ON Saturday, I wrote about the new ruling announced by the Obama Administration last January 2, which reduces the time US citizens are separated from their undocumented, overstaying, or what we Pinoys broadly refer to as TnT (Tago ng Tago) immediate relatives (spouse, children and parents) who are in the process of obtaining visas to become lawful permanent residents of the United States under certain circumstances.
“The law is designed to avoid extreme hardship to US citizens, which is precisely what this rule achieves,” USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas said.
“The change will have a significant impact on American families by greatly reducing the time family members are separated from those they rely upon.”
According to USCIS, in order to obtain a provisional unlawful presence waiver, the applicant must be an immediate relative of a US citizen, inadmissible only on account of unlawful presence, and demonstrate the denial of the waiver would result in extreme hardship to his or her US citizen spouse or parent.
Because of this new ruling, these undocumented immigrants may now continue to live in the United States with their US citizen family without fear of being deported and subjected to the 10-year ban to re-enter the United States, as they await the processing of their application for their green card.
Under this new waiver process, immediate relatives must still leave the United States for the consular immigrant visa process and be interviewed in their country of origin. However, they can apply for a provisional waiver before they depart for their immigrant visa interview abroad. Individuals who file the Form I-601A must notify the Department of State’s National Visa Center that they are or will be seeking a provisional waiver from USCIS.
USCIS says it will publish a new form (Form I-601A, Application for a Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver) for individuals to use when applying for a provisional unlawful presence waiver under the new process.
The process will be take effect on March 4, 2013. More information about the filing process will be made available in the coming weeks at www.uscis.gov.
What constitutes ‘extreme hardship?’
The identifying broad factors that have been cited in existing precedent decisions as relevant to the evaluation of whether deportation would result in extreme hardship was enumerated in the January 5 weekend edition of this column for your reference.
Opponents of this new ruling contend that this process is like a “backdoor amnesty” to these immediate family members of US citizens who have been breaking the law by unlawfully staying in the United States. Many of these critics are among our own kababayans.
Here are some of their comments:
“Thank God for this blessings for the vulnerable people. This is a sweet redemption. God bless Obama. God bless America.” – JR (Catholic Counter-capitalist)
“I am still trying to get the mother of 3 American citizen children into this country legally, but can’t because of our laws. I have thought about bringing her across the Mexican border but then she and I may get killed trying to get through Mexico.” – JCR54
“This is so unfair. I petitioned my siblings legally, spent money and time and they [are] putting people ahead of us. Oh, bummer! – obamalied
“It means they have to pay taxes while they are waiting. I don’t like these illegal aliens here in America because they are the ones that ruin this country. They want [everything handed to them], they become lazy and depend on food stamps or any government assistance.” – Jennifer Cothran
“Paano naman po kaya yung approved na ang petition pero naghihintay ng turn nila para makapunta sa US? Ibig po ba sabihin pending pa rin ang status dahil uunahin nila ang mga undocumented?” – Marc Cris Rosario
“Unfair yan para sa mga legal na pumasok sa America at pinahirapan pa ng USCIS bago inalis ang conditions on their green card. Pasensya na but this is so BS!” – Gella Reeves
“I’m sure most Filipino TnTs are hardworking and [have] paid their dues and taxes. If that’s the case, they deserve to be granted legally. Heck, they even paid for the US citizens who filed for food stamps and unemployment benefits.” – Shiela Ocampo Gomez
* * *
Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
