After President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address on Wednesday January 27, 2010 to both Houses of Congress and his reiteration of lofty goals mentioned during his Presidential campaign trail, the questions remains as to what it means for immigration reform in 2010.

Well the fact that he barely mention Immigration in the speech at all suggests that as we mentioned in our US Immigration Reform 2010 expectations post above as well as our US Immigration Predictions for 2010, that not to expect much at all is a safe bet.

After the recent Massachusetts Senate Race long and the fact that Midterm elections are due in November 2010, where all members of the House and about one third of the Senate will be up for re-election, it has become imperative of the Obama administration to more largely focus of populist parts of his agenda. This is so he can continue to appeal to Independents who largely supported him during his Presidential Election Campaign but deserted the Democratic Party in the recent Massachusetts Senate Race.

So it is clear that the Economy and Jobs will take the focus for the large part of the first half of 2010 as well as attempts to salvage some form of Healthcare reform which was very close to passing but now with the new makeup of the US Senate is under threat.

US Immigration reform is not a populist topic as there is not a broad coallition that agrees on most topics of reform. Then due to the general economic conditions and the millions of US citizens who have been laid off and are still unable to find permanent work, the pool of people who could possibly support a pro Immigration agenda is even smaller than in better times.

Therefore even if US Immigration gets debated in any meaningful way and some sort of bill passes, it may have a few benefits for the current US immigrant on a US visa but is sure to have many downsides as well. As it will definitely need a broad coalition of Republican and Democrats from a broad spectrum of the country to successfully navigate both Houses of Congress and land at Obama’s desk for him to sign.

Already Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, worried about the re-election of her party members in the House this year has stated she wants to limit the amount of controversial legislation that is debated and that is all hesitant to do more when so many bills that her chamber has passed is still stuck in the US Senate.

All in all if there is any beneficial US Immigration reform in 2010, it will may be in less controversial areas like improving Green Card Waiting Times for current applicants generally applying to the EB2 visa or EB3 visa status from visas like the H1B visa, L1 visa and E3 visa.

This is a low risk area as it is viewed as highly skilled immigrants, already in the country for a longer period of time and thus both beneficial to the US economy and low risk from a National Security perspective in that they are and have been law abiding residents. These are probably the 2 most polarizing areas of the US Immigration debate within the US as these are the constant arguments brought up any type of US Immigration reform is mentioned. These are the areas opportunistic politicians like Senators Dick Durbin (Il) and Chuck Grassley (IA) and celebrity media pundits play upon on cable news.

However things will be unlikely to improve based on the current environment include;
- any increase to the current main H1B visa quota of 65,000
- any form of amnesty for Illegal Immigrants
- approval for borderline cases of refugee or political asylum
- fairness in the tax and social security laws as it applies to Immigrants
- improvement of waiting times in US visa processing and 221(g) Administrative Processing
- responsiveness to hearing of complaints and grievances filed regarding employer abuses in workplaces of people on non-immigrant visas

Unfortunately this is not a great way to start the year with a pessimistic outlook for positive US Immigration changes and real reform in 2010 after people have been promised so much in the past, and not for the first time either! It is looking increasing like depending on the legislative successes and failures in other areas this year, the overall state of the economy and the unemployment rate and finally the results of the Midterm elections in November will probably have a larger bearing on whether real US Immigration reform may be possible in 2011.

CJ

We have written posts in the past about what exactly a green card is and how you can apply for one. One of the ways is of course via the Green Card Lottery, then there is the more common employer sponsored green cards if you are on a visa like the H1B visa or E3 Visa and also the more difficult EB-5 visa category for foreigners starting a business.

However the most common are the family sponsored Green Cards. Whether that be via the K-1 visa where a US citizen chooses to marry someone from another country within the US, via the K-3 visa where a US citizen has already married a foreigner abroad and is looking to bring them to the US or the one which we will discuss today which is family sponsored green cards for immediate relatives like parents, older children and adult siblings.
These are generally not subject to numerical limits (possibly with exception of adult siblings) and also have the lowest processing times which is sometimes as short as 5 months, which in US Immigration world is like lightning

To qualify and be eligible to sponsor what the US Immigration system deems an immediate relative to be, you must (a) Prove you are a US citizen (or legal Permanent Resident with a Green Card) with documentation such as a US Passport or Naturalization Certificate and (b) Be above a designated income threshold and thus have the ability to support the relative you are sponsoring at 125% above the mandated poverty line.

The process can be quite involved which is why unfortunately in my opinion so many people become hopelessly lost and because they desperately want the application to have no issues are forced into the greedy waiting arms of an Immigration Attorney. Suddenly and sadly a fundamental human right in a free society like a family reunion now has a financial tag and burden which says a lot about the current US Immigration system.

1. Essentially this step is a lot of what I mentioned above in that it has to proved that the sponsor is a US Citizen or Permanent resident, then that an immediate family relationship does exist and finally that the immediate relative is essentially of good character (i.e. not a criminal or threat to US, etc.)
2. Most often, the U.S. citizen or permanent resident will file an immigrant visa petition on Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative)
3. It is also possible to concurrently file the immigrant visa petition and the application for permanent residence on behalf of the relative themselves in certain family sponsored cases, This is filed on Form I-485 and called an adjustment of status usually when the relative is already in the country legally. However this is not always the case as with US citizens for example marrying illegal aliens as the US Immigration system calls them, which are generally people who came here illegally or over stayed their original non-immigrant visa like the J-1 visa. The biggest advantage of adjusting status is the ability of the immediate relative to get the permanent status i.e. green card without having to leave the United States. Now this is where they system becomes skewed to favoring the use of Immigration attorneys where the immediate relative may not be a “perfect” candidate.

The benefits of a Green Card or Permanent Residency are essentially boiled down to 3 main areas;
- Be able to study at any institution or work for any employer or indeed choose not to work/study
- Be able to come into and leave the US any time and any number of times
- Have the future possibility to apply for US Citizenship

CJ