The Beat Goes On: President Trump making it tougher for immigrants to get permanent residency

Citing President Trump’s Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Thursday that in-person interviews will be required for approximately 130,000 immigrants nationwide seeking green cards. In the past, immigrants already here on work visas could apply by mail or on line for permanent residency. The interviews will be required along with forms 140 and I-485.

Refugees or immigrants who have been granted asylum who are seeking green cards for their relatives will also be affected. Those family members, even if they are already in the U.S., will be required to have face-to-face interviews before their form I-730s can be approved.   And immigrants with pending green card applications will no longer be able to leave the country until they are granted permanent residency.

The new requirements encompass visitors with H1B or H2B visas and any type of business visa, said UC Davis School of Law Dean Kevin Johnson. “They’re just tightening the process without showing how the process needs to be tightened, and the only explanation is to slow the number of people coming in by making it harder to get in.”

KJ