During the State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to pass immigration reform legislation to fix our broken immigration system and laid out a "blueprint" for the reform.

The blueprint, "Building a 21st Century Immigration System", calls for creating opportunities for an estimated 10.8 million immigrants who are currently in the U.S. with no legal status who are simply here seeking a better life for themselves and their children. The plan would allow them to join the legal economy, which would ultimately improve our national security and economic prosperity. You can view video of the president's speech and the blueprint for reform by visiting our website and clicking on the link to our Weekly Immigration Newsletter.

 New affidavit of support (I-864) minimum income requirements released for 2012

The new 2012 income requirements have been released for the Form I-864 Affidavit of Support, required for all family sponsored U.S. residency applications. The minimum income requirement is based upon 125 percent of the "poverty guidelines" published in the Federal Register:

Obama issues Executive Order to expedite visitor and other non-immigrant visa processing at U.S. Consulates to increase tourism in America

On January 19, 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order to improve the U.S. visa issuance and visa processing times for foreign visitors abroad to encourage more travel and visitation to the United States. This policy comes in response to economic statistics which show that travel and tourism in the U.S. has fallen more than 30 percent, with America's share of the world's international tourism market spending declining from 17 percent in 2000 to 11 percent in 2010. Among the major goals of the new program are to ensure that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of application.The program also should expand the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of countries under the program to visit the U.S. without obtaining a visa – a reform that could increase nonimmigrant visa-processing for Brazil and China by 40 percent in 2012. As part of this new initiative, foreign nationals in select countries will also soon be able to renew visas without being required to attend an interview at the U.S. Consulate. Also, some young and elderly first-time visa applicants will be able to obtain streamlined visa processing.

You can view the full text of the Executive Order by visiting our website at: www.ImmigrateToday.com and clicking on the link to our Weekly Immigration Newsletter. Click on the January 23 issue.

The USCIS publishes draft of the proposed immigration reform regulations

On January 6, the USCIS formally published its notice of intent to change immigration regulations and posted the draft of the new rule in the Federal Register, called "Provisional Waivers of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens". In accordance with Federal Law, changes and improvements are made to the proposed rule before it is finalized. During this time, the measure is not effective, since no formal change to the law has been made. The USCIS has further posted an explanation of the proposed policy change which includes questions and answers regarding eligibility. You can view the full text of the proposed new policy and the USCIS' explanation of eligibility by visiting our website and clicking on the link to our Weekly Immigration Newsletter and read the January 16 Issue.

Contributed by Attorney Carlos Duque, practicing in the areas of deportation defense including waivers

The Obama Administration announced a new immigration policy last week that many in the media are calling an "amnesty" or "legalization," which will allow certain immigrants without legal status to now obtain U.S. residency. The new policy is very narrowly focused and only applies to certain immigrants applying for Green Cards.

For background, immigration laws do not allow some immigrants to adjust their status to a Green Card inside the U.S. due to technical "status" issues. For those individuals, current law requires that they leave the U.S. and process their residency case outside at a U.S. Embassy in their home country. This creates a problem for immigrants who have stayed in the U.S. unlawfully for six months or more, since once an immigrant leaves the U.S., the law automatically imposes a bar to re-entry. Immigrants who leave the U.S. after overstaying for six months or more cannot return to the U.S. for three years, and those who overstay for more than one year cannot return for 10 years. However, the law did allow such immigrants who left the U.S. to file a "waiver application" with the U.S. Embassy to waive the bar. This "waiver application" involves a long processing time. If forgiveness is approved the alien will receive permanent residence, if it is denied the alien will have to wait three to 10 years in their country of origin.