Why you need an immigration attorney

Battling Deportation Often A Solitary Journey
Without Legal Assistance, Thousands Are Expelled Unfairly, Critics of System Say

January 8, 2007 - Washington Post - In immigration courts, there are judges and prosecutors, evidence and witnesses. The consequences can be great: banishment, separation from family, perhaps persecution at home. But unlike in criminal courts, the government does not provide free lawyers for the poor. And in what court officials deem a great concern, a growing number of people in immigration court have no legal counsel: Of more than 314,000 people whose cases ran their course in fiscal 2005, two-thirds went through on their own, or pro se.

That leaves respondents to navigate byzantine immigration law, the judges to walk them through it and, critics say, the courts to operate sluggishly and deport thousands unfairly.

"How do they possibly pick out of everything that's happened to them in their lives the legally significant points?" asked Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. "You have to know the legal standards to do that."

* * *

Deportation from the United States

Austin Deportation Defense Attorneys

Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI)

ICE MAVNI FAQ (PDF)

The MAVNI program allows certain non-citizens who are legally present in the United States to join the U.S. military and apply immediately for U.S. citizenship without first obtaining lawful permanent residence.

The Army and Navy are currently participating. However, the Air Force has also been allotted slots in the program, and is in the process of recruiting.

The program is limited to legal aliens holding critical skills — physicians, nurses and certain experts in languages with associated cultural backgrounds. The program allows a nonimmigrant to enlist for at least four years of contractual Active duty as a language recruit, or a minimum of three years of Active duty or six years in the U.S. Army Reserve as a health care professional. The Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) positions available to recruits will be selected and will include only those positions that do not require a security clearance, unless and until a MAVNI recruit becomes a U.S. citizen and receives a clearance. Those who enlist are also subject to the standard requirement of eight years of service for all recruits. Persons who enlist under MAVNI will be fingerprinted and screened to ensure legal status in the United States. The nonimmigrant must also have been in valid status for at least two years, immediately prior to the enlistment date, but not necessarily in the same status category as the one held on the date of enlistment. The nonimmigrant must not have had any single absence from the United States of more than 90 days during this two year period.

* * *

U.S. Army - MAVNI

U.S. Navy - MAVNI

USCIS - Citizenship for Military Members

Austin Immigration Attorney

H-1B Update

Fiscal Year 2010 H-1B Count

As of November 13, 2009, approximately 55,600 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. USCIS has approved sufficient H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap. Any H-1B petitions filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.

* * *

Feds plan 25,000 on-site H-1B inspections

November 17, 2009 - Computerworld - U.S. immigration officials are taking H-1B enforcement from the desk to the field with a plan to conduct 25,000 on-site inspections of companies hiring foreign workers over this fiscal year.

The move marks a nearly five-fold increase in inspections over last fiscal year, when the agency conducted 5,191 site visits under a new site inspection program. The new federal fiscal year began Oct. 1.

Tougher enforcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services comes in response to a study conducted by the agency last year that found fraud and other violations in one-in-five H-1B applications.

* * *

H-1B Visas

Austin Immigration Lawyer

United States finally lifts HIV immigration ban

The repeal will take effect on January 4, 2010. Under the ban, HIV-positive foreign nationals were unable to enter the United States unless they received a special waiver, which was difficult to obtain and and the majority were unable to obtain permanent residency.

Obama Lifts a Ban on Entry Into U.S. by H.I.V.-Positive People

October 30, 2009 - New York Times - President Obama on Friday announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”
. . .

The United States is one of only about a dozen countries that bar people who have H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

President George W. Bush started the process last year when he signed legislation, passed by Congress in July 2008, that repealed the statute on which the ban was based. But the ban remained in effect.

* * *

Immigration Equality

Human Rights Campaign

Congress finally ends "Widow Penalty"

Senate Measure Gives Rights to Widows of Citizens

October 20, 2009 - New York Times - The Senate approved a measure on Tuesday that would end what has become known as the “widow penalty” — the government’s practice of annulling foreigners’ applications for permanent residency when their American spouses die before the marriage is two years old.

* * *

Congress passes green-card bill for spouses of deceased U.S. citizens

October 20, 2009 - Los Angeles Times - Widows and widowers would now be eligible regardless of when their partners died or how long they were married. The measure awaits President Obama's signature.

Congress passed a bill Tuesday that would make widows and widowers of U.S. citizens eligible for green cards even if their spouses died before their applications were approved.

* * *

Surviving Spouses Against Deportation

Family-based green cards

Comprehensive immigration reform this year?

Emanuel tries to scale back immigration expectations

January 25, 2009 - The Hill.com - Hours before President Obama is set to meet with members of Congress to discuss immigration reform, the president's chief of staff sought to lower expectations about when that reform might come to pass.

White House chief of staff and former Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said Thursday that reform might not happen this year, but it will get done.

"If it doesn't happen in the next two months, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen between now and then, before 2010," Emanuel said.

Emanuel, talking to reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, said the Thursday afternoon meeting is the beginning of the process that will result in legislation the president can sign.

* * *

The White House - Immigration

American Immigration Lawyers Association - Immigration Issues and Legislation

American Immigration Law Foundation - Immigration Policy Center

Update on comprehensive immigration reform

Obama sets WH immigration reform meeting for June 8

May 20, 2009 - POLITICO - President Barack Obama is inviting members of Congress to the White House for a June 8 meething to highlight immigration reform, an administration official confirmed to POLITICO Wednesday.

"The meeting will be an opportunity to launch a policy conversation that we hope will be able to start a debate that will take place in Congress later in the year," the official, who asked not to be named, said.

* * *

Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority

April 9, 2009 - New York Times - While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

* * *

The White House - Immigration

American Immigration Lawyers Association - Immigration Issues and Legislation

American Immigration Law Foundation - Immigration Policy Center