Family Reunification
One of the topics
that came up during my week in Rome for USF’s Academic Global Immersion program
was, unaccompanied child. There was a lot of discussion around unaccompanied
children and the large number coming into Europe – this is also the case in the
United States, especially around the US/Mexican border.
As stated in
immigrationpolicy.org, “According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP)…between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014, CBP encountered 67,339
unaccompanied children. “Unaccompanied
alien child” (UAC) is a technical term defined by law as a child who “(A) has
no lawful immigration stat¬us in the United States; (B) has not attained 18
years of age; and (C) with respect to whom—(i) there is no parent or legal
guardian in the United States; or (ii) no parent or legal guardian in the
United States is available to provide care and physical custody.” With the
large number of minors coming into the EU and the US – this got me thinking
about family reunification. There was some discussion about family
reunification during the week, and the subject was even touched during
Anthony’s talk about his life experience. Below you will find numbers on reunification in the US.
After doing some
research on refugees and family reunification in the US – I found that there
was indeed a program for those whose cases were approved. Only once the case is
approved and the family is officially resettled in the US, will they be
assigned to a sponsor that will help them with the reunification process. There
are various resettlement agencies throughout the US that provide these sponsor
– the UNHCR is not involved in this process. Below is a map of the various
agencies in the US. You can find more information on these resettlement
agencies and sponsor HERE.
The I-730 Process
As noted in the
unhcrwashington.org website, “I-730 is a refugee/asylee relative petition in
what is often called a “follow-to-join” process. If you have been admitted to
the U.S. as a refugee or if you were granted status in the U.S. as an asylee,
you may be eligible to petition for your spouse and/or unmarried children under
the age of 21.” You have two years from the date of approval to petition
through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) - this is for family member in the US or overseas
as well.
Under U.S. law,
only immediate family members are eligible to petition under the family
reunification program. An “immediate
family member” is the child, spouse, or parent of the person requesting reunification.
A “child” is considered as a person unmarried and under 21 years of age.
Related Links and References:
