The story of “Tommy and Tomina”… One of the questions that every immigration lawyer gets asked is “How long is it going to take for my family member to get his green card?” And, in typical lawyer fashion, my response is “Well, it depends.” This answer sometimes gets met with…
There has been an interesting map of the United States making its way around many Facebook newsfeeds. In a nutshell, the map breaks down — by state — the most commonly spoken language after English. Interestingly, for many states, it’s… Spanish! When you take out Spanish and English and look…
This week marks my 40th birthday. As one can imagine, this event has made me very contemplative about my professional goals and my personal aspirations. First, I made it to 40. Unfortunately, there are a lot of painful ways to die and so far, I have managed to avoid them.…
All that glitters is not gold So don’t believe what you’ve been told — Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Last Tuesday as I was leaving court, I reached for my phone to find that it was blowing up (as the kids say these days). Apparently, there was an internet article that…
The decline in deportations still leaves immigrants vulnerable According to recently released government statistics, there has been a 43% decline in deportations ordered by immigration judges. Unfortunately, these statistics do not include “expedited removals” — individuals who are issued a deportation order at the border without ever seeing an immigration…
US Naturalization 101 What you need to know to apply for naturalization in the United States Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I have been writing about naturalization quite a bit lately. First, the one about a looming deadline. More recently, the one about my client with…
Thinking of getting married just for the green card? ICE is cracking down on fraudulent marriage cases. My former boss tells his clients “Marriage is the fastest and easiest way to get a green card. However, you need a good foundation. It’s like a house. If the foundation is good, then everything that…
What is driving this growing trend in immigration? The reasons are not so different than those of immigrants coming from other countries This contribution to the blog post comes to you from Phoenix, Arizona. I’m traveling to assist a client with her claim for asylum. Since I’m currently out of state…
Was your application denied because of a false claim to citizenship? If the claim was made before 1996, it may not affect your application for naturalization. One of the things that gives me immense pleasure as an immigration lawyer is taking a case that had previously been denied and turning…
How the USCIS really handles marriage interviews The other night, I was watching the tele with my wife. As regular readers of this blog know, that means I was watching one of my wife’s shows again. On a recent episode of “Trophy Wife,” Kate (played by Malin Akerman) discovers that…