NRIs To Gain From Immigration Rule Changes
- By Bobby Castro
- Published 01/10/2012
- National, State, Local
- Unrated
Officials in the Obama administration announced last week that new guidelines for immigration law would correct a current issue in its operationalization. The new law would spare many NRIs from prolonged separation from immigrant family members.
The said changes would benefit US citizens married or have children who are currently considered as illegal immigrants. The change would change a system where many Indian Americans face when it comes to legal permanent residencies of relatives and other family members.
This small change would have a great rippling effect to many immigrants. Many immigration experts said that thousands of immigrant families would be reunited at a sooner time and would help convince illegal immigrant relatives to come out into the open.
Under current regulations, relatives of US citizens are allowed under the law to become legal residents with a visa popularly known as green card. The law though requires that most immigrants who are currently in the United States need to return to their home countries before receiving their legal visas. Once these relatives leaves the country, they would be barred from returning to the country for at least three years to ten years,
despite being eligible to become legal residents.
The immigration agency can issue a waiver for this only upon proof of "extreme hardship" to the US citizen. Despite this, the waiver is difficult to obtain, similar to the difficulty in obtaining legal permanent residency. When taking this path, the family members would need to wait three months before the waiver is approved for return. When the waiver is disallowed, then the relative would be stranded in the country of origin.
Because of the inherent difficulty in obtaining a green card, many opt to remain in hiding and not apply for such privilege. The new guidelines would allow immigrants to obtain a provisional waiver while in the United States before their departure in compliance with the visa requirements. This would allow the relative would have certainty for their return to the United States. The guidelines would also seek to streamline the process to cut down the waiting time for the visa issuances.
The agency would publish the formal notice for the new regulations on the issuance of waivers. This though would be the start of a long regulatory process review that is hoped to be completed by the end of 2012. This move would certainly be helpful for NRIs and Indians who are currently considered as illegal immigrants to the country.
The said changes would benefit US citizens married or have children who are currently considered as illegal immigrants. The change would change a system where many Indian Americans face when it comes to legal permanent residencies of relatives and other family members.
This small change would have a great rippling effect to many immigrants. Many immigration experts said that thousands of immigrant families would be reunited at a sooner time and would help convince illegal immigrant relatives to come out into the open.
Under current regulations, relatives of US citizens are allowed under the law to become legal residents with a visa popularly known as green card. The law though requires that most immigrants who are currently in the United States need to return to their home countries before receiving their legal visas. Once these relatives leaves the country, they would be barred from returning to the country for at least three years to ten years,
The immigration agency can issue a waiver for this only upon proof of "extreme hardship" to the US citizen. Despite this, the waiver is difficult to obtain, similar to the difficulty in obtaining legal permanent residency. When taking this path, the family members would need to wait three months before the waiver is approved for return. When the waiver is disallowed, then the relative would be stranded in the country of origin.
Because of the inherent difficulty in obtaining a green card, many opt to remain in hiding and not apply for such privilege. The new guidelines would allow immigrants to obtain a provisional waiver while in the United States before their departure in compliance with the visa requirements. This would allow the relative would have certainty for their return to the United States. The guidelines would also seek to streamline the process to cut down the waiting time for the visa issuances.
The agency would publish the formal notice for the new regulations on the issuance of waivers. This though would be the start of a long regulatory process review that is hoped to be completed by the end of 2012. This move would certainly be helpful for NRIs and Indians who are currently considered as illegal immigrants to the country.
Bobby Castro
Bobby Castro is the online editor at the NRI community, where he has published a number of articles about NRI Indians living in America and many other topics.
View all articles by Bobby Castro