A blog about U.S. immigration matters by Paul Szeto, a former INS attorney and an experienced immigration lawyer. We serve clients in all U.S. states and overseas countries. (All information is not legal advice and is subject to change without prior notice.)

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Another version of the Dream Act introduced

On 11/30/2010, majority Leader Reid (D-NV) introduced a new version of the DREAM Act (S. 3992). The earliest that the bill can be voted on is next Monday. The bill was written to address the concerns of some Republicans and included more restrictions. The new bill

- Excludes those who have criminal convictions for offenses that are punishable by a maximum term of more than 1 year (felony) or those who have 3 or more misdemeanor convictions
- Requires payment of all taxes
- Requires applicants to undergo background checks and provide their biometric data to the DHS
- Requires applicants to undergo medical examination
- Requires applicants to register for military selective service
- Sets the age of entry at 16
- Requires five years of residence
- Lowers the cut-off age of applicants to 30
- Offers "safe harbor" protection to applicants from deportation only if they are facially eligible
- Requires applicants to show good moral character requirement from the date of entry to the United States
- Makes applicants ineligible if they are admissible under the health-related, public charge, smuggling, draft dodging, or unlawful voting grounds
- Makes applicants ineligible if they are deportable under the public charge, unlawful voting, or marriage fraud grounds
- Excludes those who persecuted others
- Eliminates repeal of the in-state tuition ban
- Grants conditional nonimmigrant status for 10 years initially, and then 3 years of LPR status before the applicant may apply for naturalization

4 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

In Texas, there's a law, SB1528, that allows immigrant students to attend a university/college and pay in state tuition if they have graduated from a Texan high school or earn a GED and have reside in Texas for at least 5 years prior to graduation. I'm currently paying in state tuition. If the Dream Act passes, would I pay out of state tuition or in state tuition?

Unknown said...

As far as higher education assistance goes, this version of the Dream Act limits college tuition assistance to work-study programs, loans, and certain service programs only. Here is a link to the proposal.
https://filemanager.capwiz.com/filemanager/file-mgr/aila2/S._3992.pdf

cmps said...

So if the applicant have been denied before based on a marriage that they thought it was not real and the applicant meet all the requirements will they reject his dream act application.?