It’s no secret that the Trump administration has been cracking down on immigration, but some may be surprised at the extra hoops being added to the legal immigration policy. The paperwork for legal immigration is being doubled, tripled, or even more. Worse, the new forms and documents have incredibly vague yet complex questions.
Since January, the agency that reviews and processes immigrants’ applications, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has lengthened 15 applications. This includes paperwork that is required to be completed by US Citizens. In total, the forms have gone from 72 pages to 162. The instructions of the respective forms have increased from 114 pages to 215. All in, that’s a whopping 191 pages of additional paperwork added in less than a year.
USCIS has no qualms over the paperwork. It is their position that the same amount of time will be needed complete the new forms as compared to the old. This includes the I-485 form, which is the form that allows an immigrant to adjust their status from a temporary to permanent resident, which increased from 6 to 18 pages. The instructions for the form went from 8 to an incredible 42 pages. Yet, the agency insists that immigrants will still be able to finish the new application in the same exact amount of time as the shorter versions. This, by itself, speaks to their attitude and approach towards immigration and immigrants.
While potential citizens are more than willing to undergo additional paperwork, many don’t have the money to hire an attorney. From asking vague questions that could apply to simple traffic tickets to full out arrest, to probing into your political preferences, these new questions are both vague and unnecessary.
While this may seem like just extreme and vague vetting, it’s more than that. If an answer is not answered precisely and correctly, it can be considered as “misrepresentation”, which will mean that the application can be denied, and/or the immigrant subject to deportation. This is just a sly way to avoid having to propose new legislation and achieve the same goal: severely limiting the number of new immigrants to the US.
Under the Trump administration, hiring a great immigration law attorney is the difference between being able to stay legally in the US, and being asked to leave.
Sweta Khandelwal is located in San Jose, CA, and she has helped many deserving immigrants achieve their goal of becoming US residents/citizens. Contact the the Law Offices of Sweta Khandelwal today.
