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

Immigration law provides for a visa for foreign nationals to allow them to come to the U.S. on a temporary basis if they can prove that they possess extraordinary ability. The O-1A visa is for those with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics. The O-1A does not apply to those with extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television Read More

We have been hearing so much recently about stopping Chain Migration. This pejorative term often comes with misleading information. So I am writing to put this into perspective along with the facts and some historical background. Much of the talk today reminds me of the National Origins Act of 1924, a discriminatory immigration law that restricted the immigration of Southern and Eastern Europeans and practically Read More

TPS is a status given to citizens of countries that have been designated by the Department of Homeland Security after a determination that conditions in that country prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or, in certain circumstances that the country is unable to handle the return if its nationals adequately. It is granted to people already in the U.S. when the designation is made. It does not allow Read More

...according to Sayra Lozano, a DACA recipient and MBA student at Southeastern University. Her article was published in the Miami Herald last Friday. Perhaps I was impressed by what she wrote because the point of her article is one that I have made many times. Allowing the dreamers to obtain permanent residence is good for our economy. In March, I wrote a blog entitled DACA, the “Dream Act” and its latest Read More

Immigration is in the news daily. TPS is a frequent topic of discussion in the news so I am writing this newsletter to explain TPS. I apologize in advance for this article being so long, but the topic is important and complex. TPS is the abbreviation for Temporary Protected Status. As the word temporary implies it is a temporary immigration status granted to citizens of countries that have been designated by the Read More

Many of our lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Irma and our hearts go out to those in Puerto Rico suffering from Hurricane Maria. Many are busy filing insurance claims and trying to obtain FEMA assistance for uninsured or underinsured losses. Some of you may have questions as to whether non-citizens qualify for disaster relief. As might be expected, the answers are not always simple and depend on the type of Read More

Attorney Linda Kaplan has appeared on Al Hikmat, a Muslim media outlet that has been serving the Muslim and non-Muslim community for over three decades with dialogues, lectures, and other materials. Watch below as Linda discusses the firm and how she helps both American and foreign clients. Read More

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