This is the story if Aurelia, a mother who considers the US immigration system “a joke”.

"The immigration system is a joke", Aurelia. on PhotoPeach

• Aurelia left her native Romania looking for better opportunities; she wanted to be able to put her only daughter, Rodica, through college. Years have past and now as a US citizen living in Richland Hills, Texas, her only desire is to be able to be reunited with her daughter in the States. However, she feels that the US immigration system may keep her from being with her daughter for as many as 10 years.  This is why: in 2008 Aurelia filed a petition for alien relative (type F1) with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services department, as a US citizen it was important for her to bring her daughter the right way. But she never imagined the price she would have to pay for it.
• Dallas attorney Juan Carlos Peñaflor estimates that the State Department would not have a visa available for Rodica for another 7 years. He explained that there are a limited number of visas available every year for every type of visa, and that especially for petitions to bring relatives who are older than 21 years of age, like Rodica, the waiting period can be very long. Right now the State Department is processing the F1 visas filed back in May of 2004.
• Aurelia is aware of this but her frustration has grown because, she says, she calls every two weeks to check on the status of her case and she gets conflicting information. For instance, she called in October of 2010 and was told they were processing the visas filed in 2005, then she called in February of this year and she was told they were processing cases filed in 2004.  “This is a joke”, Aurelia told me.
• “Having to wait another seven years to be able to bring my daughter legally to the US would be devastating”, she said. She added that her daughter couldn’t have a normal life, because if she gets married, she said, she would have to start her immigration process all over again.
• Unfortunately there is not much else that Aurelia can do but to be patient and wait, said attorney Peñaflor. While the waiting period for visas for alien relatives of citizens of European countries and some Latin American countries seems very long, the case is even worst for Mexican nationals, Peñaflor said. The State Department is currently processing the visas filed in 1993, which means that those cases could take up to 18 years to be resolved.
• The only other alternative for Aurelia and Rodica to be together in American soil seems to have vanished too. Rodica applied for a student visa but was denied it. She was also told at the US embassies in Colombia and Romania that because she has a pending resident visa case, it is very unlikely that she can be granted a visitors visa.
• Unsure of why she was told this, I called the State Department to get an explanation. Via E-mail an official with the department explained the following:
• "Nonimmigrant visa applicants must demonstrate to a consular officer that they do not intend to use their visitor visa to remain indefinitely in the United States, and that they have the means and intention to pay all the costs associated with their stay in the United States.
  

  
  
• The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) does not automatically deny a non-immigrant visa (NIV) to someone with an immigrant visa (IV) petition pending.  However, as noted, all non-immigrant visa applicants must demonstrate they will not use the visa to remain in the U.S.  In general, having an immigrant visa petition on file, which implies a desire to immigrate, makes it much harder for the applicant to demonstrate this. "  
• For Aurelia having to wait seven more years is heartbreaking. She said the last time she saw her daughter in person was in December of 2001 when she left Europe. If she has to wait another seven years to be reunited with her daughter in the United States they would have spent almost 18 years apart.