S&S - Haitian immigrants' filings for protected status lag projections

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Haitian immigrants' filings for protected status lag projections

By Trenton Daniel and Alfonso Chardy, McClatchy Newspapers

Stars and Stripes online edition, Friday, April 9, 2010

MIAMI — When U.S. officials granted temporary protected status to Haitians in the United States days after the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, they expected as many as 200,000 applications. But nearly three months later, federal officials say 42,942 Haitians have filed for TPS.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"On March 16, more than 500 Haitians, including several children, showed up at the Miami field office of USCIS to be fingerprinted and photographed — part of the processing of their applications for TPS.

TPS shields undocumented immigrants from detention and deportation. In the case of Haitian TPS, the protection from deportation will last 18 months, though the benefit is expected to be renewed as TPS has been renewed repeatedly for Central Americans.

Applicants can also request work permits, which immigration officials say they plan to start issuing soon. Immigration advocates say the work permits are critical because they allow Haitian nationals here to wire remittances to family members back in Haiti whose homes were wrecked in the quake."

"The total cost of a TPS application is $470, which includes $50 for the application itself, $340 for a work permit and $80 for "biometrics," the fingerprinting and photographing process."

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"The main reasons for rejection include not enclosing the correct filing fee, not completing forms, failing to include biographical information and not signing forms."