Russia and US Sign Agreement on Visa Agreement
The signing of the treaty is said to ease USA visa application rules for the Russian citizens, and similarly, Russia would do the same for US Citizens.
Online, September 5, 2012 (Newswire.com) - With President Barack Obama's newest immigration initiatives, dubbed to be so far the most ambitious, it is expected that about 1.2 million young illegal migrants will be seeking to make their stay in the US legal. These young ones have been brought to America as children. This is also the reason why the immigration authorities are preparing themselves for this rush.
Though only scheduled to start this Wednesday, many are already warning that such activity will trigger budget shortfalls that may eventually cause delay and promote fraud.
Contrasting reactions have been raised by both advocates and Republicans. The former are already staging a plan to celebrate and provide legal aid seminars as part of their rejoicing and relief over the plan. On the other hand, the latter are angry saying that this is just a ploy by the White House to get Latino support especially with the coming elections.
The expected 1.2 million will add to the already rising 6 million applications for citizenship, as well as for residency and visa to the USA that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services will have to review.
There is an estimate of 1.7 million teens and young adults, according to advocates, who will qualify for the initiative although they are not sure as to how many will actually apply for visa to the US. A two-year deferral from deportation will be issued to those granted the American visa as well as will be allowed to work in the US.
However, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, such deferral from deportation does not also guarantee that they will be given a citizenship or permanent residency.
According to the Obama administration, this program will allow officials to focus on deporting convicted criminals, and in the process, allow students and non-criminals to stay in the US and be with their love ones.
"It's a way to not have to look back and be scared that your going to be deported- being able to freely go to school get a job, not wondering whether your going to be deported or fired from your job," said Jazmine Santacruz, a women with One America.
For those who wish to go to the US and are citizens of member-countries of the Visa Waver Program (VWP), they can apply for visa to the United States by filling out ESTA forms. These can be downloaded online and when passed and approved, a traveler to the US will be allowed to board the aircraft bound for the US. However, he will still be subject to checking by boarder officials upon arrival to the US.