Tanith !
Tanith Belbin, ice dancer extraordinaire and poster girl for expedited naturalization, finally made it to the Winter Olympics.
Along with partner Ben Agosto, they rocketed from sixth place into second where they go into Monday’s finale. One more strong outing, and a 30-year U.S. medal drought in the event could end.
Belbin, a Canadian until Decemeber 31, 2005, competed for the United States in numerous international competitions but could not skate for the U.S. Olympic Team without citizenship.
She grew up in Quebec, moved to Michigan with her parents in 1998, received her green card in 2002 and otherwise would have had to wait the full five-year period (until 2007) to apply for dual citizenship. From there it normally can take up to a full year for the application to be processed.
In the past year, thanks to the efforts of Washington attorney Barney Skladany and other influential supporters, Belbin saw that waiting period shortened drastically. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. Thad McCotter , R-Mich., co-sponsored legislation that would expedite the naturalization process for “aliens of extraordinary ability.”
Because she had medal potential on the ice, Belbin qualified.
More specifically, the congressmen found a way to expand a law that had already eased restrictions for qualifying applicants who had received their green cards in 2003 or later. Belbin and another skater, Maxim Zavozin of Russia, fell under this provision.
On Dec. 21, the Senate passed the Belbin Act as part of an amendment to an appropriations bill. Ten days later, hours before a deadline for Belbin’s application to be submitted, President Bush interrupted his vacation to sign the bill into law. (God bless George Bush!)
WoodWorking
For a moment I thought poster girl for “expedited naturalization” was a euphemism for breeding- hooyah!
But seriously, Neanderman should’ve posted this under “Olympic Committee pressures U.S. to give Carmen Diaz a spot on our skating team due to her outspokeness against the war”. You see the likeness?
Comment by kelluman — February 20, 2006 @ 1:30 pm
[…] Well second place is not so shabby, especially when you haven’t won a medal in over 30 years and having to insource to do so sits just fine with me. […]
Pingback by NeanderNews » Insourcing Pays! — February 21, 2006 @ 9:54 am
[…] CANADIAN Tanith Belbin, ice dancer extraordinaire and poster girl for expedited naturalization, finally made it to the Winter Olympics.. for the U.S. …. (neandernews) […]
Pingback by CaNN :: We started it. — February 24, 2006 @ 9:19 pm
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