Above: The children of a family whose protected status to work and live in the US is threatened made the sign asking the community to support their petition for visas to be renewed. (contributed photo)
Two years ago, I wrote about a family from Odessa Ukraine taking refuge in Southborough. Now, community members who helped support getting the families settled here are asking the public to sign a petition to help their efforts to get the family’s visas renewed.
Residents will be seeking signatures at the Transfer Station this Saturday, October 25th 9:00 am – noon. They will also be outside of Monday night’s Town Meeting at Trottier from 5:00 – 6:30 pm.
As I previously covered, the family fled to Poland after Russia attacked their city. They relocated to our town, with support from the community, after being issued Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Visas. The visas them to both live and be legally employed in the U.S..
[Editor’s Note: I’ve been asked to protect their anonymity on the internet. In prior stories, I noted that the names used were changed for that purpose. However, since the petition that people are being asked to sign will include their real names, I don’t want to cause confusion. So, I’ll simply avoid using any names in this post.]
An update on the family from their original “Team Odessa” host includes that the family has been happily living in Southborough and now lives in a rental home with both girls attending Southborough public schools. The girls are “doing very well with their English and have established great friendships with various classmates.”
Since I posted in 2023, their father successfully brought over all three of their dogs, and both parents found full time jobs.
Unfortunately, the temporary visas for the mother and daughters (who came over first) are scheduled to expire in late November.
Early this year the family applied to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for a renewal of their TPS visa, but “the USCIS has been very slow to process renewal applications”. If her visa expires, the mother will immediately loose her full-time job.
The family has also submitted an application through the court system for asylum “which could be a path to permanent residency in the US.”, but has yet to come through.
Supporters of the family are writing a letter to Southborough’s US Representative, Jim McGovern, to ask him to intercede with the USCIS, and expedite their visa renewal. Their hope is that collecting signatures from Southborough residents may help the family’s case.
Readers looking for more background on why the family moved to Southborough, can read my 2023 story here.
