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U.S. IMMIGRATION SYSTEM | hOT TOPICS PROCESSING FOR FAMILY-BASED IMMIGRATION Statistically, roughly 80% of immigration to the United States occurs under family sponsorship, and even here, the majority of such cases fall within the “Immediate Relative” classification. The term “Immediate Relative” refers to immigration based upon the sponsorship by a U.S. citizen who is the foreign national’s spouse, grown child, or parent. Such familial relations are considered to be so important that they are not subjected to any type of numeric limitations/quota. Rather, in the interest of family reunification, such foreign nationals are afforded a more immediate pathway to permanent residence. The exemption from quota-based backlogs does not exempt such immigration cases from bureaucratic delays in processing their immigration cases. Many such cases need to be filed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which literally can take months in reviewing and adjudicating the sponsorship petition of the U.S. anchor relative. If the foreign national happens to be living abroad, the alien then needs to process for a visa through a U.S. Consulate, generally located in the home country. For years, U.S. Consulates have assumed full jurisdiction for processing Immediate Relative cases, meaning that many U.S. anchor relatives could file their I-130 Immigrant Visa Petitions along with their relative’s own application for an immigrant visa. Many Consular posts were able to process such cases quite quickly, thereby avoiding delays in the reunification of families. This past January, the U.S. Department of State announced that Consulates would no longer process such I-130 Petitions, owing to certain inadequacies in performing the required additional screening of the petitioning relatives as required by a law known as the “Adam Walsh” Act. Rather, such cases would need to revert to a more antiquated, inefficient processing system that would require USCIS clearance of the sponsoring petition, transferal of the file to the U.S. Department of State, and the ultimate adjudication/processing of the beneficiary family member through a U.S. Consulate abroad. On March 17, 2007, the Department of State reinstated Consular processing of I-130 Petitions, although it imposed a requirement that the U.S. anchor relative needs to reside abroad in the Consular district. The standard for meeting this residency requirement is that the U.S. citizen petitioner needs to have resided legally within the Consular district for at least six months. Furthermore, legal residence must be maintained in a non-temporary status, thereby eliminating the ability of students and tourists to sponsor their immediate relatives through Consular processing. |
Aronson & Associates, P.A. |