<a href="https://www.instagram.com/muath_edriss/" target="_blank">Muath Edriss</a>, a Syrian musician and a migrant under temporary protection in the US, played music and sang Arabic songs at the White House two months ago during a reception marking <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2023/04/01/biden-marks-beginning-of-arab-american-heritage-month/" target="_blank">Arab-American Heritage Month</a>. He sang <i>The</i> <i>Star-Spangled Banner </i>– the US national anthem – translating the lyrics into Arabic. He says he is the first to have done it. “It was a beautiful and amazing experience,” Mr Edriss tells <i>the National</i>. He also composes his own music and plays the oud, the six-string instrument popular in the Levant. It is marked by its ability to play quarter tones, a unique characteristic of Arabic music. “When we play oud, we hold the instrument and it's very close to the heart,” he says. “You speak with your instrument and sometimes it expresses what you want to say but can’t say. “I'm very lucky to play this instrument.” Like many Syrians displaced due to the civil war in their homeland, Mr Edriss has been living in limbo for more than a decade – and he sees little way out. While on a trip to the US to visit his sister in Virginia, Mr Edriss received an email saying that his work contract in the Gulf would not be renewed. With the war raging back home, he had no choice but to stay. “There was no place for me to go – I couldn’t go back to Syria, because things were crazy, and I couldn’t go back to the Gulf, because I had no job,” he said. Soon after that, he applied for Temporary Protection Status, a US programme that allows people to stay in the country if they are from nations deemed unsafe to return to because of war, natural disasters or other crises. It allows those who qualify to work and be exempt from deportation. The US has been renewing TPS designation for Syrians every 18 months since March 2012, citing the ongoing civil war, the large-scale destruction and the mass displacement of civilians. About 7,000 Syrians hold TPS status. The current designation runs through March 2024. Roughly 670,000 people from 16 countries are registered for TPS in the US, or are eligible for it, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The list of countries includes Yemen, Somalia, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/afghanistan" target="_blank">Afghanistan</a>, South Sudan and Sudan. But TPS recipients are not eligible for permanent residency or US citizenship unless an employer sponsors them or they marry American citizens. In addition, TPS holders are only allowed to travel out of the country with prior authorisation, called advanced parole, a cumbersome process. On his first day in office, President <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/joe-biden" target="_blank">Joe Biden</a>, a Democrat who pledged to modernise the nation’s immigration system and be more welcoming towards migrants, asked Congress to pass legislation that would make TPS recipients eligible for permanent residency. But that effort has stalled amid deep partisan divisions over immigration. TPS holders’ legal standing is further complicated by delays in processing. In May last year, Mr Edriss applied to renew his status, but his new credentials have not yet been issued, meaning he cannot travel out of the country. Born and raised in a musical family, Mr Edriss sings and plays classical Arabic songs as well as modern ones at cultural events, concerts and private parties, mostly in Washington, Maryland and in Virginia. “I breathe through music. The thing is, I started working in a telecoms company and I was doing great, but I wasn't happy,” he says of his decision to quit his job and do music full time soon after he arrived in the US. But not being able to travel freely has meant that Mr Edriss has had to forgo performing at concerts and other events abroad. Recently he had to say no to an opportunity to perform in Canada. “It's a big hassle for us – we're musicians, we're like birds, we travel, we migrate,” he said. Mr Edriss feels that he currently has few options to secure permanent status in the US amid the unlikelihood of the Syrian civil war ending any time soon. “I think we deserve better treatment, whether we like it or not. We have become a part of this nation and a good part,” he says. “The Syrian crisis is 11 years old now, and it has to stop somehow, some way. “I wish that this mayhem will end soon, inshallah.”
