[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 21, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 65588]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22679]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
[CIS No. 2426-07; DHS Docket No. USCIS-2007-0043]
RIN 1615-ZA61
Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program
AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This Notice announces U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services' Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program. Under this
program, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is offering
beneficiaries of approved family-based immigrant visa petitions an
opportunity to receive a discretionary grant of parole to come to the
United States rather than remain in Cuba to apply for lawful permanent
resident status. The purpose of the program is to expedite family
reunification through safe, legal, and orderly channels of migration to
the United States and to discourage irregular and inherently dangerous
maritime migration.
DATES: This Notice is effective November 21, 2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Manpreet S. Dhanjal, Refugee Officer,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland
Security, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC
20529, Telephone (202) 272-1613.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In furtherance of the U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords, the United
States endeavors to provide a minimum of 20,000 travel documents
annually to aspiring Cuban emigrants. See Joint Communiqu[eacute] on
Migration, U.S.-Cuba (Sept. 9, 1994) (known together with the May 2,
1995 Joint Statement as the U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords (hereinafter
``Migration Accords'')). In so doing, the United States offers a safe,
legal, and orderly means of coming to the United States. To date, the
majority of travel documents issued under the Migration Accords fall
into one of three programs: family-based immigrant visas; refugee
resettlement; and parole under the Special Cuban Migration Program,
also referred to as the Cuban Lottery. For information on the Cuban
Lottery, see http://havana.usinterestsection.gov/diversity_program.html.
Two aspects of the existing array of migration programs limit the
ability of the United States to effectively promote safe, legal, and
orderly migration as an alternative to maritime crossings. First, with
the exception of ``immediate relatives'' (e.g., spouse, unmarried
child) of U.S. citizens (USCs), the number of family-based immigrant
visas that are available in any given year is limited by statute. See
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sections 201(c), 202(a) & 203, 8
U.S.C. 1151(c), 1152(a) & 1153. The statutory caps have resulted in
long waiting periods before family members remaining in Cuba may rejoin
the USCs and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) residing in the United
States who petitioned for them. Second, the United States has not been
permitted to hold a new registration period since 1998 due to
constraints placed on the Cuban Lottery program by the Cuban
Government. This greatly reduces the pool of individuals to whom the
United States may issue travel documents.
For these reasons, this Notice adds the Cuban Family Reunification
Parole (CFRP) Program to the list of migrant programs based on which
the United States issues travel documents under the Migration Accords.
II. The CFRP Program
Under the CFRP Program, USCIS may exercise its discretionary parole
authority to permit eligible Cuban nationals to come to the United
States to rejoin their family members. See INA section 212(d)(5)(A), 8
U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A) (permits parole of an alien into the United States
for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit); see
also 8 CFR 212.5(c) & (d) (discretionary authority for granting
parole). Granting parole to eligible aliens under the CFRP Program
serves the significant public benefit of enabling the United States to
meet its commitments under the Migration Accords as well as reducing
the perceived need for family members left behind in Cuba to make
irregular and inherently dangerous attempts to arrive in the United
States through unsafe maritime crossings, thereby discouraging alien
smuggling as a means to enter the United States. Whether to parole a
particular alien remains, however, a case-by-case, discretionary
determination.
III. Participation in the CFRP Program
USCIS will offer participation in the CFRP Program to Cuban
nationals who reside in Cuba and who are the beneficiaries (including
any accompanying or following to join spouse and children (see INA
section 203(d), 8 U.S.C. 1153(d)) of a properly filed Form I-130,
``Petition for Alien Relative,'' that has been approved, but for which
an immigrant visa is not yet immediately available.
Under the CFRP Program, USCIS or the Department of State's National
Visa Center (NVC) will mail written notice to U.S.-based USC and LPR
petitioners whose Forms I-130 have been approved regarding their
beneficiary's eligibility to participate in the CFRP Program and the
procedures for requesting parole. However, participation in the CFRP is
voluntary. If USCIS exercises its discretion to grant parole, it will
issue the necessary U.S. travel documents to the beneficiary in Cuba.
These travel documents will enable the beneficiary to travel safely to
the United States to rejoin his or her family members.
Participation in the CFRP Program is not available to aliens who
qualify as ``immediate relatives'' under section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) of the
INA, 8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i). The extraordinary benefit of parole is
not needed for these aliens, since they may seek visas for travel to
the United States immediately upon the approval of Form I-130.
Additional information about the CFRP Program will be posted at
http://www.uscis.gov.
Dated: November 15, 2007.
Emilio T. Gonzalez,
Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
[FR Doc. E7-22679 Filed 11-20-07; 8:45 am]
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