U.S. Immigration Law During Turbulent Times
By: LAURA J. DANIELSON
March 2004
As all of us know, as a result of heightened security concerns, the United States has instituted many recent changes impacting immigration to the U.S., affecting everyone from long-term U.S. based employees to tourists and business visitors. The purpose of this article is to outline those changes and offer some tips that will hopefully be helpful in navigating into the U.S.
There are three main issues for consideration in assessing U.S. immigration strategy: qualifying for the specific immigration status; obtaining a visa at the U.S. consulate; and handling backlogs. Each is discussed below.
With regard to immigration laws and regulations about specific visa types, whether they be for students, employees, or visitors, the rules have not actually changed very much in nearly twenty years. What HAS changed is the implementation of those rules and the fact that a stricter scrutiny is being applied in what is a very discretionary process. Examiners who review immigration applications will grant or deny them depending upon how strictly they interpret the rules. Where there used to be flexibility, now there is a “culture of no.” What this means for the applicant is that it pays to present a thorough, comprehensive and well thought out application at the offset, making it more difficult for the examiner to deny it.
In addition to stricter scrutiny, many rules HAVE changed with regard to the actual procedures involved in obtaining a visa and entering the U.S. These changes include: mandatory personal interviews at the U.S. consulates for nearly all applicants; additional security checks (and delays) for certain applicants; a tightening up of the student visa program; fingerprinting of all visa applicants; mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of all entrants at the U.S. border; and something that affects nearly all European visitors – the requirement that all visitors have machine-readable passports by October 26, 2004, in order to enter the U.S. on the visa waiver program.
These changes to U.S. immigration policy have led to a horrendous situation of increased delays and backlogs at nearly all levels. There are increasing reports of companies and individuals who have suffered serious consequences as a result – scholars who have lost valuable time in their research, companies who have lost contracts because their personnel could not enter the U.S., and hospitals who cannot get their patients to the U.S. in time to receive life-saving treatments. President Bush has stated publicly that he does not want to turn the United States into a fortress, and yet that is arguably exactly what is happening. Until the U.S. realizes its mistakes and takes measures to amend these restrictive policies, visitors and immigrants are advised to plan far ahead and prepare their applications as thoroughly as possible.