Marriage by proxy don't mean squat

[Bucky]

Hotaru Ferschke just wants to raise her 8-month-old son in his grandparents' Tennessee home, surrounded by photos and memories of the father he'll never meet: a Marine who died in combat a month after marrying her from thousands of miles away.

Sgt. Michael Ferschke was killed in Iraq in 2008, leaving his widow and infant son, both Japanese citizens, in immigration limbo: A 1950s legal standard meant to curb marriage fraud means U.S. authorities do not recognize the marriage, even though the military does.

Ferschke and his bride had been together in Japan for more than a year, and she was pregnant when he deployed. They married by signing their names on separate continents and did not have a chance to meet again in person after the wedding, which a 57-year-old immigration law requires for the union to be considered consummated.

"She is being denied because they are saying her marriage is not valid because it was not consummated - despite the fact that they have a child together," said Brent Renison, an immigration lawyer in Oregon who has advised the family.

Hotaru Ferschke and the baby, Michael "Mikey" Ferschke III, are staying for now on a temporary visa at the home of her parents-in-law, in the Smoky Mountains town of Maryville. Robin and Michael Ferschke Sr., who are fighting for their daughter-in-law to stay, have emblazoned their son's picture on everything from a blanket draped on the back of the couch to a waving banner on the fence outside.

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[Samurai_Jerk]

The couple were together about 13 months before he left for Iraq in April 2008. He had proposed and they were trying to conceive a baby before he deployed, Hotaru Ferschke said.

Irresponsible bitch.

[xenomorph42]

Irresponsible bitch.

More like a mentally malignant bitch!

[Zeth3D]

Robin and Michael Ferschke Sr., who are fighting for their daughter-in-law to stay, have emblazoned their son's picture on everything from a blanket draped on the back of the couch to a waving banner on the fence outside.

what exactly does putting his face on everything accomplish? Are they selling commemorative plates too?

[canman]

"He had proposed and they were trying to conceive a baby before he deployed, Hotaru Ferschke said."
Doesn't that mean that they were f#cking like rabbits before he was deployed. I always thought the line that they were trying to conceive, was for older married couples who were desperate to have a child before their biological clocks timed out, not 22 year olds.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

You're being pretty heartless. Whatever motivation he/she/his parents had, the fact is you've got a sad situation of a young mother with a baby and a couple grieving over the loss of their son.
I hope things work out for all of them...they're going through some pretty tough stuff.

[Greji]

You're being pretty heartless. Whatever motivation he/she/his parents had, the fact is you've got a sad situation of a young mother with a baby and a couple grieving over the loss of their son.
I hope things work out for all of them...they're going through some pretty tough stuff.

I'm with you on that Hair. I wonder if she had the sense to enter his name on her koseki, or make the attempt. If he appears as the father of the child on the koseki, even if she didn't get the marriage listed, she's got a pretty good case.

[D chama]

Yeah, i'd say she is a fucked nihonjin. That law really needs to change. It's good she's getting the $250,000 - $400,000 from the military for her loss though, so

[BO-SENSEI]

In these extreme and rare cases, it would be pretty heartless of the United States to kick this woman and her child out of the country, especially considering the father of the kid died fighting for the country. I say let them stay.

[canman]

Story just made it to the front page of Yahoo. Might be a bigger issue than I thought.

[Ketou]

If there's one government agency that can be placed in the anal-retentive fucktard basket it's immigration....

[American Oyaji]

If there's one government agency that can be placed in the anal-retentive fucktard basket it's immigration....

Immigration in the U.S. AND Japan

[Ketou]

Immigration in the U.S. AND Japan

Doesn't matter what country.

[Kuang_Grade]

I might just be a tad old fashioned, but somehow requiring two people to be in the same room at the same time a marriage takes place doesn't strike me as overly onerous for USCIS to require. Granted the military life can be more complicated than others, which is why the military is recognizing the marriage, but that doesn't mean the rules don't have a good reason to be in place.

[MarkD]

They are trying to have a private bill passed in Congress to help her. I am fairly certain it will pass, but Congress really ought to amend the law.

I know from personal experience, in an easier time, that the military and both governments put a lot of obstacles in the way of someone in the military wanting to marry a Japanese woman. I can attest that it's doable, but not easy.

