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7 Immigration Policy Changes Important to Filipinos

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On his first day in office, President Joe Biden will introduce hundreds of pages of immigration executive orders that will cover most of the policies he pledged to change. With several provisions that are proposed, the more than 4 million Filipinos residing in the United States and their relatives still waiting to migrate are looking forward to major change in policies. Below are 7 immigration related agenda that may have the most impact for Filipinos.

1. The DACA Program

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are immigrants who arrived in the United States at a very young age. After several attempts to pass legislation to confer legal status to this category of immigrants and the failure of Congress to pass law, former President Obama issued an Executive Order giving these young immigrants protection from deportation and issuing them employment authorization. When President Trump came into office in 2017, one of his first executive actions was to rescind the DACA program. More than 800,000 DACA recipients were affected by Trump’s rescission of the program. Court litigation ensued and the Supreme Court affirmed the legality of the DACA program. While the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services started implementing the DACA protections to initial applicants, it did so only a few months ago leaving thousands of DACA recipients still in limbo about their status.

During this pandemic crisis, more than 200,000 DACA recipients are considered essential workers. Thus, in the Biden proposal, green cards or permanent immigrant visas will be granted to DACA recipients with a pathway to U.S. citizenship in three (3) years.

2. FWVP Program

More than 200,000 Filipinos were conscripted to join the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II (WWII)when the Philippines was still a territory of the United States. Under the War Powers Act, those who fought under the American flag may be entitled to apply for U.S. citizenship. All 66 allied countries nationals who fought side by side with the Americans during WWII were able to obtain U.S. citizenship but not the Filipino Veterans. A 1946 Rescission Act was enacted declassifying their services during WWII as not considered services for purposes of the veteran benefits. Hundreds of thousands of veterans lost their opportunities to apply for U.S. citizenship until 1990, when the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted allowing belatedly the then 70 and 80 year old veterans to apply for U.S. citizenship.

As soon as they became U.S. citizens, they started filing petitions for their children. As the system in place takes more than 20 years to be current due to the severe backlog, most of the veterans who came in 1990s have already passed away. In the last 5 years, approximately 8,000 veterans are still alive but they have been slowly reducing in numbers. The Obama Administration proposed a Parole program specifically for the families of the veterans to enter the United States and be reunited with their veteran parents who are now of advanced age and sickly. This parole program is the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program. This Program only has a 5 year validity until 2021. Last December 2020, the Trump administration issued a notice to rescind the FWVP after 60 days of comment period. President Biden should consider supporting legislation that will give immediate green card status to families of the veterans; or, if not, extend the FWVP program.

3. Family Reunification

Family unity is very important to immigrants, and this applies most specially to Filipino immigrants. Petitioning immediate relatives by U.S. citizens is faster than petitioning adult children and siblings. For those being Petitioned from the Philippines the waiting period for visas to become available for adult married children and siblings of U.S. citizens takes approximately 20 years. And for those who are unmarried adult children, the waiting period is approximately 10 years.

With the pandemic crisis, even those whose visas are available who waited more than 20 years are not being processed at the U.S. Embassy because of the Trump Presidential Orders banning certain immigrants from entering the United States. Visa applications of parents and fiances of U.S. citizens are also put on hold at the U.S. Embassy. President Biden should reform the immigration system by adding more visas to the Family based category to reduce the backlog and make it faster for U.S. citizens or green card holders to petition their family members. Trump’s Presidential Proclamations 10014 and 10052 banning the entry of immigrants and processing of their visas at the U.S. Embassy must be revisited and rescinded.

4. Pathway to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants

About 2% of the 11 million undocumented immigrants are unauthorized Filipino immigrants. These are mostly those who fell into the cracks because of the broken immigration system leaving them no option to legalize their status. These unauthorized immigrants are with their family members in the U.S., are hardworking and regularly pay taxes. It is just an opportune time to provide them a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

The Biden administration is introducing the immigration reform bill that will allow unauthorized immigrants an 8 years pathway to citizenship by granting them green cards after 5 five years and allowing them to obtain U.S. citizenship in 3 years. This proposal is the centerfold of the immigration bill introduced by Biden and needs to be passed by Congress to become effective.

