We hear a lot of talk about immigration reform, but what exactly do we want to reform? Do we have an idea of what is necessary to become an American Citizen? What is needed to work in the U.S. legally? Before we change anything we should know what we have.
A large number of Americans have a romanticized view of the American immigration system. We know what Hollywood has taught us. All that an immigrant needs is to find a good looking American citizen to fall in love with. You get married and you will have a green card and citizenship in no time. Well, things are not really that simple.
Let say we have an immigrant from an unnamed country visiting New York City. He falls in love and marries an American. He first will have to apply for a green card (permanent residence) using the form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (filing fee: $985 plus $85 biometric fee) to become a permanent resident at the same time that the spouse files the form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative (filing fee: $420) and form I-864, Affidavit of Support. The immigrant was a tourist so he has no papers that allow him to work in the U.S. so the spouse has to provide information attesting that she has the financial means to support the alien. Also our immigrant needs to have the form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, filled out by civil surgeon.
The USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) will have to be informed of any relocation through the form AR-11, Alien’s Change of Address Card. If the immigrant needs to travel to his native country before having received the green card, he has to use form I-131, Application for Travel Document (filling fee: $360) to receive an “Authorization for Parole of an Alien into the United States.” I thought that parole was something granted to criminals!
Continuing with our fictional case, if everything goes right after 3 years as a Permanent Resident without leaving the United States for trips of 6 months or longer, our immigrant can use the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization (filing fee: $595 plus $85 biometric fee) to apply for citizenship. He will be finger printed, interviewed, his English proficiency, his knowledge of American history and society will be also tested. He should get an answer within 6 months.
The above is a very short explanation of the whole process. It will include piles of papers: tax returns from the last 3 years, bank statements, credit card statements, passports, birth certificates, marriage registration, employment letters, lease agreements, rent receipts, health insurance policies, life insurance policies, utility bills, and pictures. The list goes on and on.
I agree that many of the steps above are necessary and should be maintained. But why are the fees so high? Why is the process so slow? Why are there forms like I-907 Request for Premium Processing Service (filling fee: $1,225), and I-600A Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (filling fee: $720)? Don’t they create a two tier process where the ones who have money have more access to legal immigration than the ones who don’t? Why is I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur (filling fee: $1.500) so expensive? Don’t we want smart creative innovators to move here and help to restart our stagnant economy?I do not have the answers for the questions above, but I believe these are important questions that we should take in consideration when debating immigration reform. This is a country of immigrants. By treating todays immigrants with dignity we will be honoring the immigrants from the past, our ancestors.
Our immigration system may be broken, and to fix it we will need a deep understanding of what we have in place today. This is not only a call to action, but a call to reflection before action.
