Call for Compassion

My name is Persida Ivan. I am a Canadian citizen of Romanian heritage and six of my eight siblings are naturalized US citizens.

In early 1991 my father joined my six siblings in the US and became a US citizen as well. We have attempted a family reunion and my sister from Romania was denied a tourist visa to travel to the US.
We decided that our father would apply for an immigration visa for her so that she may be able to travel to the US and visit with him at will, since he was unable to travel to Romania to see her.
Her immigration application was actually approved a few months ago but there are apparently no visas available yet.

In the mean time my fathers health has deteriorated to the point where on December 1st, 2009, he had to undergo brain surgery to remove a large tumour. Our oldest brother, also an American Citizen, is very sick, fighting stage four cancer.

Our sister from Romania has again tried to come to the US and visit with my father whom she has not seen in 17 years - and again she was denied, this time because she already has an immigration case file?!
She suggested that they close her existing application and simply be allowed to come as a tourist which is what she would have liked all along.
Still the answer was NO.

Our father has passed away on December 31st. Her last attempt to obtain a visa to be present at our fathers funeral has fallen on deaf ears.

She has three children, a husband, a home and an apartment in Romania beside shares in two other properties that we own collectively in Bucharest, however the consular officers have denied her request again, considering her at risk of overstaying her welcome failing to return to Romania. She has traveled to Sweden last year to visit our sister and returned to Romania.
She has no ulterior motives for wanting to come to the US other than for our fathers funeral. We have postponed the funeral for this reason.

Her name is Magdalena Constantin. Please join us in this effort to convince the American authorities by signing this petition.

A heartfelt thank you!