Immigration, Immigration to the United States, Family Immigration
Family-Based Immigration Backlogs
five Things to Know
Green menu backlogs for family-based immigrants accept grown steadily over the terminal xxx years, making lawful immigration and reunification difficult, if non impossible, for millions of families and keeping them separated for decades. U.S. citizens and green menu holders applying today to sponsor a family member abroad await to wait decades earlier their families can reunite in the United states.
"Nearly 4 million people are currently waiting away in the family unit-based clearing backlogs"
one| Millions of People are Waiting in Family-Based Immigration Backlogs
Many family-based clearing avenues have been significantly backlogged for decades, delaying family reunification and presenting a serious barrier for individuals attempting to immigrate through authorized immigration avenues.
Green card holders from sure countries sponsoring their unmarried adult children have been waiting in the backlog since as far back every bit 2001. Past the time they are able to reunite with their children, they may have missed many life events and milestones, including weddings, graduations, or the nativity of grandchildren, and some people pass abroad before being able to be together with their loved ones.
Source: FWD.us analysis of data published past the U.S. Department of State.
Notes: Backlog counts simply include applications submitted to the Department of State for overseas processing; they do non include applications for adjustment of status within the United States. Counts of dependents were estimated using the same procedure USCIS uses for estimating dependents of employment-based immigrants: using 2019 information, the most contempo year bachelor, the total number of dependents of principal family-based new arrival immigrants was divided by the number of primary family unit-based new arrival immigrants for each family preference category, resulting in a "dependent multiplier" that was then applied to each category of principal applicants in the backlog counts, yielding an estimated number of dependents per category which was and so added to the principal applicant count.
According to the State Department, nearly iv million people are currently waiting abroad in the family-based immigration backlogs. This does not include family members already in the United States with some other immigration status who take practical to adjust their status to a dark-green card.2
The State Department publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin, a document laying out which "priority dates"—the dates when petitions were initially filed—the regime is processing for each preference category. The difference betwixt priority dates in the Visa Bulletin and the electric current date gives a sense of how long current applicants take waited to be able to receive their light-green carte.
Source: FWD.us assay of information published by the U.S. Department of Country – Bureau of Consular Affairs.
Notes: Expect time is calculated equally the difference in years between the Terminal Activity Date and the starting time date of the month on the nautical chart. For months where categories were current, look time is fix to 0 days. In some months, certain categories were "unavailable" because the annual numerical limit was reached, or some other outcome; for those months, the virtually contempo previous look fourth dimension was carried over.
For instance, wait times for 3rd preference family unit-based immigrants ("F-iii," married developed children of U.Due south. citizens) have increased 900% since 1991. F-3 petitions granted a visa in 2021 had their initial petition filed in 2008, a nearly xiii-year wait. The backlogs are even worse for individuals from countries subject to per-country limits; for example, look times for start preference immigrants (unmarried adult children of U.Due south. citizens) from Mexico increased more than than 1,700% since 1991, with applicants who started the process more 22 years ago merely now beingness able to secure their greenish cards.
"Family-based clearing makes up well-nigh 65% of almanac lawful immigration"
ii| Family Reunification is the Backbone of the U.Southward. Clearing System
The passage of the Immigration and Nationality Deed of 1965 established the immigration system as we know it today, including the cosmos of the "preference system," which admits new immigrants on the basis of family or employer sponsorship.
Family-based immigration makes up about 65% of annual lawful clearing, including almost 85% of new immigrant arrivals to the U.S. over the last decade. In recent years, more 80% of greenish menu recipients from Mexico were sponsored past family members in the U.S., while more than 50% of recipients from Asia were sponsored by family members.
U.S. citizens can sponsor certain foreign-born relatives, designated as "immediate relatives" and including spouses, unmarried children, and parents, to immigrate immediately to the U.South. without any annual caps or numerical limits.1 Other relatives of U.South. citizens and lawful permanent residents, even so, are not counted as "immediate relatives," and are instead sponsored through a numerically express Family Preference category.
For the past decade, nearly 220,000 individuals each year have been reunited with their family members in the United states through the family preference categories. While the almanac limit for family preference admissions is calculated each year, it has been locked at its statutory minimum of 226,000 for the past 20 years.
There are five preference categories, in descending society of priority:
- Beginning preference (F1) – single sons and daughters (21 years of age and older) of U.S. citizens
- Second preference (F2a) – spouses and children (unmarried and under 21 years of age) of lawful permanent residents
- Second preference (F2b) – single sons and daughters (21 years of age and older) of lawful permanent residents
- Third preference (F3) – married sons and daughters of U.Southward. citizens
- Fourth preference (F4) – brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (if the U.Due south. citizen is 21 years of age and older)
Each of these categories is subject field to numerical limits, including overall limits on the number of family unit preference immigrants admitted each year, too as limits on how that annual full is divided amongst the preference categories and per-country limits on the number of individuals from a single country who may exist admitted each year. Each of these limits is an additional gene in how long an individual may take to wait before they can receive their light-green card.
Requests to sponsor an immigrant family member are prioritized by category and by the date that they were received by the government (the "priority date"); when U.South. citizens or residents use to sponsor more than immigrants than are immune under the numerical limits, a backlog forms, and individuals must wait until a green menu is available nether the law for them.
