The 1994 Cuban Migration Accord negotiated by Washington and Havana to try to create a steady flow of legal immigration set a maximum of 20,000 Cubans who would be given visas to come here legally each year.

In 1996, the statistical yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service counted 26,466 Cubans as immigrants. They included 1,341 immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, 1,966 other family-sponsored immigrants and 22,532 as refugee and asylum adjustments. Some of those in the latter group probably arrived as lottery recipients in 1995, INS spokesman Russ Bergeron said.

Under the lottery, 5,400 people were approved to travel in 1995, 7,500 were approved in 1996, 8,700 were approved in 1997, and 7,500 have been approved so far in 1998.

In 1994, the year of the huge rafter crisis, 9,149 were admitted to the United States as humanitarian parolees. A year later, 28,139 arrived, many as a result of the emptying of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, where rafters intercepted at sea where held.

Maria Dominguez, an immigration advocate with the Human Rights Institute at St. Thomas University in Miami, says people who come ashore and argue they were entitled to immigrate -- but were too impatient to wait -- probably don't understand the rules.

Perhaps they had their names picked in the lottery, but had not yet had their cases adjudicated or even completed their interviews. Or, she said, perhaps they have kin here but their relatives are too distant to give them preference -- or their close relatives are not U.S. citizens, which also slows the process.

Family reunification, Dominguez said, ``takes the same time as for any other nationality. It's the same chart, the same rules, the same regulations. What I have found is that a lot of Cubans were not really aware this was available to them.''

The case of a Cuban American who wants to bring a minor child, spouse or parent ``shouldn't take more than eight to nine months,'' after a valid Affidavit of Support is provided.

Cubans here who have not obtained citizenship but hold green cards can similarly petition to bring their spouses and single children under 21 to the United States, but the wait, Dominguez said, takes three to five years -- like any other green-card holder in America. If their children are over 21 years old, she said, the wait is five to eight years.

Cubans on the island may also be confused about their eligibility, she said, because, when family members apply in the United States to sponsor someone there, they get a letter -- even before the procedure has been completed or approved. So if a Cuban in the United States files to sponsor, but has not yet submitted an Affidavit of Support, the relative on the island gets a letter of notice and an invitation to come to the Interest Section for an interview -- but not for approval to immigrate.

Dominguez received a call Wednesday night to come to Virginia Key. There, she found 14 boat people -- eight men, three women and three children -- in the custody of border police, and eventually bound for the Krome Detention Center.

As a lawyer, she advised them of their rights and asked why they had come illegally.

``I said, `Welcome to the land of liberty.' How come you didn't go to the U.S. Interest Section in Havana?' '' she said. ``Remember, these are people who are very disoriented. But they said, `We didn't know about it.' ''