Senate Negotiating Bill on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Senate is currently trying to negotiate a compromise comprehensive immigration reform bill before Wednesday, May 16, when Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has pledged to move forward with a motion to proceed to consider immigration reform legislation which was passed last year (reintroduced as S. 1348) with or without a compromise bill.

House Holding Three Subcommittee Meetings on Immigration

The Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law of the House Judiciary Committee continues consideration of issues related to immigration reform with three hearings devoted to immigrant integration, state and local impacts, and undocumented students. These hearings may be viewed on the internet at http://judiciary.house.gov/schedule.aspx

June 2007 Visa Bulletin

With the exception of the Immediate Relative category, each October 1st, 226,000 family-based permanent residency (“green cards”) become available. Each category has a limit and within each category only 7% may come from any one country. This limit of 7% per country explains why the wait is so long for relatives from China, India, Mexico and the Philippines where the bulk of the applicants are from.

Immediate Relative: Spouses, Under Age 21 Unmarried Children of Citizens, Parents of US Citizens At Least Age 21 of Citizens: Unlimited

First Category : Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens: Limited to 23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference.

Second : Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents: 114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, and any unused first preference numbers:

A. Spouses and Children: 77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B. Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older): 23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third : Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth : Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens: 65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.

An announcement from the USCIS regarding proposed fee increases are expected in the very near future. USCIS had scheduled a press conference to announce the fee changes for Thursday, May 10, 2007, but postponed the press conference. No new date has been announced. Examples of fee increases are listed below.

USCIS Cuidad Juarez Revises Waiver Application Procedure Benefiting Applicants

The USCIS office in Ciudad Juarez, announced a new pilot program for waiver processing at Cd. Juarez, Mexico. Beginning Tuesday, March 6, 2007 when a U.S. consular officer makes a determination of inadmissibility at the time of the immigrant visa interview for reasons such as illegal presence in the US, the applicant will be given a USCIS waiver letter, which indicates that the applicant may go on-line via INFOPASS to make an appointment to come back to the Consulate in Cd. Juarez to submit an I-601 or I-212, as applicable, with a fully documented waiver packet. When the waiver applicant comes back to the consulate with the complete and fully documented application, a USCIS employee will review the packet and if the case is a clean one and clearly approvable, the waiver application may be approved that day. Then, the Consulate will either approve the immigrant visa that day or within the next one to two days. If the submitted packet is not clearly approvable, then the application will go into the regular processing waiting line (10 TO 11 months) and the applicant will be instructed to provide additional supporting documentation to USCIS. Thus, using this process, the applicant will get a second chance for review versus exposure to a denial at the time of the first review. Previously, applicants were subject to regular processing which caused waits of up to 12 months in Mexico.

The information contained in this article is for general educational information only and does not constitute legal advice. Due to the frequent changes in laws and regulations, the accuracy and timeliness of the contents of this article are not guaranteed. The reader should seek professional advice before taking any actions.

Practice Limited to Immigration Law.