There are efforts to encourage the filing of petitions by U.S. citizens on behalf of their adult children. The waiting period for visas of these adult children take several years and rushing to file petitions for them may not seem to be an appealing proposition. However, for some families, it may be the only option left.
Clarita entered the United States in 2003 as a lawful permanent resident. Upon arriving in the United States, Clarita immediately filed petitions for her two other children who remained in the Philippines. The first child is Joseph who was already an adult child when he was petitioned. The second child is her youngest child, Anne, who was a minor at the time of the filing of the petitions. The petition for Joseph was approved under the second preference F2B as an adult unmarried child of a green card holder. Anne’s petition was approved under the second preference F2A as an unmarried minor child of a green card holder.
Two years after filing the petitions, Anne got married to her high school beau. Clarita’s petition for both Anne and Joseph became current early this year. The National Visa Center sent documents to Anne and Joseph about the steps to be taken to pursue the applications for immigrant visas.
Joseph was interviewed by the consular officer and was granted an immigrant visa. Unfortunately, Anne was declined issuance of the visas and was told that her petition was revoked. The reason for revocation is that she got married and no longer eligible to be petitioned by her green card parent.
Clarita was devastated by the denial of Anne’s visa. She was advised to file an application for naturalization and then file another petition for Anne. If Clarita refiles a new petition for Anne, it will take probably more than two decades for visa availability based on current backlogs. Clarita is now 77 years old and she does not believe that it is worth re-filing the petition. If she does so, she will already be 97 years old before Anne will be able to live with her in the United States.
Lately, Clarita was told to re-file the petition anyway as a U.S. citizen petitioner. She heard that there will be changes to the visa category and it may be best for her to file the petition anyway. What are the changes to this visa category? What are the advantages of re-filing these type of petitions despite the lengthy processing times?
Eliminating Family Petitions
With the effort to pass immigration reform, the US Senate passed S.744 that contains a provision that will modify the F3 (married adult children of U.S. citizens) and eliminate F4 (siblings of U.S. citizens) family categories. If the House of Representatives also act on its own version of the immigration reform bill, it will most likely contain the same provision. Assuming that this happens, U.S. citizens will no longer have the ability to file petitions for their siblings under the F4 category. And for US citizens with married children under the F3 category, they will only be limited to filing petitions for children who are 31 years old and younger.
If an immigration reform bill is passed, the family petitions F3 and F4 are most likely to disappear in an effort to gain more visas for highly skilled workers. Or, its elimination may be a leverage used by proponents of immigration reform in exchange for visas or path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Those who will be most affected by these proposals are nationals from the Philippines and Mexico. These are the countries with the most backlogs in F3 and F4 categories. However, other Asian countries will also be severely affected since family reunification is critical to most Asian immigrants. Hence, organizations such as Asian American Advancing Justice are initiating activities aimed at encouraging immigrants to start filing petitions now even prior to the immigration reform bill being enacted into law.
The goal of filing the family petitions, especially for those in the F3 and F4 visa categories, is for the U.S. citizen petitioners to file petitions now before it is eliminated. Definitely, there is no guarantee that those who filed before immigration reform is enacted will have visas available for them later on. But most certainly, petitioners under the F3 and F4 categories will be prevented from doing so if they apply after the enactment of immigration reform. Another reason to consider filing before the enactment of the law is that if and when a merit based system of immigration is implemented, there will be added points for beneficiaries of current F3 and F4 petitions pending for five years and filed prior the enactment of the immigration reform law.
Temporary “V” Visas Proposed
One good provision in the S.744 is the re-establishment of the V nonimmigrant visa for certain beneficiaries whose petitions have been pending for certain period of time. In the past, V visa was granted to unmarried minor children and spouses of green card holders with pending petitions. With the S.744, the V nonimmigrant visa is going to be offered to siblings and married children of U.S. citizens with pending petitions. The V visa will be used to visit the petitioning relative temporarily for a period not to exceed 60 days in a given year. No employment authorization is going to issued to V visa holders under this category. But the opportunity to visit and travel on a V visa is also one reason why U.S. citizen petitioners should consider filing petitions now before the actual passage of the immigration reform law.
It should be made clear that there is no new immigration law yet. All the provisions discussed above are merely proposals that need to pass both houses of Congress before it can become law. Nevertheless, with an impending threat of losing the opportunity to file petitions and the possible advantages of having a pending petition filed prior to enactment, U.S. citizen relatives should take steps to initiate the process of filing family petitions before major changes take place.
(Atty. Lourdes Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177 or 721 1963 or visit her website at tancinco.weareph.com/old)
