What is TPS?

Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

What is TPS?

Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a life-saving immigration status that allows foreign nationals to remain in the U.S. if during the time they were in the U.S. something catastrophic happened in their country of origin preventing their safe return – for example war, famine, natural disaster, or epidemic. TPS allows people to work legally and be protected from deportation.

Who are TPS holders?

Will TPS be terminated for the designated countries?

The Trump administration has signaled it is in the process of phasing out the use of TPS. This means the administration will likely terminate TPS for many of the currently designated countries, affecting thousands of TPS holders, their families and communities.

Updates on Temporary Protected Status

Haiti: Haiti received an 18-month termination in Nov. 2017. The last day of TPS for Haiti will be July 22, 2019.

Sudan: TPS for Sudan received a 12-month termination in Oct. 2017. The last day of TPS for the Sudan will be Nov. 2, 2018.

South Sudan: TPS for South Sudan received an 18-month extension in September 2017.

Nicaragua: received a 12-month termination in Nov. 2017. The last day of TPS for Nicaragua will be Jan. 5, 2019.

Honduras: received a 6-month extension in Nov. 2017.

Upcoming TPS decision dates:

Jan. 8, 2018: El Salvador
Jan. 30, 2018: Syria
Apr. 25, 2018: Nepal
July 5, 2018: Yemen
July 19, 2018: Somalia
March 3, 2019: South Sudan

Immigrants and Their Children

Immigrants and Their Children Founded More Than Two-Fifths of All Fortune 500 Companies

The modern U.S. economy owes much of its success to the contributions of immigrants and their children. Among these contributions, it would be difficult to overstate the value of entrepreneurship. For instance, a new report from the Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) analyzes the role of immigrants and their children in 2017’s list of Fortune 500 companies.

Companies founded by immigrants include AT&T; Verizon; Procter & Gamble; PepsiCo; Pfizer; Goldman Sachs; and Facebook. Those founded by the children of immigrants include Apple; Ford Motor; Home Depot; Boeing; IBM; McDonald’s; and Staples. In total, 43 percent of all Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.

These companies—which span numerous industries, from high-tech to retail to healthcare—wouldn’t exist if not for immigrants and their children.

CAE’s findings highlight just how critical immigrants are to the success of these powerhouse companies. Fortune 500 firms created by immigrants or the children of immigrants “are headquartered in 33 of the 50 states, employ 12.8 million people worldwide, and accounted for $5.3 trillion in global revenue in 2016,” according to the report.

Immigrants and their children are most prevalent among the biggest of the Fortune 500 companies, comprising 52 percent of the top 25 firms and 57 percent of the top 35. More precisely, 18.4 percent of today’s Fortune 500 companies were founded by at least one immigrant, and an additional 24.8 percent were founded by the child of an immigrant.

Neighbors Defend Immigrants

As Immigration Enforcement Ramps up, Neighbors Sign up to Defend Immigrants

In the face of heightened threats around immigration enforcement, communities are taking action to ensure due process for their undocumented community members. These rapid response efforts are being undertaken by a growing network of community members—from students to salesmen to social workers—who are volunteering to witness arrests conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Known as “Migra Watch” teams, these groups are forming around the country, and include groups like the Immigration Liberation Movement, a coalition of organizers, immigration attorneys, impacted individuals, and allies. This particular group was formed in the fall of 2016 and includes Migra Watch, which dispatches moral and legal observers to immigration raid sites.

Poised to act at a moment’s notice, Migra Watch volunteers are trained to manage distress calls, provide support to children whose family members have been detained or deported, and show up where ICE is conducting roundups of their immigrant neighbors. Trainings typically take place at churches or community centers, where legal residents and citizens are taught to not interfere with ICE operations, but to document them.

Volunteers are encouraged to take notes, photos, and provide eyewitness testimony if they believe ICE has acted outside of its authority. Most importantly, they use this information to track where the arrested immigrant is being sent and direct legal help to that location in the hopes of delaying or stopping the deportations of their friends and neighbors.

Grounds of Deportability

Grounds of Deportability: When Legal U.S. Residents Can Be Removed?

Although people who carry nonimmigrant visas or green card holder have the right to be in the United States, such rights depend entirely on them following certain rules and avoiding certain types of legal violations. The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.) sets forth numerous grounds upon which a non-citizen may be deported (removed) back to the person’s country of origin.

This article discusses the reasons why a permanent resident who isn’t considered an “arriving alien” (one who left the country and was put into removal proceedings upon return) can be deported. Other things can get an permanent resident “arriving alien” deported. Such persons, even if they are let back into the country, are considered to be seeking readmission to the United States, so any reason for keeping people out of the U.S. in the first place may make them “inadmissible” and deportable. For a discussion of the grounds of inadmissibility

Only after an immigrant has successfully become a U.S. citizen, is he or she safe from the grounds of deportability. U.S. citizens cannot be removed unless they used fraud to gain their green card or citizenship.

Briefly summarized, a person may be deportable from the U.S. if he or she:

•was inadmissible at time of U.S. entry or of adjustment of status, or violates the terms of his or her visa, green card, or other status. (Permanent residents who have been absent from the United States for fewer than 180 continuous days don’t have to worry about admissibility upon their return except if they have committed certain crimes).

•had conditional permanent resident status (applicable to certain spouses, sons, and daughters of U.S. citizens as well as investor/entrepreneurs, with their spouses, and children) but had this status terminated.

•before, during, or within five years of the date of any U.S. entry, knowingly helped smuggle any other alien trying to enter the United States.

•has been convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after U.S. admission.


If you have any questions regarding Grounds of Deportability or any other immigration topic,
Please contact LEGiTiGO, today

TPS

What does the end of the TPS mean for Nicaragua?

The TPS is a Temporary Protection status that Congress created in 1990 for Central American countries that had conflicts of war or natural disasters in which this temporary humanitarian program guaranteed that thousands of Nicaraguans could live and work to send remittances to their families because of the devastating hurricane. Mitch in 1998, these people should have sought immigration assistance to legalize their status and know that this program could come to an end.

For Nicaragua it ends on January 5, 2018 and the secretary of the Department of National Security of the United States said that there will be a period of 12 months ending on January 5, 2019, in order to guarantee the orderly return of the Nicaraguan citizens who were hosted under the TPS.

What are the actions that a Nicaraguan can take in the United States before this legal action of the TPS for Nicaragua?

The first step would be to qualify for an opportunity for legal alternative immigration status if eligible.

Many families would have to start to move their household goods they have in the houses they lived in, the household goods allow the tax exemption only for domestic taxes, and if they bring new or used vehicles they would have to initiate a payment of customs services for the payment of taxes for said vehicles.

What work options are there for the Nicaraguans that had the TPS?

In Nicaragua there are more than 13 Call centers and in constant time open new campaigns this would be an excellent way of working for many compatriots who master the English language and an excellent workforce for the Call centers that the current market does not meet their demands for workers.

Other ways to generate income would be that many of these citizens start businesses so they would have a way of working and even generate jobs in their departments or municipalities.

