Whitewater Chief of Police Dan Meyer, immigration attorney Davorin Odrcic, immigration attorney Margaret Wheeler and translator Sandra Ramirez were presenters at an informational panel held in the UW-Whitewater Community Engagement Center Monday, April 15. The presentation discussed topics involving current immigration laws and updates within the community of Whitewater. Many facts and statements were given to the audience regarding current immigration policies and laws. 

Many immigrants coming from countries like Honduras may have trouble accessing the correct documentation or believe they need a lot of money to get into the United States because of simple misunderstandings of the laws surrounded by our immigration policies.

“They always think they have to save all this money to apply for asylum because they have been told, or they think they always need a lawyer for that and lawyer fees are of course high,” said Ramirez.

The application for asylum seeking is free, but winning asylum cases can take years. It can lead to resident status. Asylum seekers can also obtain a drivers license in the state of Wisconsin. Some of these requirements include a valid drivers license, proof of the next upcoming ice appointment, a passport, and proof of address. 

There is the asylum seeking side of things when it comes to immigrating and then there is the other side of things where people are trying to seek out work in the U.S. and in that case, they have the ability to apply for a specific type of work visa. Wheeler helps out with employee based immigration.

 “What I deal with right now is getting immigration status for people,” Wheeler said. “So there’s this thing called a H1 B and that’s what most companies and universities use to bring in their non immigrant families to work at their companies or their universities. The other thing is immigrant versus non immigrant status. So a non-immigrant status is a temporary status, so again, an H1 B is an example. You can get that for the employee, and can be sponsored for three years and then it can be extended for another three years.”

There are many ways that immigrants coming to the U.S. can gain access to live in the country, whether that is seeking asylum or obtaining other forms of documentation or a work visa to be able to live in the United States for a specific amount of time.