Q & A April 4, 2004

Q & A 1 2


Dear Mr. Lee:

I came to the U.S. in 2001.

Questions:

  1. If I report the local or oversea smuggling crimes, and they are confirmed to be true later on, will I be able to apply for a Green Card?
  2. If so, how can I apply for it?

Dear reader:

  1. Congress has passed three separate programs to encourage the reporting of smuggling crimes. The "S" visa is for aliens determined to possess critical reliable information concerning a criminal organization or enterprise who is willing to share that information with a U.S. agency or court and whose presence in the U.S. is required for the successful investigation or prosecution of a criminal organization. The program allows the attorney general to waive almost all grounds of exclusion if the attorney general determines that it would be in the national interest to do so. This category subsequently allows such individuals to adjust status to permanent residences if the attorney general determines that the alien supplied the information required and that the information contributed to the success of an investigation or prosecution of a criminal enterprise. There are, however, severe numerical limitations to this category, and it may be difficult to convince the Attorney General to give this type of benefit unless the case is fairly important.

    The other two programs depend upon aliens being victims of crimes. The "T" visa is given to victims of severe forms of trafficking and allows individuals to remain in the United States if they have complied with any reasonable request for assistance in the investigation or prosecution of acts of trafficking in persons and will suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm upon removal. Such victim is anyone who has been subjected to either sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to commit the commercial sex act is under 18 years of age, or to the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. After three years in "T" status, such individuals become eligible to apply for permanent residence. Presently, 5000 "T" visas may be issued per year. T visa applicants are subject to all grounds of inadmissibility, and it should be noted that if the victim has committed a severe form of trafficking in persons himself/herself, the inadmissibility cannot be waived. The "U" visa is available for the victims of specific crimes to encourage alien victims to report cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of persons and other criminal activities of which the aliens are victims. 10,000 individuals are eligible every year under this category. Aliens are eligible who present evidence demonstrating that they have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been a victim of certain criminal activity; they possess information concerning the criminal activity; they have been helpful, are being helpful, or are likely to be helpful to a federal, state, or local law enforcement official, or to a federal, state, or local prosecutor, or to a federal or state judge, or to the INS, or to other federal, state, or local authorities investigating or prosecuting the criminal activity; and the criminal activity described violates the laws of the United States or occurred in the United States or the territories and possessions of the United States. The criminal activity can involve one or more of the following or any similar activity in violation of federal, state, or local criminal law: rape, torture, trafficking, incest, domestic violence, sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, prostitution, sexual acts, female genital mutilation, being held hostage, peonage, involuntary servitude, slave trade, kidnapping, abduction, unlawful criminal restraint, false imprisonment, blackmail, extortion, manslaughter, murder, felonious assault, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, perjury, or an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit any of the abovementioned crimes.
  2. Application for "S" visas is made by a law-enforcement agency filling out Form I-854, with all necessary endorsements and attachments and forwarding the application to the assistant attorney general, criminal division, Department of Justice. If the assistant attorney general recommends approval of the "S" nonimmigrant classification, he will forward it to the U.S.C.I.S. Application for "T" nonimmigrant status is made directly to the Vermont Service Center of the U.S.C.I.S. on form I-914. At this time, regulations for the "U" visa are in the clearance process and therefore, no applications are being accepted for the visa itself although temporary relief from removal is being given, and the U.S.C.I.S. on October 8, 2003, sent out a memorandum that all interim relief for "U" visa candidates should be centralized at the Vermont Service Center.

Dear Mr. Lee:

My sister is a U.S. citizen, and I am thinking to ask her to petition for my family, which includes my wife and my 12-year-old child.

Questions:

  1. What forms should we fill out? What document should we prepare? How much are the fees? Where should we send the forms? Do we need to send the applications only once, or should we fill out different forms during the following years?
  2. I was told that it would take about 10 years to emigrate under the petition of a U.S.- citizen sibling. Is it because the quota or are there any other reasons?
  3. As a supporter, how much income does my sister have to earn? Does the income amount refer to the one of the year when she files the petition, or the one 10 years from now when we are about to emigrate to the U.S?
  4. We currently live in Beijing, China. According to your estimate, how many years do we have to wait if the petition is filed this year?

Ding

Dear reader:

  1. You do not have to fill out any forms at this time. The only form to be submitted would be by your sister, an I-130 petition for alien relative. The fee is currently $130, and your sister should forward the petition to the U.S.C.I.S. regional service center having jurisdiction over her place of residence. The I-130 petition only has to be filled out one time. Documents which are needed are proof of the U.S. citizenship status of your sister, and proof of birth of both you and your sister showing common parentage.
  2. For the month of March 2004, the F-4 category for siblings of U.S. citizens is only available for those who filed I-130 petitions before May 8, 1992. That translates to an approximate12 year wait at the present time. Inasmuch as the number of individuals attempting to immigrate to the United States every year does not seem to decrease, it is entirely likely that a petition put in at this date would take longer than 12 years for the beneficiary to ultimately immigrate. The reason for the long period of time is the quota placed upon this category under U.S. immigration law. The number allowed to immigrate annually is 65,000 and any numbers not required by the first three family preferences.
  3. It is difficult to know how much income your sister will have to have to support you and your family as the question of support does not become relevant until close to the time that the priority date will become current. What your sister earns today will be irrelevant at the time that you are finally immigrating.
  4. Whether you reside in the United States, China or any other country, the waiting time under this category will be long unless the laws change to raise the amount of quota. Given the present attitudes on immigration, it is not likely that this category will be given much priority by Congress in making positive changes. I estimate that it will take at least 12 years and probably longer for you to immigrate under this category.

 

Copyright © 2003 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.