Tag: Philippine Consulate

Categories
Updates

August 2021 Update on Consular Operations at the U.S. Embassy for Immigrant Visa Applicants

August 2021 Update on Consular Operations at the U.S. Embassy for Immigrant Visa Applicants
Share this:

The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines released its August update and reiterated that only limited scheduled appointments are being made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous visa applicants have been waiting for their visa interviews to be scheduled resulting in a severe backlog of cases on all immigrant visa categories.

The U.S. Embassy is using a tiered approach to triage immigrant visa applications, based on the category of immigrant visa in priority order:

  • Tier One: Immediate relative intercountry adoption visas, age-out cases (cases where the applicant will soon no longer qualify due to their age), and certain Special Immigrant Visas (SQ and SI for Afghan and Iraqi nationals working with the U.S. government)
  • Tier Two: Immediate relative visas; fiancé(e) visas; and returning resident visas
  • Tier Three: Family preference immigrant visas and SE Special Immigrant Visas for certain employees of the U.S. government abroad
  • Tier Four: All other immigrant visas, including employment preference and Diversity Visas

There is no specific date given on when the resumption of full visa services or processing of a specific category of visa would occur. If there is an emergency requiring urgent travel, a request for expedite may be made through the U.S. Embassy website.

For assistance on consular processing of visa applications, call Tancinco Law at 1 888 930 0808 or you may visit our website at www.tancinco.com.

Categories
Updates

Updated Advisory: Traveling to the Philippines and the U.S.

Share this:

Traveling to the Philippines

According to IATF Resolution No. 97 released on January 28, 2021, U.S. citizens or non-Filipinos who are not dual citizens and naturalized U.S. citizens are not allowed to enter without valid Philippine visas among other requirements. 

The resolution states that non-Filipinos may enter the Philippines, subject to the following conditions:

  1. With valid and existing visa at the time of entry;
  2. With pre-booked quarantine accommodation for at least seven nights in an accredited quarantine hotel/facility;
  3. Subject to COVID-19 testing on sixth day from date of arrival; and
  4. Subject to maximum capacity of inbound passengers at the port and date of entry.

Note that those with no Philippine passports but with valid visas who fall under the following categories will be allowed entry into the Philippines subject to the same requirements above:

  1. Foreign spouses of Filipino nationals; or
  2. Foreign parents of minor Filipino children and of Filipino children with special needs, regardless of age.

Those who comply with the above and who are allowed to enter the Philippines  will have to comply with the mandatory 7 days quarantine upon arrival at approved Department of Health (DOH) facilities. This rule applies despite negative COVID tests upon arrival. On the sixth (6th) day of arrival, the traveler will have to take a mandatory COVID-testing. 

Make sure before traveling and before making a hotel reservation that the hotel is an accredited quarantine hotel/facility by the Philippine Department of Health. For a list of accredited quarantine hotels and facilities, travelers should exercise due diligence by researching only on reputable information sources. Or they may contact their airlines for any list or their partner quarantine hotels for recommendation.

Traveling to the United States

All airline passengers traveling to the United States, including U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), are required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 viral test or recovery from COVID-19.

Effective January 26,2021 all airline passengers to the United States ages two years and older must provide either a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within three calendar days of travel or provide a positive test result and documentation from a licensed health care provider or public health official of having recovered from COVID-19 in the 90 days preceding travel.  Passengers must also attest, under penalty of law, to having received a negative qualifying test result or to recovery from COVID-19 and medical clearance to travel.   

Airlines must deny boarding to passengers who do not meet these requirements.   U.S. citizens in countries where adequate COVID-19 testing is not available or may not be able to satisfy the requirements, should depart immediately or prepare to be unable to return to the United States until such time as they can meet the requirements.    

Categories
Updates

Revisiting the “Parole in Place” Policy for Children of WWII Veterans

Share this:

When U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials visited the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco in July 2015 for a briefing on the Filipino World War II Veteran Policy, the issue that was of serious concern is about the eligibility of those who are in the United States in unlawful status. It was emphasized that the the FWVP parole is only for those outside the United States. Those who are in the United States must leave the country to get the parole but risk being barred for 3-10 years.

Those who are in the United States in unlawful status may still consider applying for a parole in place under the November 15, 2013 USCIS policy memorandum. However, parole in place has limited applicability.

Parole in Place

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a Policy Memorandum titled “Parole of Spouses, Children and Parents of Active Duty Members of the U.S.Armed Forces, the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve, and Former Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve and the Effect of Parole on Inadmissibility under Immigration and Nationality Act§ 212(a)(6)(A)(i)”. Pursuant to this Memorandum the children, parents and spouses of active duty members of the US Armed Forces as well as the veterans of the US Armed Forces are entitled to a “parole” status.

Parole status means that those eligible will be considered granted temporary relief from removal and that they will be provided with employment authorization document. The new policy also shall allow immediate relative who are eligible for this parole in place status to adjust their status if they have an approved petition visa petition from their US citizen immediate relative. Parole status does not erase any period of prior unlawful presence.

Usually “parole” status is granted to those who are entering the United States but have no valid visas. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has the authority to grant parole based on humanitarian or emergency circumstances of the applicant for parole. In this new policy memorandum, the grant of parole status is extended to those who are already in the United States in unlawful status but who have entered the United States without inspection or admission. Those who have entered with a valid visa and later on had the visa expired are not eligible for the parole in place.

Considering that the “parole in place” relief has limited applicability to spouses, children and parents of members and veterans of the military service, only children of war veterans who entered without inspection are entitled to parole. Most Filipinos who enter the United States have in their possession valid nonimmigrant visas. At the time of their entry, they are inspected and admitted. Since they were inspected, even if there are those who failed to maintain lawful status, they still will not be eligible for the parole in place.

