Backlog Keep Immigrants Waiting Years for Green Cards

Immigration officials recently told Arora, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Glendale, Ariz., that his 32-year-old son, Gautam, may not get permission to move to the United States until 2008.

"It's just so frustrating," Arora said. "This process makes no sense."

Arora's dilemma is not unique. At last count, more than 615,000 foreigners with relatives in the United States were awaiting approval for a green card, which permits a foreigner to permanently live and work in the United States and eventually become a U.S. citizen.

But lengthy security checks as part of the war on terrorism, the yearly cap on visas and a backlog of applications have forced many immigrant families to wait years to be reunited with relatives abroad.

The Bush administration has taken notice. Last spring, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency charged with serving newcomers to the United States, launched an aggressive campaign to reduce the backlog for all immigration applications, including green card applicants. The backlog had climbed to a staggering 6 million in 2004, prompting an outcry among immigration advocates and immigrants.

Today, immigration officials say they have reduced the total backlog to 4.7 million applications, but it includes applicants who face delays because of the limit on visas made available annually. The wait for green card applicants has dropped from 20 months to 11 months over the last year.

U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Eduardo Aguirre said the Bush administration's goal is to reduce the wait for any immigration application to no more than six months by the end of next year.

"We want to restore public confidence in the integrity of America's immigration services," he said.

But even Aguirre, a Cuban immigrant, acknowledges the reputation of the agency — formerly part of the oft-criticized Immigration and Naturalization Service — has a long way to go.

"We are delivering quality services, but I'm not sure the public believes it," he said.

Winning the public's confidence won't be easy.

The system's critics say foreigners seeking to legally enter the United States must contend with a hostile agency searching for ways to keep them out. At the same time, they note, undocumented immigrants who cross the southwestern border or overstay a temporary visa remain here with little fear of deportation because immigration authorities lack the manpower and motivation to prosecute them.

In addition, Congress and the Bush administration lack the political will to aggressively pursue undocumented immigrants. The critics point to President Bush's proposed guest-worker program, which would immediately benefit the country's 8 million to 10 million undocumented immigrants.

"I'm better off telling my son to come here illegally," Arora said. "I feel foolish following the letter of the law."

Obtaining legal U.S. residency is much harder today than it used to be. Applicants must be sponsored by an employer or relative in the United States or may qualify as a refugee by proving they have a "well-founded fear of persecution" in their homeland.

But family-based visas are capped at 480,000 annually, employment visas at 140,000. The number of refugees admitted is decided by the president and Congress, which set the limit at 70,000 in 2004.

Adding to the backlog problem are immigrants from a handful of countries that flood immigration authorities with green card applications. Foreigners from China, Mexico, the Philippines and India tend to wait the longest after applying through a family member living in the United States because demand is so great.

Immigration advocates blame the long waits on the limited family-based visas made available and on lack of funding for Citizenship and Immigration Services, which relies on application fees to pay processing costs.

And they say the war on terrorism has only worsened the backlog of immigration applications.

"Legal permanent residents often wait up to 20 years to reunite with their spouses and children," said Judy Golub, a spokeswoman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which has long fought to ease restrictions on immigrants. "Such long separations make no sense in our pro-family nation and reflect poorly on us."

Federal officials acknowledge the application process has been slowed by extensive background checks since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Every day, the agency conducts 140,000 national security checks on individuals applying for permanent and temporary visas.

"We need to make sure the right applicant receives the right benefit in the right amount of time and that we prevent the wrong applicant from having access to our benefits," said agency director Aguirre.

In Arizona, Arora said his experience with the immigration system has left him demoralized.

He came to the United States in 1993 with his wife, Rita, after working for the U.S. embassy in New Delhi for 21 years as a supervisor, working closely with visiting journalists, diplomats and high-ranking U.S. officials. He ultimately was offered a permanent visa to relocate to the United States.

In 1997, he filed a petition to bring his son into the United States, but he was forced to re-apply in 2002 because he had since become a U.S. citizen and his son had gotten married. That meant, under immigration rules, that his filing status and his son's filing status had changed, sending them to the back of the line.

That setback led to more delays. Arora, frustrated, asked his son to move to Canada to be closer to the family (his relocating to Canada doesn't affect his immigration status). Gautam now lives in Vancouver with his wife and 4-year-old daughter.

"We have played by the rules and have gotten nowhere," Arora said.