In what might have been his last opportunity to pass important immigration legislation, President Clinton signed S. 2045 and H.R. 5362 into law on Tuesday, October 17, 2000. The two bills raise the H-1B cap to 195,000 among other improvements, and raise the INS filing fee by $500.00. While most of the new provisions are […]
In keeping with an INS directive earlier this year to improve productivity at the four INS regional processing centers, the California Service Center announced some rather sweeping reforms. The Service Center has been plagued with delay problems, such as I-140 Petitions for Immigrant Workers taking as long as 15 months to adjudicate. The recent announcement […]
The immigrant communities of the United States have been stirring ever since Congress created the dreaded "3 and 10 year bar" to reentry in 1996. The INS still has not promulgated regulations regarding the law, which has added to everyone's confusion and caused public speculation as to what the law really means. With so many […]
Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Gorbach v. Reno reversed the ruling of a Washington District Court Judge, which had held that the INS' "administrative denaturalization" rules were unauthorized, and enjoined the INS from proceeding against any individual. The INS rule, which was originally published in 1996, purported to implement a change […]
On December 21, 2000 President Clinton signed the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act ("LIFE") into law. LIFE extends the "grandfathering deadline" of Section 245(i) of the Immigration & Nationality Act ("INA") until April 30, 2001. Section 245(i), which allowed many otherwise ineligible applicants for adjustment of status to apply for and receive green cards […]
Each year, I consult with hundreds of individuals who have been ordered to leave the US by Immigration Judges. In the vast majority of these cases, the person had applied for some form of relief from removal, such as asylum, and the Immigration Judge denied the claim and either granted the person voluntary departure or […]
The Ninth Circuit court of Appeals in Gorbach v. Reno recently dealt a serious blow to thousands of individuals who may have obtained their Naturalization certificate by mistake or misrepresentation. The Ninth Circuit reversed the ruling of a Washington District Court Judge, which had held that the INS' "administrative denaturalization" rules were unauthorized, and enjoined […]
The USCIS has finally issued a rule allowing holders of “T” and “U” visa status to apply for “adjustment of status” to green card. Based on the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act Congress passed in 2000, the new rule will work to further protect the humanitarian interests of victims of trafficking and serious […]
When a foreign citizen marries a United States citizen living in the Los Angeles area, he or she may be able to obtain a spouse visa and eventually become a citizen of the United States. In order to become a citizen, various requirements have to be met such as living with the spouse who is a U.S. […]
Many immigrants living in the Los Angeles area without proper documentation can feel like they have limited rights when it comes to employment. They might fear speaking out about unfair working situations because they worry about being identified as being in the country illegally and threatened with deportation. This fear didn’t stop one woman from […]
