Commission on Filipinos Overseas urges Filipinos to follow US green card policy

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) urged Filipinos on Friday to abide by the United States immigration policy and comply with the new green card mandates.

“The best advice that we can give for Filipinos there is to follow the rules of the host country,” CFO Chairperson Dante “Klink” Ang II told reporters in an interview.

“If need be, I think it’s better maybe to return home to the Philippines rather than to get deported,” he added. “Once you are deported then you lose any possibility of returning back to the US.”

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) earlier issued a new policy memo that may require applicants seeking adjustment of status to process their applications through consular processing at a Department of State office in their home country.

USCIS underscored that filing an adjustment of status within the US will be granted only in “extraordinary circumstances.”

“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the US illegally after being denied residency,” USCIS Spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement.

In an interview with GMA News, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez said that up to 200,000 Filipinos may be affected by the new US immigration policy on green card applications.

Despite policy shifts, CFO noted that the US remains the top destination for migration, with about 5 million Filipinos in the diaspora.

“Despite all of these pronouncements from President Trump about clamping down on migration, at least what our data suggests, there doesn’t seem to be an impact on the number of Filipinos migrating to the US,” Mr. Ang said during a panel discussion.

“The US remains the number one destination for Filipinos migrating abroad,” he added. “More specifically, in North America, between the US and Canada, there are many Filipinos.”

Over 49,000 Filipinos in the US became lawful permanent residents or green card holders in fiscal year (FY) 2023, according to the think tank Migration Policy Institute (MPI).

Out of the 1.2 million new green card recipients that year, 4% were attributed to Filipinos who were granted residency through family sponsorship and employment.

In the same year, MPI estimated that about 294,000 or 2% of the 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants in the US were from the Philippines.

“If their intent is to stay abroad permanently or long-term and then they use another pathway, such as an exchange program, then they become vulnerable to all sorts of abuses,” Mr. Ang said.

“If their plan is to stay abroad, then our recommendation for them is to follow the right migration pathway,” he added. — Almira Louise S. Martinez