Dr. Puneet Bhalla became a U.S. citizen in 2012, almost 15 years after he moved to the U.S. from India.
But he misses his only sibling, Dr. Tarun Bhalla, 45, who remains in India with their father. So last week, Puneet Bhalla, an oncologist, completed the paperwork to apply for a green card for his brother to join him in the United States.
“I would like some family here,” said Bhalla, 41.
There is a growing consensus in Congress. even among lawmakers who support immigration reform, that family-based visas should be reined in to make room for more employment-based visas that serve the nation’s economic needs.
The proposed changes have angered immigrant-advocacy groups, especially those representing Asian-Americans. They rely heavily on family-based visas to bring relatives to the U.S. and say the change would hurt immigrant families who often rely on siblings to care for relatives and start businesses.
The bipartisan immigration-reform bill passed by the Senate in June calls for eliminating family-based visas for adult siblings of U.S. citizens.
Combined, those visas accounted for 16.2 percent of the total 482,300 family-based green cards issued to immigrants in 2012.
Puneet Bhalla came to the U.S. in January 1998 on a non-immigrant exchange visitor visa to complete his medical residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan.
Eventually, an employer sponsored him for a green card, and last year, Bhalla, who has a wife and two daughters, became a U.S. citizen.
Bhalla lives in Paradise Valley.
He sees his brother, a doctor and businessman, twice a year.
“He sees the overall better quality of life, the respect for the laws and the civic life and the opportunities,” Bhalla said.
Bhalla said it would also be nice to have his brother living nearby.
“When one comes to this country, we don’t have a support system,” Bhalla said. “We leave our support system behind.”
Because Bhalla is applying now, his brother will be eligible for sibling sponsorship. Still, it could take 12 years for Bhalla’s brother to receive a visa, said his lawyer, Elizabeth Chatham.
As of Nov. 1, 2012, there were 2.5 million people waiting for green cards to come to the U.S. through the sibling category. Of those, the largest number were from Mexico, with 746,137 people waiting for sibling visas.
The next six countries with the highest number of people waiting for sibling visas are all in Asia: India, 230,799; Philippines, 188,521; Vietnam, 174,841; China, 171,057; Bangladesh, 150,747; and Pakistan, 91,286.
Combined, those six Asian countries account for 1,007,251, or about 40 percent of the 2.5 million people waiting for sibling visas, which highlights one of the reasons why Asian-Americans don’t want to see access to certain family-based visas curtailed.
Immigrants who have been waiting in line for family-based visas would be grandfathered under the comprehensive bill passed by the Senate and pending in the House.
But eliminating the sibling category and capping the number of married children of U.S. citizens who can get visas would heavily hinder Asian-Americans’ ability to sponsor relatives through the family-based system in the future.
“Asian-Americans actually use the family immigration system at a very high rate,” said Etcubanez of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, noting that 86 percent of the visas issued to immigrants from Asian countries came from family-based categories.
Some view the change as an effort to stem the nation’s fast-growing Asian population.
“There is a feeling they are throwing Asians under the bus,” said Donna Cheung, co-leader of the Asian chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
Eliminating visas for siblings of U.S. citizens would mean that, in the future, family-based visas would be limited only to parents, spouses, and children.
McCain noted that the Senate bill increases employment-based immigration aimed at driving the economy by helping to meet the needs of businesses by “dramatically broadening” visas for high-skill workers and workers with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.
“We wanted to hold as many visas as possible for skill-based, education-based categories, and there would be a bit of a shift,” Flake told The Arizona Republic.
“I think that’s unfair,” he said. “Over the years, one develops a network of friends and acquaintances that one can rely upon.
“However, in times of distress or need, eventually one does rely on their own immediate family members, which would be their wife and children and siblings.”
Dr. Puneet Bhalla, a Paradise Valley oncologist and an immigrant from India, became a U.S. citizen last year. Here, he holds a photo of his brother, Dr. Tarun Bhalla, who still lives in India.
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