Thanksgiving for immigrants  

This past Thursday, Americans celebrated the annual tradition of Thanksgiving Day as an occasion to remember and celebrate the many reasons one could be grateful for. With family and loved ones, this is a chance of reuniting and reconnecting with one another even just for a single day. Of course, Thanksgiving is not limited to US citizens alone. Immigrants, undocumented or legalized, are welcome to celebrate as well.

I held an informal and random poll of my clients and friends who are non-US citizens on what is it they are most thankful for, for this year answers varied from having a job, to finally getting a greencard, to having been naturalized, or for being healthy. But the most common answer I received is the gift of family finally being together. Be it just having the spouse already arrive in the US or their children reunited with an ageing parent, family reunification has always been the foremost dream of our immigrant friends.

And this aligns with what has been the main policy of the US government --family reunification especially for family-based immigrant visa petitions. Procedures and regulations by the USCIS, NVC, and the Department of State are always crafted and interpreted to be more oriented towards family reunification. Barriers such as inability to pay filing fees or prior immigration violations or inability to produce documents are given due consideration by way of waivers, acceptance of secondary evidence, or allowing joint sponsorship or substitute petitioners.

Lately there are various initiatives implemented by USCIS that allows more flexibilities for immigrants who have pending petitions in order to make the processing in touch with the present circumstances, more especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Work permit extensions were increased, responses to RFE and NOIDs were extended, acceptance of electronic signatures are now made permanent, medical exams and conditional permanent residencies were also extended. All these initiatives have positively impacted the lives and livelihoods of our immigrants and has made their applications/petitions processing less anxious and less stressful. To me, these are also reasons to be thankful.

* * *

The other day, I went to the local USCIS office in order to follow up one of my clients’ cases. His case has been pending for quite some time now and I wanted to ask an officer why it has taking them so long to decide the petition.

On my way out, I overheard a couple of guys who wanted to also see an officer for some questions regarding an upcoming deportation hearing. This reminds me of a former client whom I bumped into last week at an ethnic restaurant. He asked me if I could represent his friend in a deportation hearing which was supposed to take place in two weeks. I politely refused to take the case as I felt I did not have enough time to study and prepare the case for a well-reasoned and more thoughtful legal defense.

So for those who have received a Notice to Appear in immigration court, do not wait until the last minute to retain legal representation. There is no benefit to gain if you delay hiring a lawyer. Your case will be better prepared if the lawyer knows well in advance what the facts are and what strategies he may employ in representing you. Having been summoned to appear in immigration court is not a time to “do it yourself”. If money is an issue, there are several pro-immigrant legal aid groups that offer their representation for free or for less fees.