Together again
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Friday, July 13, 2007 | 
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner correspondent
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By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner correspondent
ROY -- Esin Sahin keeps pinching herself to make sure she's not dreaming.
An immigration deadlock preventing Sahin and her fiancé, Zeki Dönmez, from living out their love story in Utah has come to an end after a nearly three-year wait.
On June 13, Sahin traveled to Turkey to meet, yet again, with immigration officials. She had pretty much given up any hope that Dönmez would be granted a visa to come to the United States to marry her and create a home.
"I was ready to just move to Turkey and give up on everything," Sahin said. "When we got to the immigration office, the lady asked us a few questions, and within five minutes, he had his visa.
"I couldn't believe what was happening. I kept pinching myself to make sure I was awake and not dreaming."
On Monday evening, Dönmez arrived at Salt Lake City International Airport, and the couple embraced for the first time on American soil. They spent the following morning at the Social Security Administration office in Ogden. Dönmez also spent some time riding on his future brother-in-law's scooter.
Sitting on the couch at the home of Sahin's parents in Roy on Tuesday, the couple held hands, grinned and giggled, talking to each other practically nonstop in Turkish and exchanging a quick kiss every now and then.
"I'm happy to be here," Dönmez said through Sahin, who interpreted. "Everything is organized here, and everyone smiles at you. I want to learn English and go to work and go to school. I want to stay here, but I will go visit my family when I save enough money."
Sahin brought her wedding dress upstairs and took it out of the plastic sacks that have been keeping it clean and dust-free the past three years. The white satin gown with beaded embroidery looks as new as the day she bought it.
As she laid the dress on the kitchen table, Dönmez's cellphone rang. His parents in Turkey were already missing their son.
Dönmez and Sahin, who are third cousins, met at a family funeral in Turkey in 2004. After becoming engaged and having a large traditional engagement party, Dönmez began applying for a visa.
Embassy officials told him his application was denied because they didn't consider the couple's engagement to be valid, Sahin said. Even though he brought along a DVD of the engagement party, at which Sahin wore her wedding dress and they fed each other cake, officials told Dönmez they did not believe he wanted to come to America to get married.
"We were frustrated. We were doing everything upfront and honest and legal," said Sahin's stepmother, AnnMarie. "What a nightmare this has been for both Esin and Zeki. The total time lapse from the time of application has been two years and nine months."
Sahin, 27, emigrated from Turkey in 1996, several years after her father, Hasan. He and AnnMarie met at an American military base in Turkey and moved to the U.S. in 1991. Neither had problems getting into the country, Sahin said.
"They did not treat Zeki fairly," Sahin said. "If they had, he would have already been here three years ago. When we finally got the visa in June, the lady told us the whole reason it was denied was because we were relatives. ... Our three years went wasted, and it was miserable. ... We didn't see each other. We thought it wasn't going to take this long."
During the past three years, Sahin continued to fight for Dönmez, 26, to immigrate. She said she finally got the help she needed through Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.
"Congressman Bishop was a big help from the beginning. He wrote a letter of support to the immigration office on our behalf," Sahin said. "When we hadn't heard anything from Nebraska Service Center, he used his contacts there and found our papers had been mistakenly sent to the national record center and were sitting there for three months."
Sahin said if it weren't for Bishop checking on the case, the records would still be lost.
"Senator Hatch also wrote a letter of support for me and sent it to immigration, along with an e-mail to the embassy in Turkey," Sahin said. "They are both invited to the wedding, and we really hope they will come."
The couple has set Aug. 25 as a tentative wedding date.
However, the plane ticket Sahin needed to attend the immigration interview last month took all of the money she had saved for her wedding. She has her wedding dress, flowers and invitations and learned Thursday that Bogey's private club in Clearfield will give them free use of a reception hall.
Sahin and Dönmez said the long wait was frustrating, but they continued to trust in God.
"He knows what he is doing," Sahin said. "Everything happens for a reason, and you just shouldn't give up."
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