The Obama administration has proposed a small change in immigration law, which can speed the green card process for undocumented immigrants closely related to American citizens. The change alters how family immigration rules are carried out when an illegal spouse or child applies for permanent U.S. residency.

Obtaining a legal visa or green card has been a harrowing experience for many families who include an undocumented married partner, son or daughter. An undocumented spouse or child often was required to return to their native country for at least a three-year wait to receive a legal visa. The green card process sometimes took much longer than a few years and included no guarantees that a spouse or child would ever be allowed to return to the United States.

Only the granting of an "extreme hardship" waiver could speed the slow-acting process. To receive a waiver, families had to provide proof that a U.S. citizen would suffer unnecessarily without the presence of their undocumented kin.

The former head of the American Immigration Lawyers Association estimates that hundreds of thousands of blended immigrant families will benefit from less rigid waiver and green card rules.

Many immigrant families had given up after realizing that getting a waiver could take as long as securing a green card. Hiding from the law seemed less risky than taking the chance of never seeing a loved one again.

The Obama proposal seeks to shorten the time immigrant families are apart during the legal residency process. The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services will issue provisional hardship waivers to undocumented family members before they leave the country. The green card waiting time will be cut from years to a few weeks.

The Obama administration made several small changes to immigration policy in recent months to avoid putting sweeping reform measures before a contentious Congress. It is expected that no radical immigration reform laws will be introduced during the 2012 presidential election year.

Source: The New York Times, "Easier Route to Green Card to be Proposed for Some," Julia Preston, Jan. 6, 2012