We received some unwanted news last week in regards to our Visa. I wanted to outline it here in hopes you would be praying with us for this situation that greatly affects our ministry here with Kona UofN.
As Canadian citizens, we are unable to procure a visa before entering the U.S, and must apply upon entry. The first time we crossed the border with our immigration letter from the UofN, immigration officials informed us that since the letter said we planned to stay for 2 years they had no choice but to treat us as "intended immigrants." We don't qualify for a business visa since we are only volunteers here, and we can't get a Religious Workers visa until we have been "associated with" the Ministry for two years. They allowed us to enter, but stamped our passports as valid for the standard 6 month visitor's visa waiver.
When we crossed the border again this past summer, immigration officials seemed even more hesitant to let us in. They strongly urged us to make this our last visit and again stamped our passports only until January 18th. This is a problem since our commitment to YWAM extends until June 2013.
Ryan met with YWAM's lawyer who handles their immigration "stuff" this week and she did not seem to have a lot of good news for us. We had wanted to apply for an "extension" to our current visa waiver that would allow us to stay until June 2012, when Molly is finished school. (At that point we had planned to return to Canada for the summer months so Ryan could possibly work to replenish our funds. We would then return for the September 2012 school which goes until June 2013.) Here is what we found out:
-the likelihood of getting that extension was less than we had thought.
-the Ywam lawyer is somewhat hesitant to apply now for that extension, and encouraged us to wait until December to apply, citing that it often takes them a few months to process the application and that would give us a few extra months after January to stay while we wait for an answer.
-If we do wait until December, and it takes a few months: if our request was denied we would have 3 days to leave the country.
Another long term staff told us we may qualify for the Religious Workers' Visa on a technicality since we initially came to SBS in April of 2009...and when we went back to Canada we were pretty certain we would be returning as staff. One could make the case that we returned to Canada to make preparations for our long term commitment and raise funds, thus we were still "associated with" YWAM.
The YWAM lawyer said unequivocally "no" to that possibility. She is unwilling to explore that option.
We are not pleased with the uncertainty of waiting until December to apply. If we cannot get an extension to our visa and have to return to Canada in 2012, we would prefer to make that transition in January for the sake of our kids - mostly Molly and her school.
This is a frustrating and unsettling situation for us, but we fully believe that if God has appointed this path in our lives, He will open the necessary doors. Our desire is to fulfill our two year commitment here in the SBS ministry. We also would love to see Molly finish out the school year in her Kindergarten class. It is the BEST place for her this year and I would be disappointed if she had to change schools mid-year. God knows all these details. We appreciate those of you who would commit to praying over this area of our ministry as we wait to see the outcome.
Thank You!
No comments:
Post a Comment