As far back as he could remember, Doogie wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Upon his graduation from college his family immigrated to the United States. However, instead of pursuing his medical studies, he immediately began working as a cashier at a restaurant and eventually was promoted to manager. As the years passed, his dream of becoming a doctor got dimmer and dimmer. In 2007, Carlos became one of the early casualties of the economic meltdown and lost his job. As they say, adversity can be turned into opportunity. Since the labor market looked bleak, Carlos decided to return to the Philippines to study medicine. While there, he met and married a fellow medical student. In a year’s time, Carlos will graduate and he plans to return to the United States with his wife. He is planning to file the immigrant petition for his wife now. However, he is worried that his wife’s immigrant visa application will not be approved because he has been living in the Philippines and has been unemployed for many years.

USCIS has published a very important proposed change in processing petitions for certain alien relatives called “Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives.” How does this proposed change affect you?