Jake McGoldrick: Spotlight on Immigration Law Changes

In March, our Richmond Town Hall Meeting covered very important changes in immigration law that may affect many San Francisco residents.

On March 13, President George Bush signed the Family Sponsor Immigration Act (FSIA) into law. The FSIA alters the way that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will process family petitions. Before the FSIA, family petitions were not complete until a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident sponsor signed an affidavit of financial support. Until the original sponsor signed the affidavit, the family member who received the immigrant visa could not receive his or her green card.

If the original sponsor could not sign the affidavit of support because of incapacity or death, the family petition would be terminated and the beneficiary would have to find an alternative eligible sponsor and go through the entire immigrant visa and green card application procedure again, a process that can take years to complete. With the passage of the FSIA, this arduous process can be eliminated. The FSIA allows another family member to replace the original sponsor and sign the affidavit as long as they qualify to be a financial sponsor.

The new act does not increase the number of immigrant visas available.

In addition, a new non-immigrant "V" visa may now assist in family reunification. This non-immigrant visa allows spouses and unmarried children, under 21 years of age, of lawful permanent residents to enter or stay in the U.S. and work lawfully while their immigrant visa petition is pending. The purpose of the visa is to allow immediate relatives to reunite with their lawful permanent resident family member while the INS processes immigration petitions because the processing time can require many years to complete.

To be eligible for the "V" visa, you must meet certain criteria: a) your spouse or your parent (you must be unmarried and under 21) must be a lawful permanent resident; b) your immigrant visa petition (Form I-130) must have been filed with the INS on or before December 21, 2000; and c) you must have been waiting 3 years or more from the date of filing the petition without having received an answer.

The new Equal Access Ordinance recently passed by the SF Board of Supervisors was also discussed at the Town Hall Meeting. This ordinance requires city departments to provide service to populations that speak languages other than English. If a specific ethnic population is large enough in San Francisco, or in the district where a service is being provided, then a city department must provide services in the language of that population. This requires that public service personnel be able to speak both the languages in question and also that key documents be translated into those languages.

For more information on these issues, contact API Legal Outreach (formerly Nihonmachi Legal Outreach) at (415) 567-6255, Jewish Family & Children's Services at (415) 449-1200, or the Immigrants Rights Commission at (415) 554-4789.

City Budget Process Begins EarlyDuring the next few weeks, the Board of Supervisors will begin this year's reformed budget process in earnest. For the first time in many years, the board will begin to open up the process early so that city residents will have an opportunity to participate in setting priorities on how we spend your money. The new process is designed to allow as much public input into the process as possible. The board began this new process when it passed my legislation to require the mayor to submit a budget on April 1, rather than May 15.

The board has also been engaged since February in detailed looks at a select number of departmental budgets, reviewing them with an eye toward department performance in meeting their missions. My office also initiated this reform to the budget process.

With the downturn in the local economy, this year's budget process promises to be a challenging one with difficult choices. It also promises opportunities to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of various city departments. For that reason, the legislative analyst's office has been engaged in reviewing all past audits of departments for recommendations for efficiencies and savings that have not been implemented.

There also will be reviews of city department budgets in the districts during Town Hall Meetings. The District 1 meeting on the budget will be held April 20, from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m., at the Richmond Recreation Center (18th Avenue between Clement and California streets). The meeting for May will also focus on the budget. At the May meeting, we will have much more detailed information about revenues and the size of necessary budget cuts.

Jack McGoldrick is a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1.