Fact Sheet
“Move the Lines for Legal Immigration Faster”
Political
We applaud the President’s promise to fix administratively as much of our broken immigration system as he can, because Congress has not acted.
One proposal would benefit more people in more ways than any other: Eliminate or at least reduce the egregious backlogs for legal immigration by counting only principals against the worldwide limits set by the Immigration Act of 1990.
To fix our broken immigration system requires speeding up the legal immigration system, including providing ways for the undocumented to participate more easily. This will take steps beyond the “principals only” change we propose, but without that change it cannot happen at all. These changes involve “waiver reform” to allow those with only immigration barriers to a green card to overcome those barriers to unite families.
We are certain that the law on this point is unresolved by its specific language and legislative history. The Secretary of Homeland Security can resolve the law’s ambiguity in the right direction by changing the current practice of counting dependents.
Take what works in our system—legal immigrant sponsorship by employers and families—and deliver on the promises Congress has made to millions waiting in line. Backlogs for legal immigration are a major driver for unauthorized immigration, as families and workers alike often choose not to wait for promised visas to arrive.
This would not increase legal immigration by a single person, because every beneficiary is already eligible for a green card. Promising immigration without delivering it for decades makes no sense.
This should be an essential part of any Presidential plan to do whatever he can administratively to “fix” the immigration system.
Legal
The Immigration and Nationality Act § 203(d) (as amended in 1990) says:
A spouse or child defined in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E) of section 1101(b) of this title shall, if not otherwise entitled to an immigrant status and the immediate issuance of a visa under subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section, be entitled to the same status, and the same order of consideration provided in the respective subsection, if accompanying or following to join, the spouse or parent.
This does not require that when a family or employment-based immigrant is sponsored by a parent, spouse, sibling or employer, any derivative immigrant (that is, a spouse or child of the primary immigrant) be counted against the worldwide totals provided in the law. That has simply become the practice.
The President has clear authority to initiate a better policy: counting dependents doubles the waiting time for most legal immigrants.
The minimum wait for a U.S. citizen’s son or daughter is now 8 to 11 years—and up to 21 for immigrants from Mexico and the Philippines. High-skilled employees from India must still wait over ten years in temporary status for their green cards. These delays serve no national interest. Eliminating backlogs also is the key to bringing what has been an unauthorized flow of undocumented immigrants into the legal immigration system.
Impact
The effect of ending the unnecessary practice of counting dependents in line for legal immigration would be to sharply reduce delays.
The backlog for nuclear families of legal permanent residents is now three years, but it would quickly disappear. All employment-based categories would become current. (The delay for skilled immigrants from India is 11 years.)
In some family categories (notably the siblings of US citizens) there would still be a backlog, but delays for those now waiting in line would be reduced by two-thirds.
Americans sponsor the most employment and family immigrants from a few countries, particularly India, China, Mexico and the Philippines. Taking dependents (who would still get green cards) out of the count would increase the allocations to all countries from 25,620 immigrants a year to roughly 56,000. This would matter most for immigrants from these “oversubscribed” countries.
For families waiting to be united legally in the U.S. and for employers wanting to sponsor new Americans to create and keep jobs in America this change will open up the future. (The category of parents, spouses and children of U.S. citizens, the highest priority for legal immigration, will not be affected because their numbers are not currently limited.)
The 1996 immigration law made many minor or technical immigration violations much harder to overcome when applying fro a green card. Hundreds of thousands of otherwise-qualified legal immigrants sponsored by family members and employers—American husbands, wives, parents, siblings and companies—have gone underground in America because the lines for legal immigrationtake so long. Waiver reform,coupled with reduced backlogs from counting principals only, is the key to unlock the door to legal immigrant status for these individuals.
Yet not counting dependents will not increase legal immigration by a single person, because every beneficiary is already eligible for a green card. It just means a shorter line—or none at all.
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