As an immigration lawyer, the ability to quickly access information from USCIS is vital to my job. Although their website does offer valuable information such as which version of immigration forms have been retired, the current filing fees and general processing times, an immigration lawyer often needs information about a specific case. Sometimes we can [...]
Last year I wrote about the dangers of applying for adjustment of status if you had overstayed the visa waiver program. I'm happy to report that adjustment of status green card processing for VWP participants has undergone some positive changes in the past few months. Prior to 2009, spouses, parents and children of US Citizens [...]
I get many phone calls from US Citizens asking if their foreign national loved one (spouse, fiance, parent, child) can adjust status in the US. For many of these callers, the answer is yes. If a foreign national is here, in the United States, and has a green card immediately available to him or her [...]
One of the most common complaints in immigration reform is that it is impossible to control unauthorized employment. On one hand, some employers hire workers whom they know are not authorized to work in the United States. On the other hand, some aliens obtain fraudulent documents to present to employers so that the employer will [...]
Despite an exciting summer and fall, when the wait for a green card for some family-based applicants had widdled down to less than a year, things continue to slide backward. Although immediate relatives of US citizens (i.e. parents, children and spouses) are immediately eligible to apply for a green card, other family members must wait [...]
Due to the continued unrest in the area, the US Embassy in Cairo Egypt announced today that it is suspending all of its visa services until further notice. The Embassy in Cairo typically handles both immigrant and non-immigrant visa applications for Egyptian citizens. If you filed a non-immigrant visa application through Cairo and had your [...]
An I-601 waiver is filed by a US green card applicant to overcome some sort of inadmissibility to the United States. The most common types of inadmissibility connected to an I-601 waiver are overstays (whether with a visa or having entered without authorization), misrepresentation or fraud, and certain criminal matters. If the I-601 waiver is [...]
The DREAM Act, a bill that would provide a path to legalization for possibly millions of undocumented youth and young adults, has narrowly passed through the US House of Representatives this evening, by a vote of 216-198. Although this is a huge win for immigration reform advocates who seek a solution to America's immigration problems, [...]
The United States Citizenship and Nationality Service (USCIS) recently made changes to the fees required when filing certain immigration forms. Although most fees did increase, fees for two key applications either stayed the same or decreased. K1 Visa filing fee decreases The filing fee for form I-129F, which is used to petition for a K1 [...]
Although the chances of any type of comprehensive immigration reform being passed in the foreseeable future are slim to none, it would appear that another branch of the US government has taken it upon itself to implement what amounts to an informal immigration amnesty in various cities across the US. In Houston alone, immigration judges [...]
