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Hi, I’m Kaushik Ranchod, Managing Immigration Attorney of the Ranchod Law Group in Sacramento, California. This video shows some exciting news on how The Biden Presidency immigration policies will affect you.

What kind of policies can you expect from The Biden Presidency?

With this administration, there has been a significant effort to limit immigration. The Biden Presidency will attempt to reverse the damage done to our country because of these immigration policies. Specifically, we’re going to look at the separation of families which has occurred.

Trump heavily attacked H1-B Visas

H-1B Visas in the United States allow U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations for a limited time. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent of work experience. The initial duration of an H-1B Visa is three years and can be extendable to six years. The devastating immigration policies towards H1-B Visa Applications have created tremendous problems in attracting top talent and skilled workers to the United States: America runs on top talent, especially companies like Google, Apple Microsoft. The H1-B Visas for skilled workers seeking employment-based Green Cards play an essential role in meeting the incredible demand and need, for example, for software engineers in the United States.

If you’re coming to the United States through employment, you will enter the U.S. following the H1-B Visa path. The H1-B Visa has an initial three-year duration. Applicants may extend H1-B Visas for another six years; after this period, you must get sponsorship to file for a Green Card. The PERM labor certification process follows. PERM is for employers seeking permanent green card status for an employee to assure the U.S. Department of Labor that no equally qualified United States worker is ready and available for the foreign worker’s position. At The Ranchod Law Group, we have applications for a Green Card dating back ten years because of the priority dates!

J-1 Visas

In recent times, this administration has issued an executive order to limit J-1 Visas and student visas by denying their program extension. The Biden Presidency will most likely reverse these policies, especially with the executive orders. Immigration policies by order of the President, which Congress has not approved, can be changed swiftly. That’s what we can expect from The Biden Presidency; President-Elect Biden has indicated a will to do so.

How Long will all this take?

When Trump became President, it wasn’t necessarily immediate before these policies came into effect, and it did take some time for Trump to implement his policies. Reversing Trump’s executive orders will be different because this will be a reversal and not creating immigration policies. Therefore, I believe the procedure to switch things back will be much faster. Immigration policies changed after six months with Trump.

The Biden Presidency will reverse specific immigration policies primarily implemented via executive orders. The new administration will act quickly, and we’re hoping for change to occur immediately, or at least if not directly, as fast as possible.

Specific Immigration Policies we can expect: asylum

Diving into some specific immigration policies, I expect The Biden Presidency to enforce, for example, asylum. In this area, the United States has a history of helping asylum seekers, including help for life-threatened people because of their political views. People have sought political asylum also for being a member of a particular group or race. One of the things done under this republican administration is metering: they limited the number of people who can get asylum.

Green Cards and Immigration Policies

The Biden Presidency will eliminate those Green Card backlogs and speed up the employment-based immigration process significantly. Additionally, if you were going to go through this process through marriage, it still takes a significant amount of time. You have to apply for the marriage-based green card, taking over a year to be processed.

If you have been married for less than two years, you have a conditional green card, and then you still have to apply for citizenship. Even if you came in through a marriage, that whole process could take around five years if you’re doing everything as fast as you can. Keep in mind how processing times depend upon the government as well.

DACA Immigration Policies

Another exciting aspect is the renewed prospect of becoming U.S. citizens for DACA holders. The path to obtain U.S. citizenship is a very long one. It will be fantastic to see this path for citizenship for DACA holders’. DACA allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a two-year renewable period of deferred action from deportation. They become eligible for a U.S. work permit. There has been uncertainty related to DACA immigration policies. Under Trump, they were trying to take DACA away and went all the way to the Supreme Court, which rejected the claim to get rid of DACA. However, DACA will provide a path to citizenship under The Biden Presidency. This change in strategy and immigration policies is going to be a considerable one with a significant impact.

Undocumented immigrants roadmap for citizenship
There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States without Green Cards. Another fantastic immigration policy that Biden wants to implement is a roadmap for citizenship. The Obama administration attempted this for these immigrants through the DAPA executive order, which unfortunately did not pass. With Biden, we could see something similar to DAPA. As an experienced immigration attorney with over a decade of immigration law experience and dealing with Green Cards, I do not believe there will be legislation covering all the undocumented immigrants. It will most likely be something similar to DAPA, but focusing on addressing the needs of a certain number of people seeking paths to U.S. citizenship. We’ll see how events unfold.

Public charge rule

The current Presidency expanded the public charge rule, resulting in one of the most harmful changes to U.S. Immigration policies. For instance, people use the I-864 affidavit of support when applying for a Green Card for a family member, a spouse, or a parent. This application is required to demonstrate that your income is 125% above the poverty guidelines. If you could prove that the beneficiary would not take public benefits, you could prove that you met the median public charge guidelines.

Of course, you’d have to produce documentation to that effect, such as tax returns, double duty’s employment letter. They introduced a new Form I-944 (Declaration of Self-Sufficiency) for adjustment of status applications. This change hurt families because it was a way to make applying extremely difficult. This rule makes it more difficult for the beneficiary to immigrate by creating unnecessary hurdles.

For instance, consider having to provide a credit report. How do you get a credit report if you don’t have a social security number?
Another example is showing that you will get health insurance – how do you demonstrate having it if you can’t afford it?

These are some issues that The Biden Presidency will hopefully resolve immediately. This public charge expansion will also end through the Biden Presidency. Please note that this Declaration of Self-Sufficiency is still in effect at the time of this video.

So what I want to allude to here is that this will reasonably be taken away by the new administration. However, it may take some time. We do not know if this will be immediate; it could take six months, maybe longer.

