Less than six hours ago, Donald Trump became our President-Elect. I don’t know what the future holds for us as a country, let alone for specific immigration policy or reform, but I do know that a lot of people are scared. Let me share my initial thoughts on what this means, knowing that so much […]
Election Results: What Trump’s Win Means for Immigration Read More »
As October winds down, let’s take a moment to think about what the month means. While it can mean baseball and hayrack rides, for those of us who work with immigrant victims of violence, we also think about the new fiscal year and a new batch of 10,000 visas becoming available for our clients. October
October Means U Visas, Domestic Violence Awareness Read More »
We knew that the fee increase was coming – they told us about it in May – but we didn’t know when. And now we know. On October 24th, the Federal Register (think of it as the government’s news agency), explained that the current fees collected do not cover the costs of the services that USCIS currently
USCIS Fee Increase Set for December 23, 2016 Read More »
I was surprised to see that my last entry was all the way back on September 18th. I try to write every couple of weeks, but now it’s been nearly a month. Is it because I’ve not had anything to write about? Hardly! While each of the topics below could be a post by themselves,
While it’s true that not every immigration case requires an attorney, I’ve seen few great examples of why it’s not a good idea to take the ‘cheap’ route and try to always do it yourself. Let me share some stories (names changed, of course) with you. Example One: Amy goes in for her naturalization interview,
Do It Yourself Isn’t Always Best: Why You Want an Attorney Read More »
I understand that part of my job is following-up on cases. In fact, I’ve written about liaison work before and how sometimes that’s the best way to get a case “unstuck.” But there’s liaison work and there’s following-up. And then there’s following-up on your follow-ups and then following up on those. You know it’s bad when you
Constantly Following-Up Read More »
Last week, we had a difficult VAWA case approved. It wasn’t difficult because of a lack of proof regarding domestic violence or the relationship – that was all extremely well-documented. It wasn’t even difficult because our client, we’ll call her Judy, has an order of removal. What’s made this case difficult is that Judy has a federal
Good Moral Character and VAWA – Don’t Be Intimidated by Criminal Convictions Read More »
On July 29, 2016, USCIS announced the long-awaited for new rules regarding the Provisional Waiver Program (I-601A). The changes aren’t in effect yet – that will happen on August 29, 2016. So, what changes can we expect at the end of the month? You can read through the 119-page notice, but I have broken out some
New I-601A Provisional Waiver Rules Announced Read More »
I’ve received several emails lately from folks wondering why their cases are stuck. A stuck case is a case where you know something should be happening, but it’s not. The case could be outside of normal processing times or the promised-for next step hasn’t happened. Sometimes, the problem is that a file gets sent to the wrong
Pending Background Checks Read More »
Last Thursday, the U.S Supreme Court issued a 4-4 split non-decision in United States v. Texas. This was the case that questioned whether or not the President had the authority to issue the programs we came to know as DAPA and Expanded DACA. There’s a lot of information out there about what this means, so I’d
A Supreme Disappointment: The Supreme Court’s Non-Decision on DAPA and Expanded DACA Read More »
