In 2012, President Barack Obama implemented a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The program gave protection from deportation and work authorization to a particular group of immigrants: those who had been brought here as without authorization as children within a specific period.
Beneficiaries of the program, called "Dreamers," were allowed to come from the shadows and participate in American life.
The Trump administration's travel ban against passport holders from seven countries is causing problems for some travelers to the U.S. Most recently, it prevented invited speakers from attending this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.
Dr. Sepiedeh Keshavarzi told NPR that it was once her dream to do research in the United States. She was one of the speakers due to address approximately 25,000 brain scientists at the meeting, but she was denied a visa. She was also denied one last year.
Many people who want to live and work in the U.S. permanently are perfectly happy with their status as a lawful permanent resident (green card holder). There may be good reasons for this but, before you decide, you should be aware that there are significant advantages to becoming a citizen.
The United States is actively welcoming new citizens. Over the last decade, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) brought over 7.2 million people into citizenship through naturalization. Last year alone, 756,000 people were naturalized.
This summer, the Trump administration issued a controversial new rule that would have imposed new financial standards on immigrants who are seeking lawful permanent residency (green cards). The rule reinterprets a policy against immigrants who are likely to become a "public charge" which has been in place for over 100 years.
Under the new rule, when immigrants applied for green cards, several economic factors would be held against them. For example, earning less than 125% of the federal poverty level would weigh against an immigrant's green card application. Other factors include:
You may have heard recently about a Palestinian student who was denied entry to the U.S. when he came to join his freshman class at Harvard. It wasn't for something he had done. Customs officials scanned his phone and objected to certain social media postings the student's friends had made. The man's dreams of a Harvard education were dashed because his friends made objectionable comments.
According to officials from Cottey College in Missouri, the State Department denied student visas to two of six Ethiopian students that had been accepted as freshmen. According to the State Department, the 17- and 18-year-olds lacked sufficient ties to their home country and might not be inclined to return. But how does a 17- or 18-year-old demonstrate sufficient attachment?
If you have recently become engaged, congratulations! If you are a U.S. citizen whose fiance or fiancee is from another country, you have the opportunity to sponsor them to come live with you permanently in the United States. We are often asked which is better, a K-1 fiance visa petition or a spousal visa petition.
Here are some key considerations to help you decide which is the better option for you and your loved one: 1) place and time of your marriage; 2) processing time and cost; 3) your fiance's needs for work and travel outside the U.S.
If you have a full-time job offer as a minister, in a religious vocation, or in a religious occupation in the U.S., you may qualify for an EB-4 visa for Special Immigrant Religious Workers. This is an immigrant visa, meaning that you can apply later on for a green card (lawful permanent resident status). And, your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can accompany you on this visa and may also qualify for green cards.
First, be aware that the rules will soon be changing for religious workers who are not ministers. Non-ministers must immigrate by Sept. 30, 2019, if they are using the EB-4 Special Immigrant Religious Workers visa. After that, non-ministers and their dependents will no longer be allowed to use this visa.
The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) already says that immigrants can't be a "public charge," meaning they aren't supposed to cost taxpayers money by relying on public benefit programs. If they are, or are likely to become, a public charge, immigrants are not eligible for visas or green cards.
Yet legal immigrants with little income are often eligible for some public assistance programs, such as welfare (TANF), food stamps (SNAP), public housing, Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid.
The optional practical training (OPT) program allows international students to remain in the U.S. for practical training that is directly related to their area of study. It is available to F-1 and M-1 visa holders for up to 12 months, with some extensions available. F-1 visa holders in certain STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, for example, can apply for a 24-month extension.
In the past, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services virtually guaranteed processing of OPT requests within 90 days. If the request was not processed within 90 days, the applicant could go to a local office for immediate approval.
When an immigrant is convicted of certain offenses, including controlled substance offenses, they can be deported and removed from the United States. Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard a case in which an immigrant petitioned to avoid removal. She claimed that she was not, in fact, convicted of a crime that disqualifies her from remaining in the U.S.
The issue was that the woman had pled guilty to a violating California's Penal Code § 182(a)(1): conspiracy. It seems that the underlying offense did involve a controlled substance. However, the petitioner did not plead guilty specifically to a controlled substance offense but pled down to a felony conspiracy charge.
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