Waivers

April 1, 2016

Visa Waiver Visitors MUST have Electronic Passports

Both Los Angeles and Palm Springs are popular destinations for visitors from all over the world. Some visitors, from certain trusted countries, are allowed to visit the USA without a B-1/B-2 Visitor Visa. At both our Pasadena and Palm Springs offices, we’ve gotten quite a few calls about a change that went into effect today.

Beginning 1 April 2016, citizens from Visa Waiver Program countries who wish to visit the USA without a visa must travel using an e-passport, a passport issued by the country of nationality that meets certain security standards. An e-passport still looks like what you would expect a passport to be. However, an e-passport is machine readable and has an RFID chip embedded into it, with digital information about the passport holder. There are many fraud-resistent features built into these passports, such as images that change color and symbols that show up only under UV light. To know if a passport is an e-passport, look on the front or back cover for the symbol shown on the graphic at the top of this little blog.

If you are a citizen of a Visa Waiver-eligible country, but you do not have an e-passport, you must contact the US Embassy in your country to obtain a B-1/B-2 visitor visa. Border guards may deny you entry if you do not have the proper passport and could send you back on the next plane. Alternatively, you should contact the passport authority in your country to obtain a new passport.

April 16, 2013

Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!

by Romben Law, APC

Yes, yes, yes. Some information about the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform was released today.

As an immigration lawyer with over 30 years of experience, my phones here in Los Angeles and in the Palm Springs office have been ringing off the hook. I already have over 100 emails from France and the UK. The message is always the same, “J Craig Fong (Retired from the practice of law), is there anything for me in the new immigration law?” Everyone wants to know the recently-released details for the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). Enough! Assez! ¡Basta!

FIRST: I am studying and thinking about the proposal now.

February 4, 2013

National Visa Center I-601A Letter Misleads Many Immigrants

by Romben Law, APC

NVC ltr.JPG In January 2013, the US Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC) began sending letters to many prospective immigrants about the “I-601A PROVISIONAL WAIVER OF UNLAWFUL PRESENCE.” This letter is scaring the living daylights out of thousands of immigrants. At Romben Law, APC in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, I have fielded about one hundred inquiries about this letter.

The first and most important thing to remember is: this letter and the I-601A Provisional Waiver ONLY — repeat ONLY — apply to a future immigrant if s/he is currently in the USA unlawfully, or has been unlawfully present in the USA in the past. Someone is illegally present if s/he enters the USA without inspection at a border post or airport, or if the person enters legally and then overstays the time granted on their landing permit.

If the future immigrant has never — ever — been in the USA, this letter and the I-601A waiver does not apply to him/her.

January 7, 2013

Illegal Presence Waiver Can Now be Processed in USA

by Romben Law, APC

Alt Route Waver.jpg Over many years, Romben Law, APC has counseled many immigrants who have come to the USA without passport or visa, or who have come legally but overstayed. In many of these case, it has not been possible to process the paperwork for an immigrant visa (the green card) without first having the immigrant depart the USA to go back to the US Embassy in the home country for an interview. In some cases, this means that the immigrant must file an I-601 Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility at the US Embassy and wait months for a decision. And if the I-601 is denied, the immigrant cannot be reunited with family in the USA for 3 or 10 years!

For this reason, many green-card eligible applicants are afraid to leave the USA for their interview; they are afraid that if their I-601 waiver is denied, they will not be able to return to their families for 10 years. The risk of NOT being granted the waiver is too great, so they have avoided legalizing altogether.

Until now.

In early January 2013, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a new procedure. This new procedure — called the I-601A Provisional Waiver — still requires the immigrant-applicant to apply for the waiver, to seek a pardon for coming to the USA without papers, or for overstaying. However, this request for a waiver can now be filed before departure from the USA and before going to the interview at the American Embassy. In this way, the immigrant-applicant will know provisionally whether they will be able to return quickly after their Embassy interview or not — before leaving the USA.
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January 3, 2012

Don’t Play with Fire! – Immigration vs the Aggravated Felon

by Romben Law, APC

The recent Los Angeles arson situation brings to mind many people who have consulted the attorneys at Romben Law, APC in our Los Angeles and Palm Springs offices. They have a valid visa or legal permanent residence (green card), and they have been convicted of a crime. Sometimes it is a serious crime; sometimes it is something minor. In some of these cases, the conviction has virtually unfixable immigration consequences.

In 1990, Congress created the concept of “aggravated felonies,” crimes that are considered so bad that an alien might not even qualify for the typical defenses to deportation (removal), such as asylum, cancellation of removal, or withholding of removal. In other words, the Congress has simply decided that someone who has committed an “aggravated felony” should just be deported (removed) regardless of the defenses s/he might try to use.

The name “aggrevated felony” is misleading. “Aggravated felony” includes such obviously serious crimes as murder, rape, or arson; we can all agree that these crimes are quite serious. However, “aggravated felony” can also include some less- obviously terrible crimes, such as attempted possession of stolen property, attempted robbery, petty theft, trespass, unauthorized use of a vehicle. Even if a crime was charged as a misdemeanor in the legal system, it can still be considered an “aggravated felony” for immigration purposes.