The U.S. is the favorite destination of Brazilians who dream of living abroad is the United States. According to Itamaraty, approximately 1.8 million and 800,000 immigrants (including legal and undocumented people) from Brazil live in America. And several factors point to this number reaching 2 million people in 2023. Check out five forecasts on immigration in the U.S. for next year, in the opinion of Marcelo Gondim, lawyer and specialist in immigration law:
- The U.S. needs foreign professionals – “To continue as the world’s leading economic power, the U.S. needs the technical expertise of qualified foreign professionals. The U.S. government has increased the quota of green cards (300,000) to attract these qualified professionals. Many Brazilians have benefited from these categories, which grant permanent residence in the USA.”
- Result of the elections in Brazil – “The interest of many Brazilians in migrating to the U.S. has become even greater after the last presidential election, with the search for immigration processes (green card) increasing by more than 300% in several U.S. immigration offices since the result of the polls. There will be a new wave of Brazilians moving to the U.S. in 2023, especially entrepreneurs, who were waiting for the result to decide to migrate their business and investments to the U.S.”
- Overheated job market – “Americais living in a curious moment where more jobs are available than qualified or interested people to exercise them. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are 12 million vacancies available, especially in healthcare, engineering, aviation and technology. The well-qualified Brazilian professional has an excellent chance of being able to work temporarily (with a work visa) or even residence in the country if he has a fixed job offer.”
- Legalization of undocumented immigrants:“Despite having a minority in Congress, the Democratic party obtained the largest number of representatives in the Senate after the recent midterms elections, which determine how it will be the second half of the U.S. government. That’s good news for many Brazilians who are already in the U.S. undocumented because current President Joe Biden is still trying to pass an immigration reform that could grant a “pardon” to up to 8 million immigrants who are currently undocumented. The Senate victory strengthens Biden to seek approval for this reform in 2023.”
- More agile and efficient Immigration System:“The pandemic caused U.S. agencies and consular offices around the world to close for nearly two years. As a result, the “queue” to get a visa interview or for processing some immigration benefit has grown alarmingly, reaching the current point where the date for a simple appointment at the Consulate can take more than one year.
However, in recent months, the U.S. State Department has been speeding up and streamlining its processes, hiring more employees and betting on new technologies to slow down and make everything happen more quickly and efficiently for those who want to immigrate legally to the U.S. in 2023. The Department of Immigration (USCIS) has already released targets for green card processes to take a maximum of 6 months next year.”
About the specialist: Marcelo Gondim
Marcelo Gondim is an immigration lawyer in the United States with more than 20 years of experience in green card and U.S. visa processes. He is licensed by the State of California. Marcelo was born in Brazil but also held American citizenship. He is the founder and principal attorney of Gondim Law Corp., an immigration law firm based in Los Angeles.