Month: November 2020

On November 26, 2020, the Philippine Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) approved Resolution 85 granting former Filipino citizens the ability to travel to the Philippines beginning December 7, 2020.

The recent IATF resolution is a positive development to Balikbayans or former Filipino citizens including Naturalized U.S. Citizens who have not applied for Dual Citizenship or do not have Philippine passports. A significant number of former Filipino citizens had been subject to travel restrictions in prior resolutions wherein former Filipino citizens were not allowed to enter the Philippines without a Filipino visa or becoming dual citizens. With IATF Resolution 85, the following may now be allowed entry privileges to the Philippines:

• Filipino citizen’s foreign spouses and children, regardless of age, who are traveling with them;
• Former Filipino citizens, including their spouses and children, regardless of age, who are traveling with them.

The entry of the above individuals will be subject to the following conditions:

• They are allowed visa-free entry under Executive Order No. 408, s. 1960;
• With pre-booked quarantine facility
• With pre-booked COVID-19 testing at a laboratory operating at the airport; and
• Subject to the maximum capacity of inbound passengers at the port and date of entry.

In addition to the above conditions, it must be noted that the non-Filipino spouses and children must be traveling with the Filipino citizen or former Filipino citizens to be able to enter the Philippines. Not included in the resolution are non-Filipino parents, grandparents, grandchildren, common law spouses and other relatives of Filipino citizens or former Filipino citizens. This is without prejudice to Philippine Immigration laws or the exercise of prerogative by the Commissioner of Immigration who may grant waivers or recall of exclusions.

The guidelines to implement this resolution are not yet released as of this writing. Both the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Tourism shall issue the necessary guidelines in accordance with the above resolution.

(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco is an immigrant advocate and legal counsel based in San Francisco CA. She is the principal and co-founder of Tancinco Law Offices and may be reached at law@tancinco.com, www.tancinco.com, facebook/tancincolaw, or at 1-888-930-0808)

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced its plan to implement a new revised version of the naturalization civics test.

A civic test is administered to naturalization applicants and it is one of the statutory requirements for naturalizing. Applicants who apply for naturalization on or after December 1, 2020 will take the new revised test. On the other hand, those who filed their naturalization applications before December 1, 2020 will be taking the current version of the test.

The revised test covers a variety of topics on U.S. history and civics that provides the applicant an opportunity to learn about the United States. It includes more questions than the current version of the test.

To pass the civic test, the applicant must answer 12 out of 20 questions. USCIS will maintain the current guidelines for statutorily established special considerations for applicants who are 65 years old or older and have at least 20 years of lawful permanent resident status. These applicants will be asked 10 questions and must answer a minimum of six questions correctly in order to pass.

The revised test items and study guides can be found on the Citizenship Resource Center on the USCIS website.

One of the main campaign platforms of President-Elect Joe Biden is to reform the immigration law and make it fair and humane to all immigrants. He said that he will restore the progress that Trump has cruelly undone and will take it further.

Foremost on his list is to reinstate Deferred Action on Childhood Arrival (DACA) or protections for Dreamers – the young immigrants who were brought to the United States when they were young and who have fallen out of status without their fault. In 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order creating the DACA, giving certain eligible Dreamers protection from deportation and allowing them to receive employment authorization documents.

In 2017 Trump rescinded the DACA program. The U.S.Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that Trump’s termination of DACA is unlawful. Instead of following the Supreme Court order, USCIS still does not accept initial applications of DACA. President-Elect Biden will now change this and restore DACA fully so that young immigrants will once again have the protection against removal or deportation and be able to work legally.

Aside from DACA, there are other immigration policies that will affect immigrants including the Filipinos in the United States.

First, I can foresee the revival of the exercise of discretion when applying the law, that more human and compassionate approach will be taken. Priorities for enforcement will be modified where family unity and NOT family separation will be the center factor for enforcement policies.

Second, I foresee a more efficient operation of the immigration agencies, hoping to see less unnecessary delays in the adjudication of visa petitions and applications.

Third, a Biden administration supports a comprehensive immigration act giving a pathway to legalize all 11 million undocumented, a population who had fallen through the cracks because of broken immigration law. But comprehensive immigration requires bi-partisan support. As of now there are still contested seats at the Senate which will determine whether Republicans or Democrats will have full control of Congress.

Nonetheless, it is victory for most of us immigrants to have a President who believes in us immigrants, a President who will uphold values of family unity, restoring the dignity of each and every one of us immigrants. For after all, the United States is a nation of immigrants.