What Is The Proposed 'RAISE' Act? Part 2

Part 2:  ‘Focus on Family-Sponsored Immigration for Spouses and Children’

On August 2, 2017, President Trump promoted a new Senate Bill drafted by Senators David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas known as the ‘RAISE’ Act.

‘RAISE’ is an acronym for “Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy” Act.

The stated purpose of the Bill is to improve the American economy by limiting the number of immigrants admitted into our country.

Background

As stated in the first Blog installment, we are using the proposed Bill is to ‘raise’ our awareness of the more fundamental underpinnings of America’s unique immigration system.  An analysis of this Bill gives us an opportunity to examine: ‘what would constitute a healthy immigration policy in the U.S.’?  thus, the purpose of this article is to explore what is needed in immigration policy to fit the unique history and present cultural pressures of American society today.

We do this by comparing the provisions of the Bill to the current existing law.

 

1. ‘Focus’ on Family-Sponsored Immigration for Spouses and Children

This second installment of our discussion on the RAISE Act addresses the ‘focus on family sponsored immigration for spouses and children’

This language from the Bill is perhaps a bit disingenuous in that the implication is that there is a ‘focus’ to enhance the immigration benefits for spouses and children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.  More accurately, it eliminates all other immigration benefits for family members and simply salvages existing benefits for spouses and children, yet narrowing the definition of a ‘child’.

The proposed changes under the ‘RAISE’ Act for family-sponsored immigration is a bit more complicated than the elimination and replacement of the employer-sponsored immigration system discussed in the first blog because some elements of the family-sponsored system were retained and others were reconfigured.

It may be helpful to begin with describing the current law affected by the changes sought in the RAISE Bill.

Under existing law, there is a worldwide limit on the number of family-sponsored visas available each year.  Presently, all family-related immigrant visas are limited to 480,000.  (These are reduced by a formula set forth in The Immigration & Nationality Act, Sec. 201(c)(2), but in no case is the number to fall below 226,000.)

The RAISE Bill dramatically reduces this number to 88,000.

The term ‘immediate relative’ currently means the spouse, an unmarried child under the age of 21 and parents of a U.S. citizen who is 21 or older.  Although ‘immediate relatives’ are counted against the worldwide limit, there is no annual numerical limitation for persons seeking lawful permanent residency as an ‘immediate relative’.  In other words, if you meet the definition of an ‘immediate relative’, there will be an immigrant visa available to you, regardless of the numerical limitation.

The RAISE Bill removes ‘parents’ from the category of ‘immediate relative’ and lowers the age of the person defined as a ‘child’ from 21 to 18 years of age.

Under existing law, there are many other family members who can be sponsored for lawful permanent residency despite not being ‘immediate relatives’.  For example, the brother or sister of an adult U.S. citizen, an unmarried son or daughter of a ‘green card’ holder or a married son or daughter of a U.S. citizen may be sponsored for permanent residency (but because of the worldwide limit, these persons may have to wait many years before a visa becomes available).  The problem is that many more than 480,000 foreign persons seek to become U.S. lawful permanent residents each year.  When you consider that there are over 326 million persons living in the U.S., and that nearly all of us trace our ancestry to another country, there are many family members who want to join families that are already here, but there are not enough visas to accommodate the demand.

For example, because of the existing limitation, a person from the Philippines who was sponsored by a sister for a ‘green card’ would have to have filed the immigrant visa petition before April 8, 1994 just to be considered for a ‘green card’ today.  For those who are counting, that was 23 years ago.

One might be surprised by this long delay and might even question whether this current family-sponsored system is even functional.  However, the RAISE Bill eliminates the sibling category all together.   Here are the other family-sponsored categories eliminated by the RAISE Bill:  unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, spouses, children, unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents, married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens in addition to brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens – as well as the parents of U.S. citizens previously discussed.  Under the proposed Bill, the only remaining option for a ‘green card’ for family members are spouses and ‘children’ of U.S. citizens.

 Hence the ‘Focus’ on spouses and children of U.S. citizens.

One concession the RAISE Bill makes to the parents of American citizens is that it provides a non-immigrant (temporary) visa to parents to stay in the U.S. for five (5) years.  Although this non-immigrant visa (referred to as a ‘W’ visa) could be renewed, there are disincentives for a U.S. citizen to secure such a visa since the parent cannot work during this period, and the U.S. citizen child must prove that he or she will cover all of the parent’s living expenses, (regardless of the parent’s own assets) and secure health insurance for the parent, at no expense to the parent.

One final element in the proposed RAISE bill is a bit tricky; if the Bill were to pass, any visa application of a parent of a U.S. citizen, brother, sister or any other category eliminated by this Bill as discussed above filed after the date this Bill was introduced would be invalid on the date the Bill became law.  Since the Bill was introduced on August 2, 2017, any visa application filed today under one of the extinguished family classifications would be invalid if this Bill were to ever become law.  In other words, it’s already too late.

Again, few people fully expect this Bill to become law, at least not in its original version; but it is helpful to examine the potential consequences if this Bill were to pass Congress and signed into law by the President.  The result would be a dramatic reshaping of the immigration system as we know it – particularly for foreign persons who have family currently living in the United States.

 

 

Next:  ‘Elimination of the Diversity Visa Program’