I wish her the best.

[Dragonette]

They are trying to have a private bill passed in Congress to help her. I am fairly certain it will pass, but Congress really ought to amend the law.

I know from personal experience, in an easier time, that the military and both governments put a lot of obstacles in the way of someone in the military wanting to marry a Japanese woman. I can attest that it's doable, but not easy.

I wish her the best.

Me, too.
So, maybe that's why they were trying to conceive a child]Sayonara[/URL], but I didn't realize that the military was still that "protective". Some of the messages on the IMDB board are worth reading, too:

A quote from one message:
Sayonara is a relevant film today. The military has always butted in to the personal lives of its personnel in ways no civilian employer could get away with legally.

This may sound a little naive but aren't these men supposed to be fighting for personal freedom, including the right to personal "errors of judgment" if it comes down to that.
(I've made plenty of those, and I'll always be glad that there was no one there to stop me...)

[American Oyaji]

Back in the 90's I had to have my commander's permission to get married.

[BULL]

Back in the 90's I had to have my commander's permission to get married.

You still have to get your commander's signature but there is also a ton of paperwork and offices that have to be visited, just to get permission to marry, the marriage itself is another set of paperwork. I had a friend who took his J-wife to the states to get married because he thought he found a 'loop hole'. Too bad Japan didn't recognize the marriage, so he had to come back and do the paperwork anyway. My wife and I had to wait about 4 months to get permission to marry from my command (and the commander signed it the first day), pain in the butt...

[BULL]

This may sound a little naive but aren't these men supposed to be fighting for personal freedom, including the right to personal "errors of judgment" if it comes down to that.
(I've made plenty of those, and I'll always be glad that there was no one there to stop me...)[/QUOTE]

Same thing goes to the whole drinking thing. A soldier (sailor, marine, airman) can die for thier country at as young as 17 (god forbid) but they can not drink a fucking beer?

Also, it's true that we really have no privacy because our chain of command can legally inspect our barracks at any given moment, with or with out justification (it falls under morale calls). I was taking a shit one time, came out of my bathroom (luckily dressed) and my commander and first sergeant were standing in my room, yelling at me for being there while they were inspecting, it's my fucking room (bathroom failed the inspection by the way)! Luckily I haven't had to live in the barracks for a few years. My airmen told me it's gotten better and it's very rare for an 'unannounced' inspection.

[American Oyaji]

BULL, I used to live in Bldg 671 across from the Rec Center. One Saturday morning, the First Shirt walked into the barracks and I was in bed with a female...He walked around the corner, saw us, girl shrieked and he about faced, just saying, "As you were..." and walked out and never commented on it.

And as for getting the permission, after GETTING the permission, there IS a ton of paperwork as well as an OSI investigation, which I think the commander had to sign off again on. Our investigation only took about 30 days since she was a Japanese national. My buddy's took 3 months, by which time, the girl had left Japan to go back to Malaysia.

[Greji]

And as for getting the permission, after GETTING the permission, there IS a ton of paperwork as well as an OSI investigation, which I think the commander had to sign off again on. Our investigation only took about 30 days since she was a Japanese national. My buddy's took 3 months, by which time, the girl had left Japan to go back to Malaysia.

The truth of the matter now is that where a military commander could actually deny permission to marry, he could not legally prevent it.

Actually, in the days immediately following WW II, the US Military had a policy of no fraternization which included an inquiry of all prospective spouses. The search then was to prevent Commies, hookers, TB carriers, etc., from entering the US, as well as being some good old red neck predjudice. During the early 60's with all the civil rights changes taking place there was an attend to do away with the "pre-marital" investigation, but it was thought better to keep it in place. The reason is that this so-called investigation process satisfied all the paperwork required for an immigrant visa to the USA and a green card. The military realized that if left to their own initiative, a lot of the young military people would not get the processing of their spouses visa and they would have a problem trying to move families to the states. This would obviously cause moral problems and effect the mission (even though it would have been the GI's own fault). When the investigation was complete after the CO had signed it, you took the whole package to the embassy and filed it for the visa. By the time you are ready to ship-out to the states, your wife's visa is a handstamp. I went through that process and my wfe received her actually green card within 30 days of arriving in the states

The whole process only took from two weeks to a month and a half in those days, depending on how long it took the J-police to return the police check and this was based on where the prospective spouse's home of record was located. The JNP would forward the request to the home of record PD in the boonies and they would issue the police clearance.

