Immigration Benefits: Eleventh Report Required by the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998

GAO-04-1030R August 13, 2004
Full Report (PDF, 4 pages)   Accessible Text

Summary

This report responds to certain requirements of the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 1998 that authorized certain Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the act requires the Comptroller General to report every 6 months on the number of Haitian nationals who have applied and been approved to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. The reports are to contain a breakdown of the number of Haitians who applied and the number who were approved as asylum applicants, parolees, children without parents, orphaned children, or abandoned children; or as the eligible dependents of these applicants, including spouses, children, and unmarried sons or daughters. Reports are to be provided until all applications have been finally adjudicated. This is our eleventh report.

Through June 30, 2004, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), had received a total of 38,548 HRIFA applications and had approved 11,917 of these applications. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) had 1,418 applications filed and had approved 454 of them.