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In order for the I-130 petition to be successful, you must be able to prove a bona fide marriage.
While a small courthouse wedding is a perfectly valid way to get married, it can create issues for your marriage application if you aren’t careful. Courthouse weddings are common for couples who are attempting to commit marriage fraud.
There are some ways you can make it work. Here’s what you need to do.
Don’t just run up to the courthouse and have a quick 15-minute ceremony. Wear something nice. Hire a photographer to take pictures of you and your spouse on the courthouse steps. Plan a big afterparty and take pictures of the party.
Be ready to show that the civil ceremony was a financial and personal choice rather than a box you were checking off to get through the immigration process.
This is an issue that comes up for same-sex couples a lot. In order for the marriage to work for green card purposes, it had to be legal in the jurisdiction where the wedding took place. If you had a ceremony in a country where gay marriage is not legal then you aren’t married yet in the eyes of USCIS.
You could go ahead and have a courthouse wedding to get legally married. Then you can show the official that you had a ceremony in the other country but handled the legal aspects of the marriage here in the states. As long as you’re ready to tell your story and to show that a wedding has taken place you should be fine.
Pictures. Affidavits. Evidence of joint leases, mortgages, bank accounts, tax returns. Anything you can show an immigration official to make it clear that you are building a life together or have built a life together.
The type of wedding doesn’t matter much if you are living together, had children together, pay bills together, and can answer all of your interview questions in a satisfactory fashion.
Look up the most common interview questions and be prepared to answer them. Know the common pitfalls, ways that people mess up their immigration interviews because they’re not thinking when they answer questions.
If you do that, then the way that you chose to get married should not be a problem.
An immigration attorney can help you solve problems with your application, whether they are minor problems like the type of wedding you’ve had or are stickier, more major issues.
The earlier you involve an immigration attorney in the process, the more successful your application is likely to be.
Contact Hykel Law today.
See also:
Is My Family Member Eligible for Immigration?
How Much Does an Immigration Lawyer Cost?
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
If you are a United States citizen with foreign relatives then you might have a vested interest in bringing family members over and helping them obtain Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status. Yet it is not possible to get a green card for every member of your family.
Green cards are typically available to “immediate” relatives. While there are some exceptions, it’s important to keep this guideline in mind when attempting to obtain immigration benefits for your relatives.
Immediate relatives are defined as your spouse, your child if your child is under the age of 21, your parents, your step children, your step-parents if the marriage creating this relationship took place before the child’s 18th birthday, and parents and children who are related by adoption if the adoption took place before the child reached the age of 16.
Your fiancée is close to being green-card eligible but will typically need a K-1 fiancée visa first. These visas are for a fiancée who intends to marry you within the United States.
Typically, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews are not eligible for family-based immigration. These relationships simply are not considered close enough to allow for family-based immigration.
There are unlimited green cards available for immediate relatives. There are also some relatives who are eligible for a family-based immigration benefit but who may have to wait for some time due to limitations on the numbers of visas that may be issued to preference relatives.
These are unmarried children of US citizens, regardless of age, spouses of green card holders and unmarried children of green card holders under the age of 21, or unmarried sons and daughters of green card holders over the age of 21.
US citizens with married adult children can also sometimes sponsor their children, though these children are low in the preference order. In addition, sisters and brothers of US Citizens can sometimes come over as a fourth-priority preference relative.
The sponsoring relative will need to file a Form I-130, the Petition for an Alien Relative. You will need to provide evidence of your own status within the United States, either as a US Citizen or as a green card holder. You will also have to provide evidence of your relationship with the person you are petitioning for.
It is very difficult to fix mistakes once they have occurred. If you want to give your family member the best chance of success your best bet is to work with a qualified immigration attorney from Day 1. Contact Hykel Law to get started today.
See also:
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
Can An Extramarital Affair Disqualify You for a Green Card?
Visitor visa extensions are getting tougher to obtain, but if you have a genuine need to stay in the United States a little longer there are ways to make your case which can be successful.
There are two types of visitor’s visa.
The first is the B-1 visa, which is for business. Business visas are often extended when you need to continue participating in a contract negotiation, contract, scientific experiment, or other legitimate business need that has not been concluded as planned by the end of your six months.
The second is the B-2 visa, for pleasure or medical treatment. You can often ask for more time to attend certain family functions like weddings or funerals, or even to continue with certain tourism activities.
Both visas are typically issued for a period of 6 months, but can be eligible for a 6 month extension.
Each of these visitor’s visas is extended for a period of up to 10 years. If you choose to go to Canada or Mexico at the end of six months you must spend at least 30 days out of the United States before you can leave for another six months. This will not be feasible for everyone.
