245(i ) is an ever changing area of court interpretation. The Board of Immigration Appeals decided in Matter of Legaspi that an immigrant spouse cannot always grandfather under 245(i) and independently qualify for a green card if s/he is married to another immigrant who does have 245(i) grandfathering protection. 245(i) allows immigrants who entered the… Read More »
CIS recently announced in June 2011 that worldwide changes to the inadmissability waiver process are underway. One of the biggest changes affects how long these cases take to be decided. Applicants for waivers can send in their waiver directly to the CIS office assigned to the foreign consulate. Prior to this, Applicants were required to… Read More »
Choosing whether to file a joint petition or a waiver to remove the condition on residency often comes down to what you can prove. I speak to many immigrants who have evidence of abuse or that they married for love (not immigration purposes) in the form of affidavits of relatives. Often times, relatives are the… Read More »
A finding of marriage fraud is a lifetime bar to a later filed immigrant visa by another spouse. This situation commonly arises when an immigrant pays someone to help them get their green card by posing as their spouse even though they have no relationship, do not live together and the marriage was set up… Read More »
Often a conditional resident may end up in removal proceedings. This could be due to a denied case or failure to file to remove the condition while the residency period was intact. But not all hope is lost if placed in removal. If a CLPR’s status has been terminated, the immigrant may be able to… Read More »
Overstay Rules for Visa Waiver Countries Are Changing! Visa waiver entrants benefit from a program that Congress created allowing citizens of certain countries to come to the U.S. as tourists for 90 days or less without visitor’s visas. To get the government waiver of the usual visa requirement, the tourist has to sign a wiaver… Read More »
CIS recently released a memo confirming a nationwide policy to allow battered spouses who have received an approved Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petition to apply for a green card while in the U.S., despite an illegal entry. Prior to this memo’s release, there was no nationwide interpretation of the statute on this issue and… Read More »
9th Circuit Finds Adjustment (Green Card) Unavailable to Persons Who Enter the U.S. by Using False Documents or by Fraud; Must Consular Process!summary posted by AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) InfoNet Doc. No. 08050544 (posted May. 5, 2008)Orozco v. Mukasey, (9th Cir. Mar. 25, 2008)On January 11, 1996, Petitioner entered the United States by presenting… Read More »
Whether a marriage is considered a sham(“fake”, i.e., entered into for immigration purposes only, not for love), can hinge on whether the marriage was consummated (the couple had sex). If the immigrant refuses to consummate the marriage, then it can imply that the marriage was a sham. If the US citizen resfuses to consummate the… Read More »
Yes, the shorter the marriage is, the worse it looks on paper for a conditional green card holder. The whole point of having a conditional green card was congress was worried about sham marriages so there will be skepticism as to whether a short marriage was real to begin with if it breaks up especially… Read More »
