What Is the Most Recent Immigration Act for Mixed-Status Families?
On June 18, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a new action to ensure that United States citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can remain together in the country. Notably, this was announced just two weeks after the Administration enacted a partial ban on asylum proceedings for individuals who unlawfully enter the United States at the southern border. Follow along to find out about the most recent immigration act for mixed-status families and how a proficient attorney from our Lyndhurst family & individual immigration law firm, the Law Offices of Salvatore A. Falletta, LLC, can help you take advantage of this new opportunity.
What complications do mixed-status families typically face?
Usually, noncitizen spouses and children of United States citizens are already eligible for lawful permanent resident status. However, they are, oftentimes, hesitant to apply for it. This is because this application process requires them to leave the United States and attend an immigrant visa interview at a United States embassy or consulate abroad. But, many of these individuals may have originally entered the country without undergoing the proper legal inspection and admittance. Therefore, they may have difficulty reentering the country once this is discovered. Specifically, they may be barred from reuniting with their family in the United States for as long as 10 years.
How might the most recent immigration act help mixed-status families?
Well, the most recent immigration act has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement a new system in which noncitizen spouses and children do not have to leave the United States when applying for law permanent resident status. The hope is that this system will help approximately 500,000 noncitizen spouses and 50,000 noncitizen children to become lawful permanent residents of the United States without hassle.
It is also worth mentioning that a subset of this latest immigration act is set to better support United States college graduates and “Dreamers” in obtaining an H-1B visa or another type of work authorization visa that may be available.
Who is eligible under this latest immigration act?
Before you get too ahead of yourself, you must be made aware of the specific eligibility criteria provided by this most recent immigration act. Specifically, this act may apply to noncitizen spouses who have resided in the United States and have been married to their United States citizen spouse for at least 10 years, as of June 17, 2024. Then, noncitizen children who are 21 or younger, unmarried, and with parents who got married before they turned 18.
From here, being granted law permanent resident status is not promised. Rather, the DHS may take every submitted application on a case-by-case basis. In conclusion, you must not second-guess your decision to retain the services of a talented attorney from our Lyndhurst family & individual immigration law firm. This is because we can guarantee someone at the Law Offices of Salvatore A. Falletta, LLC can guide you through every step of the way.
