AHMEDABAD: The US immigration authorities have been rejecting greater number of visa applications. The number of refusals has dramatically increased in 2002-03, and an increasing number of Indians are losing out.

 

Piyush Shelat, a medical professional staying in the US for the last 10 years, had made a visa application in 1996 for status adjustment in the US after his wife Sangita Shelat received US citizenship. “My application for adjusting the visa status was rejected within minutes,” says Shelat. He, now faces deportation, had overstayed on his visitor visa in 1994.

 

Many like Shelat have been turned down by the US authorities this year. With stricter checks, many, who may have otherwise been eligible for becoming US permanent residents, are presently facing deportation from the US, inform immigration lawyers in the US. Gregory Siskind, immigration attorney from Siskind, Susser, Haas & Devine in the US says that for security reasons, the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has adopted a zero-tolerance policy on all cases.

 

“INS may reject the application for minor reasons, including status violations or incorrect answers on forms. Minute mistakes may also lead to application rejections,” says Siskind. In the past, the agency was flexible and would judge the overall circumstances when making decisions. From March 1, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) has taken over charge from the INS. And backlogs are again up at the INS since the switch. “It also has an impact on my clients,” says Siskind. “Obviously denials and backlogs are not good. With this, a person’s immigration hopes could be dashed.” With increasing number of denials, the board of the immigration appeals system, a watchdog set by the US Justice Department in 1940 over immigration courts, is also swamped with cases. The changes pushed by attorney general Ashcroft directed the Board of Immigration Appeals to clear 56,000 backlog cases by March 25, notes Los Angeles Times.

 

A review conducted by The Times found that to meet this deadline the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected 86 per cent of its appeals in October, compared to 59 per cent the previous October. With proliferation of summary decisions without explanations by the board, “Immigrants are appealing to the federal court system in unprecedented numbers, creating another backlog,” notes the L A Times. Immigrants and their lawyers in the US are anxious over the recent increase in denials and the subsequent backlog of cases.

 

Robert Gottfried, an immigration lawyer in the US says, “At the New York District Office and the Vermont Service Center, there are thousands of cases that remain unadjudicated. The Vermont Service Center is currently adjudicating employment cases received in the fall of 2001. The New York District Office are scheduling interviews for family-based cases filed in May 2001 for July 2003. They are supposed to shut down for interviews in the month of April, in order work on all their old cases that were interviewed but not fully adjudicated.” The checks also take more time because all applications now have to pass an IBIS security check make sure that the individual has no criminal or immigration violations, informs Gottfried.

 

And increase in application backlog has also occurred because the US Immigration and Naturalization Service at one point stopped adjudicating adjustment applications before implementing new rules of fingerprints and thorough background checks, informs Hamel Vyas, an immigration lawyer in the US.