Month: May 2016

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Global Pinoy

US parole for WWII Filvet families: Good news, bad news

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Beginning June 8, 2016, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services will accept applications for parole from eligible children of Filipino WWII veterans. This is a positive development for veterans who have been waiting for many years to be reunited with their children. However, this policy is being implemented at a time when many of our veterans, or their widows, have passed on or are elderly. Will they be able to reap any benefit from this program?

Family-based preference visas are numerically limited per year, resulting in significant waiting periods for immigrant visa issuance. For the Philippines, the waiting period for first preference immigrant category covering adult, single children of US citizens is almost 10 years.

Worse yet, it is taking more than 20 years for married children of US citizens. Many elderly veterans with petitions have gone on from this world unable to wait for their children to immigrate. Of those still alive, many are now sickly and living alone.

Due to the dysfunction of the US immigration system, President Obama released a 2015 report called the “Modernizing and Streamlining of the Immigration System,” which included a mandate to allow the families of Filipino veterans to enter the United States. Hence, the parole program was conceived.

Unlike a US visa, a discretionary grant of parole allows a person to temporarily enter the US for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. The new parole program will allow the children of Filipino WWII veterans who have approved petitions to come to the US while waiting for their immigrant visas.

Recently, I gathered a group of veterans and widows in San Francisco to make a presentation on the parole program. I explained clearly to them that with this parole program, they will soon be reunited with their children in the coming months. As I was speaking with excitement, the veterans seemed quiet instead of their usual smiles and celebratory noise. Were they in shock that their children would soon be coming to the US? Why didn’t they seem happy? Don’t they understand the impact of this parole program?

It was disheartening to see their joyless reactions. After I spoke, I approached Nana Auring, a widow of a veteran, who appeared downcast during my presentation. She whispered to me, “I was told to wait. That’s what I have been doing.”

I told Nana she didn’t have to wait long anymore because of the parole program. She just sadly nodded. Her husband died waiting to be reunited with their children. She’s been living alone in her room for many years just waiting. At that point, I realized I was addressing elderly and ailing seniors in their late 80s and early 90s who had already given up hope.

The few veterans and widows who attended my presentation may not be representative of all the beneficiaries of the program. To many, I believe, this opportunity of coming to the US through parole, will help realize the lifetime dream of many Filipino veterans (or their widows) wishing for family reunification. To some, this will be too little too late.

(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco is an immigration attorney based in San Francisco CA. She may be reached at law@tancinco.com, tancinco.weareph.com/old, www.facebook/tancincolaw, or at 1-888-930-0808)

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Updates

Firms May Submit Investigations If Extension of Status/Change of Employer Petition Has Been waiting for 210 Days or More

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On April 21, 2016, USCIS initiated letting requesters who filed Form I-129, Petition for a Non-immigrant Worker, requesting a status extension or change of employer to submit an inquiry after their petition has been waiting for 210 days or more.
To submit an inquiry, petitioners may call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283, (TTD for deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-767-1833) provide the receipt number of the case, and specify that the case has been pending for 210 days or more.

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Global Pinoy

The tolerated U.S. presence of dedicated Filipino caregivers

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Joe, a Filipino national was the caregiver for “Mr. Smith.” He cared for Mr. Smith like his own father. One day, he noticed that Mr. Smith was having difficulty breathing. Joe immediately called 911. The paramedics arrived and tried to revive the patient until one of the paramedics discovered that there was a living will with a “Do not resuscitate” clause. All further effort to revive the patient was aborted.

Witnessing how Mr. Smith was let go by the paramedics was a painful experience for Joe. He knows that if Mr. Smith were his father, all efforts would have been taken to revive him; unfortunately, this is the reality of his job. Mr. Smith passed away at the age of 93. Joe continues to work as a caregiver for another senior citizen. Joe is an undocumented.

Joe represents thousands of dedicated Filipino caregivers working in private homes, board and care homes and in health care facilities. These workers care for their wards with dedication and treat them like their own family members. While many caregivers are documented immigrants, a significant number are not.

The U.S. Department of Labor sets minimum standards to protect the rights of the workers. However, the lack of immigration status provides an avenue for employer abuses regarding the wages and working conditions of the caregivers.

There are U.S. employers who hire caregivers without legal status due to the shortage of available U.S. workers. Aida, an owner of two health care facilities in Arizona, has been advertising caregiver job positions for many years, but she has not been successful. She now wishes to petition her nieces to work for her as caregivers. When Aida inquired about petitioning the nieces, she was told that the process takes many years before caregivers are able to get their immigrant visas. It is the reality of the current U.S. immigration system that even jobs in demand require years of wait.

Caregivers are classified as “other” workers and they fall under the third preference employment-based category. This means that to work as a caregiver one does not have to possess a bachelor’s degree but needs only at least a high school diploma and a few months of working experience. At the moment, Filipino nationals who are being petitioned under this category wait approximately 6-7 years before their visas are available. For the month of May 2016, only petitions filed on or before August 1, 2008 are being accepted for visa issuance.

The petition delays for the caregivers result in varying scenarios for those who are already in the United States. Will they accept a job offer from a U.S. employer even if they have no lawful status? Or should they just return to the Philippines and wait years before their visas are issued? The legality is that the latter is the only option. The reality, however, is that the former is the more convenient choice not only for the caregivers, but also for many U.S. employers desperate to fill a need.

Until a new policy is adopted to change how caregivers are classified and unless they are given a special category, the convenient route for U.S. employers experiencing the shortage will only lead to the tolerated presence of many more undocumented workers.

(Atty. Lourdes Santos Tancinco, Esq. is an immigration attorney with the Tancinco Law Offices, a San Francisco CA based law firm. She may be reached at 1 888 930 0808, law@tancinco.com, facebook.com/tancincolaw, or through her website tancinco.weareph.com/old)

Categories
Updates

USCIS Concludes the Data Entry of Financial Year 2017 H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions

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USCIS give out a news today specifying that they have completed data entry of the all the H1B Fiscal Year 2017 cap subject petitions. USCIS will start to return all the petitions that were not selected. The petitioners should not interact with USCIS regarding their H1B petition until they receive some sort of communication about their petition either a reject notice or case receipt. An announcement will be issued by USCIS once all the unselected petitions have been returned.In addition, USCIS is moving some Form I-129 H-1B cap subject petitions from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center to balance the distribution of cap cases. You will receive notification in the mail, if your case is transferred. After receiving the notification, please send all future correspondence to the center processing your petition. If you are filing a Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, to upgrade your Form I-129 H-1B petition to premium processing, send the completed Form I-907 with the appropriate fee to the center processing your petition.