Iranian family hoping to reunite in Kentucky now dealing with pandemic roadblocks
and last updated 2021-02-03 18:56:26-05
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) â Fatemeh Alamdari has been fighting with the U.S. immigration system for years.
In 2014, Alamdari won the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery, a program established by the Immigration Act of 1990 which gives 55,000 immigrant visas every year.
The lottery granted visas for Alamdari and her two children, but not for her husband, Farshad Amirkhani.
It has now been six years since Amirkhani has seen his wife and children.
âHeâs missing days that we cannot replace. Heâs not with them to see how they grow, how they do. Heâs missing everything about them,â Alamdari said. âWe cannot replace being together with FaceTime.â
Updated Jan. 5
TAMPA â For millions of people living in the United States, itâs the most important test theyâll ever take.
And it just got harder.
Immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship must answer 12 out of 20 test questions correctly as of Dec. 1, double the longstanding requirement of 6 out of 10. That may not sound like a lot considering all thatâs at stake, but it reflects just a sample of what applicants must know to be confident of passing.
The 20 questions posed to any one individual are drawn from a list of 128, up from 100 before. Eighty-eight of the questions are new, reflecting a greater emphasis on civics. And as before, theyâre not multiple choice. Theyâre asked and answered orally during a naturalization interview.