The Family-Based Migration - Paper Example

Introduction

The family-based migration is one of the primary basis of the legal immigration to the United States. The current laws permit the U.S citizens and the lawful permanent residents to sponsor particular family members for a visa that offers the permanent residences (King, 2014, p. 185). This permanent residence is also known as the "Green Card". Since the time of America's first colonies, the migration into the United States has been widely family based. However, the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965 formally established the family ties as the primary ways through which people immigrate to the United States. Today, the family visas account for more than the 66 per cent of the legal immigration that takes place on an annual basis.

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The migration process for this category of migration primarily begins with the petitioner (U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident) making a plea to the government of the United States to allow a family member to immigrate. The same person, who is the petitioner, in this case, files Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with the USCIS (Poonia, 2016, p. 159). The petition after that makes an establishment of the existence of a valid family relationship between the petitioner and the person invited, within the perspective of the family preference or the immediate relative category. In the case whereby the case is in the family preference category, the priority date is established. Under these circumstances, the date that the USCIS accepts as indicated in the I-130 petition is regarded as the priority date (Poonia, 2016, p. 159). Upon the approval of the request and the visa made available, the foreign family member must, therefore, make an application for the green card. The time frame, in this case, can significantly vary depending on if the foreign member is an immediate relative or the family preference category.

The application of the green card takes primarily two forms. These include the consular processing as well as the status adjustment. The consular processing involves a mechanism of applying for an immigrant visa (green card) through the embassy of the United States or the consular office within a foreign nation. This method is the most common pathway of securing a green card (Gubernskaya and Dreby, 2017, p. 185). On given occasions, an immigrant who is already within the United States as a temporary visitor may also be able to adjust the stats to the permanent resident as part of the process of changing the immigration status to the permanent residence. It is important to note that the green card adjustment refers to the process of evolving immigration status to the permanent home to become a green card holder. However, such adjustment is only available to a smaller group of people.

How the Current System Fails to Meet the Immigration Demands

The existence of the backlogs has been shown as a major factor associated with the current migration system. It has tremendously contributed for the inability of the immigration demands of those willing to enter into the U.S. In fact, such existence affects not only the permanent citizens who petition for their immediate relatives but also all other family preference category. Various reports have shown that the most seriously backlogged categories include the siblings' preference categories in the Philippines, the unmarried sons and daughters of the permanent residents in Mexico as well as the married children of the U.S citizen in China. The backlogs, therefore, form significant barriers thereby preventing some immigrants from meeting their demands as well as the expectations. Immigrants from certain nations have been forced to wait for decades before receiving their visas. This situation is exclusively opposite with the principle that guided the enactment of the current immigration laws, which has family reunification as one of its guiding principles.

On the other hand, the family-based migration and its related processes have failed to meet both the economic and security interests of the nation. Notably, the practice of inviting the immediate family members has threatened the US security because of the entry of the individuals who otherwise might have negative motives of causing public fear. A big proportion of terrorists in the United States has been reported to be foreigners. The government further fails to benefit from individuals who especially do not have the skills and knowledge to make use concerning being employed.

Proposed Solution

Because of the failure of the family-based immigration to fulfil both the immigration demands of the moving persons as well as the economic and security issues in the US, I propose the merit-based immigration system. This system primarily means that an applicant can begin the application procedures to obtain the U.S Green Cards depending on specific achievements they possess. Such achievements could integrate the demographic, education, job prospects as well as the talents. In this way, the merit-based process will benefit from meeting immigration demands, while also balancing the need to protect the economic and security interests of the United States.

References List

Gubernskaya, Z. and Dreby, J., 2017. US immigration policy and the case for family unity. J. on Migration & Hum. Sec., 5, p.417.

King, S., 2014. A New and Different Way of Looking at Family-Based Immigration Policy. Jotwell: J. Things We Like, p.185.

Poonia, A., 2016. We Are All Family: Broadening the Family-Based Immigration System to Include Extended Family Members. U. Det. Mercy L. Rev., 93, p.159.