MUMBAI: The America’s Children Bill, which would protect documented dreamers from aging out of their legal immigration status when they turn 21, often forcing them to self-deport to their home-country (say India), will be re-introduced in the US House and Senate. Of the over 2 lakh documented dreamers in the US, a significant chunk are estimated to be children from Indian families.
The plan to reintroduce this bi-partisan bill was announced by Congresswoman Deborah Ross and Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference today.
Documented dreamers are those children who were brought to the US when they were kids. Their parents entered the US legally on non-immigrant visas such as H-1B. Currently, when these children turn 21 (age out), they can no longer continue with their H-4 dependent visas. Either they have to transit to an F-1 visa meant for international students, which has its own challenges such as higher fees and restricted work eligibility; or they have to self deport to their home country. They also have to drop out of the green-card queue as their parent was the primary applicant, which is a double whammy.
According to Congresswoman Ross, “Documented dreamers grow up in our communities, attend our schools, and learn alongside our children. These inspiring young people represent the very best of America. It’s long past time that we address flaws in our broken immigration system and give documented dreamers the chance to stay in the country they love and call home.”
The press conference also featured several members of Improve the Dream, an association led by young immigrants who have grown up in the US. They explained the hardships they continue to face owing to the outdated US immigration system.
The bill provides a pathway to permanent residency to legal dreamers, who have maintained legal status in the US for ten years and have graduated from an institution of higher education. The icing on the cake for children of Indian parents is that the bill locks in a child’s age on the date on which the green card was filed – thus, on turning 21 years the child will not lose eligibility for the green card under his/her parent’s application. However, to be eligible for such lock-in of the age, the child should have held a dependent status in the US for an aggregate period of eight years before he turned 21.
According to an earlier study done by David Bier, a research fellow at Cato Institute, as of September 2021, Nearly 7.19 lakh Indians are mired in the backlog for an employment based green card, assuming everyone would stay in the queue (without factoring deaths or ageing out), it would take 90 years to get a green card, after factoring in deaths and ageing out the time period to obtain a green card drops to 46 years – in other words the ordeal continues. His study estimates that roughly 90,000 children of employment-based immigrants will age out of the green card eligibility when they turn 21 – largely these will be children from Indian families.
“These Documented dreamers are Americans in every way except one: their parent’s green card is tied up in red tape,” said Senator Padilla. “This legislation is about more than just immigration reform—it’s about righting a moral wrong that’s a byproduct of our outdated immigration system. My bill would prevent these young people from ‘aging out’ of their parents’ visa when they turn 21, and create additional green card opportunities for documented dreamers,“ he said.
In 2021 a bill on the same lines was introduced both in the Senate and the House.
The plan to reintroduce this bi-partisan bill was announced by Congresswoman Deborah Ross and Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference today.
Documented dreamers are those children who were brought to the US when they were kids. Their parents entered the US legally on non-immigrant visas such as H-1B. Currently, when these children turn 21 (age out), they can no longer continue with their H-4 dependent visas. Either they have to transit to an F-1 visa meant for international students, which has its own challenges such as higher fees and restricted work eligibility; or they have to self deport to their home country. They also have to drop out of the green-card queue as their parent was the primary applicant, which is a double whammy.
According to Congresswoman Ross, “Documented dreamers grow up in our communities, attend our schools, and learn alongside our children. These inspiring young people represent the very best of America. It’s long past time that we address flaws in our broken immigration system and give documented dreamers the chance to stay in the country they love and call home.”
The press conference also featured several members of Improve the Dream, an association led by young immigrants who have grown up in the US. They explained the hardships they continue to face owing to the outdated US immigration system.
The bill provides a pathway to permanent residency to legal dreamers, who have maintained legal status in the US for ten years and have graduated from an institution of higher education. The icing on the cake for children of Indian parents is that the bill locks in a child’s age on the date on which the green card was filed – thus, on turning 21 years the child will not lose eligibility for the green card under his/her parent’s application. However, to be eligible for such lock-in of the age, the child should have held a dependent status in the US for an aggregate period of eight years before he turned 21.
According to an earlier study done by David Bier, a research fellow at Cato Institute, as of September 2021, Nearly 7.19 lakh Indians are mired in the backlog for an employment based green card, assuming everyone would stay in the queue (without factoring deaths or ageing out), it would take 90 years to get a green card, after factoring in deaths and ageing out the time period to obtain a green card drops to 46 years – in other words the ordeal continues. His study estimates that roughly 90,000 children of employment-based immigrants will age out of the green card eligibility when they turn 21 – largely these will be children from Indian families.
“These Documented dreamers are Americans in every way except one: their parent’s green card is tied up in red tape,” said Senator Padilla. “This legislation is about more than just immigration reform—it’s about righting a moral wrong that’s a byproduct of our outdated immigration system. My bill would prevent these young people from ‘aging out’ of their parents’ visa when they turn 21, and create additional green card opportunities for documented dreamers,“ he said.
In 2021 a bill on the same lines was introduced both in the Senate and the House.