DACABALLY The President may be planning on providing long-term relief to millions of unlawfully present immigrants by using a combination of the DACA program in expanded form and recent landmark court case known as Matter of Arrabally. Under current law there are two major rules preventing unlawfully present immigrants from getting a green card: (a) people who entered illegally can’t get a green card from within the US, and (b) people who were previously here illegally more than a year are banned for ten years. DACA permits people to leave and come back while Arrabally gets past the ten year bar, thereby eliminating both problems. Is it really that simple? No. Still Need a Sponsor Whereas previous DACA recipients do not have to prove a family relationship to anyone, rumors for expanding the program indicate that new applicants will have to prove a family relationship with people who are here now in one status or another. And even if DACA is granted, in order to use the Arrabally case to apply for a green card, an employer sponsor or family sponsor will almost always be required. One would not be able to simply apply for a green card on his/her own. Paperwork We won’t know the particulars until the program is announced, but based on prior experience with DACA and Arrabally, Dacabally cases are expected to be a mountain of paperwork. Applicants will have to produce all the usual documentation – vital records, tax returns for multiple years, vaccination records, etc. – but will also have to prove presence in the US going back five or ten years. I’m expecting each case to have a stack of papers an inch thick. Filing Fees Presuming the filing fees don’t go up after the program is announced – and that’s a big presumption – it’s going to cost over $2300 just to file the applications (I-765, I-131, I-130, I-485). That doesn’t include the cost for the required medical exam, passport photos, certified copies of vital records, legal fees or travel expenses. Touchback Provision Did I mention that people will have to leave and come back? This “touchback provision” is arguably the only way the President can make this happen without Congress. For immigrants living along the border, that might not represent a significant cost. But many immigrants don’t live along the border. Leaving and coming back also involves some risk. Immigrants have to apply for something called “Advance Parole”, which would be separate from, but based on approved DACA status. Advance Parole is essentially a document that (usually) allows entry to the US. Risk The rules for DACA, Advance Parole and Arrabally are not the same, but people will fail to understand that. There will be those who are eligible for DACA, but not for re-entry on Advance Parole. This may be used as an opportunity to get people to “self-deport” at a low cost to the government. The Advance Parole document will be issued. The applicant will depart. And when the applicant attempts to re-enter using Advance Parole, the document will not be honored if the person has another ground of inadmissibility. If you don’t know what a “ground of inadmissibility” means, then I just proved my point. Based on filing rates for waivers of inadmissibility, possibly one in five DACA-eligible immigrants could potentially be denied re-entry on Advance Parole due to additional grounds of inadmissibility. Timelines The more people who benefit from the program, the longer the processing times will be. Based on backlogs that have happened in the past after programs were introduced, processing times could exceed one year or longer while the applicant is in limbo. In immigration law, backlogs several years long are not unheard of. Scammers Confusion and desperation lead to exploitation. This is a complex area of law with major consequences if things are not done correctly. Need I say more? Legal Fees Fees for professional services will be all over the board as they are impacted by a wide variety of factors including, but not limited to: complexity of the individual case, amount of direct contact between attorney and client throughout the case, supply-and-demand, attorney expertise and reputation, cost of living in the area, etc. If the Arrabally adjustment is included – which makes it a Dacabally case, not just a DACA case – then legal fees would start in the thousands.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:24:47 +0000
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