USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Immigration Agency Denies Gay Couple’s Petition | immigration-news.

Tue, Aug 9 5:24 PM

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently denied permanent residency to an Australian man, Anthony Makk, whose same-sex spouse, Bradford Wells, is a U.S. citizen.

Makk and Wells have lived together for nearly two decades and were married seven years ago in Massachusetts. However, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act denies immigration benefits to same-sex couples. USCIS cited this law in rendering a decision against Makk’s application for an I-130 visa, which would grant him permanent residency as the spouse of a U.S. national. Unless the decision is reversed, Makk must leave the country by August 25.

Wells told the San Francisco Chronicle that as an AIDS patient, he relies on extensive medical insurance and essential care he receives in this country, making a move to Australia with Makk impossible.

Earlier this year, the White House declared it will no longer defend DOMA in court, though the U.S. Justice Department would continue to enforce the law.

A spokeman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, told The Chronicle the congresswoman will work to overturn the USCIS ruling.

Last March, same-sex couples cheered when USCIS announced a suspension of deportation cases involving gay citizens with immigrant spouses. However, shortly after its announcement, USCIS clarified the suspension would only last a few weeks, until a specific legal matter was settled.

The official partnership between the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Department of the Interiors National Park Service (NPS) has been renewed recently. This renewal has been made in view of enhancing the meaning and stature of citizenship ceremonies.

In September 2006, the agreement was initially signed between the USCIS and the NPS to link up America’s newest citizens to the national parks all over the country. The citizenship ceremonies are provided with an ideal backdrop established by the historic and picturesque sites of these national parks.

Alejandro Mayorkas, USCIS director and Jon Jarvis, NPS director went on with signing the amendment to the 2006 agreement prior to the special naturalization ceremony. The naturalization ceremony took place at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

The USCIS’ partnership with the NPS has enabled three main improvements. First and foremost, all over the country, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Field Offices will be matched with the National Parks that come under their authority and are interested in organizing citizenship ceremonies. Local partnerships that already exist between the USCIS Field Offices and the National Parks are reinforced and further built up. Finally, a few number of new important naturalization ceremonies that are held at certain parks with a link to immigration or civic history will be sponsored.

Ever since the launch of the partnership between the USCIS and the NPS in September 2006, USCIS has coordinated with the NPS and organized special citizenship ceremonies at most of the 400 places throughout the country that are under the protection of NPS.

In locations, such as Ellis Island, Angel Island, the Mt. Rushmore National Monument, and the National Mall and Memorial Parks, the USCIS has been assisted by NPS in welcoming new citizens on various national commemorations, including Independence Day, Citizenship Day and Constitution Day, and Memorial Day.

It has been proclaimed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that travelers who are intending to apply to the Global Entry and Privium Trusted Traveler programs can apply at any one of the five existing “one-stop shop” joint enrollment centers. These enrollment centers have been set up in the United States and the Netherlands through the Fast Low-Risk Universal Crossing (FLUX) program as a trial initiative.

The government of the U.S. went on a joint-venture with the government of Netherlands to speed up international travel by establishing the Fast Low-Risk Universal Crossing (FLUX) program. This has been achieved by establishing an automated border passage program for those low-risk travelers who have registered themselves already.

The U.S. and Dutch citizens over 14 years of age who possess a valid machine-readable passport and consenting to a background screening can apply to join the U.S. Global Entry and Dutch Privium programs through the FLUX enrollment program while the pilot enrollment period is on. But for FLUX participation, the U.S. citizens should become a member of Global Entry initially after which they require to be authorized for the Dutch Privium program.

Global Entry is an automated entry program directed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This entry program is active at 20 major airports in the U.S. To apply for Global Entry, the U.S. citizens must apply with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection followed by an interview and border check.

Frequent Dutch and U.S. travelers at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam are offered favored treatment by a voluntary fee-based airport service program, Privium.

Joint enrollment was earlier operative only at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. With the interim joint enrollment centers, the U.S. and Dutch citizens who have filed an application for the Global Entry and Privium program can get their Privium interview done with an officer of the Royal Dutch Marechaussee and Global Entry interview with a CBP officer at many new locations.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have announced two specialized categories for screening Haitian children authorized by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano after the Haitian earthquake. These two categories is applicable to those Haitian children who were adopted or in the process by American families before Jan12, 2010.

The first category applies to children who have been legally confirmed as orphans and termed eligible for inter country adoption by the Government of Haiti (GOH.) The second category applies to children who can be matched to American prospective adoptive parents and have been previously identified through an Adoption Service Provider (ASP) or an inter country adoption facilitator. Each category has a list of eligibility requirements.

Eligible children for this program are required to be taken for orphan screening. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has given a set of instructions to adoptive parent in the United States, adoptive parents in Haiti with adoptive child, and orphanage directors or other individuals caring for orphan children. As per the instructions, it is essential that an appointment for orphan screening is requested. Adoptive parent in the United States are required to send an email with the appointment request as the subject line.

The body of the email should have the child’s full name, child’s date of birth, where the child is living, and any vulnerability regarding the child. It is better to have the adoption document, identity document, and current photos of the child during orphan screening. Groups of children in an orphanage can be brought together for the orphan screening. It is advised to take an appointment earlier so that all the children in one orphanage can be screened at the same time.

