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The 101 Series

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 02:48:26 GMT

Basic checklist for your Immigration situation

Basic Green Card Information

What is a green card?

A green card gives an alien (foreign national) the right to permanently live and work in the U.S. The card itself is a government-issued identification (about the size of and resembles a driver’s license), that serves as proof of permanent resident status in the U.S. A green card holder, also known as a lawful permanent resident (LPR) may leave and re-enter the U.S. at any time and has the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen. Although referred to as “permanent,” a green card may be revoked if the holder breaks certain laws, does not maintain residence in the U.S., and travels outside the U.S. for an extended period of time.

What are the ways for an alien to obtain a green card?

There are a number of ways for an alien to obtain a green card. He/she may get a green card through: a) family-based petition; b) employment; c) investing in the U.S.; d) asylum; or e) lottery.

Family-based petition

Immediate Relative of an American Citizen

An American citizen may petition the following foreign national relatives to immigrate to the U.S:

Husband or wife
Unmarried child under 21 years of age
Unmarried son or daughter over 21
Married son or daughter of any age
Brother or sister, if the sponsor is at least 21 years old , or
Parent, if the sponsor is at least 21 years old.

2. Related to a Permanent Resident

A green card holder (LPR), may petition for the following relatives:

Husband or wife, or
Unmarried son or daughter of any age.

An alien who wish to immigrate to the U.S. as a relative of an American citizen or a permanent resident must obtain a visa number based on the preference category in which the applicant relative falls under. The immediate relatives of U.S. citizens , including parents, spouses, and unmarried children under the age of 21, do not have to wait for an immigrant visa number to become available. Once the visa petition filed for them is approved by USCIS, an immigrant visa number will become immediately available. However, the relatives in the other categories must wait for an immigrant visa number to become available according to the following preferences:

1st preference : Unmarried, adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. Adult means 21 years of age or older.
2nd preference: Spouses of lawful permanent residents, their unmarried children (under twenty-one), and the unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents.
3rd preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens.
4th preference: Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. Citizens.

Employment-based petition

There are 5 categories for employment-based green card petition. For most of the categories, a sponsoring employer is needed to file a labor certification with the Department of Labor, certifying that no qualified U.S. workers are available and willing to do the job that the alien is intended to perform. In the petition (I-140), the employer needs to include proof of advertising the position, required skills of the job, prevailing wage for the particular job, and the employer’s ability to pay.

Some aliens may self-apply for a green card through employment, depending on the category. Priority dates are different between the 5 categories:

EB-1 Priority workers

Aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics
Aliens who are outstanding professors or researchers
Aliens who are managers and executives subject to international transfer to the United States

EB-2 Professionals with advanced degrees or persons with exceptional ability

Aliens of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business
Aliens who are advanced degree professionals
Qualified alien physicians who will practice medicine in an underserved area in the U.S.

EB-3 Skilled or professional workers

Professionals with bachelor’s degrees (not qualifying for a higher preference category)
Skilled workers (minimum two years training and experience)
Unskilled workers

EB-4 Special Immigrants

Religious workers
Employees and former employees of the U.S. Government abroad

For green card applicants who are Philippine nationals, as of the June 2008 Visa Bulletin, all categories are “current” except for the third preference (skilled workers, professionals, and other workers). The third preference has a priority date of March 1, 2006, while other workers have a priority date of January 1, 2003.

Investment-based petition

The investment-based (EB-5) green card requires an investment in new commercial enterprise that would benefit the U.S. economy and create or expand an already existing business, with full-time employment for at least ten employees, excluding the investor-applicant, his/her relatives, and persons in nonimmigrant status. The capital investment must be $1,000,000 in high employment areas and $500,000 in targeted employment areas. The capital may consist of cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, and easily convertible cash equivalents.

Several investors may join together in creating or expanding a U.S. business and each may qualify for a green card through the single company. However, the individual investment of each person must still be for the minimum qualifying amount, and each investor must be separately responsible for the creation of 10 new jobs.

Asylum

Asylum is the legal protection granted to foreign nationals in the United States who are afraid to return to their home country. Asylum may be granted to people who are already in the United States and who are unable or unwilling to return to their home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

Asylum-seekers may apply for asylum in the United States regardless of their countries of origin. Prior legal status in the U.S. is not a requirement for application for asylum. Additionally, any alien in removal proceedings (deportation) may apply for withholding of removal as well as asylum. There are no quotas on the number of individuals who may be granted asylum each year (with the exception of individuals whose claims are based solely on persecution for resistance to coercive population control measures).

An asylee may apply for lawful permanent resident status (greencard) after having been physically present in the U.S. for a period of one year, following the date the asylum status was conferred.

Green Card Lottery

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, is an annual lottery for 50,000 permanent resident visas, randomly drawn from entries of persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Filipinos are not eligible to join the lottery as the Philippines has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past 5 years.

Disclaimer: please call our office or email us to get the changes or updates notified, this is information purpose only.

Tune yourself to RAISE Green Card

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 01:14:57 GMT

It's official, I have a blog and I know how to use it.

I have finally decided to take the plunge and add a blog to my site. I always wanted an easy way to share information with visitors and I'm super excited to start this journey. Keep coming back to my site and check for updates right here on the blog.

Time to stay or leave?

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 01:14:57 GMT

Blog posts are a great way to get recognized within your community and share your voice. Here are the top 10 reasons you should love writing blog posts.

Anyone can make one:
For better or worse, anyone can write a blog post about anything they want. Everyone has a voice and the best voices will rise to the top.

The writer can show their personality:
In blog posts, the writer has more leeway to add in their voice and personality than other types of writing.

Blogs are a great form of mass communication:
You can help people, learn new things, entertain your audience-the possibilities are endless and amazing. Blogging opens up all of these to a very wide audience.

You can make money:
Get the right blog going and you can make a lot of money through advertising and sponsored posts.

It allows people to craft better thoughts:
Instead of reading haphazard, uneducated Facebook statuses, it's much better to see people's thought process in a well-written blog post.

You can establish a community:
Blogging allows you to connect with other individuals who share the same interests. Sharing ideas and opinions within your community helps establish yourself as a thought leader.

Good for SEO:
Keeping content on your site fresh and relevant, you can use your blog to boost the search engine ranking (SEO) of your site and your business.

It brings people back to your site:
If your blog is strong enough and updated regularly, people will come back looking for more and bring traffic back to your site as well.

It's free:
It costs you a grand total of zero dollars to post to the blog, so if you have something to say, there's nothing to stop you.

You can establish yourself as a thought leader:
A blog is a great place for your original thoughts, and it can be a wonderful way to show off your individuality. If people like your ideas, you can become a thought leader in your industry!

What else do you love about blogs? Let me know!

Asylum

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Affirmative Asylum vs Defensive Asylum

Thank you for looking at our office to determine if you are eligible to file for asylum, allowing you to live in the United States, get work authorization, and ultimately become a ‘Green Card’ holder. Our Law Office can help you determine if you are in fact qualified to petition for asylum. If you are qualified, we can provide the legal services to file on your behalf.

In order to qualify for asylum, you must establish that you are a refugee who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality, because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

This means that you must establish that race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion was or will be the main reason for your persecution or why you fear persecution. You must file for asylum within one year of entry into the United States.

If you are granted asylum, you and any eligible spouse or child included in your application will be permitted to remain and work in the United States and may eventually adjust to lawful permanent resident status, otherwise known as a Green Card holder. If you are not granted asylum, the Department of Homeland Security may use the information you provide to establish that you are removable from the United States. This is why you must be successful in your application for asylum so that you may avoid deportation.

Our law office can help you to file for asylum and using our legal services will give the typical applicant a far better chance of success with their application.

While there are very reasonable attorney fees associated with the application, there is no government fee to file.

Once filed, the process can take from months to years to be reviewed, and after a period of time following the filing of the application, you will be granted authorization to work in the United States. While the process is pending, you may remain in the United States.

If you would like to learn more about this process, please call our law office so that we can determine your eligibility. If you are qualified, we can discuss the appropriate course of action for your situation.

Point Based Green Card Explained!

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

The RAISE Act way.

Worldwide	Cap of 140,000 for each fiscal year (including spouses and children)
Point Allocation	Age (10 points maximum)
Between 0 and 17	May not submit an application
Between 18 and 21	6 points
Between 22 and 25	8 points
Between 26 and 30	10 points
Between 31 and 35	8 points
Between 36 and 40	6 points
Between 41 and 45	4 points
Between 46 and 50	2 points
51 or older	0 points
Point Allocation	Formal education (13 points maximum)
U.S. or Foreign High School Degree	1 point
Foreign bachelor's degree	5 points
U.S. Bachelor’s Degree	6 points
Foreign master's degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM)	7 points
U.S. STEM Master’s Degree	8 points
Foreign Professional Degree or Doctoral STEM	10 points
U.S. Professional Degree or Doctoral STEM	13 points
Point Allocation	English language proficiency (12 points maximum)
1st – 5th deciles	0 points
6th – 7th deciles	6 points
8th decile	10 points
9th decile	11 points
10th decile	12 points
Point Allocation	Extraordinary achievement (40 points maximum)
Nobel Laureate or comparable recognition	25 points
Individual Olympic medal or first place in a comparable international sporting event	15 points
Point Allocation	Job offer/highly compensated employment (13 points maximum)
Annual salary offered is at least 150% but less than 200% of the median household income in the state of employment	5 points
Annual salary offered is at least 200% but less than 300% of the median household income in the state of employment	8 points
Annual salary offered is at least 300% of the median household income in the state of employment	13 points
Point Allocation	Investment and active management of new enterprise (12 points maximum)
Investment of at least $1.35 million but less than $1.8 million in a U.S. New Commercial Enterprise (NCE); maintain the investment for three years and play active role in managing the NCE as primary occupation	6 points
Investment of at least $1.8 million in a U.S. NCE; maintain the investment for three years and play active role in managing the NCE as primary occupation	12 points
Point Allocation	Valid (pre-existing) offer of admission under family preference category	2 points

How Do You Qualify for a Green Card?

Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

After Marriage to a US Citizen on a Fiance Visa / Other Valid Visa

Many of our clients are interested in obtaining a Green Card for a loved one. We can help in most situations with what the government refers to as Adjustment of Status.

If you are a US Citizen and your fiance came to the USA with a fiance visa, or if your spouse/fiancé is here or another visa (student, visitor, work etc...), then the Adjustment of Status option is appropriate.

This Adjustment of Status process is what is required to go from being a visa holder to obtaining a 'Green Card' or Permanent Residency.

Once obtained, your 'Green Card" spouse can work, travel in and out of the USA, and begin his or her life here.

In some cases a similar process can be used to keep a parent on a valid visa here as well. To learn more and discuss your options, feel free to ask.