CHANGES ARE COMING TO THE FAMILY REUNIFICTION PROGRAMS FOR CUBA AND HAITI: SEE WHAT THEY= ARE
MIAMI, Florida — The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday it will make most of the application for its Cuban and Haitian family-reunification programs virtual, in an attempt to streamline the longstanding parole process, The Miami Herald reported on Thursday, August 10, 2023.
“This modernization of the family reunification parole processes improves our ability to maintain the integrity of our vetting and screening standards, responds to important feedback from stakeholders in both the Cuban and Haitian communities, and ensures meaningful access – consistent with our values – for potential beneficiaries,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement.
The Cuban and Haitian family-reunification programs are an avenue for U.S. citizens or permanent residents to bring family members to the country on parole. But the programs have historically faced policy shifts, case backlogs and external disruptions that have left applicants and their family members waiting for years to be reunited. The agency said Thursday it hopes the changes will make the program “more efficient and accessible.”
\Most of the application will be done through online forms and virtual portals such as a mobile application called CBP One. Only a medical exam and immigration authorities’ parole determination have to be carried out in person. Cubans and Haitians will also no longer have to attend an interview in their home country, making it possible to apply from elsewhere. The changes go into effect Friday, Homeland Security said.
Cindy Woods, National Policy Counsel at Americans for Immigrant Justice, told the Miami Herald that these are “positive changes for these two processes that have not been working.”
“This is allowing more flexibility for folks who might have already left out of fear and insecurity to be able to try and access this process from a different country,” Woods said.
Invitations have not been sent out for either the Cuban or Haitian family reunification programs since 2016, according to the Homeland Security notices from Thursday. The federal government paused in-person interviews for the Cuban reunification program and withdrew most of its embassy staff in 2017, following the unexplained health symptoms they experienced that came to be known as “Havana syndrome.” It also shut down its Havana-based U.S. Citizenship and Services location the next year.
See complete article in The Mami Herald at https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article278126627.html?ac_cid=DM833030&ac_bid=-629312093
