HELPING YOU FIND YOUR WAY HOME
What Is a Green Card?
A green card allows someone who is not a U.S. citizen to have legal permanent residency in the United States. With a green card, you can live and work anywhere in the U.S. and continue the pathway to citizenship. To apply for a permanent residence within the U.S., you must submit Form I-485.
Once you gain legal permanent residence in the United States, you essentially have lifetime legal status in the country. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires you to renew your green card every 10 years. To renew your card, you must file Form I-90.
However, unlike with citizenship, you may lose your legal residency status if you:
Stay outside the United States for over 364 days and you do not have approval
Become a U.S. citizen
Give up your status by choice and fill out the correct forms
Commit a crime or violate immigration law and are ordered removed by an immigration judge
Who Is Eligible for a Green Card?
There are several ways you may apply for a green card. Your eligibility depends on qualifying under the appropriate immigrant category.
You may apply under several categories:
Family and marriage based
Employment based
Green card as a special immigrant
Refugee or asylee status
Human trafficking and crime victims
Victims of abuse
Registry
Other category
It’s a good time to be an immigration lawyer
Bar Association warned of a “dire” shortage of immigration lawyers and insufficient safeguards for clients against unqualified practioners.
Though some progress has been made since the report was published, the shortage hasn’t gotten significantly better
Indeed, U.S. immigration courts are so backlogged that some defendants need to wait nearly two years to get their cases heard.
“A lot of immigration lawyers are solo and small practitioners who have a certain level of capacity. They only have so many hours in a day, and they have a limited ability to ramp up” their businesses to meet the rising demand.
temporary immigration ban rattled legal immigrants and their employers because some green card holders were also denied entry into the U.S. when the executive order first went into effect.
Immigration lawyer
Why is choosing a good immigration lawyer so important?
Since dealing with immigration law and the USCIS with both documented and undocumented immigrants, come to understand that perhaps it’s not the field of law that’s going to make uber-rich. deal with clients from all over the world, both rich and poor. So try our best to be reasonable, but found that people are always looking for ways to get discount legal help.
The truth is, your immigration case is worth an investment. Of course you will be completing a tedious process, which takes time and attention. So simple mistakes can become big ones. Additionally, you are going through a process which will determine your entire future including; where you will be, where you will begin and raise a family, and what type of person you will have the opportunity to become.
Choose someone who focuses their practice on immigration law.
It’s a complicated system of laws that changes literally every day. There are so many avenues of relief for people that we often compare practicing immigration law to a game of chess. Hence ,many different possible moves, leading to our ultimate goal, residency or citizenship.
Choose someone who listens to you.
have had many clients consult with us and tell about their previous experiences with lawyers. These stories include episodes of lawyers yelling at them, not giving them time to explain their stories, and not addressing their fears and concerns. This is YOUR life and want you to feel as comfortable as possible so that you become actively involved in the process of becoming a citizen.
Run away from a lawyer that advises you to lie or act dishonest or against what you think is right. And don’t believe any guarantees.
Immigration forms and testimony are legally binding. When you sign a form, you vouch for everything in that form. Telling an untruth can destroy your credibility on every application you will ever file. It can also get you deported. always tell clients that win with the truth. There is always a way and there is always hope. Don’t fall prey to someone who promises you the world and then leaves you hanging.
ABCs of Immigration
There are Major Immigration Status/ Visa Categories and for the purposes of this paper, the first four will be discussed.
Non-Immigrant Visas– temporary visitors (work, student, visitor, etc.)
Immigrant Visas – lawful permanent residents (green card holders)
Asylees and other special groups – Asylum, refugee, DACA and TPS status holders
Citizens
Undocumented – unlawfully present immigrant
Non-Immigrant Visas
There are several types of non-immigrant visas. Non-immigrant visas are usually designated by letters. Below are brief summaries of the most common ones:
B-1/B-2 Visas – Available to Short-term visitors for pleasure or business
Do you have a job that pays well and which you can leave for a few weeks on a vacation?
Do you have close relatives who will be remaining in your home country when you come to the US?
Are you coming for a short visit?
Do you have assets in your home country?
Do you own property in your home country?
Do you have a passport valid for at least six months after your planned departure from the US?
