Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), introduced legislation to re-emphasize family unity in the US immigration system so that legal immigrants might reunite with their families and end decade long waiting times for legal immigrant visas.

The legislation would reinforce the historical emphasis on current wait times in the family immigration system by:

• Helping an estimated 322,000 spouses and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents who are waiting in line to reunite with their families by reclassifying them as immediate relatives
• Addressing the decades-long backlogs for certain countries by raising the per-country immigration limits from 7% to 10% of total admissions
• Protecting widows, widowers and orphans by allowing them to continue to wait in line for a visa after the death of the sponsoring relative
• Utilizing an estimated 400,000 family-sponsored and employment-based visas that went unused between 1992 and 2007
• Respecting the contribution of Filipino World War II veterans by reducing their children’s wait times for an immigrant visa
• Promoting family unity by allowing more people who are already eligible for an immigrant visa to efficiently use our legal family immigration system
• Providing equal treatment for stepchildren and biological children by allowing stepchildren under the age of 21 to immigrate upon their parents’ marriage (current age is 18)

For more on this story

Acting USCIS Deputy Director, Michael Aytes, recently responded to questions about employment-based visa wait times in a recent Leadership Journal article that’s been posted on the DHS website.  You’ll all be glad to hear that USCIS has set a 4-month processing goal for I-140 petitions with an estimate of September 2009 for meeting that goal.  In recent months, we have noted faster case approval.

In late 2007 and 2008, employers filed more than 234,000 I-140 petitions.  The USCIS acknowledges the frustrations felt by many.  To address this, they are working toward making case volume information available online – but not sure when this might become available.