Posts Tagged ‘lawful permanent resident’
EB-2 CATEGORY WILL ADVANCE 1 YEAR ON FEBRUARY 1, 2012!
The EB-2 (employment-based second preference) green card category for advanced degreed professionals will advance 1 year on the February 2012 Department of State Visa Bulletin for individuals from mainland China and India.
Congress allots a certain number of immigrant visas each year for various categories and countries. Foreign nationals in the EB-2 category from India and China typically wait several years for a green card “number” to become available to them as there is a backlog with these applications. The wait is based on an applicant’s “priority date” which he/she obtains when the first step of the green card process is filed. Until that date is current on the Visa Bulletin (published monthly), the individual cannot submit (and the officers cannot adjudicate) the final paperwork for a green card.
In the January 2012 Visa Bulletin, the applications being reviewed for Chinese and Indian nationals in the EB-2 category have priority dates of January 1, 2009 and earlier. In the February 2012 Visa Bulletin, the priority date will jump to January 1, 2010 and earlier, cutting off a full year of waiting. This is great news for individuals with priority dates between January 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010 as they can now submit their final paperwork for a green card.
Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you need assistance with a green card application or have any questions about the above.
Tags: advanced degree professional, EB-2, green card, I-485, lawful permanent resident, priority date, visa bulletin
Posted in Alerts, Immigrant Visas, USCIS | Read More »
RULE MAY ALLOW UNLAWFUL PRESENCE WAIVERS TO BE FILED WITHIN U.S., KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER
The USCIS announced a proposal January 6, 2012 that would streamline and humanize the application process for undocumented foreign national spouses and children of U.S. citizens who apply for legal permanent resident status (green card status). The proposed rule does not apply to spouses and children of green card holders (only citizens).
Under the current rules, an undocumented individual who is eligible for green card status must leave the country to apply and process the paperwork. However, once he/she leaves, the person triggers a 3-year or 10-year bar to the U.S. if he/she was unlawfully present in the U.S. for more than 180 days. The processing times abroad for waivers and applications can range from months to years and keep families separated.
If the proposed rule becomes final, undocumented foreign nationals who would trigger a bar upon leaving will be allowed to apply for the waiver from within the U.S. and remain with their families until it is time to process the green card application abroad. Note that applicants would still be required to depart from the U.S. before receiving final approval on their green card application, however the wait abroad will be much shorter.
The government believes that this new rule would encourage applicants to come forward and create a faster and safer means for processing applications. As it stands, many individuals remain under the radar and never apply for status so they do not get separated from their loved ones.
Stay tuned for future posts on this important change to the law.
Tags: family unity, green card, lawful permanent resident, proposed rule, unlawful presence, waiver
Posted in Alerts, Immigrant Visas, immigration reform, Politics/Current Events | Read More »
A Re-Entry Permit is Not a Guarantee of Admission
A lawful permanent resident (LPR) must present an admission document upon entering the U.S. Typically, this is an LPR card (i.e. green card). In circumstances where the LPR has remained outside the U.S. for an extended period of time (typically, 1 year or more), a re-entry permit must also be presented upon entry. This document communicates to the immigration officers that the LPR is not abandoning his/her green card by remaining outside the U.S. for a long period of time.
One common misconception about a re-entry permit is that the LPR will receive automatic admission to the U.S. by having the document in hand. Re-entry permits actually do not guarantee admission to the U.S. That is, possession of a re-entry permit does not prevent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from inquiring as to whether the LPR abandoned his/her permanent residency. All the re-entry permit does is prevent the DHS from relying solely on the duration of the absence as a basis for determining the LPR’s abandonment of the green card.
Please contact our San Francisco immigration law firm if you have questions about the above or need assistance with a re-entry permit.
Tags: abandonment of LPR, green card, lawful permanent resident, re-entry permit
Posted in Immigrant Visas, USCIS | Read More »
Don’t Treat Immigrants Like Criminals, Part II
I received an email from a former client today, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. She was coming back from the Bahamas with her U.S. citizen husband over the weekend, and was interrogated at secondary inspection at the airport. According to her, she was treated disrespectfully, so she told the inspector that she did not appreciate being treated like a criminal, to which he responded: “Most immigrants are criminals-that’s why we treat you that way.” Besides being appalling, this statement is plain wrong. Immigrants commit crimes at rates lower than the general population. This has been proven in study after study. Anti-immigrant nuts like Bill O’Reilly and Lou Dobbs and the idiots who listen to them continue to perpetuate the myth that immigrant crime is rampant in order to garner support for their scapegoating. However, the negative tone is established at the highest levels of government. As I mentioned in my last post, immigrant detainees are often treated in an identical manner to criminal detainees. This practice needs to change, or else this attitude will continue to trickle down to the lowest level officials in our government.
Tags: Bill O'Reilly, criminal, immigrant, immigrant detainees, lawful permanent resident, Lou Dobbs, U.S. citizen
Posted in Politics/Current Events | Read More »
