USCIS publishes draft policy manual on ‘extreme hardship’
IF a person commits certain immigration violations (such as fraud, or overstaying in the US for over six months and then departing, etc.), the person may not be eligible to…
Category: Immigration
Covering the week’s most noteworthy immigration news impacting the Filipino-American and Global Filipino community.
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Provisional unlawful presence waiver
UNDER current immigration laws, there is a bar to admissibility to the United States for foreign nationals who are “unlawfully present” in the United States. An unlawfully present foreign national…
Filipino WWII Veterans: Family reunification on the horizon
ON October 2, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally announced the upcoming implementation of a parole program that will help reunite certain family members of Filipino WWII Veterans. …
Mediation on divorces
DIVORCES do not have to get costly and lengthy. Divorce can carry its own set of stresses that couples do not need. An alternative to a costly and lengthy divorce…
Extreme hardship waiver guidance to be revised by USCIS
What’s new and what’s next ON October 7, 2015 USCIS released draft policy guidance regarding the “extreme hardship” threshold that Waiver of Inadmissibility applicants must reach. The draft guidance is…
The November 2015 priority dates
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…
Separated before conditional resident status expires
THE spouse of a US citizen will be granted permanent resident status after the US citizen files a petition for the spouse. If the spouses have not yet been married…
Do you need to be living in separate residences to be considered ‘Separated’ from your spouse under the California family law?
FAMILY Code 760 provides that all property acquired by the spouse during the marriage is community property. That means each spouse has a half interest on any assets that are…
President Obama’s ‘modernizing and streamlining our legal immigration system for the 21st century’
AS part of President Obama’s continuing executive actions on immigration, the White House issued last July 2015 a report called “Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st…
The immigration consequences of marriage fraud
As required by law, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will deny immigration petitions and applications for adjustment of status where they believe that fraud is involved. Marriage-Based Green Card interviews…
Enter the US ASAP with your immigrant visa
DEAR Attorney Gurfinkel: I was petitioned by my US citizen father, and after waiting for over 15 years, I was finally interviewed and just received my immigrant visa, which was…
‘Just a misdemeanor’ and the threat of deportation
IT was a crisp October evening and Gilbert went out with his friends for a Halloween pub crawl. They drank, ate candy and cookies, and had an amazing time. The…
Can a conditional greencard holder file an immigrant petition?
BENEFICIARY spouse of marriage based immigrant petition’s where the marriage was less than 2 years old at the time of the immigrant visa or status was approved are issued a…
Child custody —working parents
MANY parents believe that if you are a working parent, then the other non-working parent will get physical custody of the minor children automatically. This is a misperception of the…
Immigrants charged with crimes should seek help from both criminal and immigration lawyers
UNDER US immigration laws, if a non-citizen commits and/or is later convicted of certain types of crimes that person could be removed/deported. This is the case even if a person…
Employment-based green card revoked because of fake job
A COUPLE came to my office for a consultation who was in tears and panic because their “American Dream” was crumbling around them. They are already permanent residents (green card…
Proposed Provisional Waiver expansion will benefit children and spouses of green card holders
While the existing I-601A Provisional Waiver Program is limited to benefitting children and spouses of US citizens, a proposed rule will expand the categories of beneficiaries. The new rule, proposed…
Early filing of adjustment of status application and work authorizations available October 2015
THE Department of State and the USCIS revised the procedures for determining visa availability for applicants waiting to file for adjustment of status. The revised procedure will be available beginning…
Nullity of marriage
A JUDGMENT of nullity is when the Court deems a voidable marriage or a void marriage as never having taken place for reasons such as a defect in age, unsound…
File your green card application now!
EDWARD, a 45 year-old married man from Manila came to the United States in 1999. His mom and dad are U.S. citizens and filed a petition for him in December…
Policy on ‘Sanctuary Cities’
LAST September 11, 2015, the incumbent mayors of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Long Beach, and Oakland issued a joint letter addressed to California Senators and Representatives entitled “Opposition…
October 2015 visa bulletin allows early filing of adjustment applications and work authorizations
STARTING in October 2015, the Department of State (DOS) and the USCIS will utilize a new format for priority dates. (I posted those priority dates already on my website).There will…
USCIS now allows early filing of green card applications
ON September 9, 2015, the government announced that it will now allow individuals who have been waiting for their priority dates to be current both in the family based and…
Do you need to be living in separate residences to be considered ‘separated’ from your spouse under the California family law?
Family Code 760 provides that all property acquired by the spouse during the marriage is community property. That means each spouse has a half interest on any assets that are…
Change to Visa Bulletin advances adjustment filing eligibility
A TREMENDOUSLY beneficial change to the Visa Bulletin was announced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and Department of State (DOS) on Sept. 9, 2015. The change…
New rules for I-485 application-submission dates affect families and employees
THE news from USCIS: In an important departure from the current rules regarding when someone can apply for a Green Card, USCIS has announced that starting October 1, 2015, I-485,…
October 2015 ‘filing’ dates (New format and charts for priority dates)
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…
US citizenship by birth abroad to unwed citizen father and alien mother
A person may acquire US citizenship either at birth or through naturalization. A person born in the US and subject to its jurisdiction acquires US citizenship at birth but, under…
Consular processing at the NVC
The growing threat of international terrorism, which apparently is without territorial boundaries, has prompted the Department of State (DOS) to tighten its rules of entry into the US. DOS is…
Will a domestic violence finding affect my claim for sole or joint custody of our children?
AN action under the DVPA (Domestic Violence Protection Act) seeking a restraining order often is necessary to protect parties from abuse or domestic violence perpetrated by the other spouse or…