IMMIGRATION

We assist in immigration law including petition for Asylum, Deportation Defense, Family or Employment Based Immigration and Naturalization process.

ASYLUM (I-589/730)

Asylum provides protection for someone who suffered persecution or who fears persecution for belonging to any of the following:

1. Membership in a Group
2. Race,
3. National Origin,
4. Religious Belief, or
5. Political Belief

To be successful, a petitioner must demonstrate three things. First, the petitioner must demonstrate that he/she fears prosecution and such fear is well founded. Second, the persecution will be because of one of the five reasons listed above. Finally, the petitioner must demonstrate that he/she will be prosecuted by the government or that the government is unable to prevent his/her prosecution by non-governmental actors.

FAMILY BASED (I-130)

If you are a United States (U.S.) Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident, you can petition for your relatives to emigrate and become Lawful Permanent Resident of the U.S. You are considered the Sponsor in this process. The process generally starts with the Sponsor filing a petition, a form (I-130).

If you are a U.S. Citizen you can petition for the following members of your familty to emigrate to the united states and become Lawful Permanent Residents: (1) Spouse, (2) Children, (3) Siblings - brothers & sisters, and (4), if petitioner is at least 21 years old, a Parent. Lawful Permanent Resident holding a Green Card may petition for their spouse and unmarried children.

Relatives (and other immigrants) are divided into preference types. For family based type, there is two categories, or preferences. immediate and non-immediate. Immediate relatives are given preference over non-immediate relatives.

This is why this matters. The petition process takes a number of steps. The first step is for the sponsor to file a petition and relevant evidentiary documents. The second part of the process involves the USCIS either approving or declining the petition. Assuming the petition is approved by the USCIS, the third part of the process is the USCIS granting an immigrant visa number. Now, this number is not readily available, and depends on a number of factors and may result in the immigrant waiting months and sometimes years for the number to become available.

The preferences system becomes helpful here because it allows an immediate relative to skip the third part of the process. There is no waiting for a visa number if the relative is an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen. The following are considered immediate relative U.S. Citizens: (1) Parents,(2) Spouses, and (3) unmarried children who are under 21 years of age ("Adult-Children").

For other family members, the preference is as follows.

1. Fist Preference: unmarried adult-children of U.S. Citizens
2. Second Preference: Spouses of Green Card Holders, their childred (U21) and the unmarried childred of Green Card holders.
3. Married children of U.S. Citizens
4. Brothers and Sisters of U.S. Citizens who are at least 18 years of age.

EMPLOYMENT BASED (I-140)

Every year the United States makes available round 140,000 employment-based visas to eligible petitioners. The USCIS has five categories of Employment Based visas (ussually known as EB1 - EB5). The five categories are as follows:

1. EB-1: Priority Workers (Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Professors/Researchers & Multinations Executives)
2. EB-2: Advanced Degree Holders
3. EB-3: Professionals, Skilled or Unskilled Workers
4. EB-4: Special Immigrants
5. EB-5: Investors

The application process is detail oriented and has a number of steps. The typical process involves two tiered procedure. Generally, the first step involves the would be employer (the usual petitioner) filing for a Labor Certification from the Department of Labor. Once the Labor Certification is approved (it may or may not be approved), then the petitioning employer moves to the second step of filing a petition with the USCIS, ussually Form I-140