"The extraordinary await times for a light-green carte du jour to be available causes significant hardship for American families forced to wait decades to reunite with their loved ones"
3| Backlogs are a Consequence of Congress' Failure to Modernize the Clearing System
While the U.S. population has grown essentially in contempo decades, the immigration system has not changed to go on pace. Our annual levels of immigration were established in the early 1990s and have remained largely unchanged since.
To make matters worse, the method used to calculate the almanac number of employment- and family-based immigration is deeply flawed, and has led to family-based immigration levels being gear up at their absolute minimum every year for the by twenty years, while hundreds of thousands of greenish cards for family members go wasted, never used past any individuals, when they could be used to reunite families instead.
The extraordinary look times for a green card to be available causes significant hardship for American families forced to wait decades to reunite with their loved ones, despite the fact that those individuals are already qualified to emigrate right now. Family unit separation takes a terrible emotional toll on families, and it imposes clear logistical, economic, and emotional hardships on families, and the growing nature of the backlogs makes the procedure uncertain and future planning impossible.
Every bit the backlogs have grown larger and opportunities for clearing from certain countries have get more than restricted, the U.S. has simultaneously seen a spike in requests for relief in other programs, such equally the asylum plan. While the populations seeking family sponsorship and asylum are certainly singled-out, experts have argued that expanding immigration avenues, such as family unit- or employment-based immigration, could relieve pressure on humanitarian avenues and provide alternatives to unauthorized clearing.
Additionally, eliminating backlogs would bring firsthand relief to families that have been waiting decades to reunify. Family ties facilitate integration in American communities, and provide a positive surround for business cosmos and workforce participation. FWD.u.s. research shows that increased clearing levels with consistent levels of family-based immigration would yield the greatest economical benefits, greater than shifting to a college share of "high skilled" immigration.3
"Only 65,452 family preference green cards were issued in FY2021 out of the annual 226,000 light-green cards bachelor"
four| COVID-19 Response Further Restricted Family-Based Immigration, and Backlogs Still Grew Larger
The Biden Assistants has failed to remedy substantial problems that could increment backlogs fifty-fifty further: COVID-related shutdowns, limited staffing, full or partial closures of embassies and consulates abroad, and inherited impact of the Trump travel bans. All of these factors contribute to increased processing times, posing difficulties to procedure the number of green cards up to the annual limits and adding to the growing backlogs.
Just 65,452 family preference green cards were issued in FY2021 out of the annual 226,000 green cards available, leaving hundreds of thousands of green cards unused (with many likely to be permanently wasted in the future), and keeping many more families needlessly separated.
The COVID-xix pandemic and administrative policies that take restricted immigration take also contributed to increasing backlogs in recent years, including in family-preference categories. The excess of family and employment-based preference visas grew by 4% from Nov 2020 to 2021.
"Congress will need to increase annual immigration levels to eliminate backlogs and run into our country'southward economic needs while addressing future workforce challenges"
5| Congress Tin Human action to Reduce and Eliminate Backlogs, Facilitate Family unit-Based Immigration
These backlogs have grown over many years, and despite intermittent success in reducing them for some categories, they have repeatedly reappeared and grown worse, making immigration incommunicable for many who qualify. To eliminate backlogs and restore fairness and efficiency to the immigration system, Congress must act.
The visa recapture and backlog reduction provisions passed by the Firm final yr would be a meaning step forward. Estimates show that family-based immigrants would do good significantly from visa recapture, with more than 200,000 family-based green cards estimated to be eligible for recapture for backlogged applicants nether that bill.iv This legislation would also ready the formula and so family unit-based green cards that are not issued considering of bureaucratic delay are not lost in hereafter years. And while only a small minority of family-based immigrants adjust condition from within the U.Southward., those who practice would benefit from the early filing and cap exemption provisions. Additional funding for USCIS would also aid reduce processing delays, which contributes to visa numbers going unused.
Greenish menu recapture would let hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their families, including those sponsored in family unit- and employment-based categories, to secure a greenish menu and all of its ensuing benefits fairly and expediently, including portable work dominance, travel authorization, and protection for family members in dependent statuses.
Ultimately, Congress will need to increment annual immigration levels to eliminate backlogs and come across our country'south economical needs while addressing future workforce challenges. Near importantly, this volition ensure Americans can reunite with their family members in a fair and timely fashion.
Notes
- While not counting against numerical limits, the number of "firsthand relatives" admitted each year does gene into the formula establishing how many family unit preference immigrants may be admitted each year. This is a pregnant reason why so many family unit- and employment-based green cards are "wasted" each year, and why Congress should consider recapturing lost visas and fixing the formula.
- As of September 2021, more than than 340,000 applications for individuals present in the U.Due south. were already awaiting with USCIS, which does not include any accompanying dependent children or spouses.
- Demographically, this is as well due to family-based immigrants staying in the U.Due south. longer and having more than children than immigrants who arrive through other channels. These factors increase the full U.S. working-age population over time, and thus improving economic growth.
- The Congressional Enquiry Service estimates 247,000 family-based green cards would be eligible for recapture, while Congressional staff for the Business firm Judiciary Committee have shared estimates of 222,000. The Cato establish has published an assay with estimates ranging from 149,000 to 422,000, depending on interpretation of the legislative language.
Source: https://www.fwd.us/news/family-based-immigration-backlogs/
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