Another market that would be revitalizing is the purchase of houses in purchase or rent in Nicaragua, this will benefit a lot the new developers that offer affordable housing to these Nicaraguans who will demand a home to live in Nicaragua.

Immigrants Help

How Immigrants Helped Boost American Jobs in the Midwest

At a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies seem to be growing, immigrants in the United States continue to do what they have done for over a century—bring unique and vital experiences to the country that support our economy and society.

States in the Rust Belt region of the United States, for example, owe much of their economic and population growth in recent years to immigrants, according to a recent report by the Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition and New American Economy (NAE), a non-partisan coalition of mayors and business leaders from across the United States. Research has repeatedly found that population decline, due to aging and native residents moving away, hurts local economies by shrinking the tax base and hampering business and job creation.

Many cities in the Great Lakes region—comprising Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (excluding New York City metro area)—have experienced this economic and population decline. Whereas the U.S. population grew 14.2 percent between 2000 and 2015, the overall population of the Great Lakes region only increased by 4.3 percent during that time. And yet much of this growth was driven by immigrants.

Significantly, foreign-born residents accounted for half of the total population growth in the Great Lakes region between 2000 and 2015. Some metro areas would have experienced significant population declines if not for immigrants; Detroit and Pittsburg, for example, would have lost over 200,000 and 100,000 people, respectively, without the growth of the foreign-born population in the metro area, according to the NAE report New Americans and a New Direction: The Role of Immigrants in Reviving the Great Lakes Region.

Refugee Admissions

Refugee Admissions Resume but Government Will Still Restrict Some Countries

With its current refugee ban formally expiring, this week the Trump administration announced it will resume the U.S. Refugee Admissions program—with one major caveat: refugees from 11 countries are generally barred from the country for an additional 90-day period.

Although the administration did not name the 11 countries subject to additional review, they appear to be Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, according to news outlets. With the exception of North Korea and South Sudan, these are all Muslim-majority countries.

In addition, new screening requirements and refugee restrictions are being implemented on the refugee program, as outlined in an October 23 memo sent to the White House by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke, and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats. The document suspends the admission of family members of refugees already admitted to the United States until “additional security measures” are implemented.
All refugees applying for resettlement will now be subject to intense screening measures effective immediately—even though refugees are already heavily vetted prior to their admission to the U.S. resettlement program. The additional requirements include providing specific addresses going back 10 years (instead of the current five years) for all places where they have lived for more than 30 days and listing a phone number and email address for all relatives on their family tree, rather than the current process of only requiring this information for relatives in the United States.

The burden of providing this information is significant for individuals and families who may have been on the move for several years, fleeing war and persecution.

Freedman

With the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy's future in question, revisit Jonathan Freedman's prize-winning editorials on immigration in California.

Twenty-eight years after Jonathan Freedman won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, an interviewer asked him how the winning work came to be.

Freedman answered:

“I was 30 years old, unemployed, freelancing in Haight-Ashbury. I went down to San Diego for a job interview at the Tribune. The editor took me to the cafeteria. ‘Jonathan, on my way to work, I saw these poor migrant workers hiding in the bushes in the rain. I’ve worked for this newspaper for 30 years. Every day we report murders and terrible things on the border. But we’ve never gone into depth on the issues underlying illegal immigration. If we did that, we could win a Pulitzer Prize.’

“I needed a job. The idea of a Pulitzer Prize was beyond my imagination. I got hired and trained as an editorial writer. Six months later, I said, ‘Mr. Bennett, do you remember what you said about the border?’ ‘Yeah, but we have no time,’ he said. ‘Write me a proposal.’ So I wrote, ‘The border between Mexico and the United States is where water flowing from the Colorado River stops, and a river of humanity flows northward from Mexico to United States.’

“So, the next day, I went to the border outpost at the extreme southwest corner of the United States and Mexico. I saw a hole in the chain-link fence. It was the size of a crouching man. Then I interviewed the border patrol agents. They told me how they’d get alerted when someone trips a wire. They’d chase them; they’d arrest them; they’d deport them. And the next day, they’d be back. I saw a holding tank for people who had been caught trying to cross the border. It was dark and dingy and someone had written on the wall mojado power, ‘wetback power.’

Easter sunrise on the border ends in trauma
By Jonathan Freedman

The night before Easter, three companeros crawled through a hole in the chain-link fence — into America. The border where they crossed is a no-man’s land. But in the spring, yellow flowers bloom waist-high beside the torn fence.

The companeros stopped to rest. Tomorrow was Domingo Santo, the holy day when the crucified Jesus rose from his tomb.

They laid a blanket under the flowers near a dirt track. They lay down and nestled together.

"Novel excerpt by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Jonathan Freedman,"


If you have any questions regarding Freedman Novel or any other immigration topic,
Please contact LEGiTiGO

Immgrants Noble Prize Winners

Immigrants and Refugees Are Among America’s 2017 Nobel Prize Winners

The Nobel Prizes, awarded annually in recognition of extraordinary achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace, have once again been won by Americans who came here as immigrants and refugees. Three out of the five Nobel Prize categories included immigrants or refugees.

Immigrants have a history of winning The Nobel Foundation’s numerous awards—33 of 85 American winners have been immigrants since 2000. In the chemistry, medicine, and physics categories respectively, foreign-born Americans have won 38 percent of chemistry and medicine prizes, as well as 40 percent of all physics prizes awarded in the last 17 years.

This year, immigrants have been awarded prizes in Peace:

The Nobel Prize in Peace was awarded to Alexander Glaser and Zia Mian, among the other members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Glaser and Mian, both researchers at Princeton University and born in Germany and Pakistan respectively, work to “outlaw and eliminate all nuclear weapons” under international law through their work with ICAN. Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, remarked that the award represented “encouragement” to nuclear powers to continue negotiations around their use of weapons.

As with the winners from previous years, these immigrants and refugee have shared their talents, innovation, and energy with the nation.

Border Wall

The House Approves $10 Billion for Trump’s Border Wall

In an effort to fulfill the harsh requirements of the immigration executive order released during the Trump administration’s first week in office, the House Homeland Security Committee passed the Border Security for America Act, H.R. 3548, out of committee on a party line vote on Wednesday.

The timing of the Committee’s vote is significant—it likely represents Republicans’ willingness to use border wall funding as a bargaining chip for both the year-end government funding debate and negotiations over the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative.

Though the president has said his border wall funding can be absent from the DACA deal, House Republicans want it front and center. They have threatened a government shutdown in December over the border wall funding, and may be tacking it on in exchange for a legislative fix for Dreamers.

Under this bill, DHS would receive $10 billion for a border wall. That amount of funding is far below any projection that currently exists, however. The Migration Policy Institute estimates the cost of the remaining border wall segments is between $15 and $25 billion, with each mile of fencing costing $16 million.

