Family Green Card

Who can get a family green card?

•Spouses of a US citizen
•Parents of US citizens, if the sponsoring citizen is age 21 or older
•Children of a US citizen
•Siblings of US citizen, if the sponsoring citizen is age 21 or older
•Spouses of a permanent resident
•Unmarried children of a permanent resident

Overview of the steps

1. Get sponsored. To obtain a green card through family, a relative who is a permanent resident or citizen must sponsor their immigrant relative by filing a visa petition on their behalf. This is always the first step towards receiving a family green card, regardless of the immigrant’s current status.
2. Wait for a visa. Once the relative visa petition is approved, the immigrant must wait for an immigrant visa to become available. The waiting period could take a few months or decades depending on how many other applicants are in the US visa backlog. This is true for applicants both in or outside of the United States.
3. Apply for a green card. After an immigrant visa becomes available, the immigrant must complete a medical exam, file for adjustment of status or consular processing, and potentially attend an interview. If approved, the immigrant will officially be a permanent resident.

How long will it take?

Processing time for immigrant visa petition: 6 months or longer
Waiting time for immigrant visa to become available: 1 year or longer*
Processing time for adjustment of status/consular processing: 6 months or longer
*This depends on your preference category, Immediate relatives of a US citizen do not need to wait for a visa to become available.

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  Tip: You can find out how far USCIS is into processing their backlog of applications by checking the visa bulletin. LEGiTiGO updates the bulletin on a monthly basis.

White House Residents

White House Residents Directly Benefit from America’s Generous Immigration System

America’s generosity is reflected in our immigration system. Throughout our nation’s history (with some shameful exceptions), we have allowed individuals to come to the United States to reunite with family members and offered safety and protection to those who need it most.

Yet the Trump White House publicly opposes these fundamental American traditions and values. Trump administration rhetoric that demands an end to family-based immigration and seeks to shut our doors to asylum seekers is particularly searing, considering many who dwell in the White House today have directly benefited from policies put in place by previous administrations.

The most recent example is First Lady Melania Trump, whose parents became U.S. citizens just last week thanks to her sponsorship. How glad she must be to know her parents are nearby rather than thousands of miles away in Slovenia.

President Trump himself is a by-product of family reunification. Both his paternal grandfather and his mother migrated to the United States to be with siblings. Imagine the comfort they experienced from being reunited with family from across the pond.

The president’s senior advisor and lead on anti-immigration policy, Stephen Miller, can thank America’s generous immigration system for his family’s survival and prosperity. His uncle recently shared the story of their family’s immigration history, noting his maternal grandfather—Izzy Glosser, a Jew from Belarus—arrived at Ellis Island in January 1903 with $8 and no knowledge of English.

What is a U-Visa?

What is a U Visa?

Immigrants who are worried about being deported may be too afraid to report a crime to the police, even if they are the victim. The U visa can protect victims of certain crimes by making it safer to report the crime or help law enforcement.  A person who is the victim of domestic violence or trafficking, but who doesn't qualify for VAWA or a T visa, can sometimes qualify for a U visa.

Which crimes qualify for a U Visa?
Many crimes and attempted crimes qualify for the U visa. This includes crimes that happen at work. Because different states use different names for those crimes, it's a good idea to talk to an immigration lawyer to find out if you qualify for a U visa.

You may qualify for a crime such as:

•Assault (hitting, beating), abusive sexual contact, blackmail, domestic violence, genital cutting of a girl or woman
•Paying someone too little for their work, keeping them prisoner, tricking them into working, threatening to make them lie to an investigator, and others

How do I prove that I qualify?
You must show that:
•The crime hurt you, physically and/or mentally.
•You were helpful or will be helpful to law enforcement (police or investigators). This means reporting the crime or answering questions. Even if the crime happened a while ago, it might not be too late to report it or be helpful.

How long does it take to get the visa?
There is a waiting list for the U visa. How long it takes depends on how many people have applied and your place in line. But you can apply for a work permit while you wait for your U visa.

If I get a U Visa, can I help my family members stay in the U.S.?
If you qualify, you can get a work permit and permission to stay in the U.S., and help other family members get a U visa, too. If you are 21 or over, you can apply for your spouse and children, too. If you are under 21, you can also apply for your parents and unmarried brothers and sisters who are under 18.

Prepare for an I-9 Audit

Employer: How to Prepare for an I-9 Audit

During this fiscal year, ICE has served more than 5,000 Notices of I-9 Inspections on employers across the country. They have also made almost 1,000 administrative worksite-related arrests. Employers need to be prepared for I-9 audits.

Conduct Periodic Internal Self-Audits

Since I-9s became required for new hires in 1986, we have always advised employers to conduct internal self-audits as a way to eliminate, or at least minimize, their liability for I-9 violations.
Employers need to make sure that employees complete Section 1 of form I-9 no later than their 1st day of employment. They are required to print their name, address, e-mail address and phone number.
They must attest whether they are either a (1) US citizen; (2) a non-citizen national; (3) a lawful permanent resident; or (4) are authorized to work in the US until a particular date. A lawful permanent resident must provide his/her alien number. A person with a temporary work permit must choose between completing information from 1 of 3 documents.
The employer must then sign and date the I-9 attesting, under penalty of perjury, that the information is true and correct.

