This is about the torrent of bad news impacting US immigration policies at present, with millions of people around the world, including Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, being inundated with feelings of hopelessness about the vanishing American Dream.
As noted with idiomatic fervor in a previous column, whenever it rains, it pours, but this one is no ordinary downpour. In fact, this seems like a barrage of molten arrows unleashed by the god of sorrows.
And yet, this turbulence has nothing to do with the habagat’s fury transforming the streets of Metro Manila into a vast ocean of misery, nor does it mirror the rising tide of anger against the flood control scoundrels, although figuratively speaking the analogy is right on the money.
Metaphorically, this is about the torrent of bad news impacting US immigration policies at present, with millions of people around the world, including hundreds of thousands of anxious Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, being inundated with feelings of hopelessness about the vanishing American Dream.
Take the ongoing tourist visa revocation campaign, for example. Per news reports, the Trump administration is in the midst of canceling hundreds of thousands of active tourist visas, primarily those issued to people who have applied for asylum in America.
On what basis? For having had the “preconceived intent” to apply for asylum, a permanent type of migration, under the guise of visiting the US temporarily for business or for pleasure, which is akin to fraud or misrepresentation.
For those who did not, or have no intent to, apply for asylum, there’s no reason to worry. Unless the visa is revocable on other grounds — such as being found guilty of a criminal offense, or for espousing views inimical to the public interest or national security of the United States — the visa is safe.
On the other hand, immigrant visa applicants face a proverbial headwind in the form of a US State Department directive indefinitely suspending the processing of immigrant visas worldwide, including visa interviews and approvals.
The reason? Consular officers are mandated, per official announcement, to undergo retraining in support of the impending expansion of the “public charge” rule, which to some immigration experts is yet another tool for curtailing legal immigration to the US.
Oddly enough, the surprise directive came down right after a federal judge had declared invalid the Trump administration’s prior processing pause of immigrant visa applications from 75 countries, rendering said decision a toothless relief in the meantime.
On another front, further intensifying the alluvion of despair is the announced increase in the H-1B filing fee to $103,265 per petition, a prohibitive sum by any measure. With all non-cap working visa petitions subject to the new rule, this fee increase, if upheld as valid, is practically a death knell for H-1B sponsorships from the Philippines, since no healthcare facility, educational institution, or IT company will dare sponsor a Filipino worker for such a mind-boggling fee.
Lastly, even naturalized Americans and people aspiring to be one are not immune to the torrential wrath of Uncle Sam’s habagat. Recently, reports have surfaced of certain naturalization applications being denied due to the applicants’ delayed federal income tax payments, including those with IRS-approved payment plans.
Does it mean that a single instance of late payment or delayed settlement of a federal tax liability is now a ground for citizenship denial or revocation, even with concurrence or forgiveness from the IRS?
If so, this is a storm worse than a habagat, it is one with a hurricane-like impact.
