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Immigration Law

Immigration Law Answers Blog

News, Information, Opinions, and Online Resources for People with Immigration Questions.
By Robert Kraft

Post Frequency: 2.9/day

Last Entry: March 07, 2011 at 17:08:57

Latinos Seek Citizenship In Time For Voting

Posted on March 23, 2008
According to a New York Times article, a lawsuit filed this month in a federal court in New York by Latino immigrants seeks to force immigration authorities to complete hundreds of thousands of stalled naturalization petitions in time for the new citizens to vote in November...

Movie Discusses Immigration, Focuses On Love

Posted on March 19, 2008
This is the first-ever movie review in this blog, and probably the last, but a new movie got such a good review today in the Dallas Morning News that I wanted to mention it.Under The Same Moon is directed by Patricia Riggen. Here are excerpts from the Dallas Morning News article: Anti-immigration talk bubbles to the surface in election years and burbles from the mouth of Lou Dobbs seemingly every minute...

Spouses Of Deceased U.S. Citizens

Posted on March 12, 2008
A spouse of a deceased US citizen may file a petition on his/her behalf and qualify as an immediate relative. Certain eligibility requirements must be met before filing the petition: The widow was married to the US citizen for at least two years;The deceased spouse must have been a US citizen at the time of death;The US citizen and widower were not separated at the time of the citizen's death;The widow has not remarried at the time of filing...

Naturalization And Marriage To A U.S. Citizen

Posted on February 29, 2008
Generally, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR’s) may be eligible for naturalization upon meeting the naturalization criteria. In order to qualify, an individual must satisfy the following: 1. Must be an LPR; 2. Must be over 18 years of age; 3. After becoming an LPR, must have continuously resided in the U...

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Claiming Citizenship

Posted on February 27, 2008
Did you know that you may claim citizenship if you are under the age of 18, and either of your parents are U.S. citizens, but you were born abroad? You may apply to the Immigration Service for a certificate of citizenship. In order to be issued a certificate of citizenship the following requirements must be met: 1...

After The War, A New Battle To Become Citizens

Posted on February 24, 2008
The New York Times has reported that many members of the U.S. military are seeing their citizenship applications delayed, despite government promises that they would be given expedited treatment. The article is lengthy, and interesting. Here are excerpts: Despite a 2002 promise from President Bush to put citizenship applications for immigrant members of the military on a fast track, some are finding themselves waiting months, or even years, because of bureaucratic backlogs...

Government To Increase Fines For Hiring Illegal Immigrants

Posted on February 22, 2008
The Associated Press is reporting today that the government will increase the fines levied against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The increase will be 25 percent, and is the first incrase in nearly a decade. Excerpt from the article:Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for investigating illegal hirings, has stepped up its enforcement of the employer sanctions law in the past year, leading to a dozen major busts...

USCIS Clarifies Criteria To Expedite FBI Name Check

Posted on February 20, 2008
Today USCIS issued a press release explaining the recent decision to forego certain aspects of the FBI background checks. Here is the press release:Federal Litigation Removed as Sole Basis to Expedite CheckWASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is no longer routinely requesting the FBI to expedite a name check when the only reason for the request is that a mandamus (or other federal court petition) is filed in the case...

USCIS Clarifies Criteria To Expedite FBI Name Checks

Permanent Residency For Investors

Posted on February 18, 2008
An employment-based category is available for an individual who has already invested or plans to invest in a new commercial enterprise employing at least 10 full-time workers. This category allows such an investor to obtain permanent residency within a year...

Phoenix Police Will Ask Arrestees About Immigration Status

Posted on February 16, 2008
Phoenix is the latest city to try to do what the federal government refuses to do -- resolve the nation's perceived illegal immigration problems. Phoenix police will now start asking all people arrested in that city whether they are in the U.S. legally...

More About Oklahoma's Immigrant Crackdown

Posted on February 16, 2008
The Chicago Tribune ran an interesting article about the effect of Oklahoma's anti-immigrant laws on that state's economy. Obviously there are two points of view to this situation, but this article points out some of the unintended financial consequences for Oklahoma...

Oklahoma's Crackdown On Illegal Immigration

Posted on February 14, 2008
The Dallas Morning News today has a very interesting story about Oklahoma's tough anti-illegal-immigrant laws, and how those laws may provide templates for other states to follow. The article also notes several downsides of the tough laws, and emphasizes that while such laws might work in Oklahoma, a state with an estimated 7% Hispanic population, the situation would be much different in Texas, with an estimated 36% Hispanic population...

O Visa - Extraordinary Abilities In Sciences, Arts, Education, Business, Or Athletics

Posted on February 14, 2008
The O visa is a temporary visa designed for foreign nationals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, athletics, or motion picture or television production, which has been demonstrated by sustained national and international achievements...

