The challenges of American legal permanent residency for family- and employment-based petitioners

Abstract

One of the most debated issues in contemporary immigration policy surrounds the acquisition of the ‘greencard’ or legal permanent resident status (LPR). For many migrants who enter the country on temporary visas, legal permanent residency is crucial to upward mobility and removes the looming threat of deportation and illegality. Despite this, the pathway to permanent residency for temporary visa holders who do not adjust their status due to their direct relationship with American citizens as spouses, minor children or parents is an uncertain one. After filing to adjust status, migrants often have to deal with visa backlogs and lengthy wait periods in queues which are capped by country of origin and level of demand. Official statistics document that wait times for family- and employment-based visas can span from five years to several decades keeping petitioners in long ‘probationary’ periods of uncertainty. Using data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Performance Analysis System, and placing emphasis on the two largest immigration channels: family and employment, this article examines the total number of applications for LPR which were approved, pending and denied for the 1992–2007 fiscal years. From this, it is argued that assimilation is not only a social process but a complicated legal one. It is also suggested that lengthy wait periods in visa queues retards the incorporation of legal immigrants into the American stratification order and inhibits chances for upward mobility and incorporation.