IMMIGRATION

Posted By: November 25, 2014

 On November 20 2014, US President Barack Obama announced Executive Orders on Deferred Action for some immigrants. This serves as tremendous relief from threat of deportation for Irish families with US Born Children. Irish work visa holders, as well as their spouses, now have eased ability to apply for permanent resident visas and move between jobs in the US, which was very difficult in the past. The Executive Order doesn’t affect the undocumented status of those who arrived here after January 1 2010, parents of DACA(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) eligible children or single Irish immigrants without US born children. Those who qualify, and only after background checks and successful completion of the application process, may be eligible by the end of 2015 to finally travel home to Ireland in a system known as Advanced Parole to adjust status or apply for visas they previously have not qualified for. The same timeline applies for humanitarian issues like emergency visits home for life / medical events. These parole travel opportunities will not happen in the immediate future, and we are working now to clarify the details with US agencies. There will be many Irish who desire to travel home right away but that is not possible. Carpetbaggers and unscrupulous operators will try to take advantage of immigrants by offering false, expensive or deceptive processing fees that may lead to nowhere. I ask every Hibernian to direct inquiries from Irish immigrants, who may qualify to your AOH Immigration Chairman so that we may work with the Irish Immigration Centers and Irish Consulate to get real answers and help for irish Immigrants. It is through those agencies that trusted, reliable advice and legal referrals can be found. A list of these trusted Irish Centers is found at: ciic-usa.org/find-your-local-irish-center/ Clearly, this is a stepping stone and we strongly feel we can move the remaining issues. Many indicators were that Congress might not have acted otherwise on immigration reform until as late as 2017. This action by the US President doesn’t nearly take care of the long struggle of the Irish undocumented or for the men of Thar Saile, increase future flow of legal immigration for the Irish or put an end to injustices to the Irish caused by the 1967 Immigration Act. We continue to work with tireless activists & lobbyists like Billy Lawless of the Chicago Celts & Bruce Morrison, the ILIR, Irish immigration centers, US Legislators and the Irish Embassy & Consulates to finish the deal. We need the Congress to act on immigration sooner and not in some distant future. I ask every Hibernian to implore Congress to finish the job, give the Irish our visas back and end 50 years of injustice to the Irish. Yours in Our Motto of Friendship Unity and Christian Charity,