Immigration News & Updates
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eNewsletter POSTING DATE: AUGUST 3, 2015
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This Week's Immigration News
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Immigration
Questions & Answers
Question: I have emailed you before asking about various immigration opportunities that have come my way but fell through the cracks. Now a new opportunity has come and would like some advise. Since I can't find someone to genuinely fall in love and marry to get a green card, I have worked with a lady as a housekeeper for over a year now and she would like to know if it's possible to sponsor me to get my green card through my job. She was told she could file a form I-140 to start the process. Thank you.
Answer: That is a great question. Yes a U.S. employer can FILE to sponsor you for residency through a job, but no, it won’t allow you to work or get residency now under current laws. Since May 1, 2001, Immigration regulations say that (most) Immigrants with expired I-94 cards, are not eligible to obtain residency in the U.S. through family and employment sponsored petitions. However, on the other hand, the Dept of Labor does have a process called “Labor Certification” or PERM, which allows U.S. employers to apply for Immigrants, regardless of an Immigrant’s immigration status and such cases can also be approved. But even once the Labor Certification is approved, the next step is to file for an Immigrant visa, then for Residency. And this is when everything falls apart.
As long as the U.S. company otherwise qualifies, the USCIS will approve the Immigrant visa (form I-140), but because the Immigrant is not in legal immigration status, he or she is not eligible to adjust status to residency in the U.S.. So with this result, it’s really nearly a useless process, waste of time and money. In my opinion, it does little good to have the process done, only to have the result which does not improve an Immigrants immigration status in any way. Many times immigration scammers will charge Immigrant to go through the entire process and only in the end tell the Immigrant that they aren’t eligible for residency in the U.S.. Or worse yet, quite commonly the Immigrant is never told and only finds out thousands of dollars later when he or she has already filed for residency that they were not eligible for and been denied. I hope this is helpful in your understanding of a very complicated subject.
The Obama Administration Announces Recommendations
For Revolutionizing The Current U.S. Immigration System
President Obama’s Administration, along with the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Immigration Advocates has established recommended actions which will transform the U.S. immigration system, called “Modernizing & Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System For The 21st Century”. In its recent report, the White House focuses on three major areas for reform:
1) the visa application
2) the adjudication process, and
3) the legal immigration and humanitarian systems.
These recommendations are intended to provide the Administration with a framework to begin modernizing the government’s technology systems, streamline the immigration system to reduce backlogs and make the system more user friendly.
Question: I married my American husband in 2010 and got my Green Card. Now my husband wants to sponsor my 19 years old daughter for her residency as well. He is her stepfather. So our questions is this, since my husband is American, will my daughter get her U.S. Citizenship automatically through him since she is still a minor?
Answer: Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, as of February 27, 2001, certain qualifying foreign-born children automatically acquire U.S. Citizenship from a parent, simultaneous with their grant of U.S. Residency (a Green Card). To qualify, a child has to have at least one U. S. Citizen parent (by birth or naturalization), be under 18 years of age, be a U.S. Resident and residing with the U.S. Citizen parent. Essentially, what this means is that Immigrant children in the U.S. and abroad, who are under age 18 and approved for Residency through a U.S. Citizen Parent, automatically become U.S. Citizens and can immediately apply for a U.S. Passport. However, the law does not extend to Immigrant children when the sponsoring U.S. Citizen is a step-parent, not biological parent, unless the child was legally adopted. It does, however, allow a step-parent who was married to the child’s biological parent before the child reached the age of 18 to qualify to sponsor the minor child up until the age of 20 for U.S. Residency.
So in your case, while your daughter can obtain U.S. Residency through her step-father, she does not qualify to automatically become a U.S. Citizen for two important reasons: 1) The U.S. Citizen sponsoring her is her step-father, not biological parent and 2) Your daughter is age 18 or older. I hope this was helpful to you.
Helpful Immigration Tips You Can Use
Republican Presidential Candidate Trump Unveils His Immigration Reform Plan
In his recent CNN interview, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump finally unveiled his Immigration Reform plan telling Dana Bash that as President, he would have undocumented Immigrants rounded up and deported.
Following the deportation, Trump says he would then allow the “good ones” to re-enter the U.S. and live here legally, but without a path to U.S. Citizenship. "We got to move 'em out, we're going to move 'em back in if they're really good people" said Trump. Nice to know.
The reforms will be implemented by President Obama through the related governmental agencies and do not require Congressional authority.
Read the recently released White house Report:
Immigration How To:
How Do I Know If I Qualify To Apply For Early Naturalization?
Eligible U.S. Residents who are spouses of U.S. Citizens can apply for Naturalization early and obtain their U.S. Citizenship in only 2 years and 9 months.
Most U.S. Residents (Green Card holders) must wait for 4 years and 9 months before being eligible to apply for Naturalization. However, qualifying U.S. Residents who are married to U.S. Citizens are eligible to apply 2 years earlier, called “Early Naturalization”. To qualify under this expedited U.S. Citizenship process, a U.S. Resident must fall under what is commonly called the “3/3/3” rule:
1) The U.S. Resident must be married to their U.S. Citizen spouse for at least 3 years and
2) their U.S. Citizen spouse must have been a U.S. Citizen for at least 3 years and finally,
3) the U.S. Resident must have held that status for at least 3 years (really 2 years and 9 months).
Did You Know…
Interesting facts you should know about American Immigration Law
Dual Citizenship - keeping both your foreign and U.S. Citizenship
Contrary to popular belief, Immigrants who naturalize to become U.S. Citizens do not automatically lose the citizenship of their birth country or the acquired citizenship of any other country prior to becoming a U.S. Citizen. U.S. Immigration laws allow dual nationality, which means that a person is a citizen of two or more countries at the same time. Persons may have dual nationality by automatic operation of different laws rather than by choice, for example, a child born in a foreign country to U.S. citizen parents may be both a U.S. citizen and a citizen of the country of birth.
Similarly, a U.S. citizen may acquire foreign citizenship by marriage. Naturalized U.S. Citizens need not lose the citizenship of any other country, unless the foreign country requires that person to choose one citizenship or another. Finally, a person who is automatically granted another citizenship in a foreign country does not risk losing U.S. Citizenship unless they apply for it with the intent to give up their U.S. Citizenship. Good to know!
So, as long as the U.S. Resident meets these requirements and is not only currently married to, but continues to reside in a real marriage with their U.S. Citizen spouse – they can apply for early naturalization… now you know ...