Helpful I-9 Resources for Employers

Over the past 30+ years, walking the fine line between I-9 compliance and refraining from violating federal anti-discrimination laws has become increasingly difficult for employers. Fortunately, the USCIS now provides the online resources to help employers comply with the complex rules governing these subjects:

How to Avoid Common I-9 Mistakes

The USCIS website contains a page on I-9s entitled Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Also, when our law firm has conducted audits of I-9 forms for employers, I have often observed that far too many of the employees submit Drivers Licenses and Social Security Cards. Often, this results from HR telling the employees which forms to submit. Instead, HR should simply show each employee the list of List A, B and C documents and inform them that they need to submit a List A document, or a List B and a List C document. Be aware that employees cannot be compelled to list their Social Security numbers on form I-9 unless the employer is enrolled in the E-Verify program. If an employee is a lawful permanent resident, their employer should never reverify their I-9 form simply because their green card expires. Finally, there are numerous types of EAD work permits that automatically are extended for 180 days if the employee submits a timely application for extension.

Applying for a family-based green card

Applying for a family-based green card

A green card is the document that proves your status as a permanent resident in the United States. With a valid green card, you can legally live and work in the United States for 10 years, as well as:

•Travel outside the United States, without the risk of being denied entry.
•Live and work anywhere in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship.
•Start a business in the United States.
•Receive government-sponsored financial aid for education, if eligible.
•Collect social security benefits in retirement, if eligible.
•Sponsor certain family members for a green card.
•Be protected by all federal, state, and local laws.

Who can get a family green card?

•Spouses of a US citizen
•Parents of US citizens, if the sponsoring citizen is age 21 or older
•Children of a US citizen
•Siblings of US citizen, if the sponsoring citizen is age 21 or older
•Spouses of a permanent resident
•Unmarried children of a permanent resident

Overview of the steps

1. Get sponsored. To obtain a green card through family, a relative who is a permanent resident or citizen must sponsor their immigrant relative by filing a visa petition on their behalf. This is always the first step towards receiving a family green card, regardless of the immigrant’s current status.

2. Wait for a visa. Once the relative visa petition is approved, the immigrant must wait for an immigrant visa to become available. The waiting period could take a few months or decades depending on how many other applicants are in the US visa backlog. This is true for applicants both in or outside of the United States.

3. Apply for a green card. After an immigrant visa becomes available, the immigrant must complete a medical exam, file for adjustment of status or consular processing, and potentially attend an interview. If approved, the immigrant will officially be a permanent resident.

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  Exception: Immediate relatives of a US citizen always have a visa available and can become permanent residents as soon as their applications are approved. Everyone else, however, has to wait.

It Is Legal to Seek Asylum

It Is Legal to Seek Asylum

As thousands of asylum-seeking parents were separated from their children in recent months, the A.G. administration actively portrayed them as law breakers who must be prosecuted and punished for coming to the United States. Left out of the narrative is one well-established fact: it is legal to seek asylum.

The Immigration and Nationality Act, which governs our nation’s immigration law, makes clear that anyone arriving at the U.S. border or within the United States is permitted to apply for protection. U.S. law embraces both international and domestic legal obligations not to return any person to a place where they face persecution on account of one of several protected grounds.

Most everyone can apply for asylum, and where narrow exceptions apply, those individuals can apply for other forms of protection including withholding of removal or relief for those at risk of torture.

For those able to reach the U.S. border, many have been unlawfully turned away by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials who have told migrants that ports of entry are closed or that the U.S. no longer welcomes asylum seekers, at least from certain countries, among other justifications.

Faced with no alternatives, many asylum seekers present themselves to Border Patrol between the ports of entry in order to seek protection. Following the Attorney General’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting everyone apprehended between the ports of entry, many asylum-seeking parents were separated from their children for months so they could be prosecuted for entry-related crimes before being given a chance to ask for protection.

Employment-Based Visa

Employment-Based Visa Categories in the United States

One of the key principles guiding the U.S. immigration system has been admitting foreign workers with skills that are valuable to the U.S. economy. Current U.S. immigration law provides several paths for foreign workers to enter the United States for employment purposes on a temporary or permanent basis.

Temporary Employment-Based Visa Classifications

There are many different temporary employment-based visa classifications.   Most of the classifications are defined in section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and the visa classifications are referred to by the letter and numeral that denotes their subsection of that law. Temporary employment-based visa classifications permit employers to hire and petition for foreign nationals for specific jobs for limited periods. Most temporary workers must work for the employer that petitioned for them and have limited ability to change jobs.  In most cases, they must leave the United States if their status expires or if their employment is terminated.

Permanent Employment-Based Immigration

Lawful permanent residency allows a foreign national to work and live lawfully and permanently in the United States. Lawful permanent residents (LPRs) are eligible to apply for nearly all jobs (i.e., jobs not legitimately restricted to U.S. citizens) and can remain in the country even if they are unemployed. Immigrants who acquired lawful permanent resident status through employment may apply for U.S. citizenship after five years. 

Numerical limits and Per-Country Limits

In addition to the annual numerical limit on the number of employment-based immigrant visas, each country is limited to seven percent of the worldwide level of U.S. immigrant admissions, otherwise known as per-country limits.  Because of numerical and per-country limits, and because in some preference categories there are more petitions each year than visas available, some individuals must wait a significant period of time to apply for adjustment of status (in the U.S.) or an immigrant visa (abroad) even after the employer’s petition is approved by USCIS.

As of September 2016, most preference categories were current for most countries, meaning that visas are available as petitions are received. However, for some employment-based preference categories, there are backlogs for petitions for individuals born in certain countries with high annual levels, such as India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines.