A bureaucratic glitch threatens a Dallas businessman’s visa renewal

Cannon Flowers, left, had to return to the U.S., leaving his partner, RafiQ Salleh, behind in Singapore earlier this year when the U.S. refused to renew Salleh’s visa because his name was the same as someone on the terrorist watch list.

RafiQ Salleh has always played by the rules. So imagine his surprise when this 10-year Dallas resident and business owner was denied entry into the United States because his name was on the terrorist watch list.

And picture the horror of living in limbo, not knowing when he would see his partner, what would happen to his North Dallas business or whether he would ever be allowed to come home again.

Salleh first came to this country 10 years ago with his partner Cannon Flowers, who is executive director of the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas Inc., a group that fights for immigration equality for partners.

“No amount of prep work could have prepared us for this,” says Flowers, talking about the three-month ordeal that followed the denial of the previously approved U.S. visa.

“For 12 years we have done everything to be legal,” says Flowers. “From a student visa to a practical training visa to an H1B, which is a three-year work visa that can be renewed once.”

This spring, the State Department approved Salleh’s E2 entrepreneurial visa. So with great excitement and anticipation, Salleh returned to his home country of Singapore with Flowers. Residency visas must be picked up at the embassy or consulate in the applicant’s home country. They combined the trip to coincide with a family wedding in June.

When Salleh arrived at the U.S. embassy in Singapore with his several-inch-thick stack of paperwork, he was shocked to hear the news. Homeland Security had flagged his name.

Security checks are the last step in approving a visa, not among the first.

Clearing his name could take a month, the embassy official told him. In the meantime, he would have to remain in Singapore. Salleh was told that he could inquire about his status in a month.

Flowers did a quick Internet search. Within 20 minutes he learned that his partner’s name was the same as a name on the terrorist watch list. However, that’s where the similarities ended.

While his partner was from Singapore, the person on the list was Pakistani, only 28 years old and already in custody. The RafiQ in question is Guantanamo prisoner number 495.

Salleh had no prior indication that there would be a problem. Although the name matched that of a Guantanamo prisoner and was on the terrorist watch list, it apparently did not appear on airline no-fly lists and he had never been prevented from flying.

Names are regularly added to the terrorist watch list. However, unlike the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List, names are not removed, even when the actual person in question is captured. In July, the list surpassed a million names, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

In June, Flowers returned to the United States and for the first time in their 12-year relationship they were separated. Salleh remained in Singapore, paid $250 to extend his return airline ticket and stayed with his brother, who still lives there.

He waited until after the July 4th holiday before inquiring again about his status. At that time he was told that the more he asked, the longer it would take.

Flowers says the cost of the airline ticket was the least. He estimates that they have spent more than $400,000 over the years to keep Salleh in the country legally.

Other countries such as Australia allow domestic partners to live permanently in their country. The United States allows a citizen to bring a legally married spouse here.

But even had Flowers and Salleh had the advantage of a California or Massachusetts marriage, Salleh would have still been denied entry because the federal Defense of Marriage Act prevents the U.S. government from recognizing those marriages.

Groups such as Immigration Equality and the Human Rights Initiative have championed the Permanent Partners Immigration Act now working its way through Congress as the Unifying American Families Act.

The act defines a couple as being permanent partners if they are over 18, in a committed, intimate relationship, financially interdependent, unable to be married and not a blood relation.

They have avoided framing the legislation as a gay marriage issue, however. Instead they cite examples such as Australia, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Israel where someone may bring a partner into the country.

The couple met 12 years ago at the swimming pool of the apartment building where they both lived. At the time, Flowers was international finance controller for Texas Instruments Singapore. Salleh was on the Singapore Police Force swim team and was finishing his national service. They dated for six months before they began living together.

In Singapore, Salleh helped raise Flowers’ son, who was 12 at the time they met and living with his father.

“My family considered them to be part of our family,” Salleh says.

Flowers’ last overseas duty was to sell TI Singapore to Micron. He decided to return to the United States with Salleh, who entered on a student visa to study at the Dallas Institute of Art.

After graduation, Salleh worked for an advertising agency and stayed in the U.S. on a practical training visa. That, in turn allowed him to receive two consecutive H1B work visas that each lasted three years.

The couple decided that the best way to keep Salleh in the country was with an E2 visa, which allows entrepreneurs who create businesses and jobs to stay. Salleh invested in a Chill Bubble Tea franchise in the Galleria area.

In June, after the visa was approved but withheld, Flowers returned to the United States to protect their investment and work with his attorneys at this end.

Salleh heeded the advise of the embassy and did not call about his status again. Flowers thinks intervention in this country by a senator, member of congress or major Washington law firm finally cleared his partner’s name in August.

Flowers describes the period of separation.

“Everything was frozen. Did I need to get on with my life? Move to Singapore? Move to Australia where RafiQ has a brother?”

In August, Salleh says, he got an e-mail. “Your process has been completed. Come to the embassy with your passport.”

On his final visit, he was handed his visa within 15 minutes.

Despite the difficulties they encountered, Flowers advises bi-national couples to work through the system. He says legal representation is crucial.

“Without representation, only 27-30 percent win. We win 82 percent of our cases, says Flowers, referring to his work at HRI.

“The process is purposely pretty complicated. The paperwork was so thick that they couldn’t get it through the window. They had to open the door to get it,” say Salleh and Flowers, finishing each other’s sentences.

As an example of roadblocks put in the way of the application process, Salleh says the forms must be printed from the Web site on 8 1⁄2 x 11 paper. But the standard size in Asia is A4. So in an age where airlines add an additional charge per bag, he brought reams of paper with him from the United States.

At the end of August, Salleh returned to the United States after paying the airline another $250 fee to reschedule his flight.

Questions remain about the approval process.

Why isn’t a security clearance performed as part of the procedure to grant a visa initially? Why are names not removed from the terrorist watch list once the suspect has been arrested?

In this case, are authorities afraid they have the wrong person, since the Guantanamo RafiQ has had no charges filed against him and has not had access to an attorney?

Salleh’s current E2 entry permit lasts for two years. Despite the delay in issuance, which in turn caused a delay in opening the business that is the basis for the visa, it expires in March 2010, two years from the date of application.

At that time, he will apply for another two-year visa or even permanent status if his business has become a financial success. After approval, he will take another trip to Singapore with another stack of documents, but hopefully his status as not a terrorist will have already been confirmed.




This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 19, 2008.