You should file an I-539, which is the Application to Extend or Change Nonimmigrant Status. It’s usually wise to file your I-539 at least 45 days before your visa is set to expire. Keep in mind you will only be eligible for an extension if you do not allow yourself to fall out of status and you have not at any point violated the conditions of your admission to the United States.
Once you file your case you’ll get a case number which you can use to check your case status online. Once you have a case number you may remain until a decision is made as long as you don’t violate other conditions of your stay.
You only get one extension, which means you need to be able to show that you plan to leave the United States without fail at the end of your extension period. You will also have to provide evidence that you are financially prepared to remain in the US.
You’ll need a cover letter that explains why you need the extension, proof of financial support, copy of your return tickets, a $370 extension fee, an $85 biometric fee, and a copy of your I-94.
If your extension request is denied and you truly have a need to remain you should leave the country for at least thirty days and contact an immigration attorney.
See also:
3 Immigration Mistakes to Avoid
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
New Immigration Fees Philadelphia Immigrants Should Know About
As the country continues to get vaccinated and as certain things begin to “open up” there is more of an interest in travel among many of our clients.
Whether or not you are safe to travel within the United States and how you travel depends entirely on your unique immigration situation. There are a few situations in which certain travel decisions are extremely risky.
Note that if you have a valid visa of any kind, or a green card, you should be safe to travel within the United States if you want to. The only way you may jeopardize your immigration case is if you choose to leave the United States. Just make sure you carry appropriate documentation with you at all times, meaning you’re carrying your passport, your ID, and your stamped visa with you at all times.
If you’re waiting on an approval for your visitor’s visa extension you’re in a fairly precarious position.
Of course, it’s easy to get frustrated with the extension process. They take a long time, it’s impossible to know whether or when they will be approved, and the delays can certainly make it difficult to plan. Nevertheless, many extensions are being denied, and if you are caught on a visitor’s visa that has expired it may not matter that you applied for an extension and are waiting for approval. Immigration agents may still initiate the removal process.
Travel can be extremely risky for you, because you don’t have legal status. In many cases you will be inviting Homeland Security to discover this fact and respond to it.
What if you absolutely must travel, due to an emergency, for the purposes of obtaining work, or for some other reason that makes remaining in your current location anything but an option?
Primarily, what you’re going to want to do is avoid the airport. Driving, if you have a valid license, is usually pretty safe. The moment you go to the airport, however, you’re interacting with TSA agents, who will definitely discover your status issues.
You also are going to want to avoid travel by Greyhound bus. Many people don’t realize this, but along the border especially ICE agents often stop Greyhounds and board them. They begin checking the paperwork of everyone on board the bus and will take people into custody if they find they do not have legal status within the United States of America. The same is true for Amtrak trains.
Note that these checks can happen anywhere. While they are more common at the border they could just as easily take place here in Pennsylvania, in the heart of the midwest. At some bus stations they happen up to three times a day. Immigration law as currently written give agents the ability to search vehicles without a warrant within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States. That includes a large chunk of this state.
While these spot checks have certainly been criticized for being unconstitutional they nevertheless do continue to take place.
Travel via a private vehicle is always going to be your best bet. If possible, you want to avoid driving the car yourself. Instead, try to travel with a citizen who has their own driver’s license. If stopped, passengers of a private vehicle do not have to provide any identification under the current law.
The Law Office of Renee Hykel helps with many immigration issues and can answer questions as needed.
See also:
What Are Your Options When You’re Undocumented?
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
What Are Your Rights if ICE Agents Are At the Door?
Life happens, which means many people who are attempting to secure a green card, a work permit, or both end up having to change residences halfway through the process. While nothing stops you from making the move, it could create delays and problems in your immigration case if you aren’t careful.
Here’s what you need to know about minimizing the problems with different kinds of moves.
If you think there’s a chance you may need to change countries it’s best to file your application electronically and to update your information online. At the point where you’re in one country, filing in another, and moving to a third it can be difficult to score an embassy interview.
If you can, you might want to wait until you’re going to be settled a little while before starting an application. Avoiding a move during the process is probably easiest.
Believe it or not shifting from one USCIS jurisdiction to another can cause delays of up to one year. If at all possible you want to stay at the old address if you can, or wait to start your application at the new one.
Otherwise, you’re inviting your application to fall through the cracks as it gets shifted from one office’s queue to the other. In addition, you risk missing notifications when they don’t get sent to the right place (government notices do not forward from one address to the other).
In addition, you can’t simply go to the old city’s office when it’s time for your interview. The USCIS officials will not grant you the interview because you’ll be in the wrong jurisdiction.