For a kid in an orphanage, the appointment request email’s subject line should be orphanage seeking appointment. The body of the email should have details about all the children and details about prospective parents. For an adoptive parent in Haiti with adoptive child, the subject line of the appointment request email, should state urgent-adoptive parent in Haiti. The body of the email must contain the parent’s name and the address in addition to the child’s details.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) now use Infopass, an appointment system to provide immigration information. Three more districts, Atlanta, Boston and Houston are added, so that the system can cover almost all metropolitan areas with immigrant residents. The system is also available in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Earlier this year, Case Status Online service was initiated, which helped users to check the status of their pending applications, for instance their green card application. The electronic filing of the 12 most popular immigration forms was also made possible, which further reduced the hassles of long lines and pending applications.

A person residing in a serviced USCIS district and seeking immigration benefits can use USCIS Infopass to schedule meetings with immigration officers through the Internet. This online system allows users to discuss any complex issues regarding immigration services with USCIS officials. This process tends to prevent long queues and helps manage the backlog of services effectively.

USCIS Infopass is provided through a secure Internet site. Instructions are available in 12 different languages. A series of prompts instructs the user to fill in details regarding his/her name, zip code, address, phone number and a desired appointment date. Once the user has entered all the relevant details, the system generates an appointment notice, which provides the USCIS office address and instructions with respect to identification and/or additional documentation, such as a green card or work permit, that the person needs to carry to the appointment. These appointments are offered in two-week blocks.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which was previously known as the Immigration and Naturalization Services, INS offers immigration help in every possible way to the various applicants. They manage the approval of student visas, adoption of foreign children, family and employment immigration, and refuge and asylum cases.

In July 2008, the Los Angeles County had brought into effect strict federal verification rules to scrutinize documents submitted by the beneficiaries covered under Medi-Cal, the public healthcare program for low-income residents. These rules were enforced not only to deny health insurance to illegal immigrants, but also to ensure that legal citizens are covered under its umbrella. This check is done by verifying the documents submitted by people who apply for the healthcare policy. These documents should prove their citizenship or legal status.

Leonardo Rincon, a health worker in Los Angeles, and his colleagues have initiated the verifying procedure in their county. According to Deborah Walker, the Medi-Cal director, they haven’t yet identified any illegal immigrant who has been enjoying the benefits as a legal resident. Between July 2008 and February 2009, only less than 1% of the applicants had not submitted the necessary documents, which they eventually did produce. Even among new Medi-Cal applicants, cases of fraudulent entry were very few.

A few healthcare officials feel that the amount of fund and time invested in this verification is not offering any payback. There is also an on-going debate on curtailing new public health benefits to illegal immigrants. US citizens have access to full public health benefits, while illegal immigrants are entitled only to pregnancy and emergency care.

Members of Congress have suggested a few guidelines to improve the verification method. Applicants have to produce photo identification proof or biometric ID cards. Other methods include checks with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration database and so on.

The purpose of implementing strict immigrant verification process is to discourage illegal immigrants from availing health benefits, which in turn would save huge amounts of money. There are immigrant advocates who agree to the contrary. They feel that these regulations are not cost-effective and also deprive US citizens of their healthcare policy in case they cannot produce relevant documents. Two federal studies validated their point by proving that these rules led to huge administrative costs.

In the current Supreme Court session, two cases dealing with critical immigration issues will be included in the docket. These two cases that will affect the immigrants significantly will be on the connection between the criminal justice system and immigration, and immigrants’ access to federal court review. The key issue that both these cases present to the Supreme Court is that, immigrants be given fair process as well as an opportunity to be heard.

The first case, Padilla v. Kentucky presented on October 13, focuses mainly on the role of lawyers in protecting the rights of immigrants. The Supreme Court will decide if a criminal defense attorney is obliged to counsel foreign-born defendants on the effect of a criminal case on their immigration case.  It will also decide if the defendants can take corrective action if defense attorneys offer incorrect advice.

The second case, Kucana v. Holder, set for argument on November 10 also deals with problems relating to US immigration. The main issue here is immigrants’ access to federal court review if there is an error in the government decision-making on immigration problems. This case will determine if the circuit courts have the authority over certain decisions like motions to reopen that are made by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Beth Werlin, attorney at AILF’s Legal Action Center, thinks that the Supreme Court should be compelled to rule in favor of the plaintiffs in both these cases keeping in mind the fundamental principles of fairness. As it can result in deportation and permanent banishment from the U.S., these cases need to be carefully considered by the Supreme Court to affirm that the immigrants get a fair process.

There is also the concern that an adverse decision taken by the Supreme Court might result in the reversal of favorable decisions from other courts. This critical immigration issue is likely to be resolved by the decision of the Supreme Court for all the federal courts.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.

It appears that the very delicate issue of equal immigration rights for the gay and lesbian community are finally getting some level of attention by the US Congress.

[GLBT] couples are often separated, or torn apart, because current U.S. law does not allow for the same sponsorship rights for lesbian and gay citizens as for heterosexuals.

Although immigration reform that is specific to GLBT couples still faces a very long road ahead, it is an issue that merits getting fair consideration by Congress.

Click on the link above to get a more detailed overview of the issue.