Month: November 2016

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Global Pinoy

Should ‘TNTs’ start planning for voluntary departure from US?

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More than 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, including approximately 300,000 from the Philippines, are now in panic mode and uncertain about their future under a Trump administration. Deporting immigrants who are in unlawful status is one of Trump’s campaign promises.

The presidential election result was a bitter pill to swallow for most immigrants. Most of the Filipino American immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area are not happy with the result of the election. Immigration attorneys have received many phone calls and emails from concerned immigrants, both legal as well as those who are undocumented, asking about the immediate threat of removal from the US come January 20, 2017.

Lawful permanent residents or those with status are seriously concerned about pending petitions for their family members. Will the petitioning process take longer with the coming Trump administration? Those who are in possession of professional working visas are worried about whether the H1B program will be eliminated. Filipino healthcare workers such as registered nurses, physical therapists and caregivers with pending immigrant petitions from US employers have no clue on whether their visas are still going to be issued if immigration policy changes.

The most vulnerable immigrants who are most likely going to be affected are the DREAMERS (children who were supposed to benefit from the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors or the DREAM Act) and the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients. These are the young immigrants who came to the United States when they were below 15 years old and who are still present in the US as young adults without legal status.

For the last eight years, President Obama has supported a DREAM Act that allows these young immigrants to have lawful status, but the bill failed to pass in Congress. Using his executive power, he released a program called the DACA where thousands of young immigrants were given temporary employment authorization cards to allow them to live without fear of deportation and enabling them to work temporarily. Thousands of young Filipinos availed of this program. Their names and information are in the current system of the Department of Homeland Security. They fear not just losing their DACA status, but also about their parents who may be subject to removal.

After listening to the interview of President-Elect Donald Trump on “60 Minutes,” it appears that he also has priorities for dealing with immigration. He explicitly mentioned the immediate deportation of three million undocumented immigrants. Also, he confirmed that border security would be tightened and then removal of undocumented with criminal records would be next. Prioritizing border security is paramount on his agenda as may be assumed from his campaign plan of building a wall in the US-Mexico border.

If Trump follows through with his public statements, those who are in unlawful presence or TNTs including the DACA recipients are not (yet) in danger of immediate deportation. While there is no immediate threat at the moment, they have to be mindful of their activities, be familiar about their rights and keep in their immediate possession whatever legal documents relating to their immigration history in this country.

Most importantly, this vulnerable population must be able to distinguish between real and fake news on immigration. At the present time, it is easy to fall victim to false information on social media because bigotry and hatred are on the rise against minorities and immigrants. Be very vigilant.

(Atty. Lourdes Santos Tancinco is a San Francisco based immigration attorney and immigrant advocate. She may be reached at law@tancinco.com, 1 888 930 0808 or visit her at facebook.com/tancincolaw or tancinco.weareph.com/old)

Categories
Global Pinoy

What Hinders Relatives of Filipino Veterans from Filing Parole?

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In a special message during last month’s Filipino American History Month, President Obama recognized the contributions of Filipino Americans especially the Filipino soldiers who fought under the U.S. flag in World War II.

Under the Obama administration, a program called the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP) was launched in June 2016. Under this program, certain family members of Filipino veterans may travel, live and work in the United States while awaiting for their immigrant visas to become available. The goal of this program is to allow loved ones to provide support and care for elderly veterans and their spouses.

There is no question that relatives of the Filipino veterans are enthusiastic to travel to the United States to be with their elderly parents.

Mr. Santos, 88 year old, has been residing in the United States since 1993 after he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen based on his being a Filipino World War II veteran. He was not able to petition his children until 1997. In the meantime, his spouse, whom he petitioned, arrived in the United States in 1998 but passed away in 2002. He had always wanted to be reunited with his children and waited for many years now for the petitions to be current for visa processing.

In the last few years, Mr. Santos has been feeling really weak and sickly. He could not travel back to the Philippines because of his medical condition. He heard about the Filipino Veterans Parole Program during the summer and applied for parole for his adult children. Last month, he got an approval of his parole applications. His children are now awaiting for an interview before the U.S. Embassy for the issuance of their parole documents. Hopefully, they can be reunited by this coming Christmas season.

