Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

On October 29, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which contains provisions that may benefit aliens in the US who are under petition, but their "qualifying relative" has died. This new law allows people who are under petition (and their spouses and children where applicable) to continue to be eligible for adjustment of status, where the petitioner has died, or even in some cases where the principal beneficiary has died.

In the past, if a person was under petition and the petitioner died, the petition was also considered "dead," unless the person applied for and was granted "humanitarian revalidation." However, it was extremely difficult for people to qualify for humanitarian revalidation. In addition, under the previous law, if the principal beneficiary died, then their surviving family members would not even have the opportunity to apply for humanitarian revalidation.

This new law provides a much easier alternative to obtain a green card. The basic requirements are:

The alien must have been residing in the US at the time of the death of the "qualifying relative," (petitioner or principal beneficiary) and the alien must continue to reside in the US Therefore, if the person is outside the US, this new law does not apply to them.

The USCIS should adjudicate (or process) the person’s petition and/or adjustment application unless approval of their adjustment of status "would not be in the public interest." (However, since almost all Filipinos are hardworking, honest, and law abiding, I cannot imagine where granting them a green card would somehow not be in the public interest).

The aliens who benefit from this new law include:

Persons with pending or approved petitions as "immediate relatives" (spouse, parent, or child under 21 years of age of a US citizen). Note that this law includes not only approved petitions, but also covers situations where the petition is still "pending." Under the old law, one of the requirements was that the petition had to already have been "approved."

Persons with pending or approved petitions (including their spouse and/or child where applicable), in the following family-based categories:

• F-1 (single adult child of US citizen);
• F-2A (spouse and minor unmarried child of a green card holder);
• F-2B (single adult child of green card holder);
• F-3 (married child of US citizen); and
• F-4 (brothers and sisters of US citizens).

Derivative beneficiaries (spouse and/or child) of a pending or approved employment based petition. Therefore, if your spouse was under petition by an employer, but your spouse died, you and your children may still be eligible to pursue your own green cards, even though the "worker" has died.