There are a few things you can do to alleviate the problem. The first is to file your AR-11 form in a timely fashion. This updates USCIS about your move. In addition, you can hire an attorney, even if you haven’t had one in the past. All of your notices, your green card, and your work permit may all be sent to your attorney’s office. This is easy and convenient, as your attorney is unlikely to move.
If you are moving within the boundaries of your current USCIS office’s jurisdiction you shouldn’t have any problems, though you will still need to fill out an AR-11 within ten days of your move. You can check this with the field office locator on the USCIS website.
Be careful as it’s not always obvious where your field office is going to be, and it’s usually about which office is closer, not about state lines.
For example, if you are in Pittsburgh your office is at 777 Penn Center Boulevard, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA. If you move to Philadelphia, your office will shift to the field office on North 41st Street here in Philadelphia. Yet if you move to Wheeling, Ohio, your field office will still be here in Pittsburgh. Double check the zip codes before you make any assumptions.
The best way to make sure your case goes smoothly is to work with an immigration lawyer. If you’re struggling, contact Hykel Law today.
See also:
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
Remote Work and US Immigration Law
A Notice to Revoke, or NOIR, is bad news for anyone who is attempting to get a green card. They’re most common in I-130 petition cases, wherein a petitioner seeks to obtain a green card for their spouse.
Here’s what happens. The Form I-130 gets approved, giving the immigrant the right to file a green card application. USCIS then schedules your marriage green card interview. If they see something during this interview they don’t like and now suspect that your marriage is not a bona fide marriage. It may also mean that USCIS has received new information which they consider to be derogatory to your case.
While this is not good news, there are steps you can take to try to salvage the situation.
Your notice will list all the reasons why USCIS wants to revoke your I-130 removal. This will also give you some information on what kinds of evidence they’re going to want to support the legitimacy of your relationship.
You may see reasons like:
Do this even if you’ve tried to handle your immigration case on your own up until now. It’s harder to overturn a revocation than it is to get the original I-130 approval, and you’re going to need help.
Your attorney can start by drafting a written rebuttal to USCIS’ list of reasons for issuing the denial. Remember, you have just 30 days to respond, so move quickly.
The more you can support the validity of your marriage the more likely you are to be successful at defending your I-130 from revocation. Keep in mind that USCIS likes to see shared accounts, utilities in both partners’ names, leases and mortgages in both party’s names, and so on.
Don’t assume that you should stop gathering evidence or strengthening your presentation as a marital unit until the green card is in hand. Getting lawful permanent resident status in the United States is a long and fraught process, and you’ll need all the support you can get to achieve this coveted status.
If any part of your immigration case has gone wrong, don’t wait. Reach out to Hykel Law today to get the help you need to stay in the United States of America.
See also:
How Much Does an Immigration Lawyer Cost?
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
Many people try to handle the immigration process themselves before going to an immigration attorney. This can result in making serious mistakes that take extra time, money, and legal help to fix.
In some cases, it won’t even be possible to fix the mistakes. They may bring your case to a close, resulting in deportation. At best, they may delay your case from reaching the successful conclusion you are hoping to see.
Here are three things to avoid as you start your immigration process.
All the instructions for all the forms are on USCIS.gov. While they are terribly confusing some people just try to fill out the form without looking at them at all. This can result in mistakes that would have been easy to avoid had you just taken a look at the information that was already there.
For example, the forms always list all of the evidence you need to include with your application. If you miss something on that list, you’ll inevitably delay your case with a request for evidence (RFE).
Just take it slow and move through the application question by question, consulting the directions for each question.
Some people think they can fool USCIS. You should be aware that it’s almost impossible to do so. Immigration officials are very good at spotting lies.
You also need to make sure you really understand the question being asked. For example, there are a whole series of questions about criminal activity. Some of them ask if you’ve ever been charged with a crime. Some people put no when the answer is yes, thinking that they’re in the clear because their criminal defense attorney got the charges dismissed. Those charges may be dismissed and you may never have seen jail time, but you were still charged. You still need to disclose.
So you don’t just need to guard against intentional misrepresentation. You need to guard against unintentional misrepresentation, wherein you fail to really read and understand the question that’s been asked and then create a discrepancy that can make it look like you’re attempting to defraud the US government.
There was a time when immigration was far more simple than it is today. During that time it might have been possible to DIY the entire process. These days it’s even hard for full-time immigration attorneys to keep up. Some of the same issues that got spawned under President Trump continue to cause problems during these early days of the Biden presidency.
You can save some money by initially filling out the information yourself and then bringing it to an attorney for review. Bring questions about specific issues you ran into or parts of the application you weren’t sure about. This can give you a happy medium between trying to do everything yourself and worrying about the expense of an immigration lawyer.
