Visa Lawyer Blog

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Most of our readers are aware that any adjustment of status in a family based petition can not be approved if the relationship is no longer viable. Yet there are certain exceptions from time to time. On August 12, 2008, in Choin v. Mukasey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to consider Ms. Choin’s Form I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status based upon marriage, even though she was no longer married to her U.S.-citizen husband.

The Court found an exception to this for spouses who enter the U.S. on the K-1 fiancé/e visa. This interpretation is limited to a K-1 fiancé/e of a U.S. citizen. There is a specific section of law that addresses the adjustment of status of K-1s and it is the wording of that section that led to the conclusion reached by the Court.

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USCIS finally catch up with Technology. It is now possible to receive alerts to your mobile phone about USCIS Field Office closings. USCIS is posting the alerts using Twitter, an application that limits messages to 140 characters. Click here for more info

Stay tuned for Facebook and MySpace pages!!!

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As lawyers specializing in the 601 Hardship Waivers, we report many more approval from our clients. From Manila to Ciudad Juarez our law firm is fighting the Government and winning!!!

Here is a quick update from the field. Warren Janssen, Officer-in-Charge at the USCIS Ciudad Juarez office, has advised that the immigrant visa waiver appointment system has resumed operation effective September 4, 2008, and that the first available appointments are on November 12, 2008.

On, September 3, 2008, Warren Janssen, CIS overseas officer in charge at Cd Juarez, advised that currently there are no immigrant visa waiver appointments available due to a system address change for the new consulate. The private contractor has to go through several hoops and training before more can be available in the system. Applicants should avoid calling and spending money trying to book an appointment until further notice. As you can from the post above now the system is back up.

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Recently, USCIS, released a memo on inadmissibility due to HIV infection in light of the President’s signing of H.R. 5501.

On July 30, 2008, the President signed into law the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, Public Law No.1 10-293. Scction 305 of P.L. 110-293 amends sec. 212(a)(I)(A)(i) of the Act. so that HHS is no longer required to designate HIV infection as a “communicable disease” of public health significance. HHS has not amended 42 CFR 34.2(b) to remove HIV infection from the list of diseases that qualify as a communicable disease of public health significance. Until HHS does amend 42 CFR 34.2(b). someone with HIV infection, as diagnosed by the civil surgeon or panel physician, remains inadmissible under 212(a)( 1)(A)(i) of the Act.

Until further notice, aliens who are applying for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status and who are found to have an HIV infection are still required to file Form 1-60 I, Application for Waiver of Grounds of inadmissibility. Such waivers are extremely complicated, so make sure to consult an experienced attorney.

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In the past several weeks we were following one of most fierce confrontations, between lawyers and the Department of Labor. First the DOL started auditing all the cases of the largest Immigration firm in the nation, Fragomen. Later, Fragomen sued the DOL, claiming various unfair practices.

This was all a source of concern for us immigration lawyers. If we can not help our clients anymore in filing for permanent residence (Green Cards), what else can we do? Well, the Department of Labor issued some specific guidelines as to what lawyer can and can not do when assisting employers filing under the PERM program. For example:

Attorneys and agents may receive resumes and applications of U.S. workers who respond to the employer’s recruitment efforts; however, they may not conduct any preliminary screening of applications before the employer does so, other than routine clerical or ministerial organizing of resumes which does not include any assessment of, or comments on, the qualifications of any applicants;

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USCIS recently issued new guidance memo on Continuous Residence, Physical Presence, and Overseas Naturalization for a Spouse or Child of a Member of the Armed Forces per Amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act by the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.

We link to this important Memo here. Download file

Stay tuned for more exciting developments from USCIS.

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This week it is all about the Democratic Convention taking place in Denver. As we follow what unfolds in Denver, the race seems to be getting tighter and tighter. In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night — after Obama announced Biden as his running mate, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama, with an equal amount supporting McCain.

The Obama/Biden team must be very clear on the issues that matter most to voters, and Immigration is going to play a major role in November. Obama created an offical page on his Immigration policy, you can access the page here…

He says:

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According to NPR, the answer is yes. They published results of a 10-year study involving more than 3,000 young men and women, most of them in their 20s.

The “second generation” project looked at five groups — Russians, Dominicans, South Americans, Chinese and West Indians — and compared them with U.S.-born whites, Puerto Ricans and African-Americans. Researchers found that most in the second generation were fluent in English and working in the mainstream economy.

Read more here…

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What is the latest scandal from Washington? Applicants seeking asylum in the United States have been wrongfully rejected by judges whom the administration chose using a conservative political test, according to an analysis of Justice Department data.

According to the New York Times, the investigation suggests that the effects of a patronage-style selection process for immigration judges — used for three years before it was abandoned as illegal, are still being felt by thousands of applicants whose cases are determined by the judges appointed in that period. Tougher times for applicants and for us lawyers trying to defend them. Read the story here…

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We wanted to remind our readers that Operation “Scheduled Departure”, A pilot program allowing illegal immigrants to surrender to authorities to avoid jail and have 90 days to leave the country, end today. According to the USCIS this program can be classified as big failure. In San Diego only 4 people turned themselves in to take advantage of this program.

Let us all hope that this lack of success will result in more raids by ICE, and increased enforcement to find more illegal aliens living among us. Click here for the complete AP story