Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing practical implications of Immigration Policy changes under this sort of new "regime" - I'm going to call it a new "regime" under immigration - It is just an all-encompassing word; I don't have any double meaning for that. It's just a word to use.

So I've done a number of videos recently. There has been this "pause" of visa processing under Trump as they are scrutinizing matters pertaining to the Public Charge Rule. The Public Charge Rule pertains to Affidavits of Support and proving up whether or not someone can meet the threshold of financial requirements in order to sponsor an immigrant to the United States. The primary reason to meet the threshold is to prove that whoever is brought into the United States is not going to go on means tested benefits i.e. welfare aid to families with dependent children, SNAP etc. once they get into the US. And look, I understand the Administration's concern with folks that come in and would otherwise utilize benefits that really should be reserved for folks that are already in the United States; it makes some degree of sense. That being said, the practical implications of some of these changes are having pretty broad implications. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from CNN, that's addition.cnn.com, the article is titled: How Trump is intensifying his crackdown on every form of Immigration to the US. Quoting directly: "President Donald Trump's latest Immigration crackdown prompted by the shooting of two National Guard members, means he has now halted or significantly tightened every legal and illegal form of foreign entry into the US, prompting widespread fear and confusion among immigrants who are unsure what will happen to their pending cases. Trump's mass deportation campaign has garnered attention for its heavy-handed arrest tactics of undocumented immigrants nationwide, but the Administration's steady drum beat of incremental changes to the US Immigration System has also been disruptive, gumming up an already arduous process for millions of people." 

Yeah look, I've made my views on this noted in other videos I have made both contemporaneously with this one and earlier. Look, I completely see where the Administration is coming from with regard to illegal immigrants, I really do. But with regard to folks that are trying to go through the process legally, I mean I just don't understand why it is being made such a hassle basically. I mean so many roadblocks and things are being sort of thrown up within the administrative system of US Immigration that it's concerning, and frankly it's discouraging. I think we should on at least some level be encouraging legal immigration to the United States for a variety of different reasons; not illegal, legal, people that come in legally. 

This brings up the question of what are the practical implications right now of Mr. Trump's policies with regard to the Fiancé(e) Visa cases under the K-1 category, the Immigrant Spouse visa categories under IR-1 and CR-1 and the K-3? Well as a practical matter as of right now, what we are seeing is there is a pause on issuance of visas. Processing can commence and you can process cases through the process, but at the end of the process when you get to interview, it's sort of as if every case is now going to be given what we call a 221g refusal and oftentimes, I mean you could liken this to saying everything is falling into what we used to call "administrative processing" which was sort of the black hole of immigration; it just sort of sat in a file in a given Embassy while they just decided what to do with the case. I have dealt with those cases before; I discussed it at length. It's not the greatest thing but it is what it is. In any event, the point I'm trying to make with this video is, it is still possible to file cases for a loved one from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar or Cambodia for that matter, but as of right now, they are not processing out visas; that's the practical implication. We are being told this is a temporary pause. I have contacts within various aspects or various parts of the immigration system; I am told this is temporary. That being said, we don't know exactly when this is going to end so we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.