Monday, November 24, 2014

Immigration Reform - Updated Changes

For the original blog post about Comprehensive Immigration Reform, please click here: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2013/04/cir-bill-s744-border-security-economic.html

President Barack Obama announced his plan called Immigration Accountability Executive Action (IAEA) to fix the immigration system.



Here are the brief overview of these changes:

1. Deferred Action For Parents Of USC And LPR: Similar to DACA, allow parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years. They must submit biometric data, pass all the background checks, pay correct fees, and show that their child was born before the date of this announcement.

2. EAD For H4 Visa Holders: This gives work permits (EAD) to spouses of H1B Visa holder who have an I-140 immigration petition.

3. Easier Job Portability For I-485 Filings: The rule is expected to make it easier for applicants with approved I-140 to get same benefits as EAD applicant. This could mean changing employers after I-140 is approved. Currently the applicant have to wait for 180 days after filing I-485 application before they can change employer. If they cannot file I-485 application (due to huge backlog), they cannot change employer without starting the process again. This makes it easy to move between employers after I-140 application is approved.

4. Expansion Of DACA: This ruling will expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Individuals who entered the country as children before turning 16 and have been present since January 1, 2010 can apply for DACA. Also DACA relief is extended from 2 years to 3 years.

5. NIW For Entrepreneurs: This plan will enhance opportunities for foreign inventors, researchers, and founders of start-up enterprises wishing to conduct research and development and create jobs in the United States.

6. Modernize Immigrant Visa System: The following changes are been planned:
(a) USCIS should continue and enhance its work with the Department of State to ensure that all immigrant visas authorized by Congress are issued to eligible individuals when there is sufficient demand for such visas.
(b) USCIS would work with the Department of State to improve the system for determining when immigrant visas are available to applicants during the fiscal year. The Department of State has agreed to modify its visa bulletin system to more simply and reliably make such determinations.
(c) USCIS would carefully consider other regulatory or policy changes to better assist and provide stability to the beneficiaries of approved employment-based immigrant visa petitions. Specifically, USCIS should consider amending its regulations to ensure that approved, long-standing visa petitions remain valid in certain cases where they seek to change jobs or employers.

7. Expansion Of OPT/STEM Program: This plan will expand the degree programs eligible for OPT and extend the time period and use of OPT for foreign STEM students and graduates. In addition, they would require stronger ties to degree-granting institutions, which would better ensure that a student's practical training furthers the student's full course of study in the United States.

8. Provisional Waivers: This plan will expand the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens

9. L1B Program: USCIS would issue a policy memorandum that provides clear, consolidated guidance on the meaning of "specialized knowledge." This memorandum will bring greater coherence and integrity to the L-lB program, improve consistency in adjudications, and enhance companies' confidence in the program.

10. Travel: This plan will ensure that the individuals with lawful status can travel to their countries of origin. DHS will clarify its guidance to provide greater assurance to individuals with a pending LPR application or certain temporary status permission to travel abroad with advance permission (“parole”).

11. Promoting Citizenship Public Awareness: DHS will launch a comprehensive citizenship awareness media campaign in the 10 states that are home to 75 percent of the overall LPR population. USCIS will also expand options for paying naturalization fees and explore additional measures to expand accessibility, including studying potential partial fee waiver for qualified individuals.

12. Ensuring U.S. Citizens Can Serve: To further our military’s needs and support recruitment efforts, DHS will expand an existing policy to provide relief to spouses and children of U.S. citizens seeking to enlist in the military, consistent with a request made by the Department of Defense.

Important notice:

These initiatives have not yet been implemented, and USCIS is not accepting any requests or applications at this time. Beware of anyone who offers to help you submit an application or a request for any of these actions before they are available. You could become a victim of an immigration scam. Subscribe to this page to get updates when new information is posted.

Next steps:

USCIS and other agencies and offices are responsible for implementing these initiatives as soon as possible. Some initiatives will be implemented over the next several months and some will take longer. Over the coming months, USCIS will produce detailed explanations, instructions, regulations and forms as necessary.  While USCIS is not accepting requests or applications at this time, if you believe you may be eligible for one of the initiatives listed above, you can prepare by gathering documents that establish factors such as your:
  • Identity;
  • Relationship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; and
  • Continuous residence in the United States over the last five years or more.
Update (January 2015):

18 US States filed lawsuit to stop President Obama's immigration executive action: http://blog.mygcvisa.com/2015/01/18-us-states-filed-lawsuit-to-stop.html

Recommended Reading:

Please click here for latest immigration news or see the right side menu for the latest analysis, news stories and other useful FAQ or USCIS links -->

41 comments:

  1. What's the process of requesting EAD for a spouse?

    ReplyDelete
  2. When will they announce recapture visas and excluding dependents

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. never. where did you read that or just dreaming?

      Delete
  3. Nothing for FB catagoaries !!! Nobody cares about us !

    ReplyDelete
  4. this executive action is just a fraud. nothing for legals. reward illegals and punish who follow the law. there is no visa recapture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. he is Obama, so he doesn't care for legal immigrants. man, is this black Mexican?

      Delete
  5. F2a still getting on a long line to see their spouse!? Nothing is new, hopelessly!

    ReplyDelete
  6. my PD NOV 1 2013 F2A
    when my case become current????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. stop asking these no brain questions over and over and over again. please do some research.