The bill does not stop at the border wall funding, however. The additional agents included in the bill would represent a 25 percent increase at a time when border apprehensions continue to go down, a slide that began and has remained fairly steady for the past 17 years. The bill would also make hiring these agents far easier by lessening requirements for agency employment. Border apprehensions are now running at less than 25 percent of the level they reached in 2000. The DHS Office of Immigration Statistics concluded in a report out just last month, “that the southwest land border is more difficult to illegally cross today than ever before.”

DACA Tips

DACA Application Tips

Tips for Form 821-D:
•You DO NOT need to complete the whole application if you’re only applying for renewal. You only have to complete the sections that are for renewal applicants. Look at the section headings to see which sections renewal applicants must complete.
•Your “Alien Number” is an 8 or 9 digit number that begins with the letter A. You can find it on your work permit, as well as your receipt and notices from USCIS. On your work permit it is the number labeled: “USCIS #”  (Part I, Question 6)
•Just like your first DACA application, there is a section which asks for a list of your previous addresses. As a renewal applicant, you only need to list of all address you have had and dates you moved since you submitted a DACA application 2 years ago. You do not need to list out all your addresses again, just those you’ve had since you last applied. (Part II, Questions 2-5)

Tips for form 1-795:
•To find which “USCIS Office” processed your initial application, look at your work permit where it says “Card #. There will be a 3 letter code followed by a series of numbers.

•Look at the 3 letters and then follow:  (Question 11)

•EAC- Vermont Service Center
•LIN – Nebraska Service Center
•SRC – Texas Service Center
•WAC- California Service Center

•You can also look at your work permit approval notice.  The name of the USCIS Service Center appears at the bottom of the notice.
•For the date, put the date on which your work authorization began, it will be on your work permit above the expiration date.
•For Results, put “Granted” this means that your initial DACA application was approved, which it was!

•As a renewal applicant, you current immigration status is “DACA renewal applicant”. (question 15)
•Your eligibility category is C33. (question 16)

Social Media Accounts

Earlier this week, Gizmodo reported that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was tracking the social media accounts of immigrants to the US, including green card holders and naturalized citizens. DHS says that nothing about the policy is new.

There are still a number of questions that remain but DHS insists that the policy, which was just announced in the Federal Register last week, actually dates back to 2012. The agency did not explain why the policy was just being published now, only saying that it was necessary under the Privacy Act.


In an email from DHS:

The notice did not announce a new policy. The notice simply reiterated existing DHS policy regarding the use of social media. In particular, USCIS follows DHS Directive 110-01 for the Operational Use of Social Media. This policy is available on DHS’s public website and was signed on 6/8/2012.

This policy permits a small cadre of specifically trained USCIS officers to access publicly available social media as an aid in determining whether an individual is eligible for an immigration benefit.

The notice does not authorize USCIS to search the Internet history of these individuals. Furthermore, the notice does not authorize USCIS to search the social media accounts of naturalized citizens; rather, it simply restates USCIS’ authority to search publicly available social media information of individuals applying for naturalization and informs the public that this publicly available information will be stored in the applicant’s alien file.

One of the most alarming things about the policy published in the Federal Register was the notice that it applied to not only new immigrants, but also to existing Green Card holders, as well as naturalized citizens. But if you believe DHS, (and that’s admittedly hard to do with President Trump in charge), naturalized citizens who went through the process before 2012 won’t have their social media accounts actively monitored by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

People are justifiably concerned about the treatment of immigrants to the US right now. The Trump regime has shown time and again that it’s hostile to immigration, even of the completely legal kind. For instance, Trump is set to announce a policy that would cap America’s acceptance of refugees at just 45,000 people next year, the lowest in many years.

Indian Immigrants

Indian Immigrants in the United States

Immigrants from India first arrived in the United States in small numbers during the early 19th century, primarily as low-skilled farm laborers. In recent decades the population has grown substantially, with 2.4 million Indian immigrants resident in the United States as of 2015. This makes the foreign born from India the second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans, accounting for almost 6 percent of the 43.3 million foreign-born population.

In 1960, just 12,000 Indian immigrants lived in the United States, representing less than 0.5 percent of the 9.7 million overall immigrant population. Migration from India swelled between 1965 and 1990 as a series of legislative changes removed national-origin quotas, introduced temporary skilled worker programs, and created employment-based permanent visas. In 2016, Indians were the top recipients of high-skilled H-1B temporary visas and were the second-largest group of international students in the United States.

Today, the majority of Indian immigrants are young and highly educated, and have strong English skills. Many work in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. From 1980 to 2010, the population grew more than eleven-fold, roughly doubling every decade (see Figure 1). In 2013, India and China supplanted Mexico as the top sources of newly arriving immigrants in the United States.

The United States is the third most popular destination for Indian migrants worldwide, after the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, according to mid-2015 estimates by the United Nations Population Division. Other top destinations include Saudi Arabia (1,894,000), Kuwait (1,062,000), Oman (778,000), and the United Kingdom (777,000).

Shaped Immigration Policy

How a shifting definition of ‘white’ helped shape U.S. immigration policy

After Israel Bosak’s tailor shop was destroyed in 1906 in an outbreak of violence against Jewish people in Russia, he fled to America with a respectable $65, more money than most immigrants brought at the time. But the U.S. government criticized Bosak for his small physique, claiming he would not be an asset to the workforce, and sent him back.

It was one of many racially-tinged institutional practices that empowered immigration officials to deny people of certain ethnicities or appearances — often people from South and Eastern Europe who were not considered “purely” white — by speculating about their ability to work. People with “poor physiques,” which was often said of Jewish immigrants, were “illy adapted” and would procreate “defectives,” a letter from a commissioner had warned the immigration and labor departments that year.

More than a century later, historians of that era see echoes of those tactics in the administration’s efforts to cut in half the roughly 1 million immigrants who enter the country each year. And while the concept of whiteness has changed since the 18th century, they say that white nationalism has historically been a motivation behind U.S. immigration policy and the country’s social hierarchy.

The Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, introduced in February and upheld by President Donald Trump last month, prioritizes wealthy, highly-educated, English-speaking applicants over those who are trying to reunite with family through what is referred to as chain migration. Republican co-sponsors Sen. David Perdue of Georgia and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas wrote in a statement that the majority of immigrants are “either low-skilled or unskilled” and “threaten to create a near permanent underclass for whom the American Dream is just out of reach.”

And when Trump threw his weight behind it from the White House last month, he implied new immigrants strain welfare, despite a law that already bars them from collecting it the first five years they are in the country.

“They’re not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare. That doesn’t happen under the RAISE act,” Trump said.

Health Care

Seniors’ Access to Health Care May Suffer If DACA Is Terminated

Industries across the nation may find themselves in dangerously short supply of workers if no solution is found for the 800,000 young immigrants now at risk of deportation due to the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative.

One industry, however, may be struck particularly and immediately hard: Health Care.

The Trump administration recently put an end to the Obama-era DACA initiative, which gave young immigrants brought into the country without authorization the ability to work, go to school, drive, and legally reside in the United States without the threat of deportation. A significant portion of these immigrants, also known as Dreamers, now have careers in the health care industry, ranging from home health care aides, to medical specialists, to nursing assistants.

