As the current presidential administration defends its travel ban and rolls out new rules around visas, the controversy around immigration policy often overlooks the investment of time and money already required of foreign nationals immigrating to the U.S.
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Since the process and costs for obtaining a green card vary for spousal visas, asylum-seekers, skilled workers and others, it’s hard to estimate a concrete price, but filing fees and legal costs for a green card can run into the thousands. Those costs are in addition to the travel costs green card seekers incur to get to the U.S.
Just ask Azmia Magane, who lives in Orlando, Florida, while her husband lives in Morocco. The couple began applying for his spousal visa, which also serves as a green card, in September 2016. Now, 10 months and several thousand dollars later, his visa petition has been approved but he’s waiting to get an appointment with the U.S. embassy, where the final decision will be made. Because Magane has some health issues requiring multiple surgeries, she has appealed to her congressional representation for an expedited approval of her husband’s I-130 (a form for a citizen or permanent resident to establish a relationship to someone who wants to immigrate to the U.S.), review and embassy interview, but there’s no guarantee or predicted timetable for when the interview might be scheduled.
Magane says they’ve spent $420 for the I-130 filing (that fee has since risen to $535), $325 for the visa fee for the application at the National Visa Center, $120 for the affidavit of support filing and at least $100 on printing photos, copying documents and having documents notarized or certified. Her husband’s pending immigration application means he may get denied a tourist visa, so Magane has also paid to visit him in Morocco. Once he gets approved, they’ll pay another $220 for the USCIS immigration fee, which has exemptions for Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants and other cases, and it’s unclear when he’ll able to start working again, a quandary that many new arrivals face as they establish themselves in another country.
Of course not everyone qualifies for any sort of visa or green card to begin with, especially if they’re not educated and don’t have a relative or employer to sponsor them. “The majority of the applicants are denied for tourist visas and there’s no real route for them to come here on a work visa if they don’t have any education,” says Paul “Woody” Scott, founder of the Scott Law Firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and an immigration attorney. Scott says some unskilled workers immigrate to Louisiana through temporary agricultural visas that are available through the H-2A program and are sponsored by crawfish farmers, but only a small number of these visas are available.
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An immigration attorney is not required for a visa or green card application, but hiring one can be helpful in some cases. After the travel ban was issued in February, Magane and her husband spent $2,500 on an attorney and paid $300 into a trust for the attorney to pay postage and other fees. They initially planned to navigate the process on their own without an immigration lawyer, but then considered the advantages of having an attorney. “With my husband being an Arab Muslim from Morocco, we felt like it would be more to our benefit to be as proactive as we can,” she explains.
The average price for an immigration attorney is around $3,000 to $5,000, according to Eileen Blessinger, an immigration attorney at Blessinger Legal PLLC in the District of Columbia. Blessinger says it may make sense to hire an immigration lawyer if you have what’s called an unlawful presence bar. After April 1, 1997, spending more than 180 consecutive days in the U.S. unlawfully can result in a three-year bar, while spending a year or longer in the U.S. can result in a 10-year bar. Returning during that time without permission can trigger a permanent bar. “There’s no sign; no one’s telling you about it,” she says. “You can waive the 10-year bar, but you can’t waive a permanent bar.” In that case, an immigration lawyer could help apply for a waiver.
Scott adds that it might also be wise to consult an immigration lawyer if you’re in deportation proceedings, have a past arrest or have been questioned at the airport. “If the person has no issues in their past and they’re very comfortable with paperwork, there’s probably a very good chance they can do [a green card application] on their own,” he adds.
If language barriers might pose a problem, that might merit hiring a bilingual attorney. The Maganes chose an attorney who speaks English and Arabic to ensure that the husband, Aziz, who speaks some English but whose first language is Darija, an Arabic dialect spoken in Morocco, understands all the legal documents he’s signing.
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So, how do new arrivals cover these costs? The International Organization for Migration issues interest-free loans to refugees traveling to the U.S. to cover transportation and other costs like medical screenings. The average International Organization for Migration loan amount is $1,200 per refugee. Some credit unions and community organizations offer loans to immigrants for the purpose of gaining citizenship, and some legal aid organizations offer pro bono help on immigration cases, but these options may not be available everywhere or to everyone due to limited resources.
Magane and her husband are both working now, so they’ve covered their costs through a combination of a steady cash flow and retirement savings. “We’ve been able to handle the government fees on our income without taking out loans or using credit cards, but I did take money from my retirement savings to pay for the attorney, as that was a somewhat abrupt decision and thus unexpected cost, because we initially didn’t feel we would need one,” Magane says. Now, they’re waiting for his visa applicant interview and hope to be reunited soon.
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What It Costs to Get a Green Card originally appeared on usnews.com
