All About China > Visas, Immigration and Emigration

Trying to Immigrate Legally to the US? Get in line behind the Illegal Aliens.

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Robertt S:
Many thousands of Americans seeking green cards for foreign spouses or other immediate relatives have been separated from them for a year or more because of swelling bureaucratic delays at a federal immigration agency in recent months.
The long waits came when the agency, Citizenship and Immigration Services, shifted attention and resources to a program President Obama started in 2012 to give deportation deferrals to young undocumented immigrants, according to administration officials and official data.
The trouble that American citizens have faced gaining permanent resident visas for their families raises questions about the agency’s priorities and its readiness to handle what could become a far bigger task. After Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said on Thursday that the House was not likely to act on an immigration overhaul this year, immigrant advocates are turning up their pressure on Mr. Obama to expand the deferral program to include many more of the 11.7 million immigrants in the country illegally.
Andrew Bachert is one citizen caught in the slowdown. After he moved back to this country in August for work, he thought he and his wife, who is Australian, would be settled by now in a new home in New York State, shoveling snow and adjusting to the winter chill. Instead his wife, Debra Bachert, is stranded, along with the couple’s two teenagers and two dogs, in a hastily rented house in Adelaide, where the temperature rose in January to 115 degrees.
At loose ends, Mr. Bachert, 48, spent Halloween and Thanksgiving without his wife and children, and he opened his Christmas presents for them himself — on a Skype call so at least they could see what he had gotten for them.
“I’m sitting over here on my own, and it’s unbearably hard,” Mr. Bachert said. At the current pace, Mrs. Bachert will probably not travel to the United States before August.
Until recently, an American could obtain a green card for a spouse, child or parent — probably the easiest document in the immigration system — in five months or less. But over the past year, waits for approvals of those resident visas stretched to 15 months, and more than 500,000 applications became stuck in the pipeline, playing havoc with international moves and children’s schools and keeping families apart.
“U.S. citizens petitioning for green cards for immediate relatives are a high, if not the highest, priority in the way Congress set up the immigration system,” said Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the national bar association. “This is a problem that needs to be fixed quickly.”
Many Americans are awaiting visas for spouses they recently wed, including Mukul Varma, 31, a naturalized citizen who works as a software consultant near Chicago. On a trip to India to visit relatives, he fell in love with Neetika Gupta, 26, also a software engineer. They married in India in May.
“To be honest with you,” Mr. Varma said, “because I was a U.S. citizen I thought it would not be an issue to get a visa for my wife. I didn’t put any thought into it.”
In mid-January Mr. Varma flew back to India to see his bride for the first time in nine months. He applied for her green card soon after the wedding, and since then it has not advanced. Their plans to start their life together in this country are in disarray.
“First it was surprise,” Mr. Varma said. “Then dismay. Then it just becomes very discouraging. You feel helpless. You feel as if you did things the right way and you are penalized for it.”
Christopher S. Bentley, a Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman, said the agency had seen “a temporary increase in processing times” for the citizens’ green card applications because of the deferrals program and “the standard ebb and flow” of visas.
Last year, officials said, the agency detected the problem and tried to speed up the green cards by spreading them out to three processing centers. In November, the agency reported it had reduced waits to 10 months, calling that a “significant step forward.” Officials said they hoped to reduce waits to five months, but not before this summer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/us/program-benefiting-some-immigrants-extends-visa-wait-for-others.html?_r=0

 

shaun:
Obama realizes that if he can get the illegals legal then he has instant voters.  Those who chose to do thing the legal way more than likely vote Republican.

David E:
We certainly had the same problem in Aus.......all the Immigration Processing effort was going into "accommodating" the thousands of illegal Boat people flooding into Australia under the then Rudd/Gillard Policy.

Legitimate Migrants who paid big money in Immigration fees, and completed the usual mountains of paperwork, to properly bring their Partners/Families to Australia were simply put on the end of the list.

Our new Government under the Leadership of Tony Abbot was elected on the promise to stop the illegal boat people....and he did it !!!!, we have not seen a boat arrival for 2 months. Boat people and their smugglers have been categorically told that NO illegal arrival will EVER be granted permission to live in Aus.

The lefties and looneys are aghast at this move...they want to go back to the old way, and for the Labour Opposition, boat people represent votes.

