Hi Friends~

Last Wednesday, I had my final court hearing/sentencing. Unfortunately, it wasn't the outcome we'd hoped for. But a big relief is that there are no huge fees or fines attached to the guilty verdict. Fear of having another set of huge fines to pay on top of the lawyer's fees was my main reason for extending this campaign. They did fine me, however. They fined me a grand total of 3,000 won. As in around $3.00 total! Crazy, right?!! Hahaha!

Sadly, my fight is not over. And, unfortunately, I have to do the rest without help from my lawyer, since our contract ended with the verdict. Of course, I didn't know that until last Saturday. The lawyer didn't even come to the sentencing with me. He told me it was normal and then when we met up to talk about the next step, he also told me he was no longer my lawyer. Ugh. Not the best communication. Anyway, my next step is to convince Immigration that I deserve to stay here. I have to set up an interview and provide them with letters from friends, photos, playbills, and a written statement of my own proving my worth. So, that is what I'm going to do.

If you feel like you would like to help me with this, please email me a character letter using my legal name, Amber Gotlib, with a signature to [email protected]. I don't have a date with Immigration yet, but if you could try and send them to me by August 5th, that would be immensely appreciated. Thank you so much to those who already sent them. If you aren't sure what this would entail, a character letter is basically a letter of whatever size (length is not as important as the quality of the content) that talks about how you know me, what we've done together, and whatever positive qualities you see in me as an individual and community member. The point is to show the immigration officer that I'm an asset to the community and don't deserve to be thrown out based on this guilty verdict.Again, please make sure to sign it and use my legal name, Amber Gotlib. You can email me at [email protected]. Message me if you have any questions.

A million thanks to all of you for being with me and supporting me through this. Your donations have ensured that my loans are payed back and your moral support have kept me afloat. I'm going to end this campaign soon with hope and love in my heart for you all.

Love,

Amber