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Mostly Cloudy Ukraine refugees want to stay with U.S. relatives, but can't
Suozzi asks president to fix ‘quirk in the law’
Galyna Semenkova held a large posterboarded photo of her daughter Kseniia Isaien’s wedding last July 17 in Ukraine. The photo is typical — an exuberant bride with her new husband, surrounded by their family.
Eight months later, the newlyweds are refugees on the run, seeking shelter from strangers in foreign lands. And Isaien’s family in Oyster Bay is powerless to bring the couple to the U.S. to live with them temporarily while the war rages on in Ukraine.
Jenya Semenkova, 36, Galyna’s older daughter, asked for help at a news conference on Monday at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Basilian Monastery in Lattingtown, arranged by U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi. Her mother and Jenya’s husband, Benjamin Schwartz, accompanied her. There are many Ukrainians on the North Shore, she said. But not everyone can speak up.
“We are a close family,” Semenkova said. “My younger sister is bouncing from country to country, and we can’t continue with our life normally because of what is going on.”
Her mother tried to hold back tears, but could not. “I feel bad — this is a terrible situation,” she said. “The only obstacle for us is for them to get a visa.”
But that’s impossible, because a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires that anyone applying for a tourist visa must show they have a residence abroad and plan to go back. Kseniia, 28, and her husband, Oleksandr, 33, fled Odessa the week the Russian invasion began, and can’t guarantee that they will be able to return to their home.
Suozzi wrote a letter to President Biden last Friday requesting his help to allow Ukrainian refugees to live with their families in the U.S. “The Administration could increase the refugee cap, set up a humanitarian parole program, or create a special refugee program,” Suozzi wrote. “There are currently 1,009,874 Ukrainian Americans living in the U.S. Many of them are willing to temporarily host their Ukrainian refugee family members until the war ends and Ukrainians return to rebuild their country.”
Semenkova said that the tourist visa application process is costly, and many documents must be completed before an applicant can even get an appointment at the U.S. embassy in Italy, where her sister and her husband are now. Semenkova paid for the application and completed the paperwork, but when the couple arrived at the embassy, they did not receive any help.
“The second the agent saw that they had Ukraine passports, he started crying,” Semenkova said. “He said he has family in Ukraine, and understood what my sister is going through. But he said he can’t give them the visa because of the situation in Ukraine.”
During the news conference, Semenkova FaceTimed with her sister and brother-in-law, who were in a car, driving through Italy. Asked how they were doing, Oleksandr said it was “a tense time.”
“We have no relatives here,” Kseniia told Suozzi. “We want to come to the U.S. just for a few months to be with our family.”
Noncitizens can stay in Europe for only 90 days, which concerns Semenkova. And she worries how her sister will communicate, she said, because Kseniia speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English, but not Italian.
Even so, Semenkova is grateful that they left Ukraine. “We forced them to leave,” she said. “They were in denial. The U.S. embassy had closed in Kyiv, which we took as a first sign it was serious.”
Although the Isaiens left, they didn’t take much with them, perhaps because they didn’t hear or see any of the signs of the invasion. Semenkova said that her sister has two pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, some documents and her dog. “They’ve been driving across Europe, sleeping in their car, God knows how many miles,” she said.
Semenkova said she never applied for a green card for her sister because the process takes seven to 10 years. Additionally, the card-holder has to live in the U.S. for six months of the year. Kseniia never wanted to live in the U.S., Semenkova said.
She is hoping that the U.S. government will create a temporary visa so Ukrainian refugees can come and live with their families. “They should be able to work and pay taxes until there is no war and they can go back home,” Semenkova said. “We aren’t asking for taxpayers to pay for my family’s stay. We will support them with everything they need.”
Suozzi said the existing visa requirements are a “quirk in the law,” and added that the situation in Ukraine is unique, and that refugees should receive temporary protection status, at the very least.
Deacon Andrew Kornelyuk, of the St. Josaphat monastery, said at the news conference that some of his cousins, an aunt and an uncle are unable to leave Ukraine. He has been able to communicate with them only by texting.
But Kornelyuk remains hopeful for his homeland. “We believe God is more powerful then evil,” he said. “I think we will overcome this tyranny. I feel like we need to keep our faith strong.”
Semenkova said that in addition to her sister and brother-in-law, her mother’s family is also in Ukraine. And the brother of a friend is fighting the Russians.
“It’s not just news to us,” she said. “It’s my heritage being destroyed. I don’t sleep well, and when I do, I am constantly waking up to check my phone. My mother sleeps with a phone in her hand.”
