Dear President,
Respected Sir,

SUB: Suggestion for New type of Visa for parents
of US Citizens

During the 110 Congress, an effort has been made to legislate on a Family Visitor Visa for parents of US Citizens vide Sec.506 of bill S 1639, which has not been passed for various reasons, as the bill contained many other immigration issues like illegal immigration etc., besides this.

While the reasons for consideration of such a Visa are still current & valid, I request you and the Honorable members of the Congress to create a separate category of visa for the parents of US Citizens who wish to come to USA as temporary visitors for pleasure. Many of the parents who are seeking ARC (Green card) now, have no inclination to acquire citizenship of this country or undertake any employment here, but still wish to spend time with their children without any limitations as to their stay in USA or in their home country. Also such an exercise of freeing immigrant visas used by these people will open up the immigrant visas to other people in line. The following suggestions may be considered inline with your objective of streamlining of dysfunctional immigration issues. Kindly note, that the provisions in Sec. 506 of proposed bill S1639 are not adequate to meet the changes suggested and do not mitigate the problems faced by this category of persons.

1) A separate category of NIV as B3 besides B1&B2 be created for the purpose of parents of US citizens who are seeking to enter as a temporary visitors for pleasure and should be available for a period of 10 years with multiple entry. Renewal should be automatic if no violations are recorded.
2) The requirement of proof, that the alien has a residence in a foreign country which the alien has no intention of abandoning should be removed for this category of visa.
3) For this category of visa, at the port of entry the period of stay allowed in the arrival departure document (I-94) should invariably be 12 months instead of 6 months as hitherto being allowed.
4) The requirement of documentation as to eligibility for this category of visa, responsibility of sponsor for support of parents, penalties for violation of conditions of visa and overstaying except on health grounds, may be incorporated in the relevant amendment to the Immigration Act.

The hitherto system of granting Green card to these category of persons may be continued, for those who wish to get citizenship through naturalization. The existing Green card holders may be allowed to opt for this category of visa if they choose so.

To sum up, the above amendments suggested do take care of the concerns of people who wish to Naturalize as well as those who are not for it, and face hardship in maintaining the continuous resident requirements because of their age etc., the only limitation being that they cannot stay in USA beyond a period of 12 months at a stretch. Also many of the people in this category, who come on B2 Visa, do apply for extension of their stay of 6 months permitted at the port of entry. So allowing 12 months of stay for this category in the initial stage itself, reduces unnecessary administrative work in filing for extension and processing of the same, thereby saving much manpower. As there are no controversial features in the suggestions made, the passage of these amendments to Immigration Act by the Congress should have no problem.

If desired, the undersigned is willing to offer further clarifications on the suggestions made, or discuss pros and cons of the suggested amendments to the Immigration Act.

With regards,

Yours Sincerely,