Wet Foot-Dry Foot Policy

• In 1991, hundreds of Haitian refugees fled their homeland and appeared on the Florida coast seeking asylum. The violent dictatorship in Haiti caused the refugees to get into small boats and come to the United States. This situation prompted serious conversation among Florida officials on how to deal with refugees and immigrants reaching the state's borders by boat. Since 1995, an immigration policy known as the "wet foot-dry foot" law has been in effect, taken in response to events in both Haiti and Cuba, which suffered an economic collapse in 1994 after withdrawal of Russian support. It essentially allows Cubans who land on U.S. shores to eventually apply for legal residency, while returning home those intercepted at sea. The policy allows a maximum of 20,000 Cubans per year to immigrate to the United States. After a massive influx of refugees arrived on the Florida coast in 1994 in response to the worsening Cuban economy, the policy was developed to better deal with the influx of immigrants. The 20,000 visas available per year continually fail to meet the need expressed by the Cubans, with thousands more than the maximum number of Cubans applying for immigration each year.
  
  

Amnesty Programs

• Florida is a refuge for immigrants from Cuba.
  
  Immigration amnesty and guest worker programs offer another lawful option for refugees to enter the United States and obtain citizenship. Recently enacted congressional legislation allows illegal aliens, also referred to as undocumented workers, to apply for a proposed Z visa. This visa would provide a probationary immigration status, which is renewable for four years. The illegal aliens must have been living in the United States prior to January 2007 and not have any criminal charges levied against them while living in the United States.
  
  

Z Visas

• Scores of Cubans attempt to reach the shores of south Florida by traveling the 90 sea miles from Cuba to Key West or even the Miami area.The strong desire to escape from Cuba has prompted hundreds of refugees to pay large sums of money to smugglers to avert the authorities and reach the sandy beaches of Florida. A fee of $500 must be paid before application for permanent status is considered. Illegal immigrants who are under the age of 30 and have lived in the United States since they were minors are eligible to apply for a green card after three years of holding a Z visa. Illegal aliens who are considered farm workers can apply for permanent citizenship after proving they have worked a minimum of 150 hours, or three years in the agriculture profession. The estimated time to process new green cards for Z visa immigrants is eight to 13 years, due to an expected backlog of filings.
  
  

Temporary Visas

• Nine temporary visas are available for immigrants seeking temporary status in Florida and the United States as a whole. Attorneys often advise immigrants to apply for temporary status first, and then begin the citizenship and naturalization process. Temporary visas categories include L-1 for intra company transfer employees, H-1B for specialty professional occupations, B-1/B-2 for business and pleasure travel to the America, E-1/E-2 visas for investors and treaty traders. K-3/K-4 visas for family reunification, R-1 for religious workers and missionaries, O-1 for accomplished arts and sciences professionals, K-1 visa for a fiancé or fiancée of U.S. citizens.
  
  

Permanent Visas

• Permanent visas, also referred to as a green card, are granted for specific reasons only and can take quite a long time to investigate and process. Florida grants permanent visas for families, especially when a domestic situation, such as battered spouse situations. Employment based immigration is also a possibility in Florida, but include filing of labor and preference certificates with the appropriate government offices.