Not a lot of veterans or surviving spouses are as fortunate as Mr. Santos in the application for parole for their adult children in the Philippines. There are obvious barriers that applicants should overcome in filing for parole. Among the issues that are being faced by the veterans are:

  1. inability to find sponsors for their Affidavits of Support;
  2. no streamlined process for FWVP expedite processing of I-130;
  3. inability of elderly veterans residing in the Philippines to travel back to the U.S. because of illness;
  4. complicated process of obtaining humanitarian reinstatement of revoked petitions.

The filing fee of $360 per application is too expensive for the veterans. But while these fees may be waived for the veteran or surviving spouse, not a lot of applicants are aware of the process. When the veteran has passed away, the surviving spouse must show that there is an approved petition from the veteran and that this petition must be reinstated. Obtaining approval of a request for humanitarian reinstatement is a complicated process for the surviving spouse or beneficiaries.

In addition, the lack of outreach programs regarding the FWVP and available service providers remain major challenges to the prospective beneficiaries. With an altruistic program such as FWVP, there must be resolutions to the issues presented to attain the goal of family unity for our Filipino veterans family.

(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco is a partner at Tancinco Law Offices, a San Francisco based law firm and may be reached at law@tancinco.com, facebook.com/tancincolaw, tancinco.weareph.com/old or 1 888 930 0808)

Categories
Global Pinoy

Reinstating the “Dead” Petition

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Joseph, a US citizen, petitioned for his 28 year-old daughter, Eliza, in June 1997. However, after the approval of the petition, Joseph died in California in 1999 before Eliza’s priority date became current. In 2004, Eliza wanted to come to the United States to visit her mother, Louida, who is now a US citizen. Eliza hasn’t seen her mother for over 10 years. Louida is elderly and has health conditions, and Eliza’s sister, a law permanent resident (LPR) in the US, is unable to care for Louida full-time. Desperate to see her mother, Eliza pays a travel agent in Manila to get her a B-2 visa. Because Eliza is still single and will have difficulty getting a visa, the travel agent gives Eliza a Philippine passport and US visa in another’s person name. Eliza enters the US and overstays to take care of her mother. In late 2005, Louida petitions for Eliza, and the petition is approved in 2008. Recently, Louida became very ill and she passed away two months ago. Eliza’s petition from her mother will be current next month.

Is she still eligible for apply for an immigrant visa?

Generally, a petition dies with the petitioner, and is automatically revoked. However, certain surviving relatives may be eligible to reinstate the petition under Section 204(l) of the INA. Section 204(l) relief is applicable only where the principal beneficiary or any derivative beneficiary of an approved petition can demonstrate that his or her primary residence was in the US at the time of the petitioner’s death, and he or she continues to reside in the US thereafter. In addition, the beneficiary must have a substitute sponsor for the I-864 Affidavit of Support who is a US citizen or LPR spouse, sibling, child, in-laws, grandparent, grandchild, or legal guardian. Once the petition is reinstated by USCIS, the beneficiary is eligible to apply for an immigrant visa.

In Eliza’s case, she is eligible to have her mother’s petition reinstated under Section 204(l) because she can demonstrate her continuous residence in the US at the time of her mother’s death and thereafter, and her LPR sister can act as the substitute sponsor. However, Eliza may be ineligible for the immigrant visa because (1) she overstayed in the US and (2) she used fraudulent documents to enter the US. Applicants applying for adjustment of status to LPR in the US, who are not immediate relatives, must have maintained legal status in the US to be eligible for the immigrant visa. Luckily, Eliza is eligible for a waiver of her unlawful presence in the US under Section 245(i) of the INA through her father’s approved petition that was filed on her behalf before January 1, 1998.

As to the fraudulent visa, Eliza will need to apply for a separate waiver, known as the I-601 waiver. This waiver requires Eliza to demonstrate that her qualifying relative, a US citizen or LPR spouse or parent, will suffer from extreme hardship if she is not granted the immigrant visa. Generally, an applicant cannot demonstrate extreme hardship where the qualifying relative has died, such as in Eliza’s case. However, Section 204(l) provides an exception to this rule so long as applicant is Section 204(l) eligible. In these cases, the qualifying relative’s death is treated as the functional equivalent of a finding of extreme hardship.

(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com, tancinco.weareph.com/old , facebook/tancincolaw, or at 1-888-930 9096 or 1 415 397 0808)