Do you have a set itinerary for your trip to the US?
Do you have a roundtrip plane ticket?
Do you have close community ties in your home country?
Do you have money or proof of support from friends or relatives in the US to show adequate financial arrangements to carry out purpose of trip?
If you are coming for business, is the work you are doing work that would typically be done by an American worker?
If you are coming for business, is the main place where profits are earned outside the US?
If you are coming to the US on business, is your payment going to be made abroad rather than in the US?
If you are coming as a B-2 visitor for pleasure, are you coming for one of the following purposes?
Tourist
Social visits to friends/relatives
Health purposes
Participants in conventions of social organizations
Participants in amateur musical, sports or similar events with no pay
Spouses and children of people in the US armed forces
People accompanying B-1 business visitors
Coming to marry a US citizen but the person plans on departing after the wedding
Coming to marry someone on a non-immigrant visa
Non-spouse partners (regardless of gender) or non-qualifying dependent relatives that accompany a non-immigrant visa holder
Parent seeking to accompany an F-1 student visa holder
Language students in course of short duration when the course of study is under 18 hours per week
If you are coming on a B-1 business visitor visa, are you coming for one of the following purposes?
Engaging in commercial transactions not involving employment (negotiating contracts, litigation, consulting with clients or business associates)
Participating in scientific, educational, professional, religious or business conventions
Religious workers coming to do missionary work in the US, ministers exchanging pulpits but who are paid by their own church abroad, and ministers on evangelical tours
Domestic servants accompanying returning US citizens temporarily assigned to the US or who permanently reside in a foreign country
Domestic servants accompanying non-immigrant visa holders if the applicant has worked for the employer for a year or more
Professional athletes only receiving tournament money
Foreign medical students seeking to take “elective clerkship” without pay
Serving on a board of directors of a US company
Coming to the US to set up a US subsidiary and explore investment opportunities
Installing equipment as part of a contract
Participating in a volunteer service program if religious only
Attending an executive seminar
Observing the conduct of business
Domestic partner of a person on a non-immigrant visa.
General Notes: Usually can get an authorized stay of up to six months as a visitor for pleasure and 90 days as a visitor for business; chances improve if a shorter trip is requested; no USCIS approval required before consulate issues visa; not allowed to work while on a visitor visa; visa must be granted by consular officer except in most cases if the national is from one of more than two dozen countries granted Visa Waiver status allowing such persons to enter the US for up to 90 days. Visa Waiver entrants cannot have their status extended and cannot change to other non-immigrant categories while in the US
Preparing for the Green Card Interview
The last step of the marriage green card process is the interview, which is scheduled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) if the spouse seeking a green card lives in the United States and by the National Visa Center (NVC) if they live abroad. Although this interview may still be months or later in the future, knowing what to expect will help you feel more confident and prepared when that important day comes.
Whether your interview will take place in the United States or abroad, the interviewing officer’s primary goal will be to determine whether your marriage is authentic — in other words, not based on fraud. Questions can focus on, for example, the history of your relationship, your daily activities as a married couple, and your future plans together.
Below, we’ve prepared a list of the most common questions that are asked during the interview, as well as some useful tips. Make sure to also check out our guide to questions on a green card application.
While you can never be certain about the questions that an interviewing officer will ask, here are some of the most typical questions that couples encounter, grouped by category:
YOUR RELATIONSHIP HISTORY
How did you meet?
Where did some of your first dates take place?
How long did you date before deciding to get married?
What is the story of your marriage proposal?
YOUR WEDDING
What was your wedding like?
Who attended your wedding?
What food was served?
Were there any special rituals performed? If so, what kind?
Did you go anywhere for your honeymoon? If so, where?
YOUR DAILY ROUTINES
What is daily life like for you and your spouse around the house?
How do you start your day?
How often do you text or talk on the phone when you’re apart?
Which of you likes to cook?
Which of you likes to clean?
YOUR KIDS (IF ANY)
How do your kids get to school?
Who are their friends?
What are their favorite foods?
Do they play any sports? If so, what?
YOUR PERSONAL HABITS AND NEEDS
What side of the bed do you sleep on?
What pajamas do you wear?
What medications does your spouse take?