Obama Administration to Implement Deferred Action For Young Illegals

Posted June 15, 2012

News is evolving.  The Obama Administration has scheduled an announcement for 1:15pm EDT Friday, June 15th, so stay tuned. Preliminarily, it appears the Obama Administration has decided to implement a Deferred Action option for illegal immigrants in removal proceedings.  The policy, effective immediately, will apply to those in removal proceeding (a) under the age of 30; (b) who arrived to the U.S. before the age of 16; (c) who have lived in the country for at least five years; (d) who have no substantial criminal record (TBD); and (e) who have earned a high school diploma, remained in school or have joined the U.S. military.

Read the Department of Homeland Security Press Release.

Learn more:  DHS

Learn more:  ICE

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Nine Essential Elements of a Character Reference Letter

Posted April 30, 2012

If you find yourself in immigration removal proceedings, or if you require supporting evidence of good moral character to advance an application for naturalization, provide evidence of a spousal relationship, or support some other immigration benefit, character reference letters written on your behalf by persons who know you well can provide crucial information to the reviewing officer, immigration judge or government attorney in your case.  Here are basic guidelines for character reference letters written on your behalf.

The following are nine essential elements of such letters.  The blue sentences below are merely sample sentences – obviously, the writer should provide their own facts. 

Beyond these minimum elements, the writer is free to (and should) use their own writing style and sharing of information and facts about you based on their personal knowledge of you.  But the letter should contain at least these elements.  If a particular letter is missing any of these elements, you should request that the writer re-write the letter, including the missing element.  (‘You’ refers to the subject of the letter, i.e., the person in removal proceedings or applying for the immigration benefit and about whom the letter is written – in the below examples, the fictional Anthony Kalabua).

To Whom It May Concern (the proper salutation):

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E-Verify Reaches 50 States, Additional U.S. Territiories

Posted February 20, 2012

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that Self Check, a free online service of E-Verify that allows workers to check their own employment eligibility status, is now available in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.  Launched in March 2011 by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas, the announcement delivers on the goal of expanding Self Check nationally within one year.

“We are pleased to complete, ahead of schedule, our expansion of this important tool for employees,” said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas during a press conference at the agency’s field office in Orlando, Fla. “Since our initial launch in March, approximately 67,000 people have used Self Check and we anticipate that participation will dramatically increase with service now available to individuals across the country.”

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CRITICAL CHANGE TO WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL REGISTER

Posted January 7, 2012

Major changes are pending to the method in which waivers of inadmissibility based on extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen are processed (I-601 applications under INA §212(a)(9)(B)), announced January 6, 2012 by the Department of Homeland Security.  If you have been unlawfully present in the United States for a period greater than six months, and are thus subject to the three or ten-year bar to admission if you leave the country, and you have a spouse or child that is a U.S. citizen, this directly impacts you.

The new rule significantly changes the government’s method of processing and approving I-601 waiver applications, allowing the Department of Homeland Security in the United States to accept and issue provisional approval of I-601 waivers on grounds of unlawful presence while the applicant remains in the United States.  Upon provisional approval by DHS, the applicant could then apply for the immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate abroad without an eternal wait for the waiver.

To be sure, the ‘provisional’ qualifier likely adds an extra layer of review at the U.S. consulate to ensure all immigrant visa qualifications are met (including, importantly, the primary requirement that the U.S. citizen relative would suffer ‘extreme hardship’ due to separation), but the difference in waiting time would likely be weeks compared to years.  Current practice is for the applicant for an I-601 waiver of inadmissibility, if otherwise qualified for permanent residence through a qualifying immediate family relationship, to leave the United States for often two years or more to wait for processing of the waiver by USCIS, and then further review and delay at the U.S. consulate in their home country.

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