Any Immigration Hope?
Oct 20th 2002, 9:14 am
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Any Immigration Hope?
Hi all,
I've done some browsing on the subject, but haven't found the straightforward info I want. I'm taking the easy way out and just asking straight out here & appreciate any input.
I have an acquaintence from Turkmenistan. She and her husband "dream" of immigrating to the US, or Canada. Since they have no immediate family (I think there's an uncle) in the US, I wonder if refugee or asylum status is an appropriate thing for them to pursue.
Nika and her husband live and work in Greece during the tourist season and return to Turkmenistan in the winter. She does not use the internet so I'd like to see if there's anything I can turn up for her before we all part ways for the year.
She has a university degree in "languages" and says she speaks 5 fluently, but I've discovered that she doesn't read English particularly well. She would like to know what papers she would go about completing for a work permit/residence, but I'm not sure she even has a case. She has no family to sponsor her.
I understand, many FSU folk want out of their countries. I've just taken to this gal and want to give her info. Since she is Orthodox Christian, she tells me that since Independance, she is discriminated against in the "job market" (practically non-existant) in Turmenistan because of her religion. I've heard of the Church helping people get to the States (we certainly have the Orthodox immigrant population in my home city) but have no leads to follow for her.
To sum: is there any US immigration method for this woman and her husband to pursue and where is some understandable information I can check out?
And yes, to take my own advice, I've already done plenty of Google searching!
tx, meauxna
I've done some browsing on the subject, but haven't found the straightforward info I want. I'm taking the easy way out and just asking straight out here & appreciate any input.
I have an acquaintence from Turkmenistan. She and her husband "dream" of immigrating to the US, or Canada. Since they have no immediate family (I think there's an uncle) in the US, I wonder if refugee or asylum status is an appropriate thing for them to pursue.
Nika and her husband live and work in Greece during the tourist season and return to Turkmenistan in the winter. She does not use the internet so I'd like to see if there's anything I can turn up for her before we all part ways for the year.
She has a university degree in "languages" and says she speaks 5 fluently, but I've discovered that she doesn't read English particularly well. She would like to know what papers she would go about completing for a work permit/residence, but I'm not sure she even has a case. She has no family to sponsor her.
I understand, many FSU folk want out of their countries. I've just taken to this gal and want to give her info. Since she is Orthodox Christian, she tells me that since Independance, she is discriminated against in the "job market" (practically non-existant) in Turmenistan because of her religion. I've heard of the Church helping people get to the States (we certainly have the Orthodox immigrant population in my home city) but have no leads to follow for her.
To sum: is there any US immigration method for this woman and her husband to pursue and where is some understandable information I can check out?
And yes, to take my own advice, I've already done plenty of Google searching!
tx, meauxna
Oct 21st 2002, 10:44 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Any Immigration Hope?
On Sun, 20 Oct 2002 02:14:04 -0700, meauxna wrote:
> Hi all,
> I've done some browsing on the subject, but haven't found the
> straightforward info I want. I'm taking the easy way out and just asking
> straight out here & appreciate any input.
> I have an acquaintence from Turkmenistan. She and her husband "dream" of
> immigrating to the US, or Canada. Since they have no immediate family (I
> think there's an uncle) in the US, I wonder if refugee or asylum status
> is an appropriate thing for them to pursue.
> Nika and her husband live and work in Greece during the tourist season
> and return to Turkmenistan in the winter. She does not use the internet
> so I'd like to see if there's anything I can turn up for her before we
> all part ways for the year.
> She has a university degree in "languages" and says she speaks 5
> fluently, but I've discovered that she doesn't read English particularly
> well. She would like to know what papers she would go about completing
> for a work permit/residence, but I'm not sure she even has a case. She
> has no family to sponsor her.
> I understand, many FSU folk want out of their countries. I've just taken
> to this gal and want to give her info. Since she is Orthodox Christian,
> she tells me that since Independance, she is discriminated against in
> the "job market" (practically non-existant) in Turmenistan because of
> her religion. I've heard of the Church helping people get to the States
> (we certainly have the Orthodox immigrant population in my home city)
> but have no leads to follow for her.
> To sum: is there any US immigration method for this woman and her
> husband to pursue and where is some understandable information I can
> check out?
> And yes, to take my own advice, I've already done plenty of Google
> searching!
I think you already listed two of their best options: church and job (an
uncle unfortunately does not help). You could contact an Orthodox church
in your town and see if they have some experience with helping her get
into the US based on the persecution. Turkmenistan would indeed be a
likely candidate, given its current geopolitical place and closeness to
Afghanistan (along with the Turkmen leader, who seems to have quite a
reputation...)
The second option, a job, may also be feasible. In fact, she might even be
able to land a job with the US government. That is because the CIA
recently discovered that they do not have many people who speak the
languages in Afghanistan, and if I recall right, Turkmen are a large
portion of the Afghan population.
Finally, you may also want to look at whether her husband may also have a
chance of immigrating.
In any case, good luck! I know there are many people who want to
immigrate, far more than the US is willing to allow to come. So even
though she seems to have some sliver of hope, don't get your hope up quite
all that much.
All of that, of course, applies to the US. I can't tell you much about
Canada.
> Hi all,
> I've done some browsing on the subject, but haven't found the
> straightforward info I want. I'm taking the easy way out and just asking
> straight out here & appreciate any input.
> I have an acquaintence from Turkmenistan. She and her husband "dream" of
> immigrating to the US, or Canada. Since they have no immediate family (I
> think there's an uncle) in the US, I wonder if refugee or asylum status
> is an appropriate thing for them to pursue.
> Nika and her husband live and work in Greece during the tourist season
> and return to Turkmenistan in the winter. She does not use the internet
> so I'd like to see if there's anything I can turn up for her before we
> all part ways for the year.
> She has a university degree in "languages" and says she speaks 5
> fluently, but I've discovered that she doesn't read English particularly
> well. She would like to know what papers she would go about completing
> for a work permit/residence, but I'm not sure she even has a case. She
> has no family to sponsor her.
> I understand, many FSU folk want out of their countries. I've just taken
> to this gal and want to give her info. Since she is Orthodox Christian,
> she tells me that since Independance, she is discriminated against in
> the "job market" (practically non-existant) in Turmenistan because of
> her religion. I've heard of the Church helping people get to the States
> (we certainly have the Orthodox immigrant population in my home city)
> but have no leads to follow for her.
> To sum: is there any US immigration method for this woman and her
> husband to pursue and where is some understandable information I can
> check out?
> And yes, to take my own advice, I've already done plenty of Google
> searching!
I think you already listed two of their best options: church and job (an
uncle unfortunately does not help). You could contact an Orthodox church
in your town and see if they have some experience with helping her get
into the US based on the persecution. Turkmenistan would indeed be a
likely candidate, given its current geopolitical place and closeness to
Afghanistan (along with the Turkmen leader, who seems to have quite a
reputation...)
The second option, a job, may also be feasible. In fact, she might even be
able to land a job with the US government. That is because the CIA
recently discovered that they do not have many people who speak the
languages in Afghanistan, and if I recall right, Turkmen are a large
portion of the Afghan population.
Finally, you may also want to look at whether her husband may also have a
chance of immigrating.
In any case, good luck! I know there are many people who want to
immigrate, far more than the US is willing to allow to come. So even
though she seems to have some sliver of hope, don't get your hope up quite
all that much.
All of that, of course, applies to the US. I can't tell you much about
Canada.
