Everything That You Need To Know About Immigration Process

The majority of Americans will be shocked if they know what happens in the process under reformed immigration laws. You surely don’t have an idea, unless you come across a person with whom you want to marry, because most probably you will need to seek citizenship for that person. Some people thought that marrying an American will make a person an automatic citizen, but this will need approval from the administration.

You will have to complete the documents first and go to the US consulate. Mind you, the authorities at the US immigration may not look welcoming at all. The goal is to get a green card and to become a citizen, but it will be costly. Once you begin with the Immigration services and the citizenship, you would need to pay an application fee with no federal tax dollars. This means that they are underfunded and understaffed.

You will get charged when taking your finger-prints, and filing the wrong form means you will have to pay twice. The agency itself has no money, so it will charge every customer thousands of dollars. This can become a problem with immigrants who are on a tight budget. So as part of the immigrant’s green card application, the American will need to sign all the right basic services of the government. If the American doesn’t have assets to support his or her partner, then the foreigner will not become eligible for any public assistance.

Since you are the US citizen, you will have to list all of your finances, including your life insurance policy, bonds, stocks, personal property, savings deposits, and salary. You also need to make sure that you have at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines of your income, to avoid your partner to become a “public charge” of the US.

When it comes to collecting both of your biometrics, it may be in a different location. There are some places where the location is quite distant, where there will be no mass transits or bus lines. If you have a car, then that wouldn’t be a problem. Virtually, it can be impossible for a lot of immigrants to afford paperwork and fees. It may even be impossible to navigate the bureaucratic process because of its location. All the complexity of the trips, interviews, documentation, fees, and multiple applications can be overwhelming, so you need to prepare yourself.

Besides the money and transportation, there are still a lot of obstacles that you and your partner will go through to obtain that citizenship. Unfortunately, everything in immigration is paper-based, which means it will take hours of photocopying all of the important documents. There will also be possibilities that the document might even get lost. Even though the immigration authorities can save money, the materials cannot be transmitted electronically. In short, the process of immigration in America is like in the 19th century, which can be very frustrating.

There will also be some instances where your application may be rejected. This might be because you hadn’t proven your marriage to be true or that if both of you still live together. The best thing that you can do instead of showing photos of your marriage is to provide an employment status, insurance forms, bank statements, and tax returns. It would also be ideal to show a Facebook page proving that you got married in a specific year.

With all of this information on the immigration process, it would be best to be prepared, not only mentally and physically, but financially as well. Just make sure that you have all the proper documentation to avoid going back and forth and spending more time and money than intended.

Based on Materials from Brookings
Photo Sources: Ruppersberg.house.gov, Pymnts, Fora Financial