Letter from SEARAC to Community Leaders on Public Interest Parolees

January 24, 2003

Dear Community Leader:

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has finally adopted guidelines to adjust the status of 5,000 "Public Interest Parolees" (PIPs) to legal permanent residents. SEARAC urges you to help us to inform any Southeast Asians who entered the United States as PIPs before October 1, 1997 about their eligibility to adjust their status and obtain a green card. We have attached a press release and fact sheet from the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium for you to distribute.

On December 26, 2002, the INS published the final regulation which implements the law allowing PIPs to adjust their status. The application period begins on January 27, 2003, and ends on January 25, 2006.

An applicant must demonstrate that he or she:

• Is a citizen or native of Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam living in the U.S.;
• Was inspected and paroled into the United States before October 1, 1997;
• Was physically present in the United States prior to and on October 1, 1997;
• Was paroled into the United States from: Vietnam (under the auspices of the Orderly Departure Program); a refugee camp in East Asia; or a displaced persons camp administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand; and
• Is otherwise eligible to receive an immigrant visa and otherwise admissible to the United States for permanent residence, with some exceptions to the usual grounds for inadmissibility.

SEARAC hopes you will work with us to let all who are eligible know that they will be able to adjust their status to become legal permanent residents. If you have any questions, please contact TC Duong at SEARAC at 202-667-4690 or email him at tcduong@searac.org.