 HOUSE PASSES FAMILY SPONSOR BILL
This week the House passed H.R. 1892, the Family Sponsor Immigration Act of 2001. This bill allows the substitution of a sponsor for the affidavit of support in cases where the original petitioning family member has died. This provision became necessary after the creation of the affidavit of support requirement in 1996.
When the petitioning family member dies, if the petition has not yet been approved, it is revoked. If it has been approved, however, the intending immigrant can still obtain a green card. However, this became impossible after the affidavit of support was required. The sponsor for the immigrant visa classification currently has to be the sponsor for the affidavit of support. If this person has died, they cannot file the affidavit of support, and without that, the relative cannot immigrate.
If passed by the Senate and signed by the President, this bill would remedy this problem, by allowing another family member to be the sponsor for purposes of the affidavit of support. The bill would apply to all cases, regardless of when the petitioner died. However, if the petitioner died before the bill becomes law, the immigrant must convince the INS to reinstate the application that was revoked with the death of the petitioner.
The bill as passed by the House can be viewed by clicking here, and the report accompanying the bill can be viewed here.
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