*

BEAVERTON -- When Mario Vilela Orozco, 40, came to the United States from his native Peru in 2006, he wanted to make sure that, above all, he did it legally.

Since he was a boy, it had been his dream to live in the United States. When he got the chance to obtain a student visa and earn his master's degree in teaching from

he jumped on it.

For the past two years, Vilela Orozco has worked as a teacher in the two-way language immersion program at

on an H1-B specialty occupation work visa, which expired Friday. He is now an illegal immigrant for reasons that are mostly out of his control.

After reminding the school district for two years to update his visa, Vilela Orozco was fired in June for having improper documentation, then rehired and put on unpaid leave. Vilela Orozco said he was offered $3,000 – the original cost to update the visa – for his promise to resign quietly and not sue. Having not accepted the offer, Vilela Orozco says the school district now plans to fire him again, after which he likely will be deported.

"The district has decided to dismiss me rather than sponsor me," Vilela Orozco said in an email to The Oregonian, "and without any notice I find I am on the verge of being forced to leave the children I care about so much, the district I serve and the country I love."

Foreigners on H1-B work visas, which are valid for three years and renewable for another three, are only authorized to work for the employer who submitted the application. To legally change employers, a new application must be submitted. Otherwise that person is technically working illegally, even if the visa itself has not expired.

Maureen Wheeler, communications officer for the school district, declined to comment on Vilela Orozco's case but said the district doesn't deal with visas very often. During the past couple of years, "just one or two" people have been hired who are on visas, she said.

Vilela Orozco worked for the

in Clackamas after graduating from PSU in 2008. When he applied in 2010 to be a teacher at

in Beaverton, he explained his visa situation during each interview, he said. School officials hired him, made copies of his visa and promised to file the visa employer transfer application, he said.

After being hired, Vilela Orozco said he sent several email reminders about his visa to the school district's human resources department. Though the reminders went unanswered, he continued to work. Then on June 7, he received a letter of termination from the district, saying officials had recently become aware of his legal status.

Camellia Osterink, the school district's attorney, said in an Aug. 28 email supplied to The Oregonian by Vilela Orozco that he stated on his I-9 employment eligibility verification form that he is an alien authorized to work. However, he did not indicate the type of visa, when it would expire or that it required the district to transfer it from his previous employer, she said.

"... The employee failed to notify the district of his particular status and upon discovery, we were unable to bring him into compliance either in a timely manner or in good faith..." she said in the email.

Vilela Orozco protested, reaching out to the

union and his previous immigration attorney, Philip Smith. He found out that nothing could be done retroactively.

Guest workers who change employers are not supposed to begin working until the new employer has filed for a new visa application, Smith said. Vilela Orozco said once he had worked for the new school district, he violated the terms of his visa. Now the only way to fix it is to go back to Peru and start over.

"Once you fall out of compliance, it's real hard to get back into compliance," Smith said. "Does Immigration clearly tell you all this up front? Kind of – if you read all the fine print. But do you really read all that stuff? Probably not."

Vilela Orozco said he trusted that the school district had taken care of his visa paperwork, as officials said they would.

"They say no news is good news," he said. "I thought I was being a pain reminding them all the time. Beaverton has a huge Hispanic population. When they said, 'We have a lawyer who will take care of it,' I trusted them."

Vilela Orozco worked with attorney Patrick Bryant, who was appointed by the union to represent him. Through Bryant's discussions with school district officials, Vilela Orozco's termination was rescinded. He now remains on unpaid administrative leave.

"(The school district) agreed that it should not have terminated you in the manner that it did," Bryant said in an email to Vilela Orozco on June 19.

In the email, Bryant stated that school district officials told him Vilela Orozco was "slated to be laid off" before the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. The district also was unwilling to pay for a visa, even if a layoff wasn't likely, the email said.

Smith said it is difficult for employers and employees alike to understand every detail about immigration.

"Both parties are interested in keeping in compliance with immigration law, but neither is necessarily knowledgeable," he said. "... People make mistakes."

Smith said it can cost up to $5,000 to file a visa employer transfer application, though for a school district it would probably cost around $3,000.

In June, the school district offered Vilela Orozco that same amount in exchange for his resignation and promise to not sue the district. Because he refused to accept the offer, the district plans to terminate him again, according to an Aug. 27 email from Osterink to Bryant, the union attorney.

Beaverton attorney Herb Grey recently began looking into the case. Grey said he requested Vilela Orozco's personnel records so they can determine whether or not to take legal action against the school district.

"There are different perceptions of how he got to this point," he said, "and we're going to have to see what the documentation shows before we can appropriately evaluate which position is correct."

Vilela Orozco said he applied for a B-1 business visa two weeks ago so he can see his potential case through to the end. His documents have been received, he said, but he has not yet been given an answer.

If he is denied the business visa, he plans to go back to Peru to start his life over. He might apply for another master's program at PSU – if he can get a student visa. But everything is up in the air, he said, until he can somewhat settle back in the country he no longer knows and the culture he no longer feels part of.

"I feel frustrated," he said. "All these years I sacrificed things to become a teacher, to come to a place where they ruined my future. I go back and I have nothing. Life is much more difficult over there and it's going to be really hard to start over at 40."