U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY: CHALLENGES

 U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY: CHALLENGES

Introduction
Immigration in the United States has been one of the subjects of legislation since the foundation of the nation. It was in 1790 when the Congress set up the formal process for enabling foreign-born individuals to be the citizens of the United States. It was after one century, when the government responded to the increasing level of the immigration by taking steps to process and reviews all the immigrant admissions to the US (Congressional Budget Office, 2006). Many changes have been effected through the introduction of other policies aimed at facilitating the achievement of the immigration legislations’ objectives.
The immigration policy was set to reflect a number of goals. First, the policy was set to be used to reunite the families who have other members living in the U.S. Secondly, the policy seeks to allow the workers with the specific skills to be able to fill the positions where there are labor shortages in the United States. Thirdly, the policy attempts to host the people facing religious, racial and political persecution in their countries. Finally, the policy seeks to guarantee diversity (Congressional Budget Office, 2006). This paper would discuss the current US Immigration policy and the challenges that face it.
Current US Immigration Policy
 The law dealing with the immigration policy is provided and managed by the Immigration and the Naturalization Act (INA), which provides the yearly limit of the permanent and temporary immigrants into the United States, with some restraints on the family members. The president and the Congress determine to separate the refugees to be allowed into the country. The current immigration policy is based on a number of principles which include the admission of the immigrants with special skills important in building of the U.S. economy, promoting diversity, protection of refugees and finally fostering the reunification of the families (Bush, McLarty, & Alden, 2009).
The Family-Based Immigration
The unification is the current essential principle which governs this policy. This principle allows permitted permanent residents and U.S. citizens to be able to bring some of the members of the family into the U.S.  Each year, at least half a million family-based visas are set aside by the government. 
The immediate relatives have no limits on the visas allocated to them, but the petitioner is required to be of a particular age and also should meet some financial limits. These relatives must:
o	Be spouses of any citizens
o	Be minor kids
o	Be parents of the U.S. citizens, the petitioners are required to be more than 21 years old to petition for the parent
The numbers of the visas which are available for the family preference system are limited annually and the petitioners are required to meet financial and age requirements. The system preferable for the family includes:
o	The petitioners are required to be 21 years and above to petition for the siblings.
o	Unmarried and spouse's children (adult and minor) of lawful permanent residents (LPRs).
The Congress set up complicated system to determine their visas and to balance the number of people arriving in the U.S. based on the family relationships. The employment preference immigrant figures which were unused in the preceding year add to this sum to get the number of the vessels which are allocated through preference system. The law provides a lot the family-based visas, which are allotted by a preference system but they should never be less than 226,000. For one to be allowed into the United States through the family preference system, an LPR sponsor or US citizen, the immigration authority petitions the relative, who must also show the validity of such relationship. Besides, he or she needs to meet the minimum limitations and petitioner should sign the affidavit which states they are financially responsible for them when they are in the U.S.
Employment-Based Immigration
Temporary Visas
The government provides a number of visas for the people with different skills to be admitted temporarily or permanently. A lot of the short-lived workers’ visas are always set for the very skilled employees leaving few visas for the unskilled employees. In addition, many of the impermanent work visas have numerical limits.
Permanent Immigration
Each of this preference is subjected to some numerical limitations. The first category of the permanent immigration is the persons with extraordinary ability in education, science and art. The annual limit is pegged at 40,000. The other category is the members who are holding professional degrees or the persons with extraordinary abilities. The other category is the skilled workers who have training experience. The fourth category is special immigrants, which include the religious leaders or the former U.S. government employees. The last, but not the least category are the investors who are able to invest between $500,000 and $1 mil