Role Of Family Based Immigration In The U S Immigration System

Contents: (1) Overview; (2) Current Law and Policy; Worldwide Immigration Levels; Per-Country Ceilings; Other Permanent Immigration Categories; (3) Admissions Trends: Immigration Patterns, 1900-2008; FY 2008 Admissions; (4) Backlogs and Waiting Times: Visa Processing Dates: Family-Based Visa Priority Dates; Employment-Based Visa Retrogression; Petition Processing Backlogs; (5) Issues and Options in the 111th Congress: Effects of Current Economic Conditions on Legal Immigration; Family-Based Preferences; Permanent Partners; Point System; Immigration Commission; Interaction with Legalization Options; Lifting Per-Country Ceilings. Charts and tables.

Family reunification has historically been a key principle underlying U.S. immigration policy. It is embodied in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Categories include immediate relatives (spouses, minor unmarried children, and parents) of U.S. citizens and four other family-based categories that vary according to individual characteristics such as the legal status of the petitioning U.S.-based relative, and the age, family relationship, and marital status of the prospective immigrant. Of the 1,183,505 foreign nationals admitted to the United States in FY2016 as lawful permanent residents (LPRs), 68%, were admitted on the basis of family ties. Of the family-based immigrants admitted in FY2016, 70% were admitted as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Many were initially admitted on a nonimmigrant (temporary) visa and became immigrants by converting or "adjusting" their status to a lawful permanent resident. The proportion of family-based immigrants who adjusted their immigration status while residing in the United States (34%) was substantially less than that of family-based immigrants who had their immigration petitions processed while living abroad (66%), although percentages varied considerably among the five family-based immigration categories. Since FY2000, increasing numbers of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens have accounted for the growth in family-based immigration. In recent years, Mexico, the Philippines, China, India, and the Dominican Republic have sent the most family-based immigrants to the United States. Each year, the number of foreign nationals petitioning for LPR status through family-sponsored preference categories exceeds the numerical limits of legal immigrant visas. As a result, a visa queue has accumulated of foreign nationals who qualify as immigrants under the INA but who must wait for a visa to immigrate to the United States. The visa queue is not a processing backlog but, rather, the number of persons approved for visas not yet available due to INA-specified numerical limits. As of November 1, 2017, the visa queue numbered 3.95 million persons. Every month, the Department of State (DOS) issues its Visa Bulletin, which lists "cut-off dates" for each numerically limited family-based immigration category. Cut-off dates indicate when petitions that are currently being processed for a numerically limited visa were initially approved. For most countries, cut-off dates range between 23 months and 13.5 years ago. For countries that send the most immigrants, the range expands to between 2 and 23 years ago. Long-standing debates over the level of annual permanent immigration regularly place scrutiny on family-based immigration and revive debates over whether its current proportion of total lawful permanent immigration is appropriate. Proposals to overhaul family-based immigration were made by two congressionally mandated commissions in 1980 and 1995-1997. More recent legislative proposals to revise family-based immigration include S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act in the 113th Congress and S. 1720, the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act in the 115th Congress. Those who favor expanding family-based immigration by increasing the annual numeric limits point to the visa queue of approved prospective immigrants who must wait years separated from their U.S.-based family members until they receive a visa. Others question whether the United States has an obligation to reconstitute families of immigrants beyond their nuclear families and favor reducing permanent immigration by eliminating certain family-based preference categories. Arguments favoring restricting certain categories of family-based immigration reiterate earlier recommendations made by congressionally mandated immigration reform commissions.

This book documents the third in a series of annual symposia on family issues--the National Symposium on International Migration and Family Change: The Experience of U.S. Immigrants--held at Pennsylvania State University. Although most existing literature on migration focuses solely on the origin, numbers, and economic success of migrants, this book examines how migration affects family relations and child development. By exploring the experiences of immigrant families, particularly as they relate to assimilation and adaptation processes, the text provides information that is central to a better understanding of the migrant experience and its affect on family outcomes. Policymakers and academics alike will take interest in the questions this book addresses: * Does the fact that migrant offspring get involved in U.S. culture more quickly than their parents jeopardize the parents' effectiveness in preventing the development of antisocial behavior? * How does the change in culture and language affect the cognitive development of children and youth? * Does exposure to patterns of family organizations, so prevalent in the United States (cohabitation, divorce, nonmarital childbearing), decrease the stability of immigrant families? * Does the poverty facing many immigrant families lead to harsher and less supportive child-rearing practices? * What familial and extra-familial conditions promote "resilience" in immigrant parents and their children? * Does discrimination, coupled with the need for rapid adaption, create stress that erodes marital quality and the parent-child bond in immigrant families? * What policies enhance or impede immigrant family links to U.S. institutions?

Since 1965 the foreign-born population of the United States has swelled from 9.6 million or 5 percent of the population to 45 million or 14 percent in 2015. Today, about one-quarter of the U.S. population consists of immigrants or the children of immigrants. Given the sizable representation of immigrants in the U.S. population, their health is a major influence on the health of the population as a whole. On average, immigrants are healthier than native-born Americans. Yet, immigrants also are subject to the systematic marginalization and discrimination that often lead to the creation of health disparities. To explore the link between immigration and health disparities, the Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity held a workshop in Oakland, California, on November 28, 2017. This summary of that workshop highlights the presentations and discussions of the workshop.