Seniors who rely on workers with DACA for health care services may now lose their aide. Surveys of DACA recipients have shown that roughly 20 percent of them are employed in the health care sector. This suggests that terminating DACA could result in a potential loss of tens of thousands of workers from in-demand health care positions.

Immigrants as a whole likewise play a significant role in the health care industry. According to recent census data, more than one-quarter of home health aides in 2015 were immigrants. That percentage spikes in certain states like California and New York, where nearly one-half and two-thirds of home health aide workers were immigrants, respectively.

Global EB5-Visa Program

Global: EB-5 VISA Program: Balancing Risk & Opportunity

For a quarter century, the EB-5 Visa Program has helped finance economic development projects across America, sparking job growth and business investment in cities, suburbs, and rural regions throughout the U.S.—all at no cost to the taxpayer. EB-5-funded projects span a diverse range of regions and industries, from charter schools in Utah and manufacturing plants in South Carolina, to mixed-use commercial property in downtown Washington, DC.

Regulated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the EB-5 program provides a path to citizenship to foreign investor-entrepreneurs for up to 10,000 visas each year. The initial application requires proof of investment in a qualified project, evidence of an investment of at least $500,000, and the creation of at least 10 U.S. jobs.

The Brookings Institute estimates the EB-5 program has generated at least $5BB in investment and directly created at least 85,500 American jobs since its inception, with most of these gains realized since 2010.

In addition to direct jobs, the EB-5 program has supported the creation of countless other indirect jobs in communities surrounding EB-5 projects. For example, a manufacturing plant built with EB-5 investment may lead to new growth opportunities for parts suppliers, while a new EB-5 funded hotel can generate more demand for local restaurants and retail shops. That’s a hefty economic punch for a program that represents just 2.9 percent of all employment-based visas.

EB-5 applicants undergo two rounds of extensive background checks administered by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State. This screening process is more robust than any other employment-based visa program, and pays for itself through fees.

Cultural Exchange Visas

Trump Administration Considering Cuts to Cultural Exchange Visas

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering major reductions in cultural exchange programs, including those for au pairs and summer workers, that allow young people from foreign countries to work in the U.S., people familiar with the administration’s planning said.

President Donald Trump’s “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, issued in April, calls for a review of U.S. immigration rules to ensure that the interests of domestic workers are protected. No decisions have been made, but supporters of the program worry changes will be made without a full public debate.

A White House-led interagency working group is particularly focused on five employment-based programs that are part of the J-1 visa exchange visitor program, according to people familiar with the discussion.

“The administration has concerns” about all of the visas that allow for guest workers, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which wants to limit legal and illegal immigration. “But there are particular programs that need more attention because of their size, their effect on the U.S. labor market, and because a significant number of people overstay their visas.”

People familiar with the conversations said the review includes the summer work-travel program, which brings more than 100,000 students to the U.S. each summer, often stationed in tourist destinations such as beach resorts and national parks. It also includes the smaller au pair program, through which foreigners live in American homes and provide child care as well as take classes and participate in intercultural exchanges with their host families. Other programs under discussion include those for camp counselors, interns and trainees.

Legacies of Racism in immigration

How Legacies of Racism Persist in U.S. Immigration Policy

The United States has always been a nation of immigrants, but for most of its history U.S. law treated newcomers differently according to race.

Between 1790 and 1952, legislators restricted naturalization – the process by which immigrants become citizens – to particular racial and ethnic groups, with a consistent preference for whites from northwestern Europe. Laws restricted black immigration beginning in 1803, and a series of subsequent measures banned most Asians and limited access by immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. The U.S. example proved contagious, as our research shows, because every country in the Western Hemisphere followed the U.S. practice of discriminating against certain immigrants by race and ethnicity.

By now, all countries in the New World have eliminated and repudiated legal provisions aimed against particular racial categories – but discrimination continues in more subtle forms.

In the United States, reforms in 1965 ended the system of assigning different immigration quotas for each nationality in ways that favored northwestern Europeans. In addition, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution in 2011 symbolically repudiating anti-Asian measures such as the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act (which had been legally rescinded in 1943) as “incompatible with the basic founding principles recognized in the Declaration of Independence that all persons are created equal” and “incompatible with the spirit of the United States Constitution.” Formally, therefore, U.S. immigration law is no longer based on ethno-racial criteria and real changes in immigration practices have greatly diversified the racial and ethnic make-up of the United States over the past half century.

Yet current U.S. immigration law retains subtle provisions reprising earlier efforts to privilege certain kinds of new arrivals and block others. Our research pinpoints these persistent legacies of discrimination and shows how they work to favor traditionally advantaged groups.

Immigrant Children in court

The Fight for Appointed Counsel for Immigrant Children Continues

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument on Tuesday in C.J.L.G. v. Sessions – a case that raises grave due process concerns for indigent immigrant children. At issue is whether an immigrant child in deportation proceedings has a right to an appointed attorney when he cannot afford to hire one himself.

For years, groups have been fighting for the right of indigent immigrant children to appointed attorneys when in deportation proceedings. However, this fight was dealt a major setback in September 2016, when the Ninth Circuit ruled in another case, F.L.B. v. Sessions, that immigrant children suing for this right could not bring a class action lawsuit in federal court.

The Ninth Circuit said that children must bring the claim on an individual basis. The court urged the government to work with the attorneys involved in the F.L.B. v. Sessions case to identify potential “test cases” through which the claim could be brought before the Court. C.J.L.G. v. Sessions represents the first such case.

C.J.L.G. is a Honduran minor who, after being abandoned by his father, fled his native land with his mother at the age of 10 after a gang tried to forcibly recruit him, including threatening him at gunpoint. After arriving in the United States, he was detained by immigration agents and placed into deportation proceedings.

In these proceedings, C.J.L.G. sought asylum based on his experiences in Honduras. But because he and his mother could not afford an attorney, C.J.L.G. was forced to defend himself under the immigration laws – often referred to as the second most complex set of laws after the tax code – without an attorney. After a series of court proceedings he did not understand, an immigration judge ordered him deported.

During oral argument, the attorney arguing C.J.L.G.’s case before the Ninth Circuit, Ahilan Arulanatham of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, explained that in no other area of law besides immigration are children forced to defend themselves against trained prosecutors.

AB-638

Con la eliminacion del programa de consultores de inmigracion AB-638
Pagan justos por pecadores?

Sabe usted que es un consultor de inmigracion?

Un consultor de inmigracion es una persona que le ayuda a llenar formularios de inmigracion
a inmigrantes que buscan un remedio migratorio, sin tener la autorizacion federal para brindar asesoria o consejos de inmigracion -

como es eso? - son conultores y no pueden dar consultoria?

