Awaiting a 'peekaboo' arrival from Kosovo

A 7-year-old refugee from war-torn Kosovo and the mother he hasn't seen for nearly three years will be reunited later this month when Nizafete Veliqi steps off a plane from Germany and into the arms of her son.

"I'm going to surprise her," said the boy, Kurbin Miftari. "I'm going to go behind her back, tap her and say, 'Peekaboo!' "

She will arrive next Tuesday.

A humanitarian parole — a rarely used method to allow someone to enter the country who is otherwise ineligible — was authorized in July but wasn't officially granted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) until Friday.

For Veliqi, it was her only option.

Kurbin and his grandmother, Bahtije Osmani, 54, came here as refugees from the embattled Serbian province, but Veliqi lived as a refugee in Germany because she had fled Kosovo in early 1999 fearful of falling victim to rape or assault in her homeland's ethnically charged climate.

Because she was not in Kosovo during the NATO bombing in 1999, Veliqi was not eligible to come to the United States as a refugee. Osmani would have to become a U.S. citizen to sponsor her, and that could take years.

Since moving here with his grandmother, Kurbin has lived in four homes, including a homeless shelter, and has attended four schools. The grandmother struggles to cope with a new country and language, and her health is poor.

"Very good," Osmani said when she learned her daughter would be allowed to come to the United States.

The story has captured the hearts of local attorneys, a rabbi and members of Congress — U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, who intervened in Veliqi's behalf.

Attorney Steve Miller said he learned the humanitarian parole was being granted through World Relief, a humanitarian organization that aids refugees and worked on Veliqi's case. He said the parole was granted for "public interest and humanitarian reasons."

"We hit on that real hard," said Miller. "The U.S. doesn't want to separate families. Family unification converged with human interest."

Jim Mirel, rabbi at Temple B'nai Torah in Bellevue, has agreed to sponsor Veliqi. "If we can do something to get them together it will be a blessing," he said.

The parole, issued by the INS office in Rome, was granted for just one year, but Veliqi is hoping to stay here permanently, said Miller, who hopes to enroll Veliqi in English classes and help her get a job.

Susan Gilmore can be reached at 206-464-2054 or at sgilmore@seattletimes.com.