5. Public Charge Rule

One of the salient feature of the Trump legacy on immigration is not just curbing illegal immigration but also legal immigration. Deeply disguised as promoting national interest, the public charge rule also known as the wealth test prohibits the grant of immigrant visa if the petitioner or the beneficiary does not have enough financial resources to show that the beneficiary will not rely on public assistance for their subsistence. Restrictive rules were issued making it difficult for US citizens with meager income to be reunited with their families. There is also the 2019 Trump “uninsured ban” rule where those coming to the United States must be able to show proof within 30 days of arrival that they have health care insurance coverage. All these restrictive rules have become barriers to lawful immigration and it is cloaked in a way that benefits the U.S. when in fact it is based on the Trump administration’s assumption that immigrants are a drain to the nation’s resources. This has to change. Most of Filipino immigrant families are educated and bring their skills and knowledge to flourish and succeed in this country. President Biden should rescind the restrictive changes made by the Trump administration related to the public charge rule.

6. Healthcare Workers

During this global pandemic, the Filipino immigrants who are admired most as heroes are our health care workers. We have many Filipino caregivers, physical therapists, medical practitioners and nurses. These essential workers have proven their worth especially during this time of crisis. Current immigration law makes it difficult for most healthcare workers to obtain their immigrant visas. Even when the priority dates for employment-based third preference became current for Philippine nationals, it is usually still subject to long delays of months or years for the healthcare professionals to migrate to the United States. The increasing need for the essential healthcare workers had never been critical and President Biden should consider re-establishing a temporary visa category for nurses like before such as the H1C and H1A visas. This category will make it faster for healthcare workers to enter the United States.

7. Other Employment Based Visas

Philippines was included again in the list of those countries eligible to participate in a temporary working visa program or the H2B. Realizing how it will be in the best interest of the U.S. to make sure that the Filipinos are added to the workforce in the construction of military bases in Guam. This is a positive development. But also, there are Filipinos who are holders of H1B, J and L visas that have been affected by the Presidential Proclamation banning them from entering except those covered by litigation. President Biden should rescind this proclamation and reverse the H1B regulatory changes that Trump released prior to his departure from the White House.

All 7 immigration issues are just a few of the immigration priorities of the Biden Administration. As we maintain our faith in the new administration, we also hope that the Democratic led Congress will find it a priority to pass the Biden’s immigration reform bill for all these provisions to have a meaningful impact on our Filipino immigrants and their families.

(Atty. Lourdes Santos Tancinco, Esq. is a San Francisco based immigration attorney and an immigrant rights advocate. She may be reached at 1 888 930 0808, law@tancinco.com, or facebook.com/tancincolaw, or through her firm’s website at www.tancinco.com)

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2020 U.S. Immigration Outlook for Filipino Immigrants

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2020 is a Presidential election year. Whether the United States will have a new or a re-elected President, immigrants and their families will be facing major changes in immigration policies. Let’s examine and determine the prospects of 8 major immigration policy changes that may affect our Filipino immigrants.

The Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP)

The FWVP program was created in June 2016 in recognition of the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of Filipino veterans during WWII. This program allowed their family members to join the veterans or their widows in the U.S. while their visa petition is waiting for visa availability. After 3 years, several hundreds of family members were allowed in on parole under the FWVP program. As part of the administration policy to eliminate parole programs, the USCIS announced in August 2019 that it will terminate the FWVP. Advocacy groups like the Asian American Advancing Justice, FilVetRep, and the Bayanihan Equity Center, among others, have been working hard to preserve the program. This 2020, unless the administration changes its mind about terminating the program, FWVP program will end after USCIS issuance of its final rules.

Increased USCIS Fees

In November 2019, USCIS announced that it will increase fees on petitions and applications. Among the many applications that are going to be affected are (1) Adjustment of Status application, an increase from $1,225 to $2,195; (2) DACA fees will increase from $495 to $765, an overall increase of 55 percent; (3) Naturalization application will increase by 83 percent, raising the fee from $640 to $1,170. Aside from the increase in fees, USCIS is eliminating fee waivers for naturalization, adjustment of status, green card replacements and renewal and employment authorization. The increase will take effect this 2020 and only after USCIS releases its final regulations.