It is heartening to see that even today, a bit of Political willpower, despite the shrieking minority, can produce quick and effective results.

Obama should have a word with Abbot...and find out how to start representing the silent majority...not the loonie left.......

Willy The Londoner:

--- Quote from: David E on March 17, 2014, 05:24:34 pm ---
Obama should have a word with Abbot...and find out how to start representing the silent majority...not the loonie left.......

--- End quote ---

David, David David you have lived almost as long as me and you know that will never be. Ha Ha

Willy

Robertt S:
Well I knew this was going to happen since the Dems are starting to sweat the midterm elections. Let the official butt smooching and pandering to illegals begin.


--- Quote --- Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process                   Update for DACA Renewals April 9, 2014In September 2012, USCIS started deferring action for certain childhood arrivals and issuing employment authorization for a period of two years. Beginning in September 2014, the initial two-year grants of deferred action for early recipients of DACA from USCIS are due to expire under their own terms, and USCIS is actively preparing for the DACA renewal process so that eligible individuals can request and receive an extension of their deferred action without experiencing any lapse in their lawful presence or work authorization.
In late May 2014, USCIS anticipates publishing a new dual-use Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, to allow for both initial and renewal requests, and updating Frequently Asked Questions with additional information. If you received DACA from USCIS and will seek to renew, you must wait until USCIS publishes the new form before filing your renewal request. If you are filing for initial DACA, you may continue to file using the current form until the new version is available (See below for additional information).
To help prepare the public for the anticipated process to request a renewal of DACA from USCIS, we have created an outline found below. This outline is subject to change until USCIS announces the details of the final process in late May 2014.
Outline to request renewal of DACA from USCIS:
* File the revised version of Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, together with Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and I-765WS, Worksheet, as in the initial filing. The forthcoming version of Form I-821D will be dual-use for both initial and renewal filers and will contain modified questions pertaining to each situation. The draft form is currently going through the Federal Register public comment process  and is not yet available for use.
* Do not file the current version of Form I-821D to renew.  USCIS will not accept renewal filings until the new version of the form is published.  However, if you received DACA from ICE instead of USCIS, please read the ICE-Granted DACA Renewal Guidance.
* Submit your DACA renewal request package approximately 120 days (or 4 months) before your current period of DACA expires. This is also the date that your Employment Authorization Document (EAD) expires. While USCIS will continue to accept filings after this date, it will not accept requests made earlier than 150 days (or 5 months) before that expiration date. The expiration date is printed on the front of the EAD, Form I-766 . Complete renewal requests include signed Forms I-821D, I-765, and I-765WS with fee and evidence, if applicable.
* If you file your renewal request package approximately 120 days before the expiration date of your current period of DACA, USCIS anticipates making a decision on your deferred action request and adjudicating your employment authorization application well before your current period of DACA and employment authorization expires. If you have filed at least 120 days before your deferred action and EAD expire and USCIS is unexpectedly delayed in processing your renewal request, USCIS may provide deferred action and employment authorization for a short period of time until your renewal is adjudicated.
* You only need to submit new documents pertaining to removal proceedings or criminal history that you have not already submitted to USCIS. You do not need to re-submit documents you already submitted with your previous DACA request that was approved. However, you should keep copies of all documents that support how you meet the DACA guidelines so you can provide them if they are requested by USCIS.NOTE: If you received DACA from USCIS, do not file the current version (edition date 6/25/13) of Form I-821D to renew. USCIS will not accept renewal filings until the new version of the form is published in late May 2014. However, if you are among those few individuals who received deferred action for childhood arrivals from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between June 15, 2012 and August 15, 2012, please read the ICE-Granted DACA Renewal Guidance.
FAQs updated January 18, 2013On June 15, 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several key guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and would then be eligible for work authorization. Deferred action is a discretionary determination to defer removal action of an individual as an act of prosecutorial discretion. Deferred action does not provide an individual with lawful status.
If you need further information and cannot find it on this Web page or in our Frequently Asked Questions, you may contact our National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 or 1-800-767-1833 (TDD for the hearing impaired). Customer service officers are available Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. in each U.S. time zone.
--- End quote ---

Just when things were starting to pick back up this happens, and they are renewing their EAD's also. I wonder how many legal permanent residents and citizens are unemployed because of this action?

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