Suing for citizenship

[Reno.Muse]

Even before you meet her, she cries on the phone.

Dagmar Adiba Schiefer is one of at least 330,000 people across the nation who are standing in the proverbial line to become residents or citizens, but can't because the FBI hasn't completed its name checks.

Actually, Schiefer belongs in the third of that group who have been waiting longer than a year - and among a growing number who have sued the federal government.

But the letter never came. Her life is now hobbled in a way Schiefer, a permanent resident for decades, never would have imagined while growing up in Las Vegas.


She now is in the third year of a long-distance relationship with her husband, Kanwaljeet Singh, a native of India. Petitioning for him to join her before she becomes a citizen could take five years, whereas the move would be a matter of weeks once she gets sworn in.

Instead, they talk on the phone daily, see each other on webcams.

And the 43-year-old medical billing supervisor cries on the phone to strangers.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2007/nov/30/566619750.html