According to a questions and answers session with the U.S. Embassy in London and AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association), orphans are not eligible for B visas because it is likely that they are intending immigrants.

Instead, according to the February 22, 2011 questions and answers session, the adoption for an orphan should take place in the United Kingdom (U.K.). In order to do an adoption, the U.S. citizen must become a resident in the U.K. which can take up to 10 weeks. Once the adoption is complete, then the U.S. citizen can file the appropriate paperwork with USCIS and the orphan can remain in the U.K. until the paperwork is approved and completed.

This piece of information interested me, because the humanitarian in me would want the U.S. Embassy to issue the B visa to the orphan to allow him or her to come to the U.S. while waiting for the green card processing to continue. Unfortunately, the U.S. Embassy in London is taking the more strict approach, and under a strict application of B (visitor) visa laws, they are correct that an orphan has few ties to the foreign country and probably would become an immigrant to the U.S. once adopted.

I have decided to start a new series where I provide examples of cases I am currently working on or recently worked on and their results. I have already called my state bar ethics and advertising number to obtain permission, and I was told that for the current rules I am allowed to provide on my website and on my blog real-life examples of cases I have personally handled, as long as the information is not false or misleading.

So this series will start as soon as possible, and I will include more difficult cases.

As of March 21, 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE, has temporarily stopped all removal of Japanese nationals from the United States. ICE also states that they will provide updates as the situation develops.

ICE of course is reacting to the terrible earthquake and tsunami that recently hit Japan. ICE also took the same action in the beginning of 2010 for Haitian nationals when there was a disaster in Haiti. At that time ICE stopped removal of all Haitian nationals. However, recently there are news developments that Haitian nationals with severe criminal convictions in the U.S. are being sent back to Haiti. As a result, we can keep in mind that the suspension of removal of Japanese nationals is possibly only temporary.

It is that time of year again when all H-1B applicants can file their H-1B visa. Please note that although you can file on April 1, 2011, the visa start date cannot be any earlier than October 1, 2011.

This may present a problem for some people that have a visa that expires in May 2011, for example, and want to remain in the U.S. until their H-1B visa is approved, etc. The problem is that all applicants in the U.S. need an underlying visa from April 1, 2011 until the end of September. If this is not the case, then USCIS may approve the H-1B visa but deny the change of status request.

The only exception to this is that all student visa holders have protection under the “cap gap” rule, which means that as long as they apply before the date of expiration on the I-20, then USCIS will consider them to be in status while their H-1B is pending. However, the applicant must have been complying with the full terms of their student visa.

The above rules are general rules and employment based visas are extremely complex. If you are applying for an H-1B visa, please consult with an immigration attorney for assistance so that you can remain in legal status here in the U.S.

Well, it looks like the Dream Act did not pass the Senate. The Dream Act failed by a vote of 55 to 41. The Dream Act passed the House of Representatives a few weeks ago, and while I was not very hopeful it would pass given the environment we are in right now, I still wished that the Senate would allow it to pass during this Christmas season and time of giving. Unfortunately, we will still need to wait for future immigration reform.

The last immigration reform was in the year of 2001, and it would have been extended had September 11th 2001 not taken place. Since 2001, the only immigration reform we have been seeing is immigration enforcement.

The president issued a statement saying that he regrets that the Dream Act did not pass. Perhaps the most important thing to stress about giving immigrants a chance to obtain legalization is to explain that the Department of Homeland Security will receive billions of dollars in immigration filing fees and IRS will receive millions in taxes from legalized immigrants who can work legally. This should be reason enough for Congress to pass an immigration reform.

I do think, though, that perhaps Immigration officials are just trying to secure the borders first before issuing any immigration reform, so that people do not flood the US when a new law is finally passed. This is important, as we want to make sure the people that are currently here are helped first and foremost. So in a hopeful way of looking at our current immigration situation, I am hopeful that once the borders are secured, that Congress will then be more inclined to pass a legalization bill for illegals here in the US.

Just recently, in my native country of Birth in Iraq, a church located in Baghdad, Iraq was bombed and 58 people including the priest were killed. The attackers then went into the streets and even shot a 4-year old being carried by the mother. When the mother asked the shooter, “Why?,” the shooter also shot and killed her, just for being a Christian! While many Iraqis have fled that country and are now in the US, Sweden, France and other countries, many unfortunately remain and are placed in harm’s way on a daily basis.

When I heard of this story, I recalled why I became an immigration attorney. I remembered, just in case I ever forget, that I became an immigration attorney because through no fault of my own, I was born in Iraq, an unstable and even scary place. I was blessed to be able to come to the U.S. at a fairly young age of 7 or 8 years old, and that started my desire to help others that also want to live in a safe and stable country. While the U.S. may have issues, one thing I know for sure is that the U.S. is a much safer place to live than Iraq and many other countries. It is a safe haven for those who need help. It is also my great blessing that I can do a job that I love, which is to help people make U.S.A their permanent home, if they wish.

