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By immigrationprof

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Regards,

Mohan B

Uniting Legal Permanent Residents with their Nuclear Families

In a land built by immigrants, there is a renewed deliberation over immigration on the Capitol Hill. In all the debate about pros-and-cons of legal and illegal Immigration, a small, albeit economically significant issue of unification of Legal Permanent Residents, (LPRs, a.k.a. Green Card Holders) with their spouses continues to stay under the Radar Screens of policy makers, costing the American economy about 4.2 Billion dollars a year.

The issue is simple: Legal Permanent Residents who have opted to get married to foreigners are unable to be united with their spouses and young families. The foreign spouse of a US Green Card holder must wait for approval of an ‘immigrant visa’ from the State Department before entering the US. Due to a backlog in processing, such visas can take a upwards of five years to be approved. In the interim, the spouse cannot enter the US on any other visas, or as visitors. LPRs are in a uniquely disadvantaged situation:

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Visitors and non-immigrants coming to the US on temporary visas for work, business or studies (including on H1, L1, B, and F1 visas) can sponsor their dependant spouses to travel along with them.

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American Citizens can sponsor their spouses to come to the US in non-immigrant status and then convert to an immigrant status under the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (the “LIFE Act”)

The issue of Lawful Permanent Residents torn from their families for years is not a new problem. A mechanism to unite families of LPRs was created by the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act of 2000 (the LIFE Act) by the introduction of a ‘V Visa,’ signed into law by President Bush. Unfortunately, it effectively expired and is no longer available.

Almost every year new bills addressing this issue are introduced in the congress by a few concerned congressmen but don’t get past the Judiciary committee; for instance HR1823 and HR4448 are currently in the US congress remain unnoticed by most lawmakers. The proposal for reviving the visa is based on something that has little controversy

— family unity —

but passing a bill into law is not a small matter. Until this happens, families of Green Card holders will have to wait outside our borders and the economy will continue to loose over 4 Billion dollars a year.