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Surviving Spouses Urge End to Widow Penalty

Monday, April 30th, 2007

PORTLAND, OR – One month ago, Congressmen Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (RAZ.) unveiled new legislation designed to fix America’s broken immigration system. The Bill includes a fix to the “widow penalty,” a little known trap in the immigration law that leads to the deportation of widows of U.S. citizens when the death occurs during immigration processing. The Bill is called the “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007″ (”STRIVE Act”), and has been given the House bill number H.R. 1645. The “widow penalty fix” is found in Section 516 of the Bill, pages 420-426.

A non-partisan non-profit advocacy organization, Surviving Spouses Against Deportation (SSAD) was formed early this year to provide a place for grieving spouses of US Citizens facing deportation along with their orphaned minor children. They have been closely following this legislation as well as related issues. For more information you can visit SSAD.ORG.

SSAD has documented and follows many cases that demonstrate the dilemma that many families face each year. A notable example is a case where a US Citizen who was enlisted in the armed forces was killed in Iraq leaving his immigrant spouse and children behind. In this case and other just like it, the immigrant spouse of the US Citizen was left to deal with both their family’s personal tragedy and the immigration issues that followed (including possible deportation).

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USCIS Announces Flexible Response Times for Notices of Intent to Deny and Requests for Evidence

Thursday, April 12th, 2007

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today the transmittal of a final rule, “Removal of the Standardized Request for Evidence Processing Timeframe” to the Federal Register. This rule will take effect on June 16, 2007.

This rule amends Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations by giving USCIS flexibility in setting an appropriate length of time during which applicants and petitioners for immigration benefits must respond to a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). This change does not apply to asylum cases to which a separate set of regulations apply.

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Husband Seperated from Wife and Children Due to Marriage Before Entering on K-1 Visa – 10 Year Ban

Saturday, April 7th, 2007

BRADENTON, FL – A Bradenton man is fighting to keep his family together, even though they are half a world away.

He and his wife, a Japanese national, are caught in the middle of an immigration nightmare. It started with what seemed like a simple visa mistake. Now every moment of every day, Keith Campbell is fighting to bring home his wife and two young boys.

While living and working as an American expatriate in Asia, Keith Campbell met the woman that would become his wife. He soon settled into her Tokyo home as they made plans to marry.

Nine years later, his wife Akiko and their two children are back in Japan, but not by choice.

In February 1998, when Akiko applied for a K1 fiance visa, she was told the process would take three to four months to complete, Keith said, so the couple scheduled a wedding in June.

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The date for the wedding approached quickly, but the visa was still missing.

The couple decided to go on with the ceremony anyway. Held in Hawaii, a midpoint for relatives flying from both Japan and the mainland United States, Keith said it would affect the lives of too many people to postpone the ceremony.
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Archive for April, 2007

Surviving Spouses Urge End to Widow Penalty

USCIS Announces Flexible Response Times for Notices of Intent to Deny and Requests for Evidence

Husband Seperated from Wife and Children Due to Marriage Before Entering on K-1 Visa – 10 Year Ban

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