Backlog in Family Petitions

As of November 2019, there are 291,392 approved visa petitions on behalf of Filipino nationals filed by their US citizens or green card holder relatives, awaiting visa availability with the National Visa Center. The backlog is still severe and there is still lengthy wait for visa availability in certain preference petitions. For Filipinos with petitions under the F3 and F4 visa category, the waiting period is more or less 21 years and for those whose petitions are F1 or F2B the waiting period is approximately 11 years. There are bills (RELIEF Act, S.2603 and H.R. 5327) pending before the 116th Congress which if passed will increase visa numbers and eliminate backlogs. Until these bills are passed into law, expect decades of waiting for certain petitions on behalf of Filipino nationals.

H1B Visa

On January 9, 2020, USCIS released its regulations on the registration system for H1B visa petitions. Instead of filing a full petition for a foreign national employee, the U.S. employer must complete a registration process that requires basic information about the H1B employer and the employee being petitioned. USCIS will open registration period from March 1 through March 20, 2020. Only those selected by USCIS lottery system will be able to file H1B petitions to meet the 65,000 cap.

Public Charge

Under the law, a visa applicant will not be allowed to enter the United States if the government believes that they are likely to become public charge or reliant on government assistance. In 2019, the USCIS issued a new definition of public charge rule to include those who receive either cash or non-cash benefits like housing or health care, from the government for more than 12 months during the 3 year period. The implementation of this public charge rule is suspended because of court litigation filed by several States and advocacy groups challenging the legality of the rule. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on this case this 2020. If the public charge rule takes effect, the legal impact will be on low income legal immigrants petitioning their relatives.

Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or DACA program was created in 2012 to grant young immigrants deferred status and employment authorization. In 2017, Trump announced that it was ending DACA. This resulted in several lawsuits filed against the administration challenging the decision to terminate DACA. The case was heard by the Supreme Court in November 2019 and a decision is expected anytime before June 2020. In the meantime, DACA recipients are allowed to renew their DACA status and employment authorization.

REAL ID

Beginning October 1,2020, federal agencies including Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will only accept state issued driver’s licenses that are REAL ID compliant. This means that the state licensing agency must issue REAL IDs to those with valid identification and legal status. Those who are still in unauthorized status may not be issued READ ID compliant driver’s licenses and identification that will allow them to access federal offices or travel domestically through commercial airlines.

H2B Visa

In January 2019, nationals from the Philippines were banned from receiving H2B temporary working visas for one year. As of this writing, there is no update yet from the USCIS if in 2020, the Philippines will be allowed to become beneficiaries of new H2B visas.

These 8 immigration policies are just among the many policies that are anticipated to affect our Filipino immigrant community. The enforcement of immigration law has consistently been the highest priority of the Trump administration resulting in hundreds of thousands of ICE arrest since he took oath as U.S. president. After a decade, we still have not seen a major overhaul and change in immigration law. Hopefully, this 2020 decade, our leaders will finally pass a more humane and sensible immigration reform law; a more compassionate, relevant and rational one that will replace the dysfunctional immigration system we have right now.

(Atty. Lourdes Santos Tancinco, is an immigrant advocate, founder and a principal partner at the Tancinco Law Offices, San Francisco CA based law firm. She may be reached at 1 888 930 0808, law@tancinco.com, facebook.com/tancincolaw, or through tancinco.weareph.com/old)

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Trump ending WWII Filvets parole–what it means to veterans’ families

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On August 2, 2019, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced its plan to terminate the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP). This program was conceived almost 3 years ago during the Obama Administration and is set to terminate in 2021.

Will the announcement last week pre-terminate the program? What will happen to the families of Filipino veterans who have pending or approved FWVP?

Understanding the FWVP

Upon hearing the news of the USCIS plan to terminate the FWVP, several veterans’ advocates in our community were alarmed by its adverse impact on our elderly Filipino veterans and their families. Indeed, the FWVP was conceived by former President Obama as part of its 2015 Modernizing and Streamlining of the Immigration System. At the time, there was a mandate to allow certain families of Filipino veterans to enter the United States and the legal way to address this was to allow the families on urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit.

The FWVP program since its inception has allowed veterans and their widows to live with their families on parole status. After serving under the U.S. flag during World War II without their sacrifices recognized and their benefits granted, the elderly veterans sought to have family unity during their twilight years. Through the FWVP, sons and daughters of veterans were able to provide the much needed care for their aging parents.

