2015 Old Blog

By Jake VanKersen, VISANOW Video Production Specialist

In just a few hours, the U.S. government will most likely be forced to shut down. We won't know for sure until tomorrow what will happen to each individual service that falls under the umbrella of U.S. immigration, but we do know a few things based on past government shutdowns and policies in place to protect certain government operations.

The harsh reality of U.S. immigration is if you want to start a new life in the United States, there is virtually no way for you to do it without immediate family or employer sponsorship. At best, you might be able to visit the United States through a B-2 visitor visa, which is a temporary (non-immigrant) visa that requires you to leave the country after a maximum stay of 6 months. These visas can be difficult to get approved, with rejection rates for certain countries as high as 60%. Citizens of nations of the Visa Waiver Program can temporarily enter the United States without a visa, but they are subject to the discretion of the border patrol officer and may have their visit cut short or denied at the entry point.

Most college DREAMers have very limited resources. One of our biggest concerns is how to fund for the next school year. There are very few private scholarships out there that do not ask for a social security number. It is difficult for any DREAMer to obtain scholarships because of strong competition with other students, and therefore we have to stand out. My scholarships for the most part are not renewable. That means that every year I have to go on a hunt for scholarships. It is an emotional roller coaster that requires me to learn how to balance school and extracurricular activities. I have to be an outstanding student with building pressure to always earn A's so I stand out from all the other scholarship applicants. If I accomplish all this, there is still a possibility that I won't get the scholarship. That's the struggle we DREAMers face every year. When we are lucky enough to win scholarship money, we still have to fill out a form that asks us for our social security number. This just makes the journey difficult. Some DREAMERS I know do not receive any scholarship money and have been forced to leave school. Others don't reach their goal of obtaining straight A's or being involved, so we end up feeling unaccomplished. Even with many new scholarship funds created for DREAMers, many DREAMERs do not have the necessary financial support.

At Northern Illinois University I'm involved in a group called DREAM Action NIU. This group has been my home away from home. We talk about what is going on in the United States related to immigration. It is composed of allies and DREAMERS, including faculty members and other students. One of our major goals is to raise enough money for scholarships for DREAMers we give out at the end of each school year. DREAM Action NIU usually sells food at Latino events and other places that the school lets us. We also fundraise in other ways such as selling t-shirts with our logo.

I wanted NIU President Baker to see the hard work we put into building the funds for the scholarships, so I invited him to a car show on campus where we were fundraising. He attended the event and for the first time met some of the DREAM Action NIU members. He even bought our shirts!

100% of the funds we raise go to DREAMer scholarships. In recent years more faculty members have noticed and now they support us. With hard work last year was the first year we awarded four scholarships of $500 each. As a group we know what a difficult issue this is. DREAM Action provides support to each other. Although we have been successful in fundraising, it is always hard to pick a winner.

It is very difficult to get through each year like this, wondering, "Will I be "˜good' enough to receive any scholarships? Are the groups I am involved in the right once that will provide me with scholarships?" When I don't earn an A in my class I feel like the world is coming down on me because that means my GPA is going down. This means I would not stand out when it comes to picking a winner for the scholarships. If I do not receive enough private funds then I will not come back even with all the hard work I put in. NIU has a rule that is essentially, "Don't ask, don't tell," if you are undocumented. They do it to protect themselves, but I cannot express my true struggles and my true needs without disclosing my immigration status. Sometimes DREAMers like me just end up losing hope. It is in those moments we can realize our strength.

Interested in learning more about scholarships for DREAMers and DACA students? Read more here.

According to the most recent DACA report released by USCIS, 455,455 young people in the United States have been approved for Obama's deferred action program, which means that more and more DACA-mented immigrants can now start their futures in college and in their career. For many, the future may require traveling for educational, professional, or personal/family circumstances. Luckily, a DACA approval means you can travel anywhere within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii and some U.S. territories, as long as the traveler never sets foot in soil that doesn't belong to the United States during the journey.

Last week I had a one-on-one meeting with Northern Illinois University President Baker, who wanted to learn more about college DREAMers at NIU and how to help them. Like a child in a toy store, I was so excited to see his office and the secret balcony that I heard he had. We went through a secret door in his office to the second floor where he has his meetings with the vice presidents of the university. Then we took the stairs to the top level. In the top of the balcony I met President Baker the human being. We talked about the plans he has for NIU, the vision he has for the university, and the 20/20 plan. He didn’t present himself as this high authority, but as a humble man interested in my life. I was shocked; why would a man that has so much power be interested in a DREAMer?

