Grant Rosaria Silva, my mother a returning permanent resident visa or a tourist visa. Whichever one reunites our family.

I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.My wife, and 2 kids are American citizens. 

 

In 2010 my mother, Rosária Silva (now 75  years old) was granted a permanent resident visa (green card) I had applied for her.

 

She moved in with us in the US. She's a retired public school custodian in Brazil. We have always paid for every meal and need of hers while under our care. She never had to start a US bank account. We provided for every need. Her financial ties to the US are family-related.

 

If proven ties to the US and proven medical records by law, the rest is interpretation on the part of the officer. And we would all like to refute this unilateral decision. 

 

Demcember 3 2019 we accompanied her to the US Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro to her returning resident visa interview (DS-117 form process). I walked in with her to the interview and witnessed the procedure. A side note: when people (including american citizens) visit the consulate they are greeted with the "no phones or smart watches allowed" sign which is fair granted the nature of the activities in the building, yet, no lockers are provided, and information about this before showing up isn't clear. One of the many inconveniences presented to citizens at the location.

 

My mother's visa was denied after a consular officer determined my mother had over the years stayed too long outside the US.

 

The process was highly subjective, disregarding within minutes the proof and honest truth we presented to the officer. My mother was treated with disdain and lack of the same humanity so-clamored for many other categories of foreign citizens in the US society and media.

 

Some of the questions asked included (recalled from memory and not precise):

 

1. Why did you start so long outside the US historically?

Answer: because she never contributed to Medicaid/Medicare nor did she qualify for my corporate family health care program as a dependent (hint: yet another issue to be fixed in the broken immigration system), she had to perform several follow-up doctor's visits to diagnose health issues she was having during her trips after 2010 (during which she stayed 7 months). The healthcare system she depends on in Brazil (IPSEMG) is public and quite inneficient, sometimes with months between different doctors' availabiltiy in schedule (a fact the US immigration officer didn't seem to know and simply disregarded with a: but you could have arranged these  the USvisits from in advance). This is disregard for honesty and lack of empathy at a minimum, the IPSEMG system doesn't work as simply as this suggestion implies, she had to coordinate with several doctors that have different availability during the year for depression, anxiety, and mainly her heart condition which wend undiagnosed for years. She had Chagas Disease for years and only in 2017 the doctors discovered it eventually attacked her heart. She is now in a course of "treatment" for is and in netee health, relatively, not needing all the visits she once needed. We narrowed down her treatment to one doctor who finally discovered this situation was causing her latest issues and should now only depend on one doctor for treatment which simplifies the process and requires less time outside the US.

 

Another aggravating factor for her stays in Brazil was that in 2018 my family and I went on an 18-month stay for work in Germany. She had no place to stay with her ~R$900/month salary on her own in the US for 2018 and 2019.

 

2. Why didn't you try the tourist visa?

Answer: because her intention was to live in the US until the health situation worsened. Prior to getting her the green card, we wanted her to see if she liked the US first. We had applied for a tourist visa for her with the intent of traveling with her, and, of course, introducing her to our family and town. It got denied on he grounds she had no finalcial ties to Brazil.

 

Further considerations: it is a shame when people's worth is measured in dollars, not in other forms. There are other ways to prove ties to a country such as family ones which went disregarded.

 

3. Does she have other ties to the US? Did she buy anything or have bank accounts?

Answer: No. She makes what's now equivalent to USD 200 monthly with her retirement. She is my mother. We take care of her every need. Why is this relevant when the officer is had already explained she would deny the re-entry permit? Is this to further humiliated my mother?

 

We presented family evidence like US photos over the years with my family (2 children, now 10 and 6 years old), which proved useless to the eyes of the officer, for instance.

 

The officer proceeded to recommend getting a tourist visa (we know was already denied once and likely would be denied again, my mother hasn't had any financial changes like winning the lottery or getting any inheritance). She also suggested applying for a green card again from scratch. 

How inhumane and deficient is this process?

1. My mother had her valid green card taken from her at the interview.

2. The officer had the opportunity to grant her a re-entry permit for that green card right then and there.

3. The officer chose to take that green card away from my mother, something we had earned as a family if IS citizens.

4. We would now have to apply for the same document that was right in front of us again, pay the fees, go through the wait, fo through the medical examinations again (which can be taxing on my elderly mother). Just for process's sake?

 

We ask that Congress and the Executive branch not only reevaluate immigration laws and procedures thoroughly as well as consider all aspects related to our case particularly (which exemplifies many of the flaws of our subjective and broken system(  try to being my elderly permanent reside mother back into the US to live with us.

 

We want my mom to live with us, especially now that she has finally figured out her health issue and has it under control and should be able to manage it with fewer doctor's visits in Brazil now with just one doctor needed.

 

Please allow us to come again as american citizens to explain the situarion further and have her re-entry granted.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

Enzo and the Silva family.