Malachy McHugh

I received my Morrison Visa in 1994 while living and working in New York City on an H1 visa. I ultimately settled in New York.

Northern Ireland in the late 1980s was an economic backwash, and in West Belfast, where I grew up, the unemployment rate was over 40%. There were few opportunities for meaningful employment, even for someone with a university degree.

In 1989, I had the good fortune to secure a job at the world-renowned Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Initially, I worked on a student visa and then transitioned to an H1 visa. However, as my visa expiration approached, I learned about the Morrison Visa program.

“There was only one challenge: getting a green card. Without it, I would have had to leave.”

The Morrison Visa I received in 1994 allowed me to build a career in sports medicine and sports science in the United States. For many New Yorkers, 1994 is remembered as the year the Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup. Little did I know, while attending one of those games, that I would go on to work with the New York Rangers for almost 20 years. The opportunities that blossomed from that visa were limitless.

I wasn’t particularly hopeful when I mailed my application and had already begun looking for opportunities back in Ireland. Seeing few realistic prospects at home, I had resigned myself to the idea that Australia would be my next destination. But 1994 turned out to be a life-changing year. Receiving a Morrison Visa first and foremost provided relief. It provided security and permanence.

In 2013, I had the privilege of attending a luncheon honoring then-Vice President Joe Biden’s induction into the Irish America Hall of Fame. While meeting a sitting Vice President was an honor, the highlight of the event was the opportunity to meet and personally thank the man who, 20 years earlier, had provided me the opportunity to make a life and career in the U.S. Near the end of the luncheon, I noticed Bruce Morrison making an Irish exit. I quickly followed suit in the hope of catching him. Luckily, at the coat check, I was able to grasp my opportunity. Walking up to an unsuspecting stranger and announcing that you are “one of his babies” can be unsettling, so I quickly elaborated that I was a fortunate recipient of a Morrison Visa in 1994. He greeted me with an immediate smile and a series of interested questions about my journey. It was a brief exchange, but for me, it remains a treasured memory.