Immigration INFO: Immigration News For Our Community

Jul 27, 2014 News

By Attorney Gail S. Seeram,
[email protected]

Through this “Question & Answer” column, our goal is to answer your immigration questions. We appreciate your comments and questions. If you have a question that you would like answered in this column, please email: [email protected].

Question #1: I am a Guyanese, married to a permanent resident since March 2013. I also have 2 kids, one being 18 yrs in August and the other being 16 yrs now, both living with me in Guyana. My wife filed a G325A form for me and an I-130 for myself and one each for my kids. Does she have to file any more forms and how long would the process take before I can be there with her? I have a 10-year multiple visa. Will that be revoked anything because of the petition?
Answer #1: Currently visas are being issued for petitions filed on or before May 2012 for spouses and children under age 21 of a permanent resident. So, you have about a one-year wait. Note, you will not receive any correspondence from Immigration or the Visa Center until the visa is current or close to being available. Remember, if you or the petitioner (your wife) change your address, you must notify Immigration by filing Form AR-11. As for your visa being revoked, this is a possibility if you seek a visa renewal while the petition (Form I-130) is pending. Also, if you visit the U.S., the Officer may see the pending Form I-130 in the system and can also revoke the visa since you now have immigration intents or intents to come live in the U.S.

Question #2: My father sponsored my two brothers, but he died in 2010. Their priority date was January 2005. Immigration advised we can pursue substitute sponsorship or humanitarian reinstatement of visa petition. Can you please advise of the process?
Answer #2: When a petitioner dies, the pending petition also dies or becomes void. However, a request can be made by a substitute sponsor to reinstate the pending petition based on humanitarian grounds. This is not an automatic process. A new affidavit of support must be submitted along with strong evidence of hardship for the family. The key in getting these requests for reinstatement approved is submitting the right evidence.

Question #3: With respect to permanent residents convicted on aggravated felonies. Is there any hope for them with the new immigration reform?
Answer #3: A permanent resident with a conviction that meets the aggravated felon definition for immigration purposes is deportable from the U.S. There is no relief or change to this provision under the proposed immigration reform.

Question #4: Why does the U.S. Embassy ask for certified marriage and birth certificates when persons are applying for immigrant visas?
Answer #4: The reason is because they have had many cases of people submitting fraudulent birth and marriage certificates. So, generally they require submission of certified copies of most civil documents dated within the last year.

U.S. Border Crisis – Unaccompanied Minor Children
– How do the U.S. Immigration Laws help Immigrant Children?

Mi casa es tu casa – My house is your house. This is the courtesy we extend to guests in our home (whether family or a first-time visitor). At least this was a strong Guyanese value instilled in me as a child and observed while living in the United States of America my entire life. Americans are thought to be the most welcoming and laid back people in the world.
So, why all the political rhetoric about deporting the thousands of unaccompanied minor immigrant children that have recently flooded the southern U.S. border?
A long-standing principle of the U.S. Government has been to demonstrate global leadership by providing humanitarian options to immigrants who are in the most vulnerable and desperate of situations. One such immigrant group is children who find themselves in this country without parental care due to abuse, neglect, abandonment or another similar situation.
In the form of Special Immigrant Juvenile (“SIJ”) status, the U.S. immigration law provides a method for abused, abandoned or neglected children without legal immigration status to obtain permission to remain lawfully in the United States.
Processing of unaccompanied minors typically progresses, as follows: within 72 hours of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detaining unaccompanied foreign children, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement places them in federally-staffed facilities with varying levels of security and services. The children are given “Know Your Rights” presentations, provided by non-profit organizations and pro bono attorneys, wherein they learn about a variety of immigration benefits. Those children who appear to meet no criteria for a benefit may elect “Voluntary Departure” and return to their country of origin.
However, the SIJ provisions allow qualifying foreign children to obtain relief from removal, and other important immigration benefits, such as employment authorization. Qualifying foreign children may self-petition for SIJ status by filing Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. SIJ petitioners may also apply concurrently to remain permanently in the United States by filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.
Just think about the sense of urgency and difficult reality that these children are facing – leaving their family and home to enter a country where they know no one, don’t speak the language and don’t have a home. Where is the American hospitality and humanitarian arm?