Applying for a spouse visa can be a complicated and stressful process. You want to make sure that you do everything right to avoid delays, rejections, and other issues. In this article, we'll outline some dos and don'ts to help you navigate the spouse visa application process successfully. Dos:
Don'ts:
In conclusion, applying for a spouse visa can be a complex process, but by following these dos and don'ts, you can increase your chances of success. Be sure to do your research, provide thorough documentation, and be patient. Avoid providing false information, missing deadlines, and underestimating language requirements. Good luck! The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has directed agents to take several steps to protect the parental rights of immigrant detainees with underage or incapacitated children, according to an agency memo published Thursday.
The directive, issued by interim ICE Director Tae Johnson, created a new requirement for ICE deportation agents to ask immigrants whether they are the parents or legal guardians of children who are minors or incapacitated, and to record those cases in an agency database. When such cases are identified during immigration arrests, the memo said, ICE agents must determine whether the parents can make arrangements for someone else to care for their children while they remain in government custody. If parents are not able to make those arrangements, or if there are concerns of abuse surrounding the potential caretaker, ICE agents should ask a local child welfare or law enforcement agency to take custody of the children, Johnson said. ICE must remain with the arrested parents at the site of the arrest until the caretaker or local child welfare or law enforcement agency can pick up the children. The memo also bars ICE agents from taking custody of or transporting the children unless they make a decision to detain them for immigration violations. Johnson also instructed agents to generally avoid holding parents or legal guardians in these circumstances in detention centers that are far away from where their children reside. "In the limited circumstances in which detention is appropriate," Johnson wrote in his 15-page memo, ICE should detain parents "as close as practicable to" their children or the location of any family court or guardianship proceedings. Moreover, the memo said ICE should ensure detained parents can participate, either in person or remotely, in family court or child welfare proceedings that determine whether they can retain or regain custody of their children. Those parents, Johnson said, can also participate in programs required to keep custody of their children, and must have access to "regulator visitation" from their children. "It is the policy of ICE to ensure that the agency's civil immigration enforcement activities do not unnecessarily disrupt or infringe upon the parental or guardianship rights of noncitizen parents or legal guardians of minor children or incapacitated adults, consistent with all legal obligations and applicable court orders," Johnson wrote in his memo. Prior to deporting parents of minor or incapacitated children, ICE agents should allow them to make arrangements to have someone care for their children in the U.S. or to facilitate the return of their children to the country where they will be deported, the directive said. If parents set to be deported have not completed child custody proceedings, Johnson said ICE "must consider under the totality of the circumstances whether continuing with removal is appropriate." When deciding such cases, ICE agents were directed to consider the parent's criminal history and their chances of retaining custody of their children. Johnson's memo also created a mechanism for ICE to allow certain deported parents to return to the U.S. temporarily to attend proceedings over whether they will keep or regain legal custody of the children. Gathered in front of the press corps in South Texas on Tuesday, a Baptist pastor lowered his head and delivered a solemn prayer. Shortly after whispering “amen,” local leadership from multiple border counties began warning of the “invasion.”
Several officials announced Tuesday afternoon that they have declared an invasion at the state’s southern border. Advocates say doing so could potentially grant the state broader border powers. Terrell County Judge Dale Lynn Carruthers on Tuesday claimed that in May alone, 49 “illegals” were apprehended in the pasture behind her house. She then warned that her border community’s some 1,000 residents “live in fear” each day. “I’m here to let you know the invasion is real and that we are doing the best we can with limited manpower,” she said. “Terrell County has the least to offer and the most to lose.” Conservative leaders in Texas and beyond have ramped up attacks on people crossing the border in recent months. While some say the invasion declaration is necessary to safeguard U.S. citizens, critics have widely panned it as a political stunt with potentially deadly consequences. Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan is spearheading the officials’ efforts, having led last year's charge to issue disaster declarations at the county level, The Center Square reports. Gov. Greg Abbott later followed suit and issued disaster declarations for many more. “All strategies remain on the table as Texas continues stepping up in the federal government’s absence," a spokesperson for the governor said by email Tuesday. In part, the spokesperson added: "While President Biden ignores the ever-growing humanitarian crisis, and Congressional members visit the border for photo-ops and then return to Washington to do nothing, Texas has deployed thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers and spent over $4 billion of Texas taxpayer money to secure our border, including building our own border wall, erecting strategic barriers, and sending significant resources to help our local partners as was mentioned repeatedly in the Brackettville press conference." But Efrén C. Olivares, immigrant justice deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said he “disagrees with the entire framing.” The way he sees it, the "invasion" declaration is nothing more than another political stunt ahead of the midterm elections. “To refer to anything as an ‘invasion’ … has this militarized connotation to it, as if we are at war with immigrants,” he said. “And even though that might be what some of these anti-immigrant elected officials would like, that is very much not the case.” Olivares said border-crossers are often women and children fleeing persecution, poverty and life-threatening scenarios. They come to the border seeking protection and opportunity. Tuesday’s “invasion” declaration holds no legal weight, said Savannah Tarbet, press manager for the Texas Civil Rights Project. As part of a political stunt, officials have deployed racist rhetoric to sow division into the very border communities they’re supposed to protect. “The United States prides itself on our history as a refuge and a nation comprised primarily of immigrants,” she said via email. “There is absolutely no basis in our history for viewing families, children and adults coming to the country to seek protection and opportunity as an 'invasion.'” In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the current presidential administration can end the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program. The policy forced border-crossers seeking asylum to stay in Mexico while their cases slowly moved through the U.S. immigration courts. It also thrust certain asylum seekers into violent situations, squalid living conditions and other threatening scenarios. Abbott and other Texas Republicans have buckled down on their anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of November’s midterms. The governor recently cautioned against a so-called “caravan” supposedly heading to the border, a notion refuted by immigration experts. He's also touted his controversial security initiative Operation Lone Star as necessary to keeping the state safe. But some critics have slammed the effort, which has deployed Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard officers to the border, as little more than an expensive and ineffective political exercise. In a March 4 video, Abbott bragged about the one-year anniversary of the endeavor. “Operation Lone Star has apprehended more than 200,000 illegal immigrants,” the governor claimed. “That includes more than 9,000 felony charges and more than 11,000 criminal arrests.” Abbott has pitched himself as a tough-on-immigration politician, one who’s more committed to border security than the federal government is. He recently blamed President Joe Biden for the demise of dozens of migrants discovered in an abandoned tractor-trailer in San Antonio. |