It's been two years since 43-year-old Tetiana and her family immigrated to the Dayton area from the war-torn city of Kehrson, Ukraine.
Her family wants to stay in the U.S. for their safety but they they have struggled with red tape through the process.
Tetiana lives in an apartment in Kettering with her husband and two teens. WYSO is keeping her last name confidential because she fears for her family’s safety.
They moved here in 2024 to escape conditions in their hometown two miles from the Russian occupied side of the river.
Tetiana and her translator Anastasia Nagle spoke with WYSO in the living room of her Kettering apartment in July, sharing details about her journey to the U.S. during the war against Russia.
“Tetiana moved to the west of Ukraine at first when the war started while her husband was fighting in the war and then he got injured and they moved here right afterwards," Nagle said.
The family moved here legally through a two-year renewable admission program called parole which is granted to immigrants on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons.
Tetiana received initial approval for her parole but the rest of her family is still uncertain of their status.
In addition to applying for re-parole every two years, each working-age immigrant must separately apply for work permits.
Her family initially received those when they came to the country and avoided utilizing benefits given to them upon arrival.
“Her husband went to work right away, two weeks after he arrived here," Nagle said. "And once Tania had her kids settled, she went to work as well two months later.”
But renewing parole and work permits every two years is not so straightforward.
Delays and Setbacks with USCIS
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is the administrative agency that reviews parole and work applications.
It received nearly 5,000 applications for “parole in place” from people across the globe just between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2026.
Sometimes approval for those applications can take up to 16 months, putting immigrants in a difficult place while they try to work and live in the states.
"America welcomed us, and it was a difficult process getting here and getting settled and starting anew, and now being able to work is so difficult," Tetiana said. "People are afraid to come outside and they don't want to be dealt with by ICE."
In addition to long wait times, applicants must pay around $1,000 for parole and $280 in fees for a separate work permit.
While her family filed on time in January and paid those fees, Tetiana said they have been waiting almost eight months for their parole re-approval.
Even after waiting for the results of their applications, she said USCIS claimed they never received her payment, even though she has receipts.
“Going back to Ukraine isn't an option for many and for most and going to Europe is also a lot of programs that have closed and so these people are in limbo. There is no place to go," Nagle said.
A 'gentle deportation'
Heather Campbell is an immigration attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality. She said other Ukrainian immigrants are dealing with similar issues.
Their office worked on about 20 Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, and 10 re-parole cases for Ukrainians last year and she has found that delays are common.
“That's just a USCIS issue in general, too, with processing the payments and sometimes requesting or returning the applications and saying there's no proof of payment provided with this," Campbell said.
Tetiana said she has heard others in the same boat as her family call this process a "gentle deportation."
“They keep some people in suspense, in this limbo for a year or more, meanwhile people cannot work and so cannot pay to live and are forced to leave," Nagle said.
If their paperwork is not processed in time and they are also forced to leave, Tetiana said she is unsure what they would return to or if their former apartment is even standing.
Nagle said her own family is currently suffering through living in Ukraine.
"People die in Kehrson every day, every single day," Nagle said. "My aunt lives in Kehrson as well. She's blind, she's alone, she lives alone, her husband died, she's in horrible conditions."
Seeking Help from Congress
USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement that "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is actively processing discretionary re-parole cases, including those for Ukrainians, on a case-by-case basis as the law intends. Under this administration, all aliens are undergoing intense screening and vetting to better protect the safety and security of the American people."
Campbell said they encourage Ukrainian immigrants seeking parole to provide as much evidential proof of urgent humanitarian need as possible for their stay in the U.S.
“Whether it's news articles, letters, messages from people back home, photos, personal stories, showing your ties to the United States and things like that," Campbell said.
According to Campbell, some Ukrainian immigrants have had some success working with congressional representatives to expedite their application process.
"There's so many backlogs for so many application types at USCIS right now. It's hard to speculate the reason," she said. "But I've seen it before where one person has received a work permit and the rest of the family has been stuck waiting for over a year."
Tetiana and her family reached out to the office of Dayton's U.S. Rep. Mike Turner in June in hopes of speeding up their application process.
Turner has supported extending immigration programs like TPS, but Tetiana said staff at Turner’s office said nothing could be done for her family.
Turner’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“We provide our documents. Why does it have to be so stressful," asked Tetiana. "Why do we have to have so much fear and so much stress and make all these phone calls to senators? Why does that have to so complicated when it's really actually so simple?"
