Imbibing a half-full glass of positivity

Here’s a random musing: Putting a positive spin on things is like trying to catch a whiff of single-malt whisky from deep inside a Ginebra San Miguel distillery.

Or trying to dig an ounce of gold from the Smokey Mountain of old. Or to use a libatory phraseology, like imbibing a half-filled glass of positivity from a half-empty barrel of negativity.

Lately, a number of immigration practitioners and social media observers, this writer included, have been laying out all kinds of negative reports describing the sorry state of America’s immigration affairs at present, driven primarily by the prevailing defeatist sentiments across the country.

And yet, said negative sentiments notwithstanding, it behooves every immigration advocate worth his salt to also take the positives into account, however inconsequential they appear to be, if only to remind everyone that America’s pulse as a nation of immigrants is still beating — as hard as ever.

For instance, the processing and approval of immigrant petitions at USCIS offices nationwide, at least in employment-based cases, are moving along smoothly. In fact, processing of employment-based petitions is proceeding at a relatively rapid pace, with some, at least in this writer’s experience, being approved in the record time of less than four months, even without the premium processing option.

Additionally, the rates of labor certification approvals have remained stable, at least from this corner’s perspective. This goes to show that the majority of labor certification specialists at the US DoL, as well as most of the hardworking people at the USCIS, have remained steadfast in their duty of rendering fair and honest decisions.

On the naturalization front, unless the application or the applicant is legally “problematic,” citizenship cases continue to be approved, mostly within the normal processing time of less than one year. If at all, only those requiring extra security vetting or are otherwise pending in relatively busy offices are impacted by delays, presumably due to the tripling of the number of naturalization filings occurring in late 2025.

For spouses and minor children of US permanent residents, including beneficiaries from the Philippines, the most recent Visa Bulletin was a harbinger of good news, reflecting near-term immigrant visa availability and a reduced migration timeline. As of September 2026, the priority cut-off date for the F2A category is 22 August 2026, which means that barring unforeseen delays, the spouses and minor children of Filipino green card holders will be able to join their principals soon.

On the deportation front, some immigration judges are reportedly displaying extraordinary fortitude in granting cancellations of removal, with a few cases being decided at a record pace of less than 30 days, depending on the court’s docket.

Despite a prior inhibiting directive, adjustment of status in the US is still being allowed in the vast majority of cases, with denials prevalent only in cases mired in technicalities. Moreover, employment authorizations incidental to adjustment of status are now being issued consistently across the board, after months and years of inexplicable delays.

Lastly, and except in certain designated countries, millions of various types of visas, both immigrant and nonimmigrant, continue to be processed and issued annually by US consulates around the world.

Indeed, a half-full glass of positivity will always trump a half-empty cup of negativity, anytime, any day.