GEORGE F. LEE / STAR-BULLETIN
Honolulu businessman Peter Maharaj, right, looked over INS
amnesty applications that he had picked up for his wife yesterday
as others milled about and filed their applications.

Illegal immigrants
beat filing deadline

A federal law let them adjust
their status so they can
stay in the U.S.

---

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

A steady stream of illegal immigrants made their way to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's main office until closing time at 3 p.m. yesterday, sneaking in just under the deadline to have their stays legally extended.

The federal Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act allows illegal immigrants, who would be eligible for an immigrant visa through close relatives or employers, to adjust their status in the United States instead of returning to their home countries to apply for visas and risk being barred from coming back.

Immigrant visa petitions and applications for labor certifications had to be filed by midnight at the airport to be eligible for legal residency. Several people said that they had come to the United States legally but then let their work visas lapse.

Raymond Orbien, for example, had a valid green card when he came here in January, but it expired shortly after he moved to Honolulu. Although he knew he should renew it, "I forgot all about it," he said.

In February he married a U.S. citizen, who he hopes will be able to sponsor him so he can remain in Hawaii. Regaining legal status would allow Orbien to resume working as a laboratory technician.

"It's hard to get work when your work visa expires," he said. "Not much employers want to hire you."

Donald Radcliffe, district director for the immigrant service, said 15 applications were processed before the Ala Moana office closed yesterday, and he expected to see a few more at the airport by midnight.

Peter Maharaj did not need to apply for status adjustment himself but went to pick up applications for his wife, an attorney representing eight Fijians who overstayed their visas.

According to Maharaj, many Fijians studying in the United States let their visas lapse because the coup in their homeland last year left their immigration status uncertain. Rather than risk not being able to return to school, they just remained in Hawaii illegally, waiting for the Fijian government to stabilize.

"I think a lot of people used that as an excuse to stay here," he said.