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Tuesday, October 7, 2003

Immigrants patiently wait for green cards

By Patricio G. Balona | News-Journal Staff Writer

ORLANDO — The sparse group of men, women and children are almost invisible in the dawn light. Some nap on blankets spread on concrete, some on the bare sidewalks. A few lean on walls or sit on the ground.

At sunrise, they huddle toward the main entrance of the building. Slowly, a line begins to form. There they stand until 8 a.m. arrives, signaling the opening of the Orlando office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a bureau of the Department of Homeland Security that performs the functions of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The line continues to grow, snaking around an asphalt parking lot.

They come from Colombia, England, Turkey, Ghana, and other parts of the world. They arrive early so they get a chance to fill out an application for what might be the most important document of their lives — the green card.

Sitting on a white cement bench in front of a sandwich shop next to the immigration office Friday, Miguel Alcantara, 32, originally of Lima, Peru, watched as a security guard allowed groups of five to enter the building. Hunched forward, a blue knapsack strapped to his back, Alcantara said he felt lucky he did not have to stand long hours in line to get his green card.

He was one of 8 million qualified registrants who signed up in the 2000 Diversity Visa Lottery, better known as the Green Card Lottery, and one of 50,000 who won a green card.

In July 2002, nine months after he applied for his Alien Residency Card, he arrived in the United States as a permanent resident.

"I was so happy," said Alcantara, who came from the poor neighborhoods of Lima called Barrios Marginales. "I had wanted to come to the United States since I was 20, even taking English classes in Lima. But it was too expensive."

"It's different with the lottery. You do not pay any money to register."

Diversifying the melting pot

The U.S. Congress established the Diversity Visa Lottery (Green Card Lottery) in 1990 to make immigrant visas available to a greater number of countries, said Bruce Marmar, acting chief of staff for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Florida District in Miami.

"The idea was to grant 50,000 visas and spread them around among countries to have more diversity in the number of immigrant visas issued," Marmar said.

The coveted green card, officially known as the Alien Residency Card, is actually a pink, wallet-size piece of laminated paper that allows immigrants to live and work legally in the United States. With the card, they can get a driver's license, a Social Security number and the ease of international travel without visiting U.S. embassies for visas to re-enter the United States.

But countries are excluded from the green card lottery if they have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the last five years or have a very large number of family members petitioning for relatives in the United States, creating a backlog in processing papers from those countries.

"For example, if someone from the Philippines is to enter the lottery, they would have to wait up to 23 years before their number came up," said Stuart Patt, spokesman for the Consular Affairs Bureau at the U.S. State Department. "That is why we exclude that country from participating in the lottery."

Other countries excluded are Mainland China, Vietnam, South Korea, Pakistan, India, Mexico, Jamaica, United Kingdom, Canada, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Haiti and El Salvador

Green card the hard way

The exclusion of their country from the lottery does not stop Filipinos from coming to the United States, said Melanie Rodgers, 30, a native of the Philippines who is married to an American from San Francisco. She is waiting for the immigration agency to give her a green card.

"Many risk their lives hoping to have a better life in America," Rodgers said.

Those who stand in lines outside the immigration office to apply for green cards might find themselves waiting as long as 9 1/2 years for a response, as Luis Castillo found out.

Castillo, 50, a Peruvian national like Alcantara, remembers arriving at 4 a.m. to secure a spot outside the Orlando agency. The mornings were sometimes rainy or chilly, and at other times the sun got very hot. He withstood hunger and boredom, closely guarding his spot; even a bathroom break would mean rejoining the line at the end.

The immigration office only allows about 100 to 125 inside each day. Most immigrants said they return until they are able to see someone at the agency.

Once inside, they aren't always happy with their treatment. A Jamaican woman leaving the Orlando immigration office recently was almost in tears because she was unable to meet an agent, despite booking an appointment online — and because she felt the worker was disrespectful.

"He spoke to us like we were dogs," the 39-year-old woman said.

Immigration officers sometimes conduct up to 150 interviews a day, said Stella Jurina, officer in charge of the Orlando office.

"Sometimes we do not offer the service they need," Jurina said. "And when our officers try to explain that to them, they feel we just don't want to help them."

Luck and endurance

From Oct. 31 through Sept. 30, 2004, the 50,000 candidates chosen by a computer from among 7.3 million who entered the lottery in 2002 will come to the United States as permanent residents.

Many winners will fail the medical and criminal background checks, Patt said. But if they pass, they will receive their green card within one year.

In the 13 years of the green card lottery, nearly 600,000 winners have come to the United States, Marmar said.

"They are lucky," Castillo said of the lottery winners as he stood recently outside the Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Orlando. He got his green card in 2001. This time, he was picking up application forms to start the long process for his wife.

Alcantara, who now works two jobs in Kissimmee, also is petitioning the immigration agency to allow his wife and daughter to join him in the United States.

"There is always hope when you are registering for the lottery," Alcantara said. "Hope that luck would give you a chance for your life to get better."

Did You Know?

The “green card,” formally known as the Alien Registration Receipt Card:
– Was introduced in 1940
– Was designed as a national defense measure to register non-U.S. citizens
– Grants its holder the right to permanently live and work in the United States
– Has changed colors over the years, to thwart counterfeiters. It’s been pale blue, dark blue, pink and pink-and-blue — and, of course, green.

SOURCE: Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, www.immigration.gov

Visas issues by Ins

Immigrant Visa for Spouse: For American citizens to bring their spouse into the United States.

Nonimmigrant Visa for fiance(e): For a fiance(e) to travel to the United States to get married.

Employment-based visa: Involves an immigration petition for foreign workers by U.S. employer.

Family-based Immigrant Visa: Needed for immigration of foreigners to the United States based on relationship to a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.

Immigrant Religious Workers Visa: For religious workers that include ministers authorized by a recognized denomination to conduct religious worship.

Immigrant Visas: Green card.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Services

TALK ABOUT IT: When should immigration to the U.S. be discouraged?

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