Bad News for US Visa Seekers: New Rules Could Possibly Disqualify Half of the Applicants
In the following, will be discussing an important topic that is “Bad News for US Visa Seekers: New Rules Could Disqualify Half of the Applicants” and will discuss it in detail within the article. President of US Donald Trump’s administration disclosed a sweeping rule on Monday that some specialists say could cut legal immigration in 1/2 by denying visas as well as a permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of individuals for being too poor. The long-anticipated rule, pushed by Donald Trump’s leading aide on immigration, Stephen Miller, takes effect 15th October. It would reject candidates for permanent or even temporary visas if they fail to fulfill high enough income standards or if they receive public assistance like welfare, public housing, food stamps or Medicaid.
“The Trump administration is making an attempt to bypass Congress and implement its own advantage based-immigration system. It’s really a backdoor method of prohibiting low-income individuals from immigrating,” said Charles Wheeler of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc.
The rule is a component of Republican Trump’s efforts to curb both legal as well as illegal immigration, an issue he has made a cornerstone of his presidency. After the rule was declared, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) said it would file a lawsuit to prevent it or so to say to stop it from taking effect. The group’s executive director said that the rule was actually racially motivated. The state attorneys general of California as well as New York threatened to sue. The 837-page rule, seeking to focus/target on those who could become “public charges” in the U.S.A, could be the most drastic of all Donald Trump’s administration policies focusing on/targeting the legal immigration system, as stated by the experts. It could deny visas to individuals for not making enough money or who are drawing public advantages/benefits. The government estimates the status of about 382,000 immigrants could instantly be reviewed on those grounds. Immigrant advocates fear that the real number could be much higher, particularly if the rule is extended to the millions of people who apply for United States visas at American consulates around the world.
In January 2018, the State Department had already changed its foreign affairs manual in order to give the diplomats a wider discretion in deciding Visa denials on public charge grounds. In the fiscal year that ended last September, the number of visas denied on those grounds quadrupled compared to the previous year.This is an end-run around Congress to attain/gain through executive fiat what the administration cannot get through Congress, as stated by Doug Rand; co-founder of Boundless which is a pro-migrant group that helps families navigates the U.S. immigration system. The rule is meant to scare immigrants away from using public advantages to that they’re legally entitled, Rand said, adding that a study by boundless found it might eliminate more than 1/2 visa candidates. A study by the Migration Policy Institute which was conducted in 2018 found sixty-nine percent of already established immigrants had a minimum of one negative factor against them under the administration’s wealth test, whereas just thirty-nine percent had one of the heavily weighted positive factors.
Other immigrant advocates have expressed concern the rule might negatively have an effect on public health by dissuading immigrants from using health or food aid. The Trump administration estimates its rule can save $2.47 billion annually in spending on public advantages. The rule is derived from the Immigration Act of 1882 that permits the U.S. government to deny a visa to anyone possible to become a “public charge.”
Defining ‘Public Charge’
Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (short for USCIS), said at a White House media briefing that the law has continually needed foreign nationals to rely on their own resources, with help from relatives and sponsors, however the term “public charge” was never clearly defined.“That is what changes nowadays with this rule,” Cuccinelli said.The new rule defines public charge as an immigrant who receives one or additional designated public advantages for over twelve months within any 36-month period.
The definition of public advantages is cash aid together with Supplemental Security Income, Temporary help for needy Families, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), most types of Medicaid, and a range of public housing programs, officers said.“The principle driving it’s an old American value and that’s self-sufficiency,” Cuccinelli said during a Fox News interview. Whether somebody is public charge will be determined on a variety of positive as well as negative factors. A positive factor would be earning 125 percent of the poverty line, which is $12,490 for an individual and $25,750 for a family of four while earning less would be a negative factor.
Huddled Masses
Critics have decried the effort to limit legal immigration for lower-income people affront to the ideals of the United States highlighted by the inscription on the Statue of Liberty that reads “Give me your tired, you’re poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”Trump aide Miller, asked in 2017 regarding whether the administration’s policies countered that inscription, said the words weren’t original to the monument. Cuccinelli was additionally asked about the inscription at the White House on Monday and said: “I don’t think, by any means that, we are ready to take anything off the Statue of Liberty.”In early 2018, Trump completely rejected a bipartisan effort in Congress to reform the immigration system.
The attempt became embroiled in controversy over an allegation by a Democratic senator that the Republican president disparaged (meaning belittle) African as well as Caribbean nations with vulgarity in reference or regards to their immigrants. Trump was reported to have asked why the U.S couldn’t get more immigrants from areas like Northern Europe. Trump has completely denied using that language and said he needed/wanted immigrants to come to the United States from all nations around the world.