The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) urged Filipinos on Friday to abide by america immigration policy and comply with the brand new green card mandates.
“One of the best advice that we can provide for Filipinos there may be to follow the principles of the host country,” CFO Chairperson Dante “Klink” Ang II told reporters in an interview.
“If need be, I feel it’s higher possibly to return home to the Philippines quite than to get deported,” he added. “Once you might be deported then you definitely lose any possibility of returning back to the US.”
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) earlier issued a brand new policy memo that will require applicants looking for adjustment of status to process their applications through consular processing at a Department of State office of their home country.
USCIS underscored that filing an adjustment of status inside the US shall be granted only in “extraordinary circumstances.”
“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the necessity to search out and take away those that resolve to slide into the shadows and remain within the US illegally after being denied residency,” USCIS Spokesman Zach Kahler said in a press release.
In an interview with GMA News, Philippine Ambassador to america Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez said that as much as 200,000 Filipinos could also be affected by the brand new US immigration policy on green card applications.
Despite policy shifts, CFO noted that the US stays the highest destination for migration, with about 5 million Filipinos within the diaspora.
“Despite all of those pronouncements from President Trump about clamping down on migration, no less than what our data suggests, there doesn’t appear to be an impact on the variety of Filipinos migrating to the US,” Mr. Ang said during a panel discussion.
“The US stays the primary destination for Filipinos migrating abroad,” he added. “More specifically, in North America, between the US and Canada, there are numerous Filipinos.”
Over 49,000 Filipinos within the US became lawful everlasting residents or green card holders in fiscal 12 months (FY) 2023, based on the think tank Migration Policy Institute (MPI).
Out of the 1.2 million latest green card recipients that 12 months, 4% were attributed to Filipinos who were granted residency through family sponsorship and employment.
In the identical 12 months, MPI estimated that about 294,000 or 2% of the 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants within the US were from the Philippines.
“If their intent is to remain abroad permanently or long-term after which they use one other pathway, akin to an exchange program, then they develop into vulnerable to all varieties of abuses,” Mr. Ang said.
“If their plan is to remain abroad, then our suggestion for them is to follow the appropriate migration pathway,” he added. — Almira Louise S. Martinez