Keeping Families Together Program Canceled

A Texas court scheduled its decision on the Keeping Families Together program until after the outcome of the U.S. election. On November 5, Donald Trump, a critic of immigration and advocate for mass deportations, was elected as the next President. On November 7, the Texas Court struck down the Keeping Families Together program ordering U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to stop accepting or processing applications filed by U.S. citizens.

Before the Keeping Families Together program, immigrant spouses who entered without a visa had to leave the U.S. and go to a U.S. embassy in their home country to process their application. It can take up to 7-8 years for a spouse of US citizen to wait for permanent residence approval. (U.S. CIS takes over two years to process petitions and 4 years to process waivers for unlawful presence. U.S. DOS takes 2-3 years to process visa applications and consulate interviews). Adding to the backlog with U.S. CIS, U.S. consulates have not fully staffed for a number of reasons. The previous Trump administration imposed a 16-month hiring freeze in 2017. During the COVID pandemic many consulates closed and embassy employees did not return. Many older workers are retired from the foreign service which imposes mandatory retirement at age 65.

The Keeping Families Together program let US citizens sponsor their immigrant spouses for permanent residence and remain in the United States with their family. The program would take 2-3 years to process the immigrant spouse for permanent residency.

With the Texas court’s cancellation, U.S. citizens will have to return to the slower process of sponsoring their spouse through a U.S. consulate.

(Originally posted at https://www.uscis.gov/)