BREAKING NEWS – U.S. CONGRESS MAKES A DEFINITIVE STEP TOWARDS PATHWAY TO U.S. CITIZENSHIP TO BE INCLUDED IN THE BUDGET RECONCILIATION BILL.
NY Immigration Attorney Marina Shepelsky discusses breaking Amnesty news
Millions of people undocumented in US or waiting in family-based or employment immigration lines will be able to get US Green Card status if this law passes through Congress.
The House Judiciary Committee (having jurisdiction over Immigration legislation) voted ON 9/13/21 in a vote of 25-19 along party lines to advance the Pathway to Citizenship legislation as part of the Budget Reconciliation Bill.
Important things from this Amnesty proposal:
a. There will be a supplemental fee (a penalty filing fee) for legalizing, the $$ to be different in each category.
b. It covers yet-unlegalized people who are physically present and residing in US since Jan. 1, 2021.
c. CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE WHO WILL BE ABLE TO ADJUST STATUS/GET GREEN CARDS:
1. Employment-based immigrant applicant with a priority date (date of submission of their petition to USCIS) that is more than 2 years before, can adjust to permanent residence without numerical limits by paying a “supplemental fee of $5,000; and
2. Immigrant Investors for the EB-5 Category. They will pay a supplemental fee of $50,000; and
3. US Citizen sponsored family-based immigrants (US Citizens filing for children over 21 and siblings) with a “priority date that is more than 2 years before”, and to have the supplemental fee for getting a Green Card of $2,500; and
4. People brought to US as kids under the age of 18; and
5. TPS holders of no less than 3 years; and
6. People eligible for deferred enforced departure as of January 20, 2021; and
7. Farmworkers; and
8. Pandemic-era Essential Workers – people from industries including healthcare, medical, infrastructure builders, computers and IT, transportation, food industry and law enforcement who began working in these fields at least as early as January 31, 2020 and ending up to and including 25 August 24, 2021. This category must show the record of working in these fields.
The supplement fee would be $1,500 if an applicant’s priority date is not within two years but they are required to be present in the country, according to the committee print. This fee would be in addition to any administrative processing fee paid by the applicant.
Negatives – the bill would still not be enough to fix major problems of our broken immigration system such as:
1. Not getting rid of H-1B and other employment base visa annual caps.
2. Not much for people overseas – mostly to legalize immigrants inside the US.
3. No systemic fixes for our broken immigration system.
4. No news about fixing the long waiting lines and delays in asylum application process and in immigration courts.
For the full text of the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Provisions of the Budget Bill print, check out the Print here: https://
judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/judiciary_committee_print.com
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