The case will be different for children of veterans who crossed the Canadian or the Mexican border. When someone crosses the border without the appropriate visa, these are considered to have entered without admission or inspection (known as “EWIs”). If such is the case, then the “parole in place” may be applied with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Yet. those who are not eligible for parole in place may explore the option of adjustment of status under Section 245(i) since most of the veterans petition for their children were filed in before 2001.

(Lourdes Santos Tancinco, Esq is a partner at the Tancinco Law Offices, a Professional Law Corp. Her principal office is located at One Hallidie Plaza, Ste 818, San Francisco CA 94102 and may be reached at 1 888 930 0808 or email at law@tancinco.com or go to their website at tancinco.weareph.com/old or at www.facebook.com/tancincolaw.)

Categories
Updates

USCIS officials, Fil-Am leaders explain Filvets parole program

Share this:

SAN FRANCISCO — Just as the euphoria over the recently implemented Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program is beginning to rise, a very timely warning was aired by the panelists at a “Talakayan” hosted by the Philippine American Press Club (PAPC) and the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco: Scammers are lurking in the shadows, waiting for victims.

The complexities that may await veterans of advanced age, who may not have heard of the news about the program could provide scam artists opportunities to strike.

No less than the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) San Francisco District Director John Kramar delivered the alert, especially to the elderly whose first language is not English.

“So we have a double vulnerable population here. It is very important for all of us, the civil servants, those working for the community, it is also the responsibilities of the media, to put the word out to be very careful about who you go to,” cautioned Kramar.

“USCIS.gov is the website for U.S. citizenship immigration service. No other site is the official site showing what the forms are, what the fees are, what the process is. Just make sure that you look at the correct USCIS website and nothing else,” he added.

Kramer also explained that there are licensed attorneys with the U.S. Bar Associations and accredited representatives of the Department of Justice that can be relied on.

“That list is available is available in our website and through the Department of Justice website for everyone to check. There are well-meaning advocates in the community. Go to the right persons and if you are not certain, check it out,” Kramer advised.

Accurate information available

Veterans Equity Center Board President and immigration lawyer Atty. Lou Tancinco stated that accurate information must be disseminated by reputable organizations, encouraging them to rely only on USCIS published information.

“Opportunism arises when unscrupulous individuals demand money from family members who are not even qualified for the FWVP,” Tancinco warned.

“When someone promises to deliver a service that seems to be too good to be true, that is a red flag and the veterans’ family should be wary of the existence of these scammers,” Tancinco further cautioned. “Hence, as attorneys we need to be working together with the USCIS and the Philippine Consulate to outreach to the stakeholders.”

Talakayan venue host Consul General Henry Bensurto Jr. admitted that not too many people are well informed yet on the FWVP even if the information had been available for more than a month.

“Please read the regulations, talk and consult with the right people who know the regulations well. We want you to get the right information by consulting the right people,” exhorted Bensurto who also plans to use the consulate website.

The FWVP program was borne out of an initial policy announced in July 2015 by the Obama administration. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) worked on the policy which is now in effect.

Kramar hailed it as a measure that honors the thousands of Filipinos who bravely enlisted to fight for the United States during World War II. “It is extremely important for the USCIS service and to me as director of the San Francisco district to be here to recognize the extraordinary contributions and the sacrifices of Filipino veterans who fought for the United States during World War II. So it is my pleasure and an honor to be here and talk about this program.”

He added: “This policy will allow certain Filipino American family members that have been waiting so long for American visas to come to the U.S. to be with their loved ones. For many it will also allow them to lend support, care and companionship to their elders in honor of all their services, including the survivors’ spouses.”

‘75 years in the making’

In an exclusive interview during the Kalayaan 2016 in Union Square in San Francisco, Maj. Gen. Taguba (Ret.), an veterans’ advocate seeking the Congressional Gold Medal for the veterans, strongly believes that the parole program had been 75 years in the making.

“People had to wait for 75 years for that parole program, the first 50 years for U.S. citizenship of the veterans themselves and another 25 years for the children to be able to apply. The children have become adults and the 75 years have become more than a lifetime. And those veterans are in poor health, some of them need medical care and given care of by their children,” Taguba rued, citing veteran Art Caleda in Hawaii who is 96 years old and will finally get his wish that two of his sons can come to Hawaii to live with him.

Veterans Equity Center (VEC) Executive Director Luisa Antonio, reported that about 30,000 World War II Filipino veterans came to the U.S. after the 1990 Immigration and Nationality Act. “In the Bay Area there are now fewer than a thousand veterans who have lived on supplemental security income. A lot of them do not have family members to take care of them. And this makes the parole program more important.”

The federal register presently estimates that between of 2,000 to 6,000 Fil-Am veterans are U.S. citizens in the U.S.

Concerns over reentry

Kramar and Tancinco also expressed concern for family members from the U.S. who may have problems on reentry should they be required to apply for the benefit outside of the U.S. because they had overstayed in the U.S.

“Parole is not a visa but a window of relief for those who cannot in any way come here immediately in a legal way. It is a travel document, a temporary permission to come here and not a substitute for an immigrant visa or a non-immigrant visa. The short five-year parole program is not an immigrant visa and is good only for three years,” Tancinco stressed.

Tancinco also strongly bats for extension of the program beyond five years because some visa petitions may not yet be current in five years and the family members may need to be in the US on parole to wait longer.

Also, Tancinco stated that the biggest challenge is a change in administration in the U.S. since the program is only a policy and not a piece of legislation. It would be good to have a new president who is an ally of the previous administration since there would be a bigger chance the policy would continue.

Here is a presentation prepared Atty Lou Tancinco on the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP).

Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program (FWVP) from tancincolaw