Since last Friday May 1immigration policy in the United States is going through a relevant adjustment, with changes that impact both those who already have procedures in process and those seeking a visa or one Green Card, an official document that allows foreign citizens live and work indefinitely in USA
Given this situation, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCISfor its acronym in English) activated a temporary pause in the final resolution of some benefits, such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), renewals of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and the work permits.
Therefore, the new measures by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services are part of a verification process more rigorous implemented at the end of April by the federal agency of the Department of Homeland Security responsible for managing the system legal immigration and naturalization in the United States.
Given the circumstances, recent changes within USCIS have generated much uncertainty among people who have already started an immigration process in the United States, because the majority of ongoing immigration applications face pauses or delays While the authorities carry out the additional reviews.
Pause in immigration processes
According to what was stated by the American television network Univisionthe prolongation of this pause in the migration processes not only delays key decisions, but also generates multiple collateral effects, because the permits expirerequests are freeze and the system accumulates more and more unsolved cases.
Therefore, the brake impacts directly in the procedures managed by the USCIS, generating significant delays that alter the usual times in applications for adjustment of immigration status, permits linked to immigration procedures, family requests in progress and humanitarian cases under review.
These delays can result in the loss of jobs, difficulties renewing official documents or even exposure to irregular immigration situations, which occur when people reside in the country without comply with immigration laws, often driven by poverty, violence or the search for family reunification.
Faced with this scenario, the problem of the Citizenship and Immigration Service not only affects the procedures, norms and hierarchies of this organization, but also harms the life planning of thousands of people who depend on these processes to advance personal, work and family projects in the United States.
Who is affected by the USCIS changes?
The USCIS administrative suspension is expected to will mainly affect to those who have already started immigration procedures and were awaiting a definitive response, since now those cases will remain detained while the authorities review all the background in federal systems, which translates into delays additional.
Furthermore, this pause implies that the processes that were in the final stages return to a phase of verificationprolonging resolution times without a clear completion date, which can also lead to repetition of procedures already carried out, increase the burden on applicants and delay almost all the benefits.