The Iraqis that fled Iraq filed for refugees status, which is a status that people outside the U.S. may apply for if they fear remaining in their country based on one of the following 5 factors: religion, race, nationality, political opinion and member of a social group. A basis for refugee status for citizens of Iraq is either religious (Christian versus Muslim or even Shiite Muslim versus Sunni Muslim) and / or political or nationality based reasons such as being associated with American Democratic ideals. Some highly educated Iraqis (like professors or doctors) are threatened or killed because they are associated with American ideals.

Asylum status is one where an applicant fears returning to his or her country and is physically here in the U.S. Refugee status is where an application is filed outside the U.S. Applicants can file for Asylum by completing form I-589, for which there is no filing fee. Please note that in general, applicants for asylum must file within one year from their date of last entry into the U.S. There are some exceptions to that rule.

Once granted asylee or refugee status, the applicant may then file for a green card after one year of their initial approval of asylee or refugee status. They will also qualify for travel permits and work authorization while they are waiting for approval of the green card. It is important to note that the REAL ID Act of 2005 has made requirements for approval of asylum much more difficult, and applicants applying now must be sure to include as much documentary proof of their claim as possible. On my website I have a list of places applicants can refer to when researching conditions in their country. The direct link is as follows:

http://www.needimmigrationhelp.com/important-government-websites.htm

I just released a new article on “How to Avoid the Great Immigration Myth of 2010.” I hope you will check it out at the following link: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Avoid-The-Great-Immigration-Myth-Of-2010&id=5292812

This article discusses how immigration officials are making it “easy” for individuals to file applications with USCIS without an attorney, while at the same time Immigration and Customs Enforcement is deporting individuals at alarming rates. The article discusses the current situation we are in and how individuals seeking immigration benefits can avoid waiving all of their rights.

Yes, you read that correctly that our Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is being accused of deporting a US citizen. This is a shock, but truthfully, it should not be too much of a surprise since deportations are at an all time high.

A news article dated October 14, 2010 is stating that ICE coerced a Puerto Rican born US citizen into “admitting” that he is a Mexican citizen. Of course, all individuals born in Puerto Rico are US citizens by birth. This poor gentleman was actually flown to Mexico, where he remained for four months with no one to help him.

The news to take away from this story is that immigrants should be aware that ICE is using coercion techniques. If an immigrant is being questioned by ICE, it is of utmost importance to insist on an attorney being present. In this way, the coercion techniques can be stopped, or at the very least, reduced to a minimum.

TRAC, a trusted agency that analyzes data published by the US Federal government, has found that Immigration Judges are denying substantially fewer asylum requests. In fact, denial rates have reached the lowest level in the last 25 years. In this time of immigration enforcement, we are happy to see good news for asylum applicants.

For example, in 1986, almost 9 out of 10 asylum cases were denied by immigration judges. That is a huge number of denials! However, during the first 9 months of year 2010, only 5 out of each 10 cases were denied by immigration judges.

TRAC has concluded that there are significantly fewer denials because more asylum seekers are using attorneys and also because there are fewer individuals applying for asylum.

TRAC has also noted that one of the big problems for applicants seeking asylum is that there are disparities between judges. For example, some judges approve more cases than others, etc.

To read the article, please refer to this direct link: http://trac.syr.edu/whatsnew/email.100902.html

Until recently, it was accepted by USCIS and ICE that Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests filed by immigrant applicants can take a while to get processed. It was not unusual for these requests to take 6 months or longer for immigrant applicants to obtain a copy of their file(s) from USCIS. Now, however, ICE is up to date on FOIA request appeals. They in fact have been burning the midnight oil to get caught up on FOIA appeals and have even made it a goal to keep current.

This new emphasis on FOIA request appeals being handled quickly by ICE, rather than USCIS, is to promote President Obama’s policy on having an “open government.” FOIA requests allow immigrant applicants to obtain a copy of their records from USCIS. From experience, we know that USCIS is allowed to withhold its own office notes and also documents relating to work performed by other government agencies, such as ICE. If an immigrant applicant is not satisfied with the copies he or she receives through the FOIA request as a result of incompleteness, he or she can file an appeal.

FOIA requests are often used by our law office to obtain a copy of a petition that a family member filed for a client of ours years ago and that we now need for the client to gain an immigration benefit, for example. While it is important for applicants to make copies of every document they send to USCIS, if the copy was not made or was lost, then filing a FOIA request is the proper way to obtain a copy from immigration. In our law office, we are sure to maintain client file copies for 10 years or more, to ensure that our clients for whom we filed applications will obtain a copy from us should they need one, and not through having to file a FOIA request.

The good news is that due to President Obama’s policy of having an open government, USCIS and ICE have listened and are working hard to make sure FOIA requests and FOIA appeals are handled in a more efficient manner. FOIA requests are an important tool that we use to protect the rights of our clients. We are happy that USCIS has decided to let ICE help in getting caught up so that the backlog can be decreased and even eliminated.