Posted on Sun, Aug. 05, 2007
American Dream in limbo
KRISTIN COLLINS
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/224884.html

Nine years after leaving his native India, Mohan Palleti thought his family had found a home in Raleigh.
He landed a job at N.C. State University and bought a house in North Raleigh. His teenage daughter, Niharika, overcame social isolation and settled in at Sanderson High School. And he believed his family of four was on the verge of being granted green cards, which would allow them to live permanently in the United States.

But late last month, the Palleti family's residency application was denied -- and the news came in the middle of his youngest daughter's summer trip to visit relatives in India.

Palleti's right to stay in the United States hinged on his ability to prove that he is an internationally recognized researcher, a high bar the government says he did not reach. With the rejection, the documents that allowed the family to travel in and out of the country were canceled.

Now his 15-year-old daughter is trapped in India, because the travel documents that got her there are no longer valid. And if they want any chance at a life in the United States, Palleti and his wife, Rajani, cannot go to their daughter.

"This is a desperate situation for us," Palleti said. "We have no idea what we're going to do."

Like many legal immigrants in North Carolina and around the country, the Palletis have spent years and thousands of dollars navigating a complex federal immigration system. They left their home country on faith that they would, eventually, complete the process.

Their permission to remain in the country now expires in December.

The couple say they suddenly feel like people without a home. They envision themselves going back to India with nothing, their savings devoured by $30,000 in legal fees and their two daughters, who worked hard to adjust to American culture, sentenced to a life as permanent foreigners.

They say they are angry that federal lawmakers spent this summer talking about a plan to give illegal immigrants legal residency, which eventually failed, rather than fixing the quagmire that tens of thousands of legal immigrants face.

"It's like snakes and ladders," Rajani Palleti said. "You climb the ladder, and then you get in the snake's mouth and you come back to the starting point."

Family trip canceled

The Palletis got the letter July 24. U.S. Customs and Immigration Service informed them, in spare prose, that their application was denied. They thought immediately of their daughter.Mohan Palleti -- a geographic information system expert who works in N.C. State's department of parks, recreation and tourism management -- was scheduled to get on a plane two days later, to see his mother for the first time in more than six years and to bring his daughter home. He had already packed four suitcases full of gifts -- clothes, shoes and purses -- for his relatives in India.

The trip was off. His wife and older daughter, Devi, 20, also lost their permits to work. Rajani Palleti doesn't know whether she'll be able to return to the day care center where she has been an assistant teacher since December.

Officials at the Customs and Immigration Service said they could not comment on the Palletis' case. But spokesman Shawn Saucier said the government sets high standards for foreign workers.

Congress allows about 140,000 foreign workers into the country each year. In granting them permanent residency, the government gives preference to professionals with global prestige and unique skills.

"It's an attempt to get the best and brightest," Saucier said, "but at the same time, make sure that they're not taking the job of a U.S. citizen."

Saucier said the government doesn't keep statistics on how many applications are rejected each year.

Jack Pinnix, a Raleigh immigration lawyer, said that earning permanent residency based on a designation as an "outstanding researcher," as Palleti was trying to do, can be difficult.

Pinnix said applicants must prove their work has received international attention. Even the most qualified candidates sometimes have trouble getting their applications approved, he said.

Uncertain prospects

The Palletis spent two days crying and praying before calling Niharika in India. They fudged the facts, telling her that a rule change had caused a delay in their plans. But they didn't tell her that they don't know if she'll be home for the start of her junior year on Aug. 27, or that, in a few months, her life in the United States could be over.

"She would be devastated," Mohan Palleti said. "We have assimilated ourselves to life here. Starbucks Coffee, Abercrombie, these are things she got used to."

Palleti is now waiting for news from N.C. State, whose lawyers are handling his immigration case. Because his visa is based on his job, his future in the United States rests with the university.

Palleti said the university's lawyer, Marc Amos, told him they would appeal his case. But that process could take months or years, and he has no idea whether it will be successful.

Amos said there are legal ways to bring Niharika back to Raleigh, but he wasn't sure how long it would take to arrange her return.

"You never know with immigration," Amos said.

India to New York to Raleigh

Hugh Devine, Palleti's supervisor, said foreign faculty members are important to the university.

"Particularly in this case, these are very talented folks, and they're very hard to find," said Devine, chair of the Geographic Information System program.

Palleti said he thought that when N.C. State hired him and agreed to sponsor him for a green card, his future in the United States was certain. He saw it as the culmination of years of struggles and false starts as he tried to make a life in the United States.

He said he left India in 1998, hoping for better career prospects and brighter futures for his two daughters. He first moved to New York City, leaving his wife and children in India while he tried to save money for a house and their plane tickets. He struggled through two layoffs and was separated from his family for five years. At one point, he said, he was so poor that he ate the wild spinach that grew in New York parks.

When he found a stable job at N.C. State, he was confident enough to abandon a previous green card application, which was in process under a former employer. He and his wife bought a modest ranch house and planted a vegetable garden.

Now, the Palletis spend their days in limbo, their minds full of unanswered questions. They say they can barely speak to one another.

"We cannot face each other," said Rajani Palleti. "One of us says something, and we just get thinking, `What's going to happen?' "