- Hi, this is Moumita Rahman,
the immigration attorney
here to help me navigate
this complex world of immigration.
Today I am so, so excited to finally report that we have
a brand new president.
Not only do we have a brand new president,
but we have our first black, Asian and woman vice president
Kamala Harris.
I can't say how emotional I felt
when I watched the inauguration earlier today
and how much it means
to me as a woman of South Asian descent.
Now we have been waiting so much to see
what Biden has in store for immigrants.
And I'm happy to report that we have some details of his
Immigration Reform Bill,
which is now being called the US Citizenship Act of 2021.
Here it is.
Here are some details that we have.
We don't have the full specifics of the bill,
but here is what we know so far.
But before I go into what this bill might actually contain
I want to talk about what to expect.
We know that Biden has promised that there will be
major immigration reform during his presidency,
but here's the thing
immigration is made up of laws
that are passed by the Congress.
And this bill that Biden has sent to the halls of Congress
needs to pass both the Senate and the house.
There is no guarantee that this will actually turn into law
but I know that everyone will be fighting very very hard
for it to become law,
but do brace yourself.
This will probably take some time,
and it will definitely not be immediate.
In fact, this bill might take more than a year,
a couple of years, even to make it into law
and if it does pass,
I do not think that all the provisions
that has been put into this bill will actually pass,
probably parts of it.
So let's see what happens.
But until then, let me tell you what I do know so far.
What the Citizenship Act of 2021 says
is that there will be a pathway to
legal temporary status for DACA,
TPS holders and farm workers.
And after holding this temporary status for five years,
as long as the person passes
criminal and national security checks,
then they will be eligible to apply for a green card.
That means that they will become eligible for residency,
and permanent legal status here in the US,
but better than that, this bill also says
that as long as the person continues to pass
the national security and background checks
and pass the English and civics test on citizenship exam,
they will be eligible to become a citizen after three years.
Think of how amazing that is,
this is going to transform America for the better.
The other requirement is that
these persons must be in the US as of January 1st, 2020,
or before.
If you come into the US after January 1st of this year,
then you may not be able to benefit from this provision.
So let's see what happens.
Let's see if it gets passed.
Another great thing that this bill says
is that they plan on getting rid
of the three and the tenure bars.
There's no mention yet as to whether the permanent bar
will be taken care of,
but so far the three and the 10 year bars
are still significant barriers to keeping families together
and a huge barrier in getting status in the US.
So let's hope and see what happens.
And I sincerely hope that there will also be provisions for
addressing the permanent bar
so let's see what it says at the end of the day.
Another thing that is really important
about this bill for me is that this bill says that
they plan on restoring
the discretion and independence
and fairness of immigration judges
to grant protection and status to those individuals
they believe deserve it.
As we know the past several years under Trump,
the government has tried to take away
the discretion and the power of immigration judges
to grant relief to persons based on narrow holdings
that the attorney general has made,
by recertifying cases to himself.
So I hope to see a reversal of this trend.
I hope to see that many deserving men, women and children
in deportation will be allowed to stay.
So this is what we know so far
about the USA Citizenship Act of 2021.
We know that this is what has been proposed so far,
but we still have to wait to see what's going to happen
and whether it will actually turn into law.
What should you do if you think you qualify for something
underneath this law?
What I would say is don't wait,
if you do know that you're eligible to file
for some sort of relief right now,
take advantage of that and file.
There is no guarantee that this will actually pass,
and if it does pass,
it may take years and years
after going through the Senate battles.
If you need a consultation on your case,
you can give me a call 212-248-7907,
I look forward to speaking with you.
I look forward to helping you if I can, with your case
and hope to see you here,
please like, and subscribe to my channel
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with the new president in office right now,
you can expect to get as many updates as possible
as soon as I find out the latest immigration news.
Stay tuned.
And thanks for watching.
- [Announcer] This video is for informational purposes only,
and does not constitute legal advice.
For proper legal advice on your case.
Please call us to set up a consultation.