“Sponsor or death, we will win”, “Give the Cuban a sponsor”, “Mother is anyone, there is only one sponsor”. The first thing that unleashed the United States announcement to offer Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians, as well as Venezuelans, a total of 30,000 “humanitarian permits” a month, was an avalanche of memes on social networks.
Second, a torrent of advertisements asking for “a sponsor” to guarantee financial support during the two years of stay covered by the permit (or parole), the main requirement to carry out the procedure. “I’m looking for a sponsor. I don’t bother or interfere with anyone’s peace of mind, I sleep under a rock and work on whatever,” Yasdiel Brooks explains.
In the page revolico, between exclamations “Urgent sponsor sought” is read, to some users who also ask for 5,000 dollars “for these two young people abandoned by God in a more than unknown land (Cuba)” and clarify that “they return the money as soon as they work.” Another, Reynold’s Sindy, explains that she wants a sponsor to emigrate to the US, and lists, along with a photo in a bikini: “I am single, without children, I speak English and Italian, and I am a model, singer and dancer.”
Beyond the announcements – some more serious than others – it is a fact that since Saturday, just 24 hours after the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) began receiving applications, already the first permits for the process had been granted.
“Meeting the conditions is not easy, because you must not only have an amount of annual salary, but credit history, debts and others are also taken into account”
A case echoed by the local media was that of indira soliswho had spent seven years in a family reunification process to take his son from Cuba to the United States and to whom the Form I-134Athat is, the request “to become a support person” to whom you are going to sponsor.
In Florida, sponsorship fever has broken out, especially among newcomers. “Many, many, we left people behind that at some point we thought we could claim,” Yaniel, who arrived in Miami six months ago for the via nicaraguairregularly, and that he was about to close the deal with a coyote to bring his wife the same way when the news broke new parole.
Faced with the threat that the woman would be deported and therefore ineligible for this permit, Yaniel found, in a matter of days, a cousin who agreed to sponsor her and their son. Yaniel, as a newcomer and without papers, remembers that he cannot do it himself.
However, not everyone accesses it so easily. “Meeting the conditions is not easy, because you must not only have an amount of annual salary, but your credit history, debts and others are also taken into account,” says Yakelin, who intends to request this permit for her mother, who had been with her for years. waiting for family reunification. “Many Cubans at my job say they are single mothers, do not declare the earnings from other jobs they have in parallel or decrease their income on paper to receive aid and food stamp [el programa asistencial de alimentos] and those people can’t be sponsors now.”
It is not that the amount that must be possessed is very high to be a sponsor (a minimum of $22,887 per year per beneficiary, plus $5,900 for each additional beneficiary), but not all emigrants meet it.
Erick was lucky that his aunt agreed to sponsor his wife, who stayed in Havana when he left “to see the volcanoes.” Since the woman did not have enough funds in her account, Erick transferred everything he has earned in nine months working in the United States. “That money was to pay the debt of coming here, but for now I prefer that it be used to bring my wife. It is very hard to be an emigrant and to be alone,” he says.
Beyond the money, potential backers are concerned all the responsibility that comes with it guarantee the protection of the beneficiaries for two years, which includes housing, health insurance, help to obtain a job and access to education (learning English for adults or attending school for children) .
“Nobody here wants to take care of a person for two years, because you don’t know what can happen to a person when they get here,” says Yoel, a successful Cuban who owns a food business and is reluctant to bring relatives who have asked you to be their sponsor. “I suppose that the vast majority will arrive here and make correct use of their parole and he’s going to get ahead, as we all did, but there’s always the one who’s there and gets taken advantage of,” he asserts. “So I prefer to wait and see what happens with the first to arrive.”
“Nobody here wants to take care of a person for two years, because you don’t know what can happen to a person when they arrive”
Another difficulty for potential sponsors is how cumbersome the process is. Laura, “sponsor” of her sister and her daughter, spent more than two hours making the request. “It’s not that it’s difficult, but it’s cumbersome, because you have to upload a lot of documents.”
Once the application is approved, the USCIS sends an email to the beneficiary and he has to complete his process through CBP One, a mobile application that he has to download. Through it, the applicant will receive authorization to travel, which will be valid for 90 days. As with all visas granted by the United States, the authorities warn that the approval of a travel authorization does not guarantee entry into the country, where the barrier of a migration agent has yet to be passed.
To avoid inconvenience, or avoid making mistakes with a language that in some cases they do not handle well, many are turning to law firms. They are the ones who, for the moment, are gaining the most with the new measure. “The cheapest ones are charging $400, but they tell me that others are asking for more,” says Yakelin.
To speak this Tuesday with the Gallardo firm, advertised in numerous media outlets in Florida, one had to wait, as verified 14ymedio, behind a list of 33 people. After 40 minutes of waiting, the caller hung up. Within a minute, they sent a message: “Due to the high number of calls, we have implemented an easy and secure way to attend to your legal needs as soon as possible.” Next, they offered the instructions for those who want to apply for temporary permission: fill out a form and pay $150 “for the evaluation of your case.”
Desperation makes many pay whatever, while the Island is hopelessly emptied and, Yaniel fears, forever: “The old remain, those who cannot, those who have no one with whom, the country is left without people and every day more miserable”.
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