A Standout Student, A Star At Goldman Sachs — And Undocumented

By NPR Staff

Published March 1, 2015 at 4:19 PM CST

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<a href="http://www.julissaarce.com">Julissa Arce</a>'s tourist visa expired when she was 14. She excelled in high school, college and at Goldman Sachs for years before she finally became a U.S. citizen. — Julissa Arce's tourist visa expired when she was 14. She excelled in high school, college and at Goldman Sachs for years before she finally became a U.S. citizen.

Julissa Arce was born in Mexico, and came to the United States on a tourist visa when she was 11. It expired a few years later — but Arce didn't leave. Instead, she excelled in high school and college, then secured a job at Goldman Sachs. Her ascent was dramatic: she rose quickly from analyst to associate to vice president.

But Arce was scared to go to work every day, worried that her undocumented status would be uncovered and she'd be escorted out.

Her story was detailed in Bloomberg this week. Last August, Arce became a citizen of the United States, and she now works with Jose Antonio Vargas at the immigration non-profit Define American. She joined NPR's Arun Rath to tell her story to All Things Considered. Click the audio link above to listen.