Dedicated to providing individualized legal advice and services to our clients in the areas of immigration and naturalization law matters.

Current law allows a U.S. citizen to file a visa petition to obtain residence for parents, spouses, minor children, adult children (married and unmarried) and siblings. Current law also allows a legal permanent resident to file for spouses, minor children and unmarried adult children. Except for “immediate relatives” defined as parents, spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, all categories of relative petitions Read More

At the time of writing this update, it appears that refugee admittance to the U.S. will end on or around July 12th.  There are two different legal issues at play. The number of refugees to be admitted each year (which starts on Oct 1st for these purposes) is set annually by the President.  In approximately May of 2016, President Obama set the number at 110,000 for the fiscal year starting on Oct 1, 2016. President Read More

There has been much in the news recently about “extreme vetting.” Last month when I wrote a blog about the Immigrant Investor program which allows one to obtain U.S. permanent residence status though an investment, one of my readers (and good friend) asked about whether the investors were subjected to security checks. This question gave me the idea to write about security checks for foreign nationals wishing to enter Read More

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor program is a provision of the U.S. immigration law that allows foreign nationals, their spouses, and unmarried minor children to obtain U.S. permanent residence status, which will later allow them to apply for citizenship. To obtain this status, one must invest in a commercial enterprise in the U.S. that creates or preserves 10 permanent full-time jobs for U.S. workers. This provision Read More

As an immigration attorney with a background in economics, finance, and tax law, I tend to look at the immigration issues in economic terms. While many people are under the impression that immigration is a drag on the U.S. economy and that immigrants take jobs from Americans, this is simply not true. Immigrants don’t take jobs from Americans, they create jobs for Americans. It is not a coincidence that the largest Read More

There are many disparate opinions about what the U.S. should do about undocumented immigrants, but the group that elicits the most compassion seems to be those who were brought to the U.S. as children. Most Americans sympathize with the plight of children who have lived much of their life in the U.S., and in many cases, do not even remember living anywhere else or even speak anything other than English. Some of them Read More

By now everyone has been heard of the Muslim ban and the suspension of processing of refugee applications. On January 29th I presented a program on the Refugee Crisis at the Keys Jewish Community Center (KJCC) to members of the KJCC and the wider Keys Community. I started planning this program last summer but decided that I should present this after the election because I wanted to concentrate on the humanitarian, Read More

H-1B visas are available to allow U.S. businesses to hire professionals on a temporary basis for three years. The visa may thereafter be renewed for an additional three years. To qualify, the person hired must have at least a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific occupational specialty and must be offered a position that requires that specific degree. The occupational specialties that are generally accepted Read More

Much of the discussion about removing undocumented workers focuses on punishment for violation of our immigration laws. These violations would include entering the U.S. without inspection, staying longer than authorized, or working without permission. Few of us consider the financial effect of mass deportation on U.S. citizens. In discussing controversial issues, I always like to appeal to enlightened self-interest. Read More