LOS ANGELES - Seven years after 71 Thai workers were freed from virtual slavery in a Southern California sweatshop, they have permission to live permanently in the United States.

The workers, who were allowed after trial proceedings to remain on special visas provided to witnesses whose testimony could endanger their lives, were recently notified by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of their new legal status.

"I am happy, happy, happy," Sirilac Rongsakare said outside a South Los Angeles garment factory where she now works.

No longer will she have to worry about traveling to Thailand to visit her family, Rongsakare said through an interpreter. While her legal status was in limbo, she could not leave the country without special permission. Now, she can change jobs or look for other opportunities - options she hadn't dared consider while waiting for permanent residency, she said.

The workers - some of whom sewed for as long as seven years behind razor wire and around-the-clock guards in El Monte, 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles - will receive their official green cards in three to six months, said their attorney, Julie A. Su of the Asian American Pacific Legal Center.

Much has happened since Aug. 2, 1995, when authorities raided the factory and freed the workers who made less than 60 cents an hour. Their plight made worldwide headlines.

Along with 22 Hispanic workers, who were not held against their will, they fought in the courts to collect years of back pay - winning more than $4 million in settlements from companies that did business with the operators of the sweatshop. Settlements for each worker ranged from $10,000 to $80,000, depending on how long they were there.

Since they were freed, 22 of the Thai workers have married. Some have left Los Angeles to follow their spouses to the East Coast. Several have returned to Thailand. But most remain in the Los Angeles area, sewing, cleaning homes and working at restaurants. Many hold down two jobs to support relatives back home.

Rotchana Sussman lives a life in Pasadena that she could not have imagined.

The former Rojana Cheunchujit, who spent five years hunched over a sewing machine 18 hours a day and who slept in a room infested with mice and cockroaches with seven others, lives in a lovely home with her husband, a university professor, and three children, two from a previous marriage. Her parents now own a convenience store, and her sister has a noodle stand - thanks to the money she sent them.

"My life is unbelievable," she said. "It's like a movie."

Sutchai Chaisuni, among the sickliest during the confinement, is a healthy and busy licensed vocational nurse who travels between two medical facilities in the Los Angeles area.

"I love taking care of patients - especially old people," said Chaisuni, who aspires to be a registered nurse.

Los Angeles attorney Kathryn Morgan, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand who has befriended the workers, said she admires their attitude.

"It's been humbling to see them remain so positive through all the struggles they've been through," she said. "They see good things in everybody and everything."

K. Connie Kang writes for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.