Current immigration law reflects the importance of keeping families together and reunification of family members by allowing US Citizens and US Permanent Residents to file for residence (also referred to as “Green Card”) for their close relatives. I frequently am asked what relatives one may sponsor and how long it will take. I will first discuss the relatives that may be sponsored. The answer to the question of Read More
Marriage Equality and US Immigration Law
US immigration law reflects the goal of family unification (or reunification) by providing for family based petitions for permanent residence. While most immigration categories have annual numerical limits that have resulted in long waits outside of the U.S. for beneficiaries of immigrant visa petitions, the immigration law admits an unlimited number of spouses of U.S. citizens. The U.S. Immigration law also allows a Read More
What constitutes “Good Moral Character” for purposes of obtaining U.S. Citizenship?
In my last blog I listed the requirements for Naturalization which included age, time as a permanent residence, continuous residence, physical presence in the U.S. and Good Moral Character. This blog discusses the Good Moral Character requirement. The law requires an applicant to prove Good Moral Character for the last 5 years. The Application for Naturalization is a 20 page form that includes 50 questions (some Read More
Requirements for Naturalization
Naturalization is the name for the process of obtaining U.S. Citizenship for adults who were not blessed with U.S. citizenship by birth. The requirements for naturalization include the following 1. Age You must be 18 and older. Those under age 18 may be eligible to apply for a Certificate of Citizenship under certain conditions but a discussion of that is beyond the scope of this blog. 2. Time as a Read More
“Conditional” Permanent Residence – A Tool to Combat Marriage Fraud
For those who were not lucky enough to be born a U.S. citizen, one must first obtain permanent resident status (aka “green card”) before applying for U.S. citizenship. Permanent resident status may be obtained through an employment based petition or a family based petition. Generally speaking, the permanent residence card is issued for 10 years and can be easily renewed for additional 10 year periods assuming the Read More
In Celebration of the Economic Contributions of Immigrants
After many years of experience handling business and family-based immigration, I continue to love helping my clients with their immigration issues. The opportunity to positively impact the lives of so many clients has been an honor. Yet so much work remains to be done. I look forward to assisting you or a beloved family member or valued associate with one or more of today’s immigration challenges. When I tell Read More
H-1B Alternatives
The H-1B visa is a useful business immigration alternative when it comes to employment of professionals such as scientists, engineers, and computer programmers. There is an extremely high demand for these visas by American companies looking to employ foreign nationals with highly specialized knowledge. Unfortunately, only 85,000 of these visas are issued each year (65,000 “regular cap” plus 20,000 “advanced degree Read More