I know tons of GI's who used to bitch about this process and had no idea it was the best thing the government could do for them and their new wife. Just check out some of the threads on FG about the problems and time length in getting immigrant visas for their spouses and/or green card time lengths for non-military people.

[BULL]

BULL, I used to live in Bldg 671 across from the Rec Center. One Saturday morning, the First Shirt walked into the barracks and I was in bed with a female...He walked around the corner, saw us, girl shrieked and he about faced, just saying, "As you were..." and walked out and never commented on it.

And as for getting the permission, after GETTING the permission, there IS a ton of paperwork as well as an OSI investigation, which I think the commander had to sign off again on. Our investigation only took about 30 days since she was a Japanese national. My buddy's took 3 months, by which time, the girl had left Japan to go back to Malaysia.

American Oyaji,
Wow, I can't even imagine the amount of paperwork you would have to do to marry someone other than an American girl or a J-girl...

Awesome First Shirt by the way!

[BULL]

The truth of the matter now is that where a military commander could actually deny permission to marry, he could not legally prevent it.

I have never heard of any commanders not signing off on any marriages to J-girls but I can imagine that it does happen. As all of you prior military guys know, you could still get married but with out the paperwork you would end up not getting paid the additional money that married people get as well as not being command sponsored. Meaning that when you leave Japan, you would have to cover the costs of your wife's transportion. Also, your wife would not be able to get an ID card, use the base MPF to file for her visa (which is cheaper) and etc.

Again, I have never heard of anyone not getting the CO's permission (atleast not at Misawa).

Greji, I agree with you 100% and I believe that GIs should not bitch because we get a shit load of perks. Even now, we have a website dedicated to helping just GI's with thier passport/visa questions, submissions, and etc. I was able to get my son's American passport/SSN/Birth certificate in a matter of weeks and with no charge, can't beat that!

[American Oyaji]

American Oyaji,
Wow, I can't even imagine the amount of paperwork you would have to do to marry someone other than an American girl or a J-girl...

Awesome First Shirt by the way!

You know, I once thought that he was a jerk, but the commander harassed me and the Shirt never did. That told me a lot and that what came down on me, he didn't agree with.

[Kanchou]

On another note, apparently marrying a foreign national can WRECK your ability to get security clearances. I'm surprised as many service members can stay in their jobs after finding war brides as they do...


At the very least, it's not a great idea to date/marry/bang foreigners *before* you attempt to apply for a Top Secre/TS-SCI/etc job, or officer training...

[(1VB)freels]

On another note, apparently marrying a foreign national can WRECK your ability to get security clearances. I'm surprised as many service members can stay in their jobs after finding war brides as they do...


At the very least, it's not a great idea to date/marry/bang foreigners *before* you attempt to apply for a Top Secret/TS-SCI/etc job, or officer training...

I have a secret one and I am married/divorcing a JN (Japanese National). The Navy doesn't seem to mind it.. I have it for about 5 more years. Then we'll see what she has to say about me in the next interview!!!!

[Mulboyne]

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

....She was already pregnant with his child, but he died in combat before they were reunited. Their marriage was not considered valid under immigration law because the marriage was not consummated.

....Another miracle!!!

I'm surprised that the Land of Intelligent Design wouldn't look favorably on this. When it comes down to it, the Holy Virgin conceived Jesus in the Biblical equivalent of a telephone call and he must have been able to get a visa because he was running in and out of Egypt as an infant while Herod was trying to kill all the baby Jew boys.

Still...feel sorry for the missuz here. Knocked up in a shotgun wedding and then koitsu killed in the line of duty. She deserves a lucky break because it don't seem like she's had too many so far.

[Greji]

Still...feel sorry for the missuz here. Knocked up in a shotgun wedding and then koitsu killed in the line of duty.

That should be soitsu wa killed in LOD...

[Taka-Okami]

She deserves a lucky break because it don't seem like she's had too many so far.

Why would it be a lucky break to be able to live in the US at the moment?