Asi, es. Estas contradicciones de termino, han dado origen a que muchos
inmigrantes busquen a los consultores para resolver sus problemas de inmigracion,
dando lugar a que algunos de estos, le hayan cometido errores en sus tramites
los cuales son detectados años mas tarde, tal vez cuando estan listos para ser deportados
dice el director de CARECEN, Daniel Sharp.

En el condado de los angeles se reportan aproximadamente 100 quejas al año
de consultores de inmigracion segun el sitio de internet - observatoriocolef.org

Como se originan los consultores de inmigracion?

los consultores de inmigracion se originan con la amnistia migratoria
de 1986 bajo la administracion del presidente ronald reagan, para
ayudar a resolver los tramites de 2.7 millones de inmigrantes

Silent Parade

 

Silent Parade


The Negro Silent Protest Parade was a silent march of about 10,000 African Americans along Fifth Avenue starting at 57th Street in New York City on July 28, 1917. The event was organized by the NAACP, church, and community leaders to protest violence directed towards African Americans, such as recent lynchings in Waco and Memphis. The parade was precipitated by the East St. Louis riots in May and July 1917 where at least 40 black people were killed by white mobs who had been whipped into a frenzy by labor unions in order to resist strike breaking efforts.

Prior to May of 1917, there began a migration of blacks, fleeing threats to life and liberty in the South. Tensions in East St. Louis, Illinois were brewing between white and black workers. Many black workers had found work in the local industry, leading white workers to fear for job security, and wage security, due to this new competition. The situation exploded after rumors of black men and white women fraternizing. Thousands of white men descended on East St. Louis, and began attacking African Americans. They destroyed buildings, and beat people. The rioting died down, only to rise with vigor again several weeks later. After an incident in which a police officer was shot by black residents of the city, thousands of whites marched and rioted in the city again. The Encyclopedia of the Harlem Rennaissance states that "Eyewitnesses likened the mob to a manhunt, describing how rioters sought out blacks to beat, mutilate, stab, shoot, hang, and burn."

The brutality of the attacks by mobs of white people and the refusal by the authorities to protect innocent lives contributed to the responsive measures taken by some African Americans in St. Louis and the nation. Marcus Garvey declared in a speech that the riot was "one of the bloodiest outrages against mankind" and a "wholesale massacre of our people", insisting that "This is no time for fine words, but a time to lift one's voice against the savagery of a people who claim to be the dispensers of democracy." Many black people, after the riots, felt that there was little "possibility of the United States ever permitting black people to enjoy full citizenship, equal rights and dignity."
Writers and civil rights activists, W.E.B DuBois and Martha Gruening visited the city after the riot on July 2 in order to speak to witnesses and survivors. They wrote an essay describing the riots in "gruesome detail" for The Crisis, an NAACP publication.

ICE Officers

ICE Officers Told to Take Action Against All Undocumented Immigrants Encountered While on Duty

The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit in charge of deportations has directed his officers to take action against all undocumented immigrants they may cross paths with, regardless of criminal histories. The guidance appears to go beyond the Trump administration’s publicly stated aims, and some advocates say may explain a marked increase in immigration arrests.

In a February memo, Matthew Albence, a career official who heads the Enforcement and Removal Operations division of ICE, informed his 5,700 deportation officers that, “effective immediately, ERO officers will take enforcement action against all removable aliens encountered in the course of their duties.”

The Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, has been clear in promising to ramp up immigration enforcement, but has so far emphasized that its priority was deporting immigrants who posed a public safety threat. Indeed, Kelly, to whom Albence ultimately reports, had seemed to suggest a degree of discretion when he told the agencies under his command earlier this year that immigration officers “may” initiate enforcement actions against any undocumented person they encountered. That guidance was issued just a day before Albence sent the memo to his staff.

A spokesman with ICE said Albence’s directive did not represent a break with Kelly’s stated aims, and was consistent with current agency policies.

“The memo directly supports the directions handed down in the executive orders and mirrors the language ICE consistently uses to describe its enforcement posture,” the spokeswoman, Sarah Rodriguez, said in a statement. “As Secretary Kelly and Acting Director [of ICE] Homan have stated repeatedly, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of national security and public safety threats; however, no class or category of alien in the United States is exempt from arrest or removal.”

The Pentagon

Pentagon May Deport Immigrants Who Have Served in the Military

The Pentagon is considering halting a program that allows immigrants with urgently needed skills to serve in the military, putting the thousands of soldiers promised expedited citizenship in exchange for their service at risk for deportation.

According to an undated Defense Department memo, the Pentagon may terminate the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest program (MAVNI), an initiative that has allowed noncitizens with specialized linguistic and medical skills to enlist in the military and receive fast-tracked citizenship.

Since the program’s launch in 2009, these immigrant troops have filled in the gaps for jobs deemed critical to the military’s operation, but are in short supply in American-born troops.

The memo, however, cites the “potential threat” posed by these immigrant troops, referencing their “higher risk of connections to Foreign Intelligence Services.” Officials have now assigned threat level tiers to the 10,000 troops in the MAVNI program—the majority of whom serve in the Army—despite the rigorous vetting they endured to enter the military in the first place.

Attorney and Retired Lieutenant Coronel Margaret Stock, the founder of the MAVNI program, told NPR that these security concerns were exaggerated: “If you were a bad guy who wanted to infiltrate the Army, you wouldn’t risk the many levels of vetting required in this program.”

Other immigrants would not even be able to reach basic training—ending the MAVNI program would also cancel the contracts of recruits in the delay-entry program, a holding pool of recruits awaiting their assigned training date.

As a result, 1,800 enlistment contracts for immigrant recruits would be cancelled, putting roughly 1,000 at risk for deportation. Those recruits’ visas expired while waiting for the military’s travel orders. An additional 2,400 part-time troops would also be removed from service.

Adjustment of Status

Adjustment Of Status

The procedure for applying for U.S. permanent residence (a "green card") while living in the United States. Applicants submit a written application and later attend an interview at a local USCIS (U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services) office.

Adjustment of status is available only to certain people. Not only does the immigrant have to be eligible for a green card in the first place, he or she must also (with some exceptions), be staying in the U.S. legally, with a visa or other status.

If you have applied for a green card within the United States through the procedure known as "adjustment of status," you are likely, as the last step in your application process, to be called in for an interview by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

How long does it take to apply for adjustment of status?

Green card / adjustment of status timing for a one-step application… For a one-step application, the process can take between four months to a year or longer. The time it takes to get your green card will depend on whether there are any special issues with your case and the backlog at your local USCIS office.

If you have any questions regarding Adjustment of Status or any other immigration topic,
Please contact LEGiTiGO, today

Asian Citizenship

Asian Immigrants Want to Be US Citizens

The naturalization process, which allows qualified new Americans to be able to vote, takes an average of six months to complete. It also offers a US passport and the chance to hold elected office in most counties and states in the US.

Department of Homeland Security data suggests that there has been a steady increase in applications in recent decades, with the country’s highest rates of naturalization belonging to Asian Americans. In 2015, of the 730,259 new naturalizations, as many as 261,374 new Americans were Asian Americans.

