There is a lot to the U.S. Immigration law making it really confusing and complex. That's why it is broke up into several different sections: the reunification of families, admitting immigrants with skills that are available to the U.S. economy, and protecting the refugees.
Family unification is very important in governing the immigration policy. Family-based immigration is when U.S. citizens are allowed to bring in family members that meet certain criteria. There is either the immediate relatives or the family preference system. On the Immigration Policy Center website it gives a list of the criteria that they must meet to come into the United States.
Immediate Relatives are:
- Spouses of U.S. citizens
- Unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens (under 21 years old)
- Parents of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a parent)
Family Preference System includes:
- Adult children (married and unmarried) and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. (Petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a sibling.)
- Spouses and unmarried children (minor and adult) of a lawful permanent resident
The United States can't just let all of the family members into the U.S., so Congress has came up with a number of family visas that they can give out every year. The number is decided by previous visas given out and the number of aliens paroled of the previous year.
There are many ways that immigrants who come to the United States that can stay permanently or just temporarily in order to work. Most of the temporary workers are very highly skilled and are sponsored by a specific employer for a specific job. Only a certain number of immigrants that are that are immigrant workers can stay permanently. On the IPC website it says, "Permanent employment-based immigration is set at a rate of 140,000 visas per year, and these are divided into 5 preferences, each subject to numerical limitation."
Finally, there are the refugees that come from several countries. "Refugees are admitted to the United States based upon an inability to return to their home countries because of a 'well-founded fear of persecution' due to their race, membership in a social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin." When refugees are wanting to come to the United States, they have to apply. Each year there is a set number of how many refugees are allowed into the U.S. Below are numbers of how many people can come from a certain country.
Africa: 15,500
East Asia: 17,000
Europe and Central Asia: 2,500
Latin America/Caribbean: 5,000
Near East/South Asia: 35,000
Unallocated Reserve: 5,000
Total: 80,000
The IPC says that these refugees are eligible to become Lawful Permanent Residents one year after admission to the United States as a refugee.
