Thread: Status Hitting Home

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permanent residency status hitting home


05/31/06
By Michele D. Manigault



Raj Patel, a native of India who became a Canadian citizen in 2004, and his oldest son, Brijesh, have been frustrated by the slow pace of approvals for residency being granted by the U.S. government.
Rajeshkumar Patel wants to buy a house in the Arbutus neighborhood where he has rented for two years.

But he's not sure he'll be allowed to stay in the country.

His older son, Brijesh, wanted to attend the University of Maryland, Baltimore County next fall after graduation from Catonsville High School.

But he would have to pay the much higher out-of-state resident's tuition and fees to do so because he is not considered a Maryland resident - despite living less than two miles from the school's campus.

"It's frustrating," said Patel, a native of India who became a Canadian citizen in 2004.

Patel said he filed an application for legal permanent residency in the United States with a priority date of July 21, 2005, a year after the family moved to Maryland.

He is among thousands waiting for a visa to become available from the U.S. State Department, according to Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"It's true. We do have a backlog of 400,000 cases," Bentley said. "But if he has a priority date (the date the application was approved), our department has already made a decision, and he's just waiting his turn in line.

"There are only a certain number of visas available, and it takes time," he said.

In February, a letter from Sen. Barbara Mikulski informed Patel that Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, was processing applications with dates from August, 2001.

"It could be five or six years before they get to us," said Patel, a civil engineer who must annually renew his visa to live and work in the United States. "That's a long time to live in limbo and not know your fate."

Patel emigrated from Canada in 2004 with wife, Raksha, and sons Brijesh, 17, and Chintan, 12 , to take a job with CeraTech, an engineering firm in Baltimore.

"Highly skilled immigrants make many valuable contributions to the American economy," Patel said. "We help the economy to grow."

Patel said he invented and developed RediMax, a cold-weather concrete that has a patent pending.

The new concrete can be poured and laid during cold weather, allowing construction projects to be completed during winter months, he said.

He said he's also responsible for the creation and development of three rapid-repair concretes that make it possible to patch highways and return them to use within three to four hours. Patents are also pending for those products.

"There should be more help available for high-tech legal immigrants," said Patel, whose employer sponsored him for permanent residency. "There is all this attention on illegal immigrants but nothing for legal immigrants who are waiting for decisions. We came here legally."

Without a green card that designates "lawful permanent residency status," according to Citizenship and Immigration Services, Brijesh can't attend UMBC as an in-state student. He also isn't eligible for scholarships at UMBC because he is not a U.S. citizen and does not have legal permanent residency status.

The out-of-state label means that instead of paying $8,520 for tuition, Brijesh would have to pay $16,596 a year to attend the school.

"In situations like this, we always encourage students to appeal residency decisions," said Chip Rose, a UMBC spokesman. "We have multiple layers of the appeal process. There are people here on campus who are ready and willing to walk families through this process."

Patel said the family filed two appeals on the residency status with UMBC, but both were denied. With a May 1 deadline looming for admission, he opted to send Brijesh to Towson University, where he has received a scholarship package.

Patel said his frustration led him to join Immigration Voice, a four-month-old volunteer organization working to help highly skilled immigrants become legal residents.

The group recently hired a lobbying firm to urge lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to take up their cause.

E- mail Michele D. Manigault at Michele D. Manigault@patuxent.com

The real immigrants can't get their paperwork processed because of all the cheaters and line jumpers. They are a real pain in the tail for everyone.

Dixie