Blog

Bill in the House Unlikely to Roll Back Executive Actions on Immigration

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 27, 2015November 6, 2022Posted in Immigration Law

Since President Obama announced his executive order in November of last year deferring deportations for certain groups of undocumented immigrants now in the country and allowing them to apply for temporary work permits, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives has not been bashful about expressing its views on the move. Calling it an illegal overreach by the executive branch of government, various members of the majority caucus in that legislative body have promoted various…

Read MorePosted on February 27, 2015November 6, 2022

Cancellation of Secure Communities Gives Some Immigrants A New Chance

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 26, 2015December 17, 2019Posted in Immigration Law

Among the directives advanced by President Obama’s executive order issued in November of last year was the termination of the Secure Communities program. When hatched in 2008 during the previous administration, Secure Communities connected local and state police departments across the country with federal immigration enforcement. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents became aware that certain undocumented immigrants were charged with any crimes, misdemeanors or felonies, ICE would issue a detainer to the local law…

Read MorePosted on February 26, 2015December 17, 2019

Police Chiefs & Sheriffs’ Groups Back Legality of Obama’s Immigration Order

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 24, 2015December 17, 2019Posted in Immigration Law

Prior to last week’s hearing in Texas where attorneys for half of the country’s states asked a federal judge to find that President Obama’s executive order pertaining to immigration is illegal, two national police chiefs' associations and 27 individual police chiefs and sheriffs filed a brief supporting its legality. The amicus (friend of the court) brief was signed by the police chiefs of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia and Denver, and the sheriffs of Dallas County…

Read MorePosted on February 24, 2015December 17, 2019

Travelling Away from the United States as a Permanent Resident

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 24, 2015December 17, 2019Posted in Immigration Law

Immigrants to America who have achieved permanent residence status can travel abroad but those leaving for lengthier periods, particularly over one year, may face difficulties reentering the United States at the end of their travels. Those permanent residents going overseas will need to present a passport from their country of citizenship or their refugee travel document. The foreign country to which the resident is travelling may have additional visa requirements. When returning to the country, they…

Read MorePosted on February 24, 2015December 17, 2019

Obama’s Executive Order Seeks to Keep People with LPR Status with Family Members

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 23, 2015December 17, 2019Posted in Immigration Law

One of the lesser discussed aspects of President Obama’s unilateral initiative to reform the country’s immigration system involves the component which affects individuals currently enjoying or applying for lawful permanent resident status (LPR). Under current law, there are many situations in which family members get separated from the individuals who are American citizens or who have already achieved LPR status under American law. The executive order the President announced in November of last year addresses this…

Read MorePosted on February 23, 2015December 17, 2019

Making Permanent Residency Actually Permanent For Family Members

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 23, 2015December 18, 2019Posted in Immigration Law

While many immigrants come to the United States to marry their American husband or wife, those spouses who have been married for less than two years at the time immigration authorities officially bestow legal status, may merely obtain conditional permanent residency. Federal immigration law sets this initial durational limit on the practice of gaining permanent residency through marriage as a means to deter people from using the institution of matrimony strictly as a pretext to become…

Read MorePosted on February 23, 2015December 18, 2019

Recent Executive Actions by President Obama Not Yet Implemented

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 20, 2015November 6, 2022Posted in Immigration Law

As the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) makes clear on its website, the actions ordered by President Obama relating to immigration have yet to be implemented. On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced a series of measures which (1) expands the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, (2) allows parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been present in the country since January 1, 2010, to request…

Read MorePosted on February 20, 2015November 6, 2022

Encouraging Outside Investment in to the United States

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 20, 2015December 17, 2019Posted in Immigration Law

The United States has a long history of immigrants who have come to the United States and established important businesses. The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, emigrated to the United States from Scotland and later started the family of Bell companies now generally known as AT & T. More recently Sergey Brin came to America from Russia. Once here he and his business partner, Larry Page formed Google, the search engine giant which is…

Read MorePosted on February 20, 2015December 17, 2019

U.S. Employers Can Hire Foreign Nationals From 68 Countries To Fill H-2A And H-2

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 18, 2015November 6, 2022Posted in Immigration Law

Federal immigration law provides that where certain fields of employment lack sufficient available workers to fill needed job spots, such defined positions may be filled by foreign workers on a temporary basis. Specifically, the H-2A and H-2B Visa programs allow U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural and nonagricultural jobs, respectively. USCIS only approves H-2A and H-2B petitions for nationals of countries the Secretary of Homeland Security has designated…

Read MorePosted on February 18, 2015November 6, 2022

USCIS Set to Accept DACA Requests on February 18 DACA, USCIS

By Edward Shulman, Posted on February 18, 2015November 6, 2022Posted in DAPA/DACA

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) just issued an awaited announcement that it will begin accepting requests for what is called “expanded DACA on February 18, 2015. When the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was originally instituted by the Obama administration back in 2012, applicants could obtain an eligibility card for a period of two years. Under the revamped program which President Obama announced in November of last year, applicants will be able to obtain…