Immigration Reform Update
A group of key senators, representing both the Republican and Democratic parties, announced an agreement on the key principles of immigration reform in January 2013. These renewed efforts toward comprehensive reform are similar in many ways to past proposals.
The proposal has support from both key political parties. The senators behind this proposal are Charles Schumer (DNY), Dick Durban (D-IL), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Some of these senators have been involved with immigration reform efforts for many years.
The matter has been presented in the form of these four
items on the agenda:
• Create a tough but fair path to citizenship for unauthorized
immigrants currently living in the United States
that is contingent upon securing our borders and tracking
whether undocumented foreign nationals have left the
country when required.
• Reform our legal immigration system to better recognize
the importance of characteristics that will help build
the American economy and strengthen American families.
• Create an effective employment verification system
that will prevent identity theft and end the hiring of future
unauthorized workers.
• Establish an improved process for admitting future
workers to serve our nation’s workforce needs, while simultaneously
protecting all workers.
President Obama called for common sense, comprehensive
reform. He noted that most Americans agree that
it is time to “fix the system that has been broken for way
too long” and that immigration reform will strengthen our
economy and our nation’s future. His commitment to key
principles at the heart of meaningful immigration reform
started with an earned path to legal status that eventually
could be converted to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented
in our communities, and included:
• Eliminating the extremely long wait times for families
to be reunited with loved ones with temporary and permanent
reforms to the family-based immigration system.
• Treating same-sex families just like other families.
• Eliminating long wait times for employers and prospective
employees by reducing backlogs and adding visas.
• Granting green cards to graduates in science, technology,
engineering, and math fields, creating a “startup visa” for
job-creating entrepreneurs, and expanding opportunities
for investors contributing to U.S. economic development.
• Expediting an opportunity for DREAMers to earn their
citizenship.
• Investing in our immigration courts and providing
greater protections for those least able to represent
themselves.
• Providing broader discretion to judges to help keep
families together when they face hardship.
• Imposing tough criminal penalties on notarios who prey
on vulnerable immigrants.
It is still a long and tumultuous road ahead but many are hopeful that immigration reform will be realistically possible in the first part of 2013.
VISA PREFERENCE NUMBERS FOR March 2013
|
FAMILY |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
15Feb06 |
15Feb06 |
|
2A |
22Nov10 |
22Nov10 |
|
2B |
01Mar05 |
01Mar05 |
|
3rd |
15Jul02 |
15Jul02
|
|
4th |
22Apr01 |
22Apr01 |
|
EMPLOYMENT |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
Current |
Current |
|
2nd |
01Sep04 |
Current |
|
3rd |
22Nov02 |
01May07 |
|
Other |
22Nov02 |
01May07 |
|
4th |
Current |
Current |
|
5th |
Current |
Current1B |
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