Here at VISANOW, we encounter many situations in which companies sponsor employees who are applying for a work visa from a country outside the U.S. In these cases, we like to make sure that employees know about the special steps needed to obtain their visa that differ from the process of applying within the U.S.

Thanks to the repeal of DOMA this June, U.S. citizens and green card holders can now petition their same-sex spouses to reside permanently in the U.S. However, some gay couples are now asking, "Will our marriage green card application be handled differently by USCIS officers because we're not an opposite sex couple?"

The good news is that gay couples should be treated no differently than the millions of other couples who have applied and been approved for a marriage green card. The green card application for same-sex couples requires no extra steps or special restrictions, so on the surface the process is exactly the same. There are only a few instances where gathering evidence for a same-sex marital relationship might be a bit different, which are outlined here:

Providing evidence of a same-sex marriage if your relationship has not been public

One key difference in preparing the application for a same-sex marriage green can occur when the couple has been forced to pursue roundabout ways to stay united in the face of discriminatory laws and social prejudice. All couples applying for a marriage green card must provide ample evidence that they live together in a marital relationship. Collecting proof can be more difficult for certain same-sex couples who have previously hidden their relationship from the government or from their families for obvious reasons. Additionally, some couples may have represented their relationship differently to the U.S. government in previous immigration documents.

According to VISANOW-retained attorney Anne Walsh, "Any issues same-sex couples may face in producing documentation of their true and valid marriage won't be new to us [at VISANOW], and there are many document options for us to use such as phone records, emails and letters, mail to the same address, photographs, joint travel documents, affidavits by friends/family, etc." Any and all accounts the couple holds jointly, from museum memberships to a Netflix account, can help build a case for their marriage. If the couple stayed under the radar due to safety threats, a police report or notarized statement could help their case. Regardless of their orientation, all couples must be prepared to provide extra evidence and a suitable explanation to USCIS if a certain area of their application is lacking.

Applying for a same-sex marriage green card when one partner has a non-immigrant visa or is in unlawful status

Because of past U.S. immigration restrictions, there used to be no legal way for U.S. citizens and LPRs to bring their same-sex partner to the United States permanently. There are currently many gay couples with one partner living in the United States on a temporary or non-immigrant visa, including those with expired visas, simply because it was their only option at the time to stay with their significant other.

Applicants can be disqualified from certain types of temporary and non-immigrant visas such as the B-2 and F-1 visa if they reveal their intent to stay in the U.S. In the past, some immigration lawyers advised gay bi-national couples not to marry, since having a legal spouse in the United States would be a good motivation for the applicant to immigrate permanently. Luckily this is no longer the case.

Plenty of opposite sex couples have applied for and won their marriage green card even when the foreign spouse arrived on a temporary visa. USCIS accepts the fact that intentions change as circumstances in your life change, including meeting and marrying someone while in the U.S. for a separate purpose. Unless your visa is expired, there should be no issue.

With expired visas or other unlawful status, there are several options including the provisional waiver of inadmissibility, a complex process for spouses of U.S. citizens with immigration violations that might otherwise bar them from reentering the U.S. Many LGBT and immigrant activist organizations are currently lobbying USCIS to take a reasonable and fair approach to complicated immigration situations that have arisen from previous restrictions on gay marriage in the U.S.

Obtaining a same-sex marriage green card when gay marriage is not legal in your state or in your partner's country

Immigration is a federal matter in the United States so it's only important that the federal government recognizes your marriage when dealing with immigration issues. State and local restrictions do not apply here as long as your marriage happened in a marriage equality state.

If the foreign national significant other resides in a country that bans gay marriage and he or she has had trouble getting a B-2 visitor visa in the past, remember that the K-1 visa or fiance visa is now an option. The K-1 fiance visa is available to all U.S. citizens who wish to bring their fiance(e) over to the United States provided they follow all the general rules of a K-1 visa application and marry within 90 days.

The October 2013 visa bulletin was released this week and as we predicted, the family- based F2A category for green cards was not current for very long. When the priority date falls back in time as it has for the F2A category it is known as "retrogression." The F2A category, which is designated for the minor unmarried children and spouses of green card holders, remains current through September 30, 2013 but it will retrogress for October and probably for much longer after that.