Stars and Stripes
Widow’s residency battle hits little snag
Officials: Proxy marriage never consummated, therefore it’s not official
By Natasha Lee, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Japanese widow of a slain Marine and new mother to the couple’s 2-week-old son faces another speed bump in seeking U.S. residency after the government denied her petition, saying the marriage wasn’t legal, her husband’s family said.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"U.S. immigration officials said since the marriage by proxy between Hotaru Ferschke, 24, and Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., 22, was never consummated, it was never official, the Marine’s mother, Robin Ferschke, said Friday.
Hotaru Ferschke’s application was denied in November, stalling her plans to raise the child in Tennessee, her mother-in-law said."
&
"Michael Ferschke, a team leader with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, had been in the Middle East about a month when the couple learned in May that Hotaru was pregnant.
The couple were married by proxy July 10 during Michael Ferschke’s deployment in Iraq.
One month later, Michael Ferschke was killed during door-to-door searches in a town north of Baghdad.
The couple’s son, Michael "Mickey" H. Ferschke III, was born Jan. 7 at a Japanese clinic near Kadena Air Base."
"Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, marriage by proxy must be consummated to be recognized for immigration purposes, said Kevin O’Connor, a consular officer at the U.S. Consulate in Naha.
Approval for such visas and green cards is granted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he said."
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NOTE: See a subsequent article here for a happier update.
