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  1. #1
    Senior Member concernedmother's Avatar
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    Legal Immigrants Wait Years for Visas

    Whatever happened to "good things come to those who wait?"

    http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/05/...2206192418.txt

    Legal immigrants wait years for visas

    By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

    In the argument over immigration reform, many agree that immigrants who want to come to the United States should do so legally. But a study released Monday says coming to the country legally can be frustrating and can take years.

    The brother or sister of a U.S. citizen may have to wait about 12 years to come into the country. The spouse or child of a legal resident from Mexico may have to wait seven years.

    The long waits are not the result of visa processing times, but rather of caps set on the number of visas that are issued each year, according to the study. The length of the wait varies widely and depends on a number of factors, including where immigrants are coming from and who in the United States is sponsoring them.


    "The waits have gotten enormous," said Stuart Anderson, co-author of the study "Legal Immigrants: Waiting Forever" by the National Foundation for American Policy.

    The foundation is a Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit, public policy research organization that has promoted raising the caps on worker visas. The study culled information from U.S. Departments of State, Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

    Immigrants from all over the world have essentially two avenues to come into the country legally and permanently, according to the study. They can be sponsored by family members or by employers. There are about 140,000 visas, or green cards, available each year for employees and about 226,000 visas available for family members.

    Green cards, as they are commonly known, are permanent residency visas that allow immigrants to legally live and work in the country.

    Though the demand for the visas has grown over the years, the number of green cards issued by the U.S. has remained roughly constant at about 400,000 for decades, immigration experts said. It is the main reason why legal immigrants have to wait so long to come into the country, one local attorney said.

    "It's been that number for at least 40 years," said Kevin M. Tracy, a Del Mar immigration attorney.

    The limit on the number of employer-based visas ---- 140,000 including the spouse and children of each worker ---- is well below the demand for workers, creating a backlog of about five years, according to the study. That hurts the nation's economic prosperity because, rather than wait, highly skilled individuals may choose other countries to work or start businesses, Anderson said.

    "Five-year waits go beyond the heartbreak of separating families, because it hurts the country's competitiveness," Anderson said.

    As part of a sweeping immigration reform bill being debated in Washington, the U.S. Senate recently approved a proposal to create a guest-worker program allowing about 200,000 workers in the country each year.

    Senators also approved a proposal that would loosen the backlog of old petitions by no longer counting the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens against the annual limit of family based visas.

    The Senate proposal may face tough opposition from House Republicans, who have proposed a widely differing and stricter immigration reform proposal that focuses on immigration enforcement at the border and the work place.

    Tracy said the nation's strict limits on legal immigration can create emotional stress on families whose immigration status can be in legal limbo for years. One such family is the Ramirez family, whose 18-year-old daughter Elizabeth Ramirez was unable to legalize her status ---- as the rest of her family did ---- because of a seven-year residency requirement.

    Ramirez, of San Marcos, had lived in the country about a week short of the seven years required when an immigration judge agreed to grant her family residency. Her parents are now sponsoring her for a green card, but because of the backlog, it could take her another three years to get her visa, Tracy said.

    In the meantime, the recent Mission Hills High School graduate will have to put her college dreams on hold.

    "This poor girl has no Social Security number, no driver's license ---- she can't go to college," Tracy said. "Her mother and father are permanent residents, but she has to wait."

    Read the study at www.nfap.com.

    Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
    <div>"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."
    - Clarence Darrow</div>

  2. #2
    KM
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    So because these illegals think we don't give enough Visas out each year and it takes too long to become legal following the rules...it's ok to just push them aside and make a mockery of our system and break our laws??

    What a joke...I never in my life thought I'd say this but it's getting to the point where we should shut them all out for awhile. Build the wall..tell Fox to kiss our asses (what do we need from them anyway???) and get on with building our own country back to the repective world power it once was.

    These politicians make me sad to be an American today.
    "There is no human right to enter another country in violation of its laws."
    U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Antonio Garza, 2006

  3. #3
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    KM.........be PROUD to be an AMERICAN!

    let those vermin sit in the slop. They are NOT Americans, however they wear the "title" in order to do their dirty work....they're globalists.........big difference.

    Don't give them the title.........YOU protect it
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  4. #4
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    People in their home countries waiting for their visas and papers to become American citizens have to be in an up roar over this mess.

    It's not fair to those who are waiting, and to those who are already here and did it the right way !

  5. #5

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    I have read articles of people complaining over 4 year waits! The world, much like America thinks they should get what they want immediately. Yes 12 years wait is rediculas. But i find 4 years acceptable and what has been the common wait time for decades.

    It is not just raising the limit. It is that we have aloud the government to cut funding in thousands of our agency's. In doing so they cut staff and adopted the "multi tasking" crap mantra. Same with ICE. only 100 agents in the entire country! They need to employ more Americans and build these services back up to efficeint well oiled machines. In doing so the wait time is decreased and the background checks can be increased.

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