Thursday, July 24, 2008

Costs of Delaying Immigrant I-130 Petitions for Immidiate Family Members

An immigration I-130 petition, is a petition filed by a U.S. Citizen or U.S. Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) requesting that a family member born and living outside of the U.S. be granted the appropriate legal status to immigrate to the U.S.

Currently, a petition filed by an LPR can be delayed up to five years due to the limit on the number of VISAs the
U.S. State Department issues each year. In a Washington Post article it was estimated that immigrants send about $30 billion USD annually to their family members in Latin America. Further, it is estimated that roughly $4.2 billion USD annually goes to support the immediate families of LPRs awaiting the legal status to immigrate to the U.S. In addition to this, and what is not mentioned in any of the estimates, is how much money is spent traveling abroad to visit relatives. It would not be surprising if the actual amount being sent / spent abroad is closer to $5-6 billion USD annually.

With all the talk of the value of the family unit in the United States, it is surprising to note that Legal Permanent Residents are being separated for up to 5 years (11 years in some cases) from their children and/or spouses. This creates an undue burden on people who are actually following the law and trying to do things legally. Its not even possible for an LPR to go and live with their family members while the case is pending because they may loose their legal permanent status if they remain outside the U.S. for longer than 6 months.

The cost of these delays are an unstable individual due to family separation, money in the billions being sent abroad to support family members, and illegal immigration by individuals who don't have the patience to wait 5 or more years for legal status. From a purely economical standpoint, it also makes sense to try and regain into the U.S. economy some of the money being sent abroad. Money that could go to paying for food, housing, schooling, clothing and a variety of goods and services it takes to raise a family in the U.S.

The benefits of these delays, if any, go to the people who are against immigration, even legal immigration. Which is a sad story in the United States, a country founded entirely by immigrants seeking to have a better life. To quote an article by Ken McLaughlin of
mercurynews.com "Families shouldn't be held hostage and used as pawns in the bigger game of immigration reform... Even in the Mafia they have rules against going after the women and children."

Read here to learn what you can do to help.

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