Biden Administration Revises Visa Rules as Immigrants Who Empowered American Children are Losing their Visas

The Global Centre Bureau

Technology for the Future

USCIS revises its visa and immigration rules, striking off a Trump era policy of outrightly denying visa or extension to immigrants without giving them a chance to rectify their innocent mistakes.

The immigration agency has also clarified the criteria for expedited processing which could help several individuals and extended the validity period to two years for employment authorisation documents (EADs) for green card applicants.

Improving America’s legal immigration system and elimination of unnecessary barriers are top priority for the immigration agency, under the Biden administration. “We are taking action to eliminate policies that fail to promote access to the legal immigration system, and will continue to make improvements that help individuals navigate the path to citizenship, and that modernize our immigration system,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

This policy change comes in the wake of two siblings who worked hard to donate 10,000 laptops to poor American children and now face the threat of getting their visas cancelled and having to deport from the US.

Adrian and Miriam Martinca could be poster children for the American Dream. They moved to the United States with their family 14 years ago. Miriam completed her bachelor's degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and became the first person in the family to get a college degree. Adrian started a successful computer company and a charity that provides laptops to children and schools. In fact, their charity Technology for the Future donated over 10,000 laptops to children in 2020 alone. Now, the Martinca siblings are losing America as their home on June 21, 2021.

"My brother and I were two weeks late renewing our i94," Miriam explains. "Our i94 expired May 3, during which time we were in the midst of a 'crisis response,' delivering 350 devices for children in time for state testing on May 10. This meant that our own due date was overlooked." Their visas that were valid until 2023 are now canceled. The siblings have set a goal to get 300,000 signatures to challenge America to OPEN Doors back up for them and "uncancel" their visas. This family who has given so much to so many children is asking for help. "The petition is our only hope," says Miriam.

The family immigrated from Slovakia to Canada, with aspirations to make America their home. "Technology was the key to victory in protecting my family's freedom to access opportunities we needed to survive," Adrian says. Soon, he started his own for-purpose tech company A.M.-Technologies to help other families and businesses do the same. "Our parents taught us that victory is only real when it is shared by all people."

In 2016, Adrian founded Technology for the Future as a "philanthropic arm" to his company. It serves as a crisis response system across America for students and organizations that do not have access to technology. Adrian says, "If you have the key, it's up to you to open doors for others." The Martinca family saw a doorway to the world of opportunities through technology. In March 2019, they challenged students to envision their dreams through technology and held an event at the Greensboro Coliseum to celebrate 650 students' dreams and to equip them with a free laptop.

During the pandemic, hundreds of schools across the country requested their help. Adrian and Miriam rallied an effort that donated 10,000 computers to Guilford County children alone, and thousands more across the United States. They sourced computers from all over the world for American children.

They now challenge American families to come together and OPEN Doors by signing and sharing their petition. Go to opendoorschallenge.org.

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Biden Administration Revises Visa Rules as Immigrants Who Empowered American Children are Losing their Visas