05 Mar Obama leaked Draft of Immigration Reform Bill
Q. What is the content of the Obama leaked Immigration Reform Bill?
A. The White House is circulating a draft immigration bill that would create a new visa for undocumented immigrants living in the United States and allow them to become legal permanent residents within eight years, according to a report published online by USA Today.
Q. Who are covered by the Immigration Reform Draft?
A. President Barack Obama’s bill would create a “Lawful Prospective Immigrant” visa for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The bill includes more security funding and requires business owners to adopt a system for verifying the immigration status of new hires within four years, the newspaper said.
Q. Who are not eligible to apply under the plan?
A. USA Today reported that the bill would require that immigrants pass a criminal background check, submit biometric information and pay fees to qualify for the new visa. Immigrants who served more than a year in prison for a criminal conviction or were convicted of three or more crimes and were sentenced to a total of 90 days in jail would not be eligible. Crimes committed in other countries that would bar immigrants from legally entering the country would also be ineligible.
Q. Are those in removal or deportation proceedings include in the plan?
A. Those immigrants facing deportation would be eligible to apply for the visa, the newspaper reported. Immigrants would be eligible to apply for a green card within eight years, if they learn English and U.S. history and government, and they would later be eligible to become U.S. citizens.
Q. When will this draft of Immigration Reform be submitted to Congress?
A. Last month a bipartisan group of senators announced they had agreed on the general outline of an immigration plan. For his part, Obama has said he would not submit his own legislation to Congress so long as law makers acted “in a timely manner.” If they failed, he said, “I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away.”
Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman, said that Obama still supports a bipartisan effort to craft a comprehensive immigration bill. “While the president has made clear he will move forward if Congress fails to act, progress continues to be made and the administration has not prepared a final bill to submit,” he said in a statement.
PROVISIONAL WAIVER PROCESSING TAKES EFFECT
The procedure for provisional waiver processing will officially take effect on March 4, 2013. This provisional waiver will allow the following aliens who are married to U.S. citizens to seek waiver of unlawful presence and be able to go to their home country to apply for green card. To qualify, they must prove extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen spouse or parents if their application for permanent residence is denied. The beneficiaries of this provisional waiver will include:
- Seamen who entered the U.S. on a C or D visa and overstayed their visa and are not beneficiaries of Sec. 245(i).
- Those who entered without inspection and are not beneficiaries of Sec. 245(i)
- Those who entered as Fiancée and did not marry the visa petitioner.
- Those aliens who have lost their passports and have no proof of legal entry to the U.S.
RE-AUTHORIZATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT (VAWA)
The U. S. Congress reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act 2013. This law protects aliens who are victims of abuse and violence by the U.S. citizen spouse or parents. It does cover male spouse and children.
March 2013 Visa Bulletin
The March 2013 visa bulletin showed three weeks to 32 weeks advances in the family based preferences. The employment based third preference skilled workers and unskilled workers advanced by one week since last month. The March 2013 visa bulletin follows:
March 2013 State Department Visa Bulletin.
The Department of State will be processing the following petitions with priority dates earlier than indicated below.
Family Based Preferences:
1. First Preference Unmarried Sons and Daughter of Citizens Oct. 15, 1998
This Preference advanced by 32 weeks since last month.
2. Second Preference:
a. Spouses and Minor Children of Permanent Residents Nov. 22, 2010
This Preference advanced by 4 weeks since last month.
b. Unmarried Sons and Daughter 21 years and over of Lawful Permanent Residents June 08, 2002
This Preference advanced by 3 weeks since last month.
3. Third Preference Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens Sep. 15, 1992
This Preference advanced by 3 weeks since last month.
4. Fourth Preference Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens July 15, 1989
This Preference advanced by 6 weeks since last month.
B. Employment Based Preferences:
1. First Preference – Priority Workers Current
2. Second Preference – Advanced Degree Professionals Current
3. Third Preference – Skilled Workers & Professionals Sept. 01, 2006
This preference advanced by one week since last month
Unskilled – Other Workers Sept. 01, 2006
This preference advanced by one week since last month
Scheduled A Workers Sept. 01, 2006
This preference advanced by one week since last month
Please note that for the month of March 2013, Employment Based Third Preference visa (professionals and skilled workers) is available for the Philippine nationals with approved labor certifications or I-140 petitions with priority dates earlier than September 1, 2006. For Schedule A nurses and physical therapist, immigrant visa is also available for March 2013, if they have an approved I-140 petition dated earlier than September 1, 2006.
Third Preference visas for Unskilled Workers such as caregivers, nursing assistants and nannies are available for those Philippine Nationals with approved labor certifications dated earlier than September 1, 2006 for the month of March 2013.
Note: This is not a legal advice.