Colorado Immigration Legal Questions

There is no right to obtain a green card through a grandparent as that is not one of the recognized categories of immigration. A grandparent may be able to help in establishing presence which is required for a parent where a US citizen parent has not entirely fulfilled the period of required residence to bestow US citizenship on a child, but that is the only instance that I can recall of a grandparent directly participating in the giving of immigration benefits.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read Answer

Hello, Yes, you can file for her son also. If you file now that he is under 21 years old it will be much faster. You can petition from China so that her son's application gets started now as he is 20 years old. It is important to speak to an experienced immigration lawyer so that you can make certain you file at the right time to avoid any lengthy separation with your wife's son. Good Luck.   Disclaimer: This information is of a general nature and is not, nor is it intended to be legal advice. For legal advice about your specific situation, please speak to your immigration lawyer.... Read Answer

If your green card expired, it does not mean you have lost your status. It does mean that you need to file I90 and get the card renewed before you can travel. If the "expiration" refers to the two year green card, you need to talk to an immigration lawyer as this is a much more complicated issue.   Best Immigration Lawyers. ... Read Answer

You would first need to marry. Once married your spouse would file an immigrant visa petition on your behalf. The process from this point will vary depending upon how you entered the country and your immigration history including whether you were previously in removal proceedings. You may be able to seek adjustment of status in the United States or may need to seek an immigrant visa through consular processing.... Read Answer

There may be a problem as you were not under 21 at the time the Form I-140 was filed, which means you could not be a derivative beneficiary. Did your father use a delivery service with tracking services? You may be able to adjust your status if you can demonstrate the Form I-140 was received before you turned 21. ... Read Answer

You want us to guess how smooth you will sail in this journey and as a basis for our suggestion you give us the following facts: 1. You are married to a USC.  2. You received EAD.  3. You received SSC.  4. You want to apply for green card.  5. You have immigration court but it was moved to 2018.  Based on this information, you want us to discern your situation completely and then based on that guess, you want us to offer a suggestion or two including guessing the ease with which you will be able to become an LPR.  Well, let's see. The fact that you are asking whether you can seek a green card probably suggests that you did not seek adjustment of status based on marriage nor your spouse filed an I-130 immigrant petition on your behalf. The fact that you do have EAD suggests that you probably applied for asylum and that is how you got your EAD. The fact that you are seeing an immigration judge suggests that your asylum was referred to court from the Asylum Office.  First, your journey will not be easy. You will have to get your spouse to file the I-130 and go through the Investigative interview where you will be asked to prove the validity of your marriage. If approved, you will have to ask for a Master Calendar to be scheduled so you can file the I-485 since only the judge would be able to accept the filing. Then you would ask the DHS to agree to remand your case to USCIS which decision will depend on the genuine nature of your asylum application. I can continue. However, I think that is enough for you to undnerstand that the only valid suggesstion here would be for you to hire an immigration lawyer and do that as soon as possible. Good luck.    Best Immigration Lawyers in NYC... Read Answer

Generally speaking, persons holding H-4 status are not allowed to work. The exception is for those dependents whose spouses have had an I-140 preference petition approved or have applied for an extension past the standard six-year limit on H-1B visas (which can be given where the applicant has had a labor certification application pending for at least 365 days). If your wife is able to find a sponsoring employer for H-1B petitioning, it would have to either be a cap-exempt employer (Institute of higher education, nonprofit organization related to or affiliated with an institute of higher education, nonprofit research organization, or government research organization), or she would have to wait until an employer can sponsor her for H-1B under the H-1B visa lottery in April. If your wife is well known in her field, she may be able to have an employer apply for her under the O-1 extraordinary alien visa. She may have other options, but those would probably not fit your wish of the path of least resistance.  Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.    ... Read Answer

Your husband’s employer can give verification in the form of a letter to U.S.C.I.S. that his H-1B extension petition for your husband was sent out on a timely basis along with your H-4 extension request. The employer can further provide a copy of the paperwork along with proof of delivery to U.S.C.I.S. Then it will be incumbent upon U.S.C.I.S. to search its own records for your H-4 extension filing. U.S.C.I.S. generally does not give grace periods past the last date on responding to a request for evidence. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read Answer

If your wife and her daughter are both here on B-2 visas, the usual step if you are a U. S. citizen is for you to sponsor them for permanent residence. There are no derivatives for immediate relatives, and so you would have to file two separate I-130 petitions for your wife and her daughter. Once they obtain green cards, your wife may be able to obtain citizenship in 3 years if she is able to prove that you have been a U. S. citizen for 3 years, that you have both been living together continuously for the 3 years, and that she has held the green card for 3 years. With respect to the daughter, she would generally be able to naturalize in 5 years unless you expedite the process by adopting her. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.     '>  ... Read Answer

