Nok Kells still finds her situation befuddling. The U.S. government is paying military death benefits to her and her two children, but at the same time telling her she has no legal basis to remain in the country.

Now, at least, the Thai woman has a year to try to figure out what she should do.

Kells learned Monday that the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services has granted her deferred action, meaning that it will take no action on her case until March 2008.

Kells married U.S. naval officer Robert Kells in July 2005. This time last year, he was killed in a motorcycle accident in Wildwood. Advertisement

His death put a halt to her petition for permanent residency. If they had been married two years, the petition could have gone forward, according to immigration law.

The deferred action allowed Kells to renew her drivers license and extends to her two daughters, ages 11 and 17.

"I finally got my license," she said. "I can relax. There's less stress than before."

Chester Moyer, officer in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services office in St. Louis, said Kells should use the year to try to get a job. If an employer would petition the government on her behalf, it would be the first step in Kells becoming a permanent resident, Moyer said.

"She's got to play it smart and be careful," he said.

Kells' late husband's father, Tom Kells, has been helping her navigate the immigration system. "We would like to see her stay and her children finish their education," he said. PREVIOUS STORY
Woman's U.S. status in peril after husband's death

He said this weekend would be the first anniversary of his son's death. Robert Kells was a petty officer first class in the Navy.

He met his wife in Beijing in 2003 and was living in Wildwood working as a recruiter when he died. The accident occurred just a short distance from the couple's home.

Tom Kells said he and his wife, Karen, are Nok Kells' only support system.

"We were kind of thrown together because of our son's death," he said. "That is kind of the last attachment we have to our son."

What a sad situation. The poor woman becomes a widow and now she's got to fight for her and her children just to stay in the life she and her husband started together? That just doesn't seem fair.

just wrong on the part of the government. deporting a widow.

But it is scary thought for the beneficiary in general though. Let's face it, it could happen to ANY of us at any time...

true

Ditto

A good reason not to delay getting the AOS done. I hope everyone contemplating putting off the AOS filing reads this. If the AOS had been completed, she would be able to stay. Even if the residence was conditional, she could remove conditions as a widow without a problem. It is a great disservice to the immigrant to defer filing the AOS--it puts them at risk.

i posted this article from the st louis post-dispatch....and it could happen to anyone who has not gotten the conditions lifted...it is sad..........when the option given is to get an employer to petition for you as the main advice form uscis...

How tragic. It really pizzes me off to see such a disparity between people like Nok and illegal immigrants allowed tho flourish and thrive.

same here sister lisa...