April 2007

Where in the world are Carmelita and Krista? Look for us here!

• CLC Commissioners Meeting, Bishop Mason Retreat Center, Flower Mound, TX.
  (April 13, 2007)
• WMU Awakenings Conference, San Angelo, TX (May 19)
• Hispanic Baptist Convention, Austin, TX, (June 24-26)

Upcoming Trainings

What When Where Presented by I-129F Petition for Alien Relative (Free) April 11, 2007 10am - 12pm Center for Community Cooperation 2900 Live Oak St Dallas, TX 75204 USCIS University, Dallas District Office Texas Bar, CLE Immigration Law Institute April 12-13, 2007 City Place Conference Center, Dallas, TX Texas BarCLE 800.204.2222 x1572 TexasBarCLE.com N-600 (Free) May 9, 2007 10am - 12pm Center for Community Cooperation 2900 Live Oak St Dallas, TX 75204 USCIS University, Dallas District Office Immigration Skills Training June 4-5, 2007 Harlingen , TX Catholic Legal Immigration Network Paola Garces 214.634.7182 x223 I-485 Process after EOIR Grant (Free) June 13, 2007 10am - 12pm Center for Community Cooperation 2900 Live Oak St Dallas, TX 75204 USCIS University, Dallas District Office Unlawful Presence and EWI (Free) July 11, 2007 10am - 12pm Center for Community Cooperation 2900 Live Oak St Dallas, TX 75204 USCIS University, Dallas District Office I-601 and I-212 (Free) August 8, 2007 10am - 12pm Center for Community Cooperation 2900 Live Oak St Dallas, TX 75204 USCIS University, Dallas District Office I-130 Priority Date Retention and 245(i) Grandfathering (Free) September 12, 2007 10am - 12pm Center for Community Cooperation 2900 Live Oak St Dallas, TX 75204 USCIS University, Dallas District Office

Check out our updated website!
www.bgct.org/immigration

Complete with information on immigration in the news, new resources and opportunities, and updated contact information for IMCs and IMCs seeking recognition. This is now a great resource for anyone seeking information about immigration or Baptist Immigration Services Network.

What’s the latest from USCIS?
Proposed changes in fees for immigration forms.

It’s true. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the DHS has proposed to increase the fees for immigration forms from an average of $231/form to $454/ form, some form costs increasing by more than $2000.  You have the opportunity until the end of April to share your thoughts about this proposed increase with USCIS in an e-mail to OSComments@dhs.gov. Include “USCIS-2006-0044” in the subject line of the message.

Go to USCIS.gov to learn more. Read pages 4910-4911 to view proposed fees.

Dr. Jesus Romero, Future Immigration Ministry Center, Brownwood, TX

“Recently we helped a middle-aged Hispanic woman bring her elderly mother to live with her. This woman, whose name is Esther (fictional name), has had a tough life. Her husband had his legal residence status taken from him when he was caught smuggling people into the United States. After spending time in jail, he was returned to Mexico, where he now lives. Esther was forced to stay behind and support her five children, as there were no job prospects for her or her husband in Mexico. Esther, being the brave and courageous woman she is, started cleaning houses for wealthy people in our town, Brownwood, Texas, and has been able to support herself and her children for the last five years.

Esther’s mom lives in Guanajuato, Mexico, so Esther had no choice but to petition her mother through consular processing.  This meant that her mother had to complete the process in the American Consulate at Ciudad Juarez, instead of here in the USA.  We dreaded this, since we were told repeatedly in our immigration training sessions that we should avoid consular processing like the plague.  But in this case we had no choice; Esther’s mom was so poor that she would not be able to get a tourist visa to complete the process in the U.S.  So, we did all the paperwork for Esther, and we were very thorough, to make sure we would not give any consular officer a reason to be difficult with Esther or her mom during their interview.  Esther’s income was not enough to sponsor her mom, so one of her brothers-in-law, a deacon at one of our local Baptist churches, very graciously agreed to be a co-sponsor.  God has blessed him so that he was able to fulfill this requirement for her.  Consular processing is very cumbersome, as the requirements are far more stringent.  With God’s help, we were able to get all her forms and supporting documentation ready, and we sent Esther to Ciudad Juarez when her interview date arrived.

Esther’s case was a first for us, and we were more than a little nervous about it. Although we knew we had done everything correctly as far as the paperwork is concerned, consular officers are legendary for being very tough during the interview. She was also very nervous, but we told her that God would be with her, and we prayed with her. We asked for God to make sure that a gracious officer would be in charge of handling the interview, and we sent her to Ciudad Juarez with a blessing. As Esther traveled to the border, we continued to lift her up in prayer, and we couldn’t wait for her to be back in town to call her and see how it all went. We called a day after she arrived back in Brownwood and she was ecstatic!  She had brought her mom home, as the visa was granted, and her mom became a legal resident of the USA.  Esther reported that a courteous and gentle officer had treated both her and her mom like royalty. The interview was relatively short, and the process was completed without any problems whatsoever.  She was grateful, and we were full of joy.  Her experience is not what people normally encounter in consular processing, and most likely it was prayer that made the difference.  A single mother is now reunited with her mother, and the Body of Christ was instrumental in making that happen.  Praise God!