No Immediate Termination of the FWVP Until Further Notice

The latest announcement of the USCIS as it is published indicates that this is a “plan” much like the announcement made a couple of months ago that ICE planned to conduct “mass raids of millions of undocumented.” What this means is that there is no immediate termination of the FWVP, so all those who are on parole status under the FWVP must not fear having to immediately leave the U.S. at the expense of abandoning their elderly veterans or veterans’ widow.

Put in the context of the DACA rescission in 2017, a change in policy may not take place immediately without violating constitutional due process. Lawsuits are still pending on DACA rescission and DACA recipients continue to receive their employment authorization document.

So unlike the rescission of the DACA program, the USCIS clearly indicated that it will allow the current FWVP parole beneficiaries to maintain their current period of parole through expiration. Also, those who have pending FWVP requests with the USCIS will be processed to completion.

Renewal of FWVP

There is no mention in the announcement that renewals or new applications may be filed. Until and unless there is a clear guidance on how renewals or new applications are processed, USCIS at its discretion should consider adjudicating these applications. At the very least, if these are not processed under FWVP, they may be filed and classified as “non-categorical” or the general grant of humanitarian parole, which may not have the same ease of USCIS approval compared with those filed under a categorical parole such as the FWVP.

The FWVP was intended for our Filipino World War II veterans, but based on our experiences at the Bayanihan Equity Center (f.k.a. Veterans Equity Center), hundreds of veterans had passed away before they were able to benefit from this program. With very few of them alive, why deprive them of the benefit of being reunited with their families? As a community, we have to continue to uphold our heroes’ dignity and not cut them down of their much needed family support.

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

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FAQ: Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Policy (FWVP)

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Policy (FWVP)
Prepared by: Atty. Lourdes Santos Tancinco
Updated: November 2017

1. What is the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program?
The Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP)is a program announced for implementation by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on May 9, 2016 that will allow certain beneficiaries of approved family based immigrant visa petitions an opportunity to request a discretionary grant of parole on a case by case basis so that they may come to the United States as they wait for their immigrant visa numbers to become available. As of March 2017, USCIS received 361 FWVP applications, 276 still pending, 33 denied and approved only 52 applications.

2. What is the meaning of ‘parole’?
Parole is a discretionary measure that will allow an individual to enter the United States; it is not a visa neither is it considered an admission.

3. What is the purpose of the FWVP or the veterans parole?
To enable the son or daughter of the veteran to come to the United States and take care of the elderly veteran. While on parole, he or she can stay in the United States until the priority date of the petition becomes current.

4. Who can apply for the veterans’ parole?
Applicants may be the U.S. citizen veterans or surviving spouses on behalf of their sons and daughters and their derivatives who are beneficiaries of approved I-130 Petition for Relative filed by the Filipino veteran or spouse. Once the parole is approved, the applicant son or daughter will be interviewed by USCIS at the U.S. Embassy for consideration (grant or denial) of the parole.

5. Who are the veterans referred to in this policy?
These are the Filipino World War II veterans who have proven their status as such when they naturalized to become U.S. citizens under the IMMACT90. They must have filed I-130 petitions for their children under any of the family preference categories.

6. What type of cases are covered by this FWVP?

Those with approved petitions filed by Filipino veteran, still alive residing in the United States
Those with approved petitions filed by Filipino veterans, deceased, but resided in the United States at the time of death
Those with approved petitions filed by the widows of Filipino veterans, still alive residing in the United States
Those with approved petitions filed by the widow of Filipino veterans, now deceased but was in the United States at the time of death
Those with approved petitions filed by Filipino veterans or widows, and both the veteran and widow are now deceased. An additional requirement of a “visa reinstatement” based on humanitarian concern is required in this case.

7. Who are the beneficiaries of the veterans’ parole policy?
Sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans and their derivative spouses and sons and daughters who are below 21 years old. This means that parole policy does not only extend to the children of the veterans but also to their grandchildren.

8. What type of petition must have been previously filed to qualify for the veteran’s parole?
There must be an approved I-130 (Petition for Immediate Relative) filed by the veteran or the veteran’s widow and which petition must be approved before the request for parole. The approved petition must have a priority date that is not yet current.

9. What is required of the derivative spouses and their children?
Other than proving that there was a prior I-130 petition that was approved, there must be proof that there is was an existing relationship before May 9, 2016, i.e. must be married and child must be born before May 9 to qualify.

