Category: Immigration Columnists

In October 2012, an Immigration Judge (IJ) reopened my client’s exclusion proceedings more 20 years after another IJ ordered her exclusion from the US in 1991. In October 1999, she…

Question: Is there any movement on new Immigration Bills since President Obama was re-elected? Answer: The House voted on a STEM bill — standing for science, technology, engineering and mathematics…

IN the wake of Mitt Romney’s devastating loss in the Presidential election, House Republicans will introduce a Bill to expand visa availability to foreign science,  technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)…

Recently, the USCIS published statistics on DACA filings. I was quite surprised at the results, especially as it concerned Filipinos. It showed that as of November 15, 2012, 308,935 people…

IN January of this year, we first wrote about this exciting topic, which was based on the January 6, 2012 announcement by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  In the…

Thanksgiving is when people take a step back and reflect on all of the wonderful things and events to be grateful for, and to give thanks to those people who…

THE Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program was introduced in June 2012 and was implemented August 15, 2012. Within just one month of the program’s start date, the USCIS…

Under the basic labor certification process, the employer may file an application only after conducting efforts to recruit US workers by means of the following mandatory steps: (1) placing an…

BY APPROVAL Notice dated October 19, 2012, the Nebraska Service Center granted deferred action on Form I-812D and the corresponding employment authorization on Form I-765, valid from October 17, 2012…

On June 15, 2012, the Obama Administration announced a new policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which is now being referred to as “DACA.” Under this program, the government…

The twin cases of De Osorio v. Mukasey and Costelo v. Napolitano, both decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on September 26, 2012 now allows many children who…

IN 1988, Maria, a US citizen, petitioned her brother, Edgar from the Philippines.  Although the petition was approved, the priority date was not current.  In fact the priority date did…

ALTHOUGH the volume of newly-filed applications for benefits is down at the USCIS, the processing times for some applications pending at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) are longer…

AN 18-year old Filipino male was granted lawful permanent resident status on or about June 3, 2010. He has been residing with his parents in Glendale, California, since May 23,…

Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month, for the various family and employment based categories. A…

Jon and Kate own and operate a successful real estate business in California. In addition to owning a beautiful home, they had acquired several homes and apartment buildings which they…

ON October 18, 2012, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York declared that the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) was unconstitutional, to the extent the law attempted to…

Question: My auntie petitioned my mother when I was 3 years old. However, the visa process is so slow that it took 22 years for the visa number to become…

Recently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), children who “aged–out” from under their parent’s petition, may retain/recycle/reuse their parent’s priority date,…

LAST month, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week joined the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit  and reversed its previous decision in De Osorio…

YES, under certain humanitarian exceptions, an inadmissible arriving alien can be granted parole by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), even…

(Part 1) Dear Atty. Gurfinkel: I am single and under petition. I have a common-law spouse, whom I would like to marry, but I am receiving conflicting advice and information…

QUESTION: I heard that there is a type of visa whereby I don’t need to invest $1,000,000 to get the Green Card, but rather can use my business knowledge and…

RECENTLY,  I was approached by a lawyer who inquired if I was advising eligible applicants to file for Deferred Action. When I responded yes, of course, this same lawyer told…

In June 2011, John Morton, the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a memo on “prosecutorial discretion”, whereby ICE would refrain from going after, or removing\deporting, certain people…