After years, President Obama has finally announced his plan for Administrative Relief. It is not a “Presidential Order”. It is not an Immigration Bill (although it is hoped that it may lead to one). The program will go under the name “Immigration Accountability Executive Action”. The following is a short description of some of the highlights of the President’s proposed plan that was announced November 20th and 21st, 2014. The program will help unite families:
1. Expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
This is the program that expands the eligibility for individuals who where brought to the U.S. before the age of 16 and who have resided continuously since January 1st, 2010. They will be deferred from removal and allowed to work (get an EAD) and travel from and back into the US for a period of three years. Applications can be filed in February 2015.
2. Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA).
Parents of US citizens and lawful permanent residents (as of November 20, 2014) will be eligible for deferred action and be able to get work authorization for three years if they have been present since 1/1/2010 and have five years of continuous presence in the US. The DAPA program will require applicants to pay taxes and learn English. There are limited details about how the USCIS will do this. It is estimated that this program will benefit many millions of people.
3. Enforcement Priorities.
The Morton Memo and several other policy documents on enforcement priorities are being modified and updated with an interagency memorandum that explains the new enforcement priorities that focus on the removal of criminals and those that present security risks and not the removal of “families”.
4. New regulations and policies regarding provisional waivers (commonly referred as I-601A waivers).
The current rule expands the provisional waiver program announced in 2013 by allowing the spouses, sons or daughters of lawful permanent residents and of U.S. citizens to get a waiver – (pardon) if a visa is immediately available. This initiative is to further “family unity” and expands the provisional waiver rules in-place.
5. Changes to Allow for Speedy Immigration Processing.
To decrease Priority Date backlogs and to increase the flexibility of immigration processes the President proposed a modification to the visa delivery system.
6. Additional Methodologies For Providing Administrative Relief and To Allow Flexibility for Business Immigration Visa Applications.
Benefits for Enlistees in the Military, Expansion of categories for and timing of Optional Practical Training, PERM recruitment modifications and other programs.
7. Miscellaneous Other Administrative Relief.
Immigration Court Reforms, Worker Exploitation Relief, ICE Personnel Reforms, U and T Visas Reform, the liberalization of the Naturalization process.
For more information, please feel free to contact the Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group, P.C. at 201-670-0006 (x107). VISASERVE TEAM’S U.S. immigration lawyers or attorneys can also be reached by e-mail at info@visaserve.com or by calling TOLL FREE at 866-599-3625. We have offices in New Jersey, New York, Indiana and affiliated offices in Canada and in India. Please be sure to check out our website at https://www.visaserve.com orwww.visaserve.biz