08/24/2007

News / Green card renewals face overhaul

Nearly one million longtime U.S. permanent residents likely will have to renew old green cards that carry no expiration date -- a move seemingly aimed at catching and deporting felons, but one that immigration attorneys call yet another inconvenience for the vast majority of law-abiding residents.

Previously, immigration authorities had encouraged permanent residents with old-style green cards issued before 1989 to renew them -- but replacement was not mandatory. All green cards issued ater 1989 expire every 10 years.

The plan outlined Wednesday in the Federal Register by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services does not require congressional approval and likely will become reality later this year -- just like a sharp fee increase for immigration documents that took effect July 30.

The announcement is the latest in a series of measures outlined by the Department of Homeland Security to tighten immigration controls within existing laws and regulations. Two weeks ago, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced plans for tougher enforcement, including fines and stiffer requirements for employers who knowingly hire or retain undocumented foreign workers.

'The change would allow U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to issue more secure permanent resident cards, update cardholder information, conduct background checks and electronically store applicants' fingerprint and photographic information,'' according to the agency's statement.

Tammy Fox-Isicoff, a Miami immigration lawyer, said the proposed rule seems to be aimed at uncovering status violators among the remaining permanent residents with unexpired green cards.

''It's my impression that some of these people have criminal convictions,'' she said.

In 1996, Congress required foreign nationals, including green-cardholders convicted of aggravated felonies, to be deported even decades after they had been convicted and completed their prison sentences. Aggravated felonies include crimes of violence and others, such as theft, that carry a sentence of a year or more.

There are no figures available on the number of green-cardholders ordered deported since 1996.

Ira Kurzban, an authority on immigration law, said the effort seemed unnecessary because many longtime cardholders with old convictions could convince immigration judges to let them remain in the country.

Kurzban said he thought the effort was aimed more at capitalizing on newly raised fees to generate revenue for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green-card replacement now costs $290 -- up from $190.

There was no estimate available on how many of the cardholders affected live in Florida, but the state ranks third in the country behind California and New York in raw numbers of green-cardholders.

Once the old-style card renewal program is in effect, the agency would give cardholders a 120-day period to apply for the renewable card. The service plans to publish a separate notice in the Federal Register rendering existing old-style green cards invalid.

Green cards are the chief immigration documents issued to foreign permanent residents to live and work in the United States. The card is proof of lawful residence and is required to seek a job, a driver's license or reentry into the United States after visits abroad.

Green-cardholders are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship after five years, or after three years if married to a U.S. citizen -- but naturalization is not mandatory. The green card, which must be carried at all times, is all permanent residents need to remain in the United States until they leave or unless they are convicted of an aggravated felony and become deportable.

Since 1989, the immigration service has required the renewal of green cards every 10 years. Some holders of old cards with no expiration date have obtained the renewable card, generally because they have lost or damaged their old cards. In some cases, passport control officers at airports or border entry points have ordered some old-style cardholders to replace cards. But, in general, pre-1989 cards have remained valid.

The now-defunct U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said in 1989 that it eventually would require renewal of cards issued between 1979 and 1989, but not until a replacement plan was put in place.

Agency officials estimated the number of old-style green cards still in circulation at about 750,000. A similar figure was mentioned in 1989, but at the time, officials said it was possible the actual number might be smaller because many cardholders had become citizens, left the country or died.

There are more than 11 million permanent residents with renewable green cards.

BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/212151.html

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