Negotiations are under way between the 16-year-old Belarusian girl hoping to stay in the U.S. on a tourist visa and her government, which has sent an envoy to secure her return.
The details of those negotiations are private, both sides said. But Tanya Kazyra, speaking from her host family's Petaluma home Wednesday, said despite pressure from her homeland she still hopes to remain in the U.S. at least until her tourist visa expires Dec 25.
"I want to stay here," she said. "Right now for December, maybe later."
Her decision to stay with her host family in the United States rather than return to Belarus with the exchange program, Chernobyl Children's Project, sparked outrage in Belarus, a former Soviet country bordered by Poland, Ukraine and Russia.
Kazyra, who will be 17 on Dec. 14, was in her last year of eligibility for the program. The children's project brings children from areas affected by radiation released in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to radiation-free countries for respite.
The visa granted to her by the U.S. State Department is valid until Dec. 25, about 20 weeks longer than the program runs.
A San Francisco immigration attorney hired by her host family said Kazyra's extended stay is permitted by the U.S. State Department.
Belarusian officials disagree and have demanded Kazyra's return to Belarus.
"If she stays here it will create a very dangerous precedent for other kids," said Oleg Kravchenko, charge de affairs at the Belarus embassy in Washington, D.C., in a telephone interview Monday. "What family would send their child abroad if maybe they would not come back?"
Kazyra has visited the Zapata family of Petaluma over the past nine years. She has two host brothers, a 21-year-old Marine and a 5-year-old kindergartner, and an 18-year-old host sister. Her host mother, Debra Zapata, is a nurse and works some evenings while her host father, Manuel Zapata, works during the day.
In mid-July, the family learned that this would be the last summer they could spend with Kazyra.
"We all kind of imagined we had Tanya with us for another year, and then we learned that we wouldn't and she was crying for hours. That sparked more serious thought," Debra Zapata said.
Kazyra's failure to appear at San Francisco International Airport on Aug. 5 delayed the departure of the other children participating in the program by six days.
Since then, the Belarusian government has halted all student exchanges with the U.S.
The Zapatas said Belarus' response caught them by surprise. "Our purpose was to have her here physically to apply for another visa, a student visa, a work visa," Zapata said. "We didn't even know you had to go to Belarus and come back to do that. We just assumed we were getting an extension."
Kazyra has twice spoken to Pavel Shidlovsky, envoy of the Belarus ministry of foreign affairs, and is in contact with her grandmother, who is her legal guardian in Belarus.
Shidlovsky declined to comment Wednesday on his meetings with Kazyra and the Zapatas, the length of his stay or the purpose of his visit.
Those close to the discussions said various offers were being considered, including one that could allow Kazyra to come back to the United States after her return to Belarus.
Kazyra has started a home-school program with Zapata, who had hoped to enroll her in school but couldn't because Kazyra's tourist visa does not allow it.
Exhausted from late-night phone calls with her grandmother in Borisov, Belarus, as well as meetings with Shidlovsky, Kazyra said life at the center of an immigration nightmare was "really hard."
Kazyra's home life in Borisov is at the center of her lawyer's and the Zapatas' arguments for her continued stay in Petaluma.
"She has continuously experienced violent abuse and drug use by persons present in the household," attorney Christopher Kerosky said.
On day 16 of her visa crisis, Kazyra said she hoped people would understand her decision to stay in Petaluma.
"Maybe some people will understand, some nice people who have nice heart," she said. "Mean people probably not."
You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com.
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