Stop complaining about vaccine passports. I'm a US immigrant, and I had to show proof of vaccination to stay here.

• To attend grad school in the US, I had to show my vaccine records dating back to when I was born.
• When I applied for my green card I had to show once again that I was fully vaccinated.
• The outrage over "vaccine passports" confuses me given how many times I've had to show proof.

I was born in Argentina and have now lived in four countries.

My family started moving when I was 5 years old because of my dad's job, and then as an adult I decided to continue exploring the world, which has led me to the US, where I've been for 11 years - and have had to show proof of all my vaccinations, since birth, several times. I never thought anything of it. It was part of the process for me to be able to live in this country.

This is why I find it so confusing to see Americans complain about their rights being violated when asked to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to dine at restaurants, attend concerts, or get drinks at a bar. Right now, only New York City has announced the widespread use of vaccine passports, but that hasn't stopped some states from banning them.

Any immigrant knows that part of moving to the US, even temporarily, means providing vaccination records.

When I applied to graduate school in the US back in 2009, I had to dig through my parents' filing cabinet to find a little yellow cardboard document that had all my vaccinations from birth to age 5, when we moved to Colombia.

Then, I had to dig again to find all my booster shots, given in a different country and in a different language.

I made copies of them all, sent them to the university alongside my application, and waited.

Once I was accepted and had moved to New York City, I had to show my vaccination records again to be allowed into school. The nurse who reviewed them wasn't sure whether I had gotten a booster for tetanus, so I had to get one just in case to comply with the university's requirements.

Years later, after getting married - and with my work visa approaching its expiration - my husband and I decided to apply for my green card so we could continue living in the US. Once again, I had to provide my records.

This time, there was uncertainty regarding my tuberculosis shot, so I had to get blood tests and X-rays to prove I didn't have TB and was allowed to apply for my residency.

It's not just the US that does this. When my family moved to Brazil for my dad's job in the 1990s, we all had to get the vaccine for yellow fever. As of last year, 21 countries required all travelers to have a yellow-fever vaccine before entering from abroad.

It makes sense for countries to do this. Of course they want to make sure that new arrivals are inoculated against diseases that are easily prevented by a vaccine.

So when I started seeing Americans complain about employers, restaurants, venues, and airlines requiring proof of vaccination for COVID-19, I was enraged.

I've had to show my vaccination records so many times that I actually have a photo of them saved in my favorites folder on my camera roll, next to all the photos of my children as newborns.

This debate has a tinge of xenophobia. For example, Gov. Ron DeSantis opposes the idea of Floridians showing vaccine proof, but US law requires immigrants moving to his state to provide proof of other vaccines.

The requirement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for immigrants to be vaccinated has been in place since 2009, and it says that applicants "are required to show proof that they have received certain vaccines" and that if an applicant "does not have proof of having received the required vaccines, the law states that the vaccines must be given at the time of the medical exam."

This also isn't the first time when US residents face the prospect of being checked to see whether they are vaccinated. During the late 1800s, when hundreds of thousands of people were getting vaccinated for smallpox, the scab left by the vaccine was used as a "passport" of sorts. Employers even made it a requirement in 1901. This eventually helped lead to the eradication of smallpox, as many would rather get the vaccine than lose their employment.

If people believe in medical documentation in my situation, then they should believe in medical documentation for COVID-19 vaccination as well. The way I see it, we are just trying to protect one another.