David and Fatemeh Basch planned to be in their Land O Lakes home soon, but have been stopped in their tracks by the executive order banning people from 7 countries from entering the United States.
David is an American citizen. He has been working in India for the past few years. That's where he met his wife Fatemeh, an Iranian citizen who was in India to go to school. They got married in India a year ago and have been working on the immigration process for her for the past 11 months.
One of the final steps in the process is an interview at the American Embassy in Turkey. They traveled there this past week and were told this morning, that interview has been canceled. He was told his wife will not be allowed into the country.
"We've applied 11 months ago for the immigration process. We've completed all documentation. We've paid attorney's fees. We've paid all of the application fees. We've paid to travel here to Turkey. At this point in time we've basically just been thrown away." David said.
David says his wife's Indian visa is expiring because she finished school. If she goes to Iran, she believes she will be sent to prison for marrying an American. At this point, David says his options are limited. They're exploring a possible option of going to Canada for up to 6 months in hopes they can wait out the executive order and get into the United states.
The couple has already reached out to their congressmen to ask for assistance and an exception.
We reached out to Senator Marco Rubio's office, but have not heard back.
A spokesperson for Representative Gus Bilirakus says they're looking into the case.