10. How can the veterans or widow prove military service during World War II?
They must have been previously recognized by the U.S. Department of the Defense and based on the IMMACT90 as amended in 1998.

11. If the name of the veteran is not on the list of the National Personnel Record Center at St. Louis Missouri, can secondary evidence be submitted?
USCIS will consider other proof of military record if after responding to the RFE the applicant submits secondary proof according to the IMMACT90.

12. May the stepchildren of veterans or the children of the widows of the veterans prior to or after the marriage to the veteran qualify for the parole?
Yes, only if it meets the definition of a stepchild under immigration law. This means that the son or daughter of the widow who is not fathered by the veteran may qualify if the marriage of the veteran and the widow occurred when the stepchild was below 18 years old.

13. When can the veterans, widows apply for parole on behalf of their children?

USCIS started accepting FWVP applications on June 8, 2016. USCIS currently still accepts FWVP until further notice.

14. Will sons and daughters presently in the United States in unlawful status apply for parole?
USCIS clearly stated that the parole program applies to those who are outside the United States.. However, certain relatives in the United States may be able to benefit from the FWVP Program. If USCIS conditionally approves the application for a parole document, the beneficiary will need to leave the United States and appear abroad at a USCIS office or U.S. embassy or consulate to be interviewed. The 3-10 year bar will apply depending on how long the family members have been in unlawful status in the United States.

Sons and daughter of Filipino veterans present in the United States must explore other legal options outside of the parole program. Those whose parents passed away may want to consider humanitarian reinstatement.

15. When can the self-petitioner, whose veteran parent and mother are now both deceased, apply?

The self petitioner may apply after the I-130 is reinstated by the USCIS.

16. How does one apply to the FWVP Program ?

To apply, petitioners must submit:

• A parole application (Form I-131, Application for Travel Document) along with the required fee (or fee waiver request) for each relative to be considered for parole; and

• At least one Form I-134, Affidavit of Support, for each relative to be considered for parole.

NOTE: Petitioners must submit parole applications for all eligible relatives associated with the same underlying Form I-130 at the same time. This means petitioners will need to file any applications for derivative beneficiaries at the same time as the application for the principal beneficiary. If a petitioner does not apply for the principal beneficiary, USCIS will not consider the associated derivative beneficiaries under the FWVP Program.

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Global Pinoy

Challenges in applying for Filvets US parole visa

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Henry was petitioned by his father who was a Filipino World War II veteran. Sometime in 2000, his father suffered a heart attack in the U.S., and Henry traveled on a visitor visa to take care of him. He extended his stay as a visitor for another six months until his father passed away.

Henry stayed beyond his authorized stay in the U.S. and incurred unlawful presence. He heard about the parole program for children of Filipino World War II veterans and is excited to apply for parole. Will Henry be eligible to apply for parole?

Henry meets most of the requirements of the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Policy or FWVP as released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on May 9, 2016. Henry is already in the United States; will he still be allowed to apply for the parole and eventually be eligible for employment authorization?

Those presently in the U.S. must depart and process for the parole abroad (U.S. Embassy in Manila). But if Henry departs from the United States, he will face the 3 to 10-year bar to inadmissibility.

This means that since he has been out of status for more than one year, he will not be able to return to the U.S. for 10 years, defeating the purpose of the parole. Henry may just want to take at the legal option of a humanitarian reinstatement of the revoked petition and subsequently apply for adjustment of status.

There are several benefits of FWVP as thousands of family members may take advantage of this program in the next five years. But there are also anticipated challenges. One is the requirement that veterans or their surviving spouse must be the petitioners for parole if they are still alive. With their advanced age and declining health, they will need assistance to locating and putting together the supporting documents needed to file parole for their children.

Another major challenge is a situation where both parents are deceased and the children are allowed to self-petition for parole. In this case, they have to request for the humanitarian reinstatement of the petition before they may be granted the parole. This request for humanitarian reinstatement is very discretionary and usually the standards are very high unless special consideration are given to children of Filipino veterans.

As mentioned by the USCIS in its May 9, 2016 announcement of this parole program, the FWVP is a discretionary determination that will be made on a case by case basis. While it is understandably a discretionary matter, in delineating the parameters and in the implementation of this parole program USCIS should be liberal in the exercise of their discretion. They should take into account not just the policy behind the parole program, but also its humanitarian nature, recognizing the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of these Filipino veterans during World War II.

(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)