A comprehensive reform bill was introduced in the House Thursday, which would bolster border security and put most of the nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants on an eventual pathway to citizenship if they meet requirements such as passing a background check and learning civics and English.

Cannon, who has been Bush's point-man on immigration, doubts the bill will go very far, but that there are other comprehensive measures in the works with a better chance. They would couple enhanced border security with granting legal status, but not citizenship, to illegal immigrants and reforms to other areas of immigration law, Piccolo said.

While much of the focus of such reform has been on new guest worker proposals, Aaron Thorsted hopes lawmakers won't forget families such as his.

"I wish they would act, do something for people with a real reason to want to be in the United States," he said.

While the actual wait time for processing by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Guatemala shouldn't take longer than six months, the wait could be longer, said agency spokeswoman Maria Elena Garcia-Upson.

"The clock doesn't start ticking" until the consulate turns over the application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Upson said. And the consulate doesn't always immediately verify and turn over the paperwork.

The Guatemala office handles about 600 waiver applications per year, Garcia-Upsilon said. "It's a high number, but I wouldn't say it's out of the ordinary."

Johana Thorsted hopes her wait won't be much longer but believes that her application will be successful.

"Why would I want to be illegally in the United States when I have a husband and family and I don't have the papers to work or I don't have the papers to be there," she said. "That's why I came to Guatemala to get my visa."

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