Green card holders from India, the Philippines, and China were also among the highest-ranked people applying for US naturalization. Several organizations, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice Center, hold Citizenship clinics, aiding green card holders to maneuver successfully through the naturalization process.

The clinics are part of a national initiative, known as the New Americans campaign, which is intended to aid community groups to reach a wide number of immigrants and help in the naturalization of as many as possible. It is funded by various foundations. To gain citizenship, immigrants need to have a green card allowing them to have worked and lived in the US on a permanent basis for five years.

Many immigrants do not apply to gain citizenship. According to the Department of Homeland Security, eight million immigrants were eligible to apply for US citizenship in 2013, but only a small fraction did so.

If you have any questions regarding Citizenship or any other immigration topic,
Please contact LEGiTiGO, today

U.S. EB-3 Visa

US EB-3 Employment Based Immigrant Visa

The EB-3 visa category allows workers with less advanced qualifications than those required by the EB-1 and EB-2 categories to gain legal permanent residence in the US.

The EB-3 covers 3 types of workers:

Skilled workers with at least 2 years of experience in their field

Professional workers with at least a US baccalaureate degree or equivalent

Some low skilled workers.

Skilled workers

EB-3 applicants under the skilled workers category must be able to prove that they have at least 2 years of experience or training in a skilled occupation, and must have a confirmed job offer in the US. The applicant's employer must provide a labor certification showing that they have been unable to recruit a US worker for the role.

Professional workers

EB-3 applicants under the professional workers category must be able to prove that they have a US baccalaureate degree or equivalent (such as a foreign degree at an equivalent level), and must have a confirmed US job offer which requires a US baccalaureate degree. The applicant's employer must provide a labor certification showing that they have been unable to recruit a US worker for the role.
Please note that migrants without at least a US baccalaureate degree or equivalent are not able to apply for this category.

Low skilled workers

EB-3 applicants under the low skilled workers category must have a confirmed US job offer, and must be able to prove that they are capable of performing the job in question. Jobs used in this application must require less than 2 years of experience or training. The applicant's employer must provide a labor certification showing that they have been unable to recruit a US worker for the role.

If you have any questions regarding US EB-3 Employment Based Immigrant Visa or any other immigration topic, Please contact LEGiTiGO

Noncitizens in Deportation

Noncitizens in Deportation or Removal Proceedings

Whether an immigrant has been arrested by immigration authorities within the U.S., submitted an application to USCIS that was rejected, or successfully requested an asylum hearing upon entry to the U.S., his or her rights and claim for relief will be decided upon by an Immigration Judge, within the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR). Learn how the system functions.

There are nearly 200 immigration detention facilities in the United States, usually located far from major cities. Some house several thousand detainees at any one time, mixing aliens who have criminal records with others who don't. Here’s an overview of what else to expect.


Physical Surroundings at Immigration Detention Centers

In most cases, men and women are housed separately; although there are also a number of family detention facilities, which primarily house women and child asylum seekers. Some detention centers have immigration courts and asylum offices inside the same buildings.

Not only do detention centers feel like prisons, in many cases, they are actually housed in correctional facilities, which are either operated by the federal government, the state, or an outsourced private company. Also, until you are released on bond or "reasonable supervision" or are granted the right to remain lawfully in the U.S., you may not know for how long you will be detained.

Do not let this discourage you. Instead, keep focusing on preparing a strong application in your defense, such as an application for asylum. Try to obtain as much information about the possibility for a bond hearing or to be released on a supervision order—your lawyer or a legal aid organization can help you with this.

Living conditions are difficult at detention centers.

You will likely be transported to a detention center in handcuffs, and sometimes in shackles.

Many of your personal belongings will be taken away from you, and you will be assigned a specific bed.

The guards will then refer to you based on the number of your bed or using your alien registration number.

You will most likely have to wear a jumpsuit uniform, and you will be guarded by uniformed officers. You will not be able to move around freely. You will sleep in a large room, with other detainees. Your privacy will be limited. Throughout the day, the guards will conduct several “counts” (during which you will be required to be next to your bed, while they are counting all the detainees). During “count” times, you will not be able to meet with visitors. Also, if you are meeting with visitors or your attorney during meal times, you might not be provided with food later.

Due to their remote location, some detention centers are far away from immigration courts. Instead of seeing your Immigration Judge, you might have any interviews and hearings conducted through video conferences.

MLB Roster

MLB Rosters Feature 230 Players Born Outside the U.S.

26.5 Percent of Players Born Outside the U.S., Spanning 17 Countries and Territories

Two-hundred and thirty players on Opening Day 25-man rosters and inactive lists were born outside the 50 United States, Major League Baseball announced today.

The 230 players born outside the U.S. (26.5 percent) come from the pool of 868 players (750 active 25-man roster players and 118 disabled or restricted Major League players) on April 5th rosters and represent 17 countries and territories outside the U.S., the most since 2001, when there were also 17 represented. Opening Day rosters also featured 17 countries and territories in 1997 and 1999, and a record 18 in 1998.

As it has each year since MLB began releasing this annual data in 1995, the Dominican Republic again leads the Major Leagues with 83 players born outside the United States.

Venezuela ranks second with 65 players, marking its second-highest total of all-time behind 2012 (66). Cuba places third with 18 players, also marking its second-highest total of all-time behind 2014 (19). Rounding out the totals are Puerto Rico (13); Canada (9); Japan (9); Mexico (9); Colombia (4, matching its previous high set in 2013 and 2014); Curaçao (4); Panama (4); South Korea (3); Australia (2); Brazil (2, surpassing its previous high of one set in 2014); Nicaragua (2); Aruba (1); the Netherlands (1, matching its previous high set in 1996, 1998, 2008, 2009 and 2013); and Taiwan (1). Cleveland Indians catcher Yan Gomes, who became the first Brazilian-born player to make an Opening Day roster in 2014, is joined on the 2015 Rosters by fellow countryman and Kansas City Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando, giving Brazil multiple players on Opening Day rosters for the first time in Major League history. New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius is the first player from the Netherlands to appear on an Opening Day roster since Florida's Rick Vandenhurk in 2009.

For the second consecutive season, the Texas Rangers have the most foreign-born players with a total of 15 on a roster that spans a Major League-best eight different countries and territories outside the U.S. - Cuba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and Venezuela. The Toronto Blue Jays have the next highest at 12, followed by the Boston Red Sox (11), Detroit Tigers (10), Kansas City Royals (10), Los Angeles Dodgers (10) and Milwaukee Brewers (10). The Pittsburgh Pirates have the most players from one nation outside the U.S. with seven Dominican players. The Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies have six Venezuelan players apiece, while the Brewers have six Dominican players. 

Visa Overstays

Staggering number of visa overstays now biggest problem in illegal immigration

The nexus of illegal immigration into the U.S. has shifted away from the southwest border and into the country’s air and sea ports, where more than 54 million visitors checked in last year — and nearly 630,000 of them didn’t go home, according to new numbers released Monday.