The Muslim Ban

Once Biden becomes President, there will also be a lift on the Muslim ban. This ban was against many Muslim countries. There are many physicians from Muslim countries, and this ban created family separation. I expect this ban to end with The Biden Presidency based on statements during the election campaign.

Summary

So to sum it up, there are two significant changes that I see:

1. Our employment-based immigration policies will not face the detrimental harm they have faced, especially with leading researchers. We attract the best and the brightest, and that’s what has made us innovate in technology. We had not seen the full effect of the harm that would have been created by the policies of restrictionism. Now, that is going to be reversed by The Biden Presidency.
2. There will be family reunification. Starting on day one, the Biden administration will prevent from being put in cages. The Biden Presidency will reinstate American values of family reunification.

While the recent political climate can be challenging, I look to the silver linings and focus on maintaining habits that keep me healthy, both mentally and physically. I practice daily gratitude, and it reminds me that there is so much to be grateful for! Most mornings, I wake up and make a mental note of a few of the things I appreciate. I also write down what I’m thankful for because journaling helps me process my thoughts more thoroughly.

Another habit that has a big influence on the way I feel is engaging in consistent exercise.

Health and fitness are the foundations of everything, so I make them a priority

I’m taking a yoga class called radiant yoga, which isn’t as hot as Bikram but still gets my blood flowing, and I also do a power flow. It’s tough! I usually attend these classes on the weekends. During the week, I do a workout similar to CrossFit. It features circuit training with rounds of lifting, pushups, burpees, and other exercises. It definitely makes me sweat!

Finding my exercise routine has been a journey in and of itself. Last year, I started a challenge where I aimed to lose 20 pounds in six weeks. I was making great progress with it, but during the fifth week, I broke my foot. It took me three months to recover from the injury. As I started getting back into my exercise routine once my foot was healed, I was reminded how hard it is to get your momentum back after months away. It’s been tough, but I know how much better I feel when I make time for exercise.

I’m aiming to do some type of physical activity six days a week, and so far, it’s going well!

Being outdoors is also a big source of joy in my life, and I often combine that desire with fitness. I love hiking, and in addition to doing a lot of that this year, I’m giving skiing a try! I bought a pair of skis, and we’re making some trips to Tahoe to hit the slopes. I took lessons a couple years ago on the bunny hill, and I’m ready to get back out there!

True to his name, Happy has been bringing much mirth to our lives. He’s becoming more well-behaved thanks to the assistance of a trainer who comes to our home to see how we can best support his growth and learning. The trainer observes his habits and shows us how we can effectively encourage him. As we get to know Happy, he’s getting to know us, and we keep in mind that raising a rescue pet comes with additional effort. But we are more than willing to put in the time for him.

Even with the best habits, I know it can be challenging to see the bright side sometimes. Every day, I work with families who face obstacles as the administration makes it more difficult for them to get through the immigration process by issuing more requests for evidence. Despite these barriers, we are still getting our clients’ cases approved, and at the end of the day, we hold our heads up high, knowing we work hard to find resolutions for them. We’re still getting good results for our clients, despite the challenges we face. Because our team knows that we are overwhelmingly successful, it builds confidence.

You can read about some of the triumphant outcomes we’ve obtained for our clients inside the newsletter. I hope it reminds you that even when the situation seems impossible, there is always hope.

Birthdays, Hikes, and Speeches

A few weekends ago, our family made a trip out to Ice House Reservoir, a beautiful state park on the way to Tahoe. If you are looking for a weekend in the woods but don’t want to go all the way to Tahoe, this is a great area to go to. We hiked all around and saw some amazing views. It’s a great time of year, isn’t it? The trees start to change colors, the weather gets a little cooler, the kids head back to school, and we get closer to the holidays. I always enjoy the start of fall.

Of course, I might be a bit biased, because September is my birthday month. This year, I’m turning 45, and my sister is joining us for the celebration. We’ll all be heading to Tahoe to spend some quality time together, hiking and enjoying the great outdoors. I couldn’t ask for anything more, and I’m excited to turn 45! Life gets better and better with each year. I have an amazing family, I love what I do, and I get to work with amazing people every day. I feel so blessed, especially with the newest addition to our family – a half Maltese, half poodle pup named Happy. We named him that because he’s so happy! He loves getting his belly rubbed. We adopted him from a shelter, and we’ve been really enjoying the joy he brings to our home.

Fall also means back to school season, and while it’s a little challenging to get back into the routine, (especially returning to early bedtimes) we all adjust to the schedule — including parents! It’s great to see young learners come home with new assignments and build upon their skills from last year.

In my school days, my favorite subject was speech and debate. I know public speaking is a big fear for a lot of people, but I’ve always enjoyed it. We got to travel for different competitions, and I learned how to become a good speaker. That early experience has helped me so much in my career. It was great to have the opportunity to get better at it, because speaking and communicating well are some of the most important skills to have.

I remember one of the topics I chose to speak on was why people should be vegetarian. I’d read a couple books at the time, including “Diet for a New America,” and they made me a hardcore vegetarian. I put together a whole speech on the topic. Unfortunately, my audience wasn’t as excited about it as I was — I think there were too many meat lovers in the crowd!

These days, I’ve switched back to eating chicken and fish because I felt like I needed more protein. Still, I remember debating passionately about that topic. It’s pretty interesting to see how what we learn can change the way we think and behave.

I hope you and your family have a great fall season! To all the learners out there, keep it up! And if you get the chance, I recommend a stop to the Ice House area to get outside and enjoy this season.