The first condition is that the alien did not violate the terms of the bond. If the alien missed a court or ICE appearance at any time, the bond is likely forfeit. Otherwise if the alien is now in a position of having obtained sufficient legal status or having left the U. S. without violating the terms of the bond, the bond should be able to be canceled and money returned to the bond obligor. ICE will usually close the bond and send a bond cancellation (I-391) to the bond obligor. With the form and bond receipt, you can mail your refund request to Operations Management, PO Box 5000, Williston, VT 05495-5000. Instead of doing it yourself, you could also employ the services of an immigration bond agency since getting a bond back from ICE is sometimes a protracted process. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Most persons who have been deported have also been in the United States illegally for over one year and are subject to a 10 year bar not only because of the deportation but because of the illegal stay. For the illegal stay, a waiver is only possible if the qualifying relative is a US citizen or permanent resident parent or spouse. As the child, you would not qualify as a qualifying relative for an I-601 waiver application of excludability grounds. Your father will likely have to wait the 10 years before being able to immigrate to the US. unless there is a qualifying relative and extreme hardship to that individual can be established if the waiver application is denied. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

U.S.C.I.S. unfortunately has a history of mishandling I-130 approvals occasionally and not obeying the wishes of the petitioner – in some instances housing I-130 approvals when asked to send them forward for consular processing and in others sending them to the NVC for consular processing when asked to hold them for adjustment of status. In your case, however, the situation is not drastic and so, assuming that you are still in legal status at the time that your priority date becomes current or your spouse becomes a US citizen, you can file the I-485 adjustment of status application in the States with a copy of the I 130 approval. It will be up to U.S.C.I.S. to retrieve the approved petition from the NVC if it wishes to have the petition on hand at the time of the interview.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read Answer

The power to decide whether a witness can testify by telephone rather than appearing in the immigration court is up to the immigration judge. Probably the best way is for the alien's attorney to make a motion to the court to allow telephonic testimony. Without such, there is the chance that the immigration judge will disallow the testimony on the date of the hearing. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

I-765 and I-131 forms are usually ancillary to the I-485 adjustment of status application. In a case like yours, it is not possible to file the forms at this time. In the same manner that the tail of the dog must follow the body of the dog and cannot exist separately, the I-765 and I-131 forms must follow the I-485.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

The immigration laws require that an applicant for citizenship have the intention to make the US the country of domicile at the time that an application for citizenship is being processed. After the individual obtains citizenship, he or she is free to spend as much time or not to spend any time in the country and still keep US citizenship.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read Answer

When applying for naturalization, you must put down on the N-400 form any citations or offenses that you have ever received. Not only are you to write them all down, but many U.S.C.I.S. officers would prefer to see some proof that the tickets were satisfied. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Hi - our office deals with many cases involving controlled substance offenses.  There's something I'm not clear on.  Your post mentions "charges".  Charges by themselves are not enough to make a non-citizen inadmissible.  The language of the statute applies to a non-citizen who is "convicted of, or who admits having committed, or who admits committing acts which constitute the essential elements of" a controlled substance offense.  Would you kindly clarify if the charges actually resulted in a controlled substance conviction. Also, as a former INS prosecutor, I'm not familiar with a waiver for twocontrolled substance offenses.  A waiver does exist for a controlled substance conviction involving "a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana". Your case is really tricky.  I recommend consulting with an experienced immigration lawyer who can analyze your Canadian law enforcement history and carefully consider your options. Let us know if we can help. Daniel Shanfield http://www.immigration-defense.com/ (408) 275-6565 This information is for general information purposes only. Nothing here should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. Each case is different, and the information provided herein does not constitute a prediction or guarantee of success or failure in any other case. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing of this information does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.      ... Read Answer

Hi - our office has helped many same sex couples with their immigration problems.  Marriage by itself won't keep an immigrant in the US.  The US citizen spouse would have to file an immigration petition for his immigrant spouse, and if otherwise eligible, the immigrant spouse could obtain legal residency by applying for adjustment of status. It's hard to tell if there are other options for your partner.  In some countries, gay men and women face persecution, which might qualify an applicant for asylum in the US.  I would recommend speaking with an experienced immigration attorney to find out all your options. Let us know if we can help.  Good luck! Daniel Shanfield http://www.immigration-defense.com/ (408) 275-6565 This information is for general information purposes only. Nothing here should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. Each case is different, and the information provided herein does not constitute a prediction or guarantee of success or failure in any other case. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing of this information does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.... Read Answer