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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend August 3, 2005 Nelli Uteyeva and her husband, Wallace Kaufman, have been trying for three years to get visas for family members living in Kazakhstan. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Coming to America Southern Oregon couple lead the fight to change immigration law, bring relatives from Kazakhstan to America By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Wallace Kaufman has come face to face with a number of life’s little ironies lately. A staunch supporter of tough immigration laws preventing illegal aliens from entering the country, the 66-year-old Buncom resident has fought to change immigration laws that make it almost impossible for his Kazakhstani relatives to move to the United States. "This is a crazy law," said Kaufman. Kaufman and his wife, Nelli Uteyeva, have been trying for the past three years to bring over her 26-year-old daughter, Ulyana Seryankina, their son-in-law, Sergey Seryankin, also 26, and their 2- year-old granddaughter, Maria Seryankina. Advertisement "One day, God bless us, we’ll be together," said 51-year-old Uteyeva, who is still learning to speak English. Uteyeva and her 8-year-old son, Girey Uteyev, who was born in Kazakhstan, both are legal residents of the United States. Kaufman worked in Kazakhstan from 1993 to 1995 to help promote housing and land reform and married Uteyeva three years ago before she moved with him to America. Uteyeva would like her daughter and family to move to the United States because she thinks Kazakhstan is a dangerous place for them. "I feel more safely here," said Uteyeva. Kaufman said Sergey Seryankin doesn’t practice law in his own country because he can’t stomach the corruption and influence, known there as "po blaty." He said, "It is still not a country of law." In a letter he wrote to Congressman Greg Walden in September, Kaufman pleaded for a change in an immigration law that makes it difficult to bring relatives into the United States. "The unfairness is highlighted by more than a million uneducated, illegal aliens in the U.S., about whom we do nothing and for some of whom the president is considering amnesty," he wrote. Kaufman actively worked on the Bush campaign in Jackson County last year and has been told he resembles the president. His wife, on the other hand, finds politics "unpalatable," said Kaufman. He said his relatives are university educated and want to follow the rules, regulations and the law in order to enter this country. "This is the irony of the amnesty," he said. "What message does that send to the rest of the world?" Walden’s office responded that it would forward a copy of the letter to the Congressional Judiciary Committee, which has oversight over immigration law. Kaufman has written letters to immigration officials offering to accept all financial responsibility for family members if they come to the United States. "I was giving so many guarantees that they, in essence, didn’t accept my guarantees," he said. His daughter-in-law and granddaughter have sought temporary visas to visit the United States but were turned down because Kaufman said immigration officials fear they might end up staying here illegally. The U.S. Consular Office in Kazakhstan, explaining why it turned down the request for the visa, stated in an e-mail in August 2004 that "... every applicant for a non-immigrant visa is presumed to be an intending immigrant and therefore ineligible for the non-immigrant visa." On the other hand, his son-in-law did receive a temporary visa. Kaufman believes it’s because Sergey has a job in a print shop and a family back home and apparently poses less of a risk. "After his visit, he fell in love with America," said Uteyeva. Kaufman even wrote an affidavit on behalf of a Kazakhstani couple in Walla Walla, Wash., seeking political asylum in the United States. "The family later called me to thank me for having a big role in winning their asylum claim," he said. "Yet I can’t get our own kids and granddaughter into the country no matter what guarantees I supply for their well being." To this day Kaufman hasn’t seen his granddaughter, though his wife and son recently spent two months visiting Kazakhstan. Kaufman is hoping that his relatives will be selected during an annual immigration "lottery" in which 55,000 visas are handed out. However, the chances are low since Kazakhstanis were allotted only 244 of these visas for 2006. Kaufman and Uteyeva say they have talked to other Kazakhstanis who have found ways around the immigration laws. In some cases, a woman will marry an American man, get her citizenship, then get a divorce. Sometimes Kazakhstanis couples have gotten temporary divorces to marry Americans just so they can move here. But Uteyeva said her daughter’s Catholic upbringing would prevent her from divorcing. Also, Kaufman said, "Our family wouldn’t immigrate illegally anyway." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail Coming to America ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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