March Visa Bulletin Is Still Bad News For Indians

Posted on February 13, 2008
The March 2008 Visa Bulletin is available at the State Department, but still shows no availability of visas for employment-based second-preference for citizens of India.

Rules Eased To Expedite Green Card Applications

Posted on February 13, 2008
The Citizenship and Immigration Services has come up with a means of expediting certain green card applications. While it makes good sense to me, many people are objecting to the new procedure based on national security concerns. In a nutshell, CIS is proposing to approve applications if they have been pending more than six months and are awaiting only the FBI background check...

Dallas County Sheriff Candidates Have Immigration Plans

Posted on February 12, 2008
As another result of the federal government's refusal to take any action regrading immigration reform, more and more local jurisdictions are attempting their own solutions -- usually with poor results and unintended consequences. The Dallas Morning News reports today that Republican candidates for County Sheriff are incorporating strict immigration enforcement policies into their campaigns, while Democratic candidates are mostly silent on the issue...

Foreign Farm Workers May Get Pay Cut

Posted on February 08, 2008
As reported in the Houston Chronicle yesterday, a proposed regulation from the Labor Department could have the effect of reducing wages paid to legal immigrant farm workers. Here are excerpts from the story:The Labor Department planned Wednesday to propose changes to the foreign agriculture worker program, among them how the base wages for H2-A visa holders are determined...

Go Home To Foreign Country For Two Years Or Apply for A Waiver And Stay In The United States?

Posted on February 07, 2008
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (INA), stipulates that physicians who have entered the United States to undertake a J-1 graduate medical training or education program are uniformly subject to the obligation to return to their home country or country of last residence for a period of two years...

Emergency Travel ? Get An Advance Parole

Posted on February 05, 2008
Foreign nationals who do not have a valid immigrant visa and wish to travel multiple times outside the United States will need permission to re-enter the United States. An individual who filed an adjustment of status (AOS) application will need a travel document (advance parole) to re-enter the United States...

Emergency Travel - Get An Advance Parole

Tougher Laws In Other States Forcing Immigrants To Texas?

Posted on February 04, 2008
The Dallas Morning News reports today that tougher anti-immigrant laws in nearby states are encouraging immigrants (legal and illegal) to move to Texas. Depending on your point of view, this is either bad for Texas taxpayers or good for Texas businesses...

Judicial Compromise Ordered In Texas "Border War"

Posted on January 30, 2008
Here's the latest update on the "border war" between Texas landowners and the federal government. The government is trying to get access to the private land in order to do surveying in advance of building a border fence or wall that would cut off many landowners from their primary water source - the Rio Grande...

Citizenship Backlog To Curb Latino Vote

Posted on January 29, 2008
The Dallas Morning News ran an article today detailing a problem that I and many other interested people have been complaining about for quite some time -- the inexcusable delays in granting citizenship to qualified immigrant applicants. Some of us who are quick to attribute sinister motives to politicians note that a majority of new citizens vote Democratic, and the current administration is Republican...

H-2A Visas - Doing It The Right Way

Posted on January 23, 2008
U.S. companies wanting to bring foreign nationals into the United States to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature may do so by demonstrating that no U.S. worker is willing, able, qualified, and readily available to perform such service or labor...

Adopting A Foreign Orphan

Posted on January 22, 2008
U.S. citizens wishing to adopt an orphan from a foreign country may do so after meeting certain requirements. The child must first meet the definition of orphan. A child, who is under the age of 16, is an orphan due to the death or disappearance, abandonment, separation or loss of both parents, or if only one parent, then the one parent is unable to provide the proper care and in writing irrevocably releases the child for adoption...

Can't Sign Petition To Remove Conditions Jointly? Then You Need A Waiver

Posted on January 21, 2008
Foreign nationals may obtain their green cards by marriage through a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR). If the marriage is less than two years old at the time residence is granted, the foreign national will receive conditional permanent resident status...

USCIS Application And Receipting Update

Posted on January 20, 2008
USCIS has released the latest application and receipting update: USCIS Application and Receipting Update U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) advises customers that processing of fee payments and entry of cases into our tracking system remains behind schedule due to the tremendous increase in the number of applications filed...

Backups Expected At Canadian Border With New Passport Rule

Posted on January 19, 2008
An article in the Houston Chronicle and a press release by the Department of Homeland Security both warn of border crossing delays to be caused by the new rules regarding identification requirements, effective January 31, 2008. Congress is wanting to delay the effective date of requiring passports, but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is warning against that...

Increased Delays Ahead For Naturalization Applicants

Posted on January 18, 2008
Testimony before Congress this week on "Naturalization Delays, Causes, Consequences and Solutions" by Emilio T. Gonzalez, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, contained bad news for applicants. Under the section titled "Where Does this Take Us?" Director Gonzalez said this: This surge will have a serious impact on application processing times for the next couple of years...

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