Known as visa overstays, the visitors present a different challenge than the border crossers, and one that Homeland Security officials are still trying to figure out how to handle.

“This report shows that we have a problem with visa overstays in the United States,” a senior administration official said in briefing reporters on the new numbers, vowing to step up enforcement to try to cut down on the violations.

The Trump administration’s report stands in contrast to the Obama administration, which played down the numbers last year when officials released a similar report, focusing on the vast majority of travelers who did comply and leave when they were supposed to.

Indeed, more than 98.5 percent of those admitted through airports and seaports departed before their admissions expired in 2016. But the sheer amount of travel — some 54 million visitors who came through those air and sea ports — means even that small overstay rate works out to nearly 740,000 illegal immigrants.

Some of the overstays were short term, and the foreigners did leave eventually, but the majority were long-term problems.

Nearly 630,000 immigrants were still in the U.S. at the end of 2016, for a persistent overstay rate of 1.25 percent.

Student visas and exchange visitors were the worst violators, with some countries averaging overstay rates above 20 percent.

Libya, a country of special interest because of terrorism concerns, saw 43 percent of its students refuse to leave on time, while a staggering 75 percent of students from Eritrea broke the terms of their deal, the report said.

Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said those kinds of rates should force a rethink at the State Department, which issues visas, and should spur immigration officials to put more effort into deterring and deporting overstays here in the U.S.

“The fact that more than 700,000 visits were overstayed last year shows just how much we need to step up interior enforcement to create more of a deterrent, not only by identifying and deporting overstays, but by weakening the job magnet by cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers,” she said.

Almost none of the visa overstays are investigated, Homeland Security officials told Congress last year. Just 2,500 visa overstay cases resulted in deportations in 2015, or a fraction of 1 percent of the problem.

While it’s difficult to know exact numbers, some analysts say that for every illegal immigrant nabbed at the border, another one gets through. That means that fewer than 500,000 new illegal immigrants a year have snuck in.

Illegal overstays, meanwhile, easily top that number now, according to the new statistics.

Homeland Security experts say those who come legally then overstay have at least faced some scrutiny, often by State Department employees who issue visas, and then by border officers who make a final determination on everyone admitted.

That’s different than border crossers, who face no inspection whatsoever, and where the identity of those who entered is entirely unknown.

The Airport Checkpoint

How Not To Be *That Immigrant* At The Airport Checkpoint

Flying within the U.S. this summer? You’re not alone. Experts estimate that more people are taking to the skies this year than ever before, with 40 million Americans traveling on Memorial Day weekend alone.

Want to get through security as fast as possible, while still being safe?

Check out these tips for domestic travel.

1. Get there early.

Why start your vacation stressed out? Give yourself plenty of time to park, check-in, and go through security. We recommend arriving two hours before your flight. If the lines are short, hey, more time for last minute gift shopping or to meet your fellow travelers.

2. Consider checking your bag.

More people flying = more carry-on bags = more time needed to get through the screening checkpoint.

3. If you must carry-on, make sure your bag is well-organized.

It takes time for TSA officers to make sure a jam-packed, cluttered, overstuffed bag is safe. And the more time is takes to screen your bag, the longer you—and everyone behind you—are stuck in line.

4. Get the 411 on 3-1-1.

3-1-1 is shorthand for the liquids rule. Basically, limit your liquids, gels and pastes to no more than 3.4 ounces, or 100 milliliters, in 1 bag that’s no bigger than 1 quart. That’s bigger than a sandwich bag, but smaller than a huge freezer bag. Sure, they could call it 1 bag-1 quart-3.4 ounces, but that’s much less catchy.

5. Be ready when you get in line.

Have appropriate ID and your boarding pass out and ready to go. Standard screening requires that you take your laptop out of your bag. Follow the 3-1-1 liquids rule. Wearing shoes you can get off and on easily also helps keep everyone behind you in line happy.

6. Now you’re ready for takeoff. Safe travels!

Who Can Apply for U.S. Citizenship

 

 

Who Can Apply for U.S. Citizenship

 

U.S. citizenship gives a person as many rights as the U.S. has to offer; for example, the right to vote, petition for family members to immigrate, and live abroad without losing the right to return. For these reasons, citizenship is not easily obtained.

 

To become a U.S. citizen through the process known as naturalization, you must first have a green card (permanent residence) and then meet other requirements, listed below. There are only a few rare exceptions in which a person goes straight from having no U.S. status to getting U.S. citizenship; some are discussed in U.S. Citizenship by Birth or Through Parents.

The Eligibility Criteria

 

If you are interested in applying for U.S. citizenship, first make sure that all of the following apply to you:

 

•you have had lawful permanent resident status for at least five years (with exceptions for refugees, people who get their green card through asylum, spouses of U.S. citizens, and U.S. military personnel)

 

•you have lived in the U.S. continuously for the five years preceding your application, and during that you have not spent more than one continuous year outside the United States

 

•you have been physically present in the U.S. for at least half of the five years before filing your application

 

•you have lived in the district or state where you are filing your application for at least three months

 

•you are at least 18 years old

 

•you have good moral character

 

•you are able to speak, read, and write in English (with exceptions for certain long-term residents over a certain age, and persons with certain medical disabilities)

 

•you are able to pass a test covering U.S. history and government (with exceptions for persons with certain medical disabilities), and

•you are willing to swear that you believe in the principles of the U.S. Constitution and will be loyal to the United States (with modifications and exceptions in certain circumstances).

 

The Application Process

 

You'll need to complete a citizenship application on USCIS Form N-400 (see Filling Out USCIS Form N-400) and send it in with a copy of your green card, the required photos, and the appropriate fee. After filing your application, you will probably wait for many months, depending on your local USCIS office. First, you will be called in for a fingerprint appointment, and later an interview appointment.

 

At the interview, a USCIS officer will test your English language ability (unless you fit within an exception) and your knowledge of U.S. history and government (though with a shorter list of possible question if you are  65 or older and have been a permanent resident of the U.S. for at least 20 years).

 

Applicants who are disabled can ask for accommodations at the interview, such as a sign language interpreter or wheelchair accessibility.

 

If all goes well at the interview, you'll receive an appointment for your swearing-in ceremony. At that time, you actually become a citizen, and receive a certificate of naturalization to prove it. As a citizen, you can petition to have close family members join you in the United States.

Applying for citizenship opens your whole immigration history to review. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will carefully investigate your background. If it discovers something wrong—for example, that you used fraud to get your green card or abandoned your residency by making your home outside the United States—it can strip you of your green card and send you out of the country.


 

Guide to Reentry Permits

Guide to Reentry Permits

If you are a U.S. lawful permanent resident (LPR), there are at least three situations where applying for a reentry permit may be beneficial:

(a) if you will be abroad for one year or more;

(b) if you will be abroad for more than six months for two consecutive years; and

(c) if you have been warned by U.S. Customs and Border Inspection (CBP) officer that you are at risk
     of abandoning your permanent resident status.

Who Should Apply for a Reentry Permit?