      Delete
  7. Read number 6. Something change visa bulletin

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think it is time those of us waiting under Family-based category write to white house. This is ridiculous that after everything a legal permanent resident does to maintain the status by abiding the laws and paying taxes, that they are being put under the bus. Talk about undocumented immigrates, there are only flaws in this process starting from proving how an undocumented worker ever entered the country certain years back. There's a reason why they are called undocumented. But no, the country just wants to turn a blind eye towards the rest of the legally struggling immigrants and go forward with doing "good" others!

    There has got to be a way to get the voices heard. The more we reach out to white house and get the word out, the better it is for the family-based immigrants to get some kind of action from the top.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well said ! You must act now , let them hear us out ! We respect system and came in the line ,waiting for long but we got no appreciation from white house !

    ReplyDelete
  10. http://watsonimmigration.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/immigration-executiveaction-will-it-help-my-family-based-preference-case/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pls read this article : Program Benefiting some immigrants Extends visa wait for others ! Sounds so scary !

    ReplyDelete
  12. You send that link is that copyright 2013 not 2014

    ReplyDelete
  13. No, nov 24,2014 !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. what is the source for this

    ReplyDelete
  15. This article is published on Us immigration news Google site !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is bad news for F2A???

      Delete
    2. Latest news about Green Card on Google !

      Delete
    3. my PD NOV 1 2013
      how long u think my case will current

      Delete
    4. Yes it's bad for FB categories ! For FB categories long wait will be expected due to immigration reform for 5 million immigrants !

      Delete
    5. Anonymous, with pd Nov. 1, 2013! You will be current in July or Aug.! Maybe earlier! Good luck!

      Delete
  16. First of all the artical you guys talking about is 1 year old and that is the wait time that talking about is for accpeting i-130. We all have i-130 already approved. Thats why we concern about visa bulletin

    ReplyDelete
  17. Obama's executive action has nothing to do with FB category. And as per as F2a category concerns it suffered from major retrogresson months back so it is likely to move very fast up to PD oct 2013 . Dos published on 14 Nov on its official website that they are recurting new staff and changing the procedure as not accepting the orginal documents so they can reduce backlogs and over come retrogresson

    ReplyDelete
  18. And why f2a moving so slowly for past 3 months because Dos faces double cases than usual and the collecting the original documents makes the process very long

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is the source: http://www.cilawgroup.com/news/2014/11/14/national-visa-center-no-longer-requires-original-civil-documents/

    ReplyDelete
  20. My PD May 2004 F4 ... when i can be current ?

    ReplyDelete
  21. My PD is April 2008 F2B category other chargeable Areas how soon will I be hearing from NVC to submit civil documents and paid fees? When will my PD becomes current.

    ReplyDelete
  22. The
    U.S. Senate finally releases its version of a Comprehensive Immigration Reform
    (CIR) bill today. The Border
    Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 proposes
    to reform many aspects of the current immigration policy, including the
    creation of a new Registered Provisional Immigrant Status (RPI) for the
    undocumented immigrants. The prerequisite is that the border must be secured
    first before any RPI petition will be approved. The following are the
    highlights of the most important proposed changes:
    Family-sponsored Immigration

    Reduce the current four family preference categories
    to two categories only: Unmarried adult children (of U.S. citizens);
    married adult children (of U.S. citizens) who file before age 31, and
    unmarried adult children of lawful permanent residents.

    Lawful permanent residents will be able to petition
    for their spouses and minor children (currently F2A) without regard to
    visa numbers – just like U.S. citizens can do now.

    The current F4 preference category will be
    eliminated 18 months after the law is enacted – meaning that U.S. citizens
    will no longer be able to petition for their brothers and sisters.

    The Diversity Visa Program (“Visa Lottery”) will be
    eliminated after FY2014.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good News: F2A will be Current Soon

      Delete
  23. what is the source for this???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.saa-vi.org/downloads/CIRsummary-SAA.pdf

      good news for F2A applicants

      Delete
    2. Sorry to crash your hopes, this is an old bill..

      Delete
  24. When will this bill become law? What is the process? When can people begin to apply for legalization?

    The Senate bill must first move through a process of approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it will be subject to amendment from both Republicans and Democrats on the committee. The bill will then go to the whole Senate for debate and amendment and a final vote. The House must also pass an immigration bill.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is the new bill from the senates

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not new.. this bill has never made the Congress floor..

      Delete
    2. I don't understand why people On this site send posts with out accurate source and research ! Weird !

      Delete
  26. Immigration Reform 2014 News: Republicans Plan to Introduce Immigration Reform Bills in January 2015

    http://www.latinpost.com/articles/27237/20141206/republicans-plan-introduce-immigration-reform-bills-2015.htm

    ReplyDelete
  27. Is der any chance of increasing quota for h1b visas in coming next few months?

    ReplyDelete

Comment Posting Tips:

1. To estimate when priority date can be current, please see this GC Calculator: http://www.mygcvisa.com/calculator

2. View or add your I-130/I-485/NVC case to GC Tracker: http://www.mygcvisa.com/tracker

3. You can browse or post new questions in GC Forum: http://www.mygcvisa.com/discuss


Comments posted above will only appear in this blog post. Comments posted below will appear across all blog posts:

comments powered by Disqus