Death March ends with resurrection
IT was 10 days after Easter of 1999. Rose just arrived from work as an assistant principal at a Quezon City private school. The two-hour trip from Teacher’s Village to Cubao and then transfer to a jeepney bound for Tanay, Rizal, was a daily ritual.
She was the only daughter left in the Philippines.
Rose’s father had emigrated to the US in 1992 after then US President George W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990, wherein a provision allows Filipino veterans who served with the US forces during World War 2 to apply for citizenship.
The long road toward this immigration benefit parallels the 65mile Death March of about 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers from Mariveles, Bataan, to Camp O-Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.
Several bills were filed and died in the halls of the US Congress.
The Immigration Act of 1990 was the final resurrection of the bill involving Filipino veterans who served with the US Armed Forces during World War 2.
Rose’s father, Reynaldo, was sworn in as a US citizen at the US Embassy in Manila and migrated to Stockton, California, in 1998, where Tina — Rose’s sister — resided with her family. Unlike Rose, Tina was able to migrate to the US as a registered nurse under the third employment-based category.
Reynaldo immediately filed a petition for Rose as a married daughter of a US citizen on Oct. 15, 1998.
That day in April when Rose came home from work, her husband Benjamin enthusiastically greeted her, waving a letter — a notice of approval of her petition. It was sent by Tina. The approval notice indicated that Rose’s petition had been forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC) for archiving and a schedule for interview when the applicant’s priority date becomes current.
Rose’s F3 priority date was Oct. 15, 1998.
In April 1999, the monthly
Visa Bulletin of the State Department showed that interviews may be scheduled for F3 petitions of Filipino petitioners filed on or earlier than May 15, 1987.
Somehow, an 11-year wait did not seem that long. Reynaldo would visit Rose, Benjamin and their children once every two years, usually during Christmas.
Two months before Christmas of 2010, Rose’s father passed away.
Unaware that the death of the petitioner automatically results in the revocation of an approved petition, Rose simply waited for information from Tina since she was the one who received the correspondence from NVC.
In November 2019, Rose received a letter from NVC with a case number of invoice ID with instructions to prepare for her interview at the US embassy in Manila. On that month, the F3 priority date for Filipinos was June 22, 1995 — another three years before an interview schedule arrived.
After consulting with an immigrant advocacy firm, Rose realized that the death of her father in 2019 effectively terminated her petition.
Instead of paying for the immigrant visa fees and exerting efforts to get the civil documents and clearance submitted to NVC before an interview could be scheduled, Rose submitted her father’s death certificate, requesting that her petition be returned to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
After all, NVC will not and cannot decide on the revalidation of Rose’s petition. Only the agency that approved the petition has the power to revoke it. That would be the USCIS.
Rose completed her request in December 2019, followed by a regular six-month request for the status of her request to have her petition returned to the approving agency.
On April 22, 2021, that notice came informing Rose that her petition had been returned to and acknowledged by the USCIS.
At least a glimmer of hope — and a new breath of life to be reunited with Tina in the US.
This much-needed expectation of resurrection, however, hangs on life-support due to two presidential proclamations issued by thenPresident Donald Trump in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The State Department issued a memorandum to all consular posts to suspend visa processing and resume visa operations as the local conditions permit.
On April 22, 2020, then-President Trump issued a proclamation suspending the entry of immigrants. On June 22, 2020, the ban was extended to include other immigrants who posed a threat to the US labor market.
Legal immigrants like Rose under the family and employmentbased categories are allowed to work. The entry of immigrants with work authorization is seen as a threat to US workers who have been laid off due to the pandemic.
Despite these odds, Rose submitted her request that her petition be reinstated for humanitarian considerations because she meets the essential requirements:
1. The petition was approved before the petitioner passed away.
2. Benjamin (the petitioner-father) was a US citizen, never abandoned that status, and maintained a domicile in the US prior to his death.
3. She has a sister (Tina) who could take over the financial obligation of an immigrant as a substitute sponsor.
On April 22, 2021, the USCIS informed Rose that her case had been received from NVC, that it was being reviewed, and that “the beneficiary/petitioner/relative will be notified when the review is done.”
The expectation of resurrection remains.
On July 18, 2023, Rose received another letter from the USCIS that a decision on her request for reinstatement could come in October of that year.
Five stressful months passed without a reply in Rose’s inbox or notice from Tina.
On Jan. 9, 2024, the agony of waiting ended.
Rose read the USCIS notice of decision slowly, taking in each word to absorb each phrase and sentence to the end:
“This petition was returned to this office for automatic revocation because the petitioner is deceased.” What will the next sentence reveal? “However, upon review of the
evidence of record, it has been determined that the petition’s approval be reinstated based on humanitarian grounds pursuant to 8 CFR 205.1(A)(3)(I)(C)(2).”
The provision referred to is Title 8 Code of Federal Regulations, and the specific provision explains that the death of the petitioner (Benjamin) results in automatic revocation of Rose’s petition unless —
“US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) determines, as a matter of discretion exercised for humanitarian reasons in light of the facts of a particular case, that it is inappropriate to revoke the approval of the petition. USCIS may make this determination only if the principal beneficiary of the visa petition asks for reinstatement of the approval of the petition and establishes that a person related to the principal beneficiary in one of the ways described in section 213A(f)(5)(B) of the Act is willing and able to file an affidavit of support under 8 CFR part 213a as a substitute sponsor.”
The last sentence confirmed the resurrection Rose had been waiting for.
“Accordingly, the approval of the petition has been reaffirmed.”
Rose and Tina look forward to their reunification at Easter this year — the end of March 2024.