Feds should OK return during virus crisis

Q AI am a green card holder abroad in India. What if I can’t return to the United States within a year because of the coronavirus crisis? Name withheld, Bangalore, India

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has yet to issue guidance on this. However, the law is clear that if you are abroad for more than a year — through no fault of your own — you can return to the United States. I’m hoping the department will make a blanket rule covering immigrants like you.

Under current practice a person abroad for a continuous year or more must apply for a special immigrant/returning resident visa at a U.S. Consulate. An alternative is to present proof that you are a returning resident to a Customs and Border Patrol officer when applying to enter the United States.

Neither are currently available as consulates are closed and flights are limited. But I am hopeful that you will be able to return.

QI’m under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and have employment authorization. I lost my job because of the coronavirus lockdown. Can I receive unemployment benefits? Additionally, if I can collect unemployment checks, will that affect my DACA status?

Y.B.A. .

ASome states allow DACA recipients to get unemployment benefits, as you have earned those by working. Unemployment benefits have no impact on your DACA status nor will it affect a future green card application. Unemployment insurance is available to foreigners with employment authorization under the same rules that apply to U.S. citizens. The exception is nonimmigrants — like H-1B temporary workers — whose employment authorization is tied to a particular job.

Unemployment benefits are not means-tested benefits. It is a benefit that you get if you are laid off by your employer, but you must have employment authorization and be looking for a new job to get the benefit.

Finally, receiving these benefits does not make you a “public charge.” Under President Trump’s public charge rule, benefits received by DACA holders don’t count against green card applicants.

Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 7th Fl., 4 New York Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick.