Widow’s residency battle hits little snag

Widow’s residency battle hits little snag
By Natasha Lee, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Japanese widow of a slain Marine and new mother to the couple’s 2-week-old son faces another speed bump in seeking U.S. residency after the government denied her petition, saying the marriage wasn’t legal, her husband’s family said.

U.S. immigration officials said since the marriage by proxy between Hotaru Ferschke, 24, and Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr., 22, was never consummated, it was never official, the Marine’s mother, Robin Ferschke, said Friday.

Hotaru Ferschke’s application was denied in November, stalling her plans to raise the child in Tennessee, her mother-in-law said.

"How could they? It wasn’t by choice," said Robin Ferschke from her home in Maryville, Tenn. "It’s unbelievable."

Michael Ferschke, a team leader with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, had been in the Middle East about a month when the couple learned in May that Hotaru was pregnant.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60224



uhc comment:From a 1.14.2009 Stripes article: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=22663



Hotaru Ferschke cradles her son, Michael H. Ferschke III, at a Japanese clinic near Kadena Air Base on Tuesday. Michael was named for his father, a Marine sergeant who was killed in Iraq last August. He weighed 7 pounds, 8.8 ounces and was 19.7 inches long.

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