If you are a U.S. lawful permanent resident (LPR), there are at least three situations where applying for a reentry permit may be beneficial: (a) if you will be abroad for one year or more; (b) if you will be abroad for more than six months for two consecutive years; and (c) if you have been warned by U.S. Customs and Border Inspection (CBP) officer that you are at risk of abandoning your permanent resident status

If You Will Be Abroad One Year or More

A Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card (i.e., green card) is only valid for entry after an absence from the U.S. of less than one year.If you have been abroad for one year or more, the CBP officer at the port of entry won’t let you enter by merely showing the I-551.

In contrast, a reentry permit can be valid for reentry to the U.S. for a period of up to two years. So, if there is a significant chance that you will be abroad for a year or more, we recommend applying for a reentry permit before leaving the U.S.

If You Will Be Abroad for More than Six Months for Two Years in a Row

To allow you to reenter the U.S. as an LPR, the CBP officer at the port of entry must determine that you are returning from a “temporary” trip abroad. If the trip abroad wasn’t temporary, then you have “abandoned” your LPR status, making you ineligible for readmission.

When is a trip abroad “temporary”? According to the courts, a trip abroad is temporary only if you possess an intention at the time of departure and throughout the entire trip to return to the U.S. as a place of employment or business or as an actual home “within a period relatively short, fixed by some early event.” If the return date “hing[es] on a contingency,” that contingency must have a “reasonable possibility of occurring” within a short period of time. It’s not enough that the intent to be to return “at some indefinite time in the possibly distant future.”And it’s not enough to intend to retain your LPR status.

if you will be outside the U.S. for more than 6 months for two consecutive years, there is a significant risk CBP may determine your stay abroad is not temporary, so you should apply for a reentry permit.

If CBP Has Warned That You Are at Risk of Abandonment

Another situation where you should obviously consider applying for a reentry permit is if a CBP officer has warned you that you are at risk for abandonment. This can happen at the port of entry when you are returning to the U.S. from abroad. The officer may notice that you have been abroad for a significant period of time and advise you that a non-temporary trip abroad will lead to abandonment of your LPR status.

Eligibility Requirements

USCIS may, as a matter of discretion, issue a reentry permit to a person meeting the following requirements:
1.You have been lawfully admitted to the U.S. as an LPR or conditional resident.
2.You have not abandoned that status, as discussed above.
3.You intend in good faith to make a temporary trip abroad.
4.You must be physically present in the United States at the time of filing. For this purpose, the
   United States means the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin
   Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
5.Departing the U.S. after you file has no effect on the application, although you would need
   to return to the U.S. for a biometrics appointment if you are between ages 14 and 79.
6.Issuance would not be contrary to the U.S. national interest

If you have any questions regarding Guide to Reentry Permits or any other immigration topic,
Please contact LEGiTiGO, today



Information contained here should not be construed as legal advice. Do not act or rely on this information without seeking legal advice from a qualified lawyer who learns your goals, investigates the specific facts of your case, researches how the law may apply to those facts, and then gives advice taking all that into account.

Know your rights cards

 

 

When ICE officials knock on your door, you don’t have to let them into your home. And in case a law enforcement officer stops you on the road and asks about your immigration status, do not provide any information without your immigration lawyer.

 

Those were the rights that undocumented Filipinos and all other immigrants in the United States can exercise to protect themselves, according to immigration and community advocates on Wednesday, in the wake of executive orders on immigration issued by Pres. Donald Trump that have sparked massive raids in recent days across the country.

 

“Don’t open the door to anyone you don’t know,”

 

Sally Kinoshita, deputy director of Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), told the ethnic press.

 

“Don’t sign any document that you don’t understand [because] that may give up some of your rights to a hearing [with an immigration judge] and other benefits.”

 

Every immigrant can deny ICE officials entry, especially if they don’t have a warrant issued by an immigration judge, advocates say. In most cases, because judges issue order of removals and not warrants, ICE officials do not have warrants with them.

 

Know your rights

 

“Immigrant communities,” Konishita added, “should know that these rights have not been changed.”

Giselle Ruiz, a staff attorney at ILRC, noted that these rights are rooted in the U.S. Constitution and that every individual in the country, regardless of immigration status, is protected.

 

If you have any questions regarding this BLOG or any other immigration topic,
Please contact LEGiTiGO, today


Breaking news

Breaking: The number of states challenging Trump’s revised ban is growing

After Hawaii, five more states followed suit to boost the nationwide call to scrap the revised executive order that bars citizens from select Islamic nations from entering the US.

Washington, which played a significant role in suspending the first ban, initiated the move on March 9 just a few hours after Hawaii. The five other states to seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the federal court are Oregon, Minnesota, New York, and Massachusetts, which all filed their respective complaints.

On Monday, California joined the six states, saying that a large fraction of its constituents will be affected by the ban. It will also inflict a financial harm that could cost up to over $US40 in tax revenues if visitors from several Middle Eastern nations will no longer be allowed to visit the country.

“The Trump Administration may have changed the text of the now-discredited Muslim travel ban, but they didn’t change its unconstitutional intent and effect,” California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra told the press right after the case was filed.

Every complainant echoes the same sentiment that the ban will hit the country in all aspects, including financial and moral, needless to mention how it aggravates the US’s waning global reputation.

The official implementation of Trump’s revised ban is on Thursday, March 16, 2017. The administration maintains its stance on the matter, saying that the new policies it wants to implement are indisputably constitutional and simply aim to protect the country from all forms of terrorist attacks.

China's Work Visa

China to begin rolling out 5-year work permits for foreigners, cutting down on the hassle

The good news just keeps rolling in for those hoping to live and work in China without too much hassle.

China's Ministry of Public Security announced a refreshing new pilot program which will allow any foreigner who has been working in China for at least two consecutive years to apply for a five-year work permit.

This is a pretty significant upgrade over the current system in which most expats are forced to reapply for a new work permit each year, even if they are on a multi-year job contract.

The trial program is expected to be rolled out later this year in nine cities and provinces, including Beijing, Wuhan and Hebei province, along with 11 trade free-trade zones, including those in Tianjin, Chongqing and Henan, according to Caixin.

At the same time, the outline of another program has been introduced which will allow foreigners who have resided in China for more than four consecutive years while spending at least six months out of each year inside the country to apply for a permanent residence permit, as long as they meet certain salary and income tax thresholds -- though the details of this plan have not yet been released.

Recently, China has begun introducing more and more new measures aimed at attracting high-level global talent to the country, relaxing residence and entry policies, leading to 1,576 foreigners becoming new permanent residents of China in 2016, up 163% from the previous year.

To go along with this new era of "openness," China announced in January that international graduates with master's degrees from Chinese universities or from "well-known" foreign universities are now eligible for a Z visa immediately after graduation, waiving the previous requirement of two years of postgraduate work experience.

At the same time, China has also been cracking down on less-skilled laowai, introducing a ranking system judging expats based on their "talent" and banning non-native English teachers from teaching in some regions.