On January 3, The US Department of Homeland Security issued a new rule change that will help perhaps hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants in this country who have close family members (such as a spouse, parent or child) who are US citizens.
The new rule says, if an undocumented immigrant has close relatives in the US, who are US citizens, then they may apply for legal residence in the US while they are in this country.
If their request is granted then they would have to go back to their countries of origin to get a visa to this country. The process of obtaining a vis usually takes just a short time.
The new rule replaces the previous policy under which undocumented immigrants had to go back to their country of origin, and then apply for legal residency.
The application process can be very lengthy and, under the old rules, they might have been separated from close relatives, such as spouses, parents and children, for years.
This new rule will become effective on March 4, 2013.
To learn more, and to see a copy of the new rule, click here.
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