WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 2, 2019) — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday announced its intention to terminate the Haitian Family Reunification Parole program and the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole program.
The Filipino World War II Veterans Parole program was established to help certain Filipino World War II veterans and their spouses who are U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to request parole for certain family members. Until the program was approved in 2016 there were cases of immediate family members waiting decades to be reunited with loved ones.
The program was intended to assist a situation where Filipino soldiers who support the U.S. while the Philippines was a U.S. territory under occupation by Japan in World War II. No rationale was given for ending the program other than a statement from USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli, who described the program as a way “skip the line” of immigration channels and that parole programs would move forward on a case-by-case basis.
The USCIS added that the individuals with approved family-based immigrant petitions under these programs will no longer be authorized to enter and work in the United States while waiting for their green card to become available. The decision ends the expedited processing in a categorical fashion.
While USCIS begins the process to terminate the Haitian Family Reunification Parole and Filipino World War II Veterans Parole programs, the agency said it would continue reviewing the remaining categorical parole programs.
The USCIS said that current parolees will maintain their current period of parole until its expiration, unless it is otherwise terminated. USCIS will also process all pending cases to completion.
Parolees who have not adjusted status or been admitted may request parole under the non-categorical process by filing Form I-131, in accordance with the form instructions, USCIS said. Additional information on applying for non-categorical parole is available on the Humanitarian or Significant Public Benefit Parole for Individuals Outside the United States page.
