,” Lopez said.
After fighting with lawyers for almost three years, Lopez began applying for an O-1 visa, a visa for people who are talented in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics, in August, he said.
By the middle of November, he was approved for the visa, but in order for it to go into effect, he was required to get his passport stamped outside of the U.S.
Lopez decided to go to Mexico City with his family, so they could all go through the process.
He said it was supposed to be simple, considering he brought all the necessary documents along with them, however, the Mexican embassy told the Lopezes they had to go through administrative processing that would last a week.
It’s been over three weeks and the documents are still being processed, he said.
Lopez does not know when he and his family will return to Gainesville but has been trying his best to keep managing his chemistry class.
“It’s been difficult for me, of course, to do the job from outside,” Lopez said. “But I’m really glad to see how the UF family has been helping me.”
Once the documents are processed, Lopez said he will be able to return to Gainesville on the visa.
Jason Portmess, a UF chemistry senior lecturer, is physically teaching Lopez’s class. Although it puts a strain on the students, they should still be able to succeed, Portmess wrote in an email.
“The unknown element in this situation makes it challenging for me, but more importantly, it is particularly stressful to the students,” Portmess said. “I think most students recognize that this is a situation that is beyond anyone’s control.”
Portmess said he hopes this event will teach students a valuable lesson.
“How we respond in times of adversity tends to reveal our true character,” Portmess said.
Lopez