Remember, too, that it costs far less to do it right the first time than it does to correct mistakes.
In certain cases mistakes can turn your green card application into a scramble to successfully navigate deportation defense litigation. Deportation defense can cost $5000 to $10,000 and you’ll be required to repay your filing fees, too.
If you’re not sure about something in the immigration process it’s always best to get help right away.
Reach out to Hykel Law to get started today.
See also:
How Much Does an Immigration Lawyer Cost?
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
In the News: USCIS Expands Premium Processing
If you are currently undocumented it can be difficult to get a green card. There are a few paths to permanent residency, though they are not easy.
Undocumented immigrants have 3 paths to a Green Card. The first is a family reunification path. The second is an employment path. The third is a humanitarian path. If you are undocumented you will need a Green Card before applying for citizenship.
If you have a spouse, parent, or unmarried child who is a adult United States Citizen then you may qualify for a family reunification card.
There are also 226,000 Green Cards set aside every year for siblings, children, and spouses of Green card holders. You will need an attorney’s help to pursue this path because it is by no means a straightforward one.
If you work in a qualifying profession or have an advanced degree you may be able to take advantage of an employment visa. There are 140,000 of these visas available every year.
You’ll need an employer-sponsor, and that employer will need to demonstrate they couldn’t find a qualified US citizen to fill the role you’re trying to fill.
If you are an undocumented immigrant who has been in the country for less than a year, and can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution if you return to your home country, then you may apply for asylum.
Some undocumented immigrants may be able to get a T-visa (victims of human trafficking), a VAWA visa (if your spouse, a US Citizen, abused you), or a U-visa if you were a victim of a crime, suffered physical and mental abuse as a result of that crime, and assisted law enforcement in bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice.
Cancellation of removal green cards also fall under this humanitarian “umbrella.” To qualify you must be in danger of imminent deportation and you must have lived in the United States for more than ten years. If your cancellation of removal proceeding is successful you will receive an immediate green card.
Cancellation of removal requires you to meet a number of requirements: residency requirements, requirements which help you demonstrate good moral character, and certain hardship standards. You will absolutely need an attorney to help you navigate this part of the process.
Under current laws many undocumented immigrants would have to leave the country to apply for a green card. This usually means navigating some hefty re-entry bars.
For example, if you were an unlawful resident for more than 6 months then you’ll be barred from re-entry for 3 years. If you lived here unlawfully for more than a year then you won’t be able to re-enter for ten years.
There are ways around this, but you would have to prove that your absence would cause an extreme hardship for a spouse or parent who is either a US citizen or a green card holder. You would have to show that there would be financial, mental, emotional, or other types of severe repercussions if you are not there to help that person out.
There’s one more complication: wait times. No country may receive more than 7% of any of the visas issued in a year. That means it can take years and years for a green card to become available, especially if you are from a high-volume country like India or Mexico.
All of this means that it pays to work closely with an immigration attorney when you finally get your chance to become eligible for a card. Don’t miss your shot because something has gone wrong during the application process. Get help making sure the job is done right the first time. This is doubly true if you are attempting a cancellation of removal procedure, since you can meet all of the qualifications and still get deported at a judge’s discretion. Working with an attorney can mean the difference between getting to stay and having to go.
See also:
Can an Extramarital Affair Disqualify You for a Green Card?
What Must an Employer Do Before Hiring an H-1B Worker?
It’s natural to worry a great deal about the costs of an immigration lawyer. It’s one of the biggest fears that clients tend to bring to the table.
Fortunately, the answer is: probably not as much as you think.
Keep in mind that there are two types of immigration costs.
The first are government filing fees. There is rarely any getting around these fees if you want to immigrate to the United States. There are instances when you can apply for a fee waiver.
Here, hiring an attorney can actually save you a great deal of money because if you file the wrong paperwork you might have to pay the fees all over again to file the right paperwork.
The second type of cost is the cost of an immigration attorney. Again, this usually proves to be an excellent investment because it spares you from the time and expense of correcting mistakes.
We know that not everybody has the money to pay for start-to-finish immigration help.
That’s why we often will consult on a single issue or problem and can often do this in just a couple of hours, which can be less than $300 depending on that attorney’s specific hourly rate.
There are often times when many immigration attorneys offer flat fees on specific services to keep the costs low, ensuring that you don’t have to worry about paying for more attorney hours than you have to.
Of course, every case is different. There may be times where you really need to be ready to pay higher legal fees because there are problems with your case that will take a lot more time and effort to address. If that’s the case you will get an excellent idea of what to expect before you retain the attorney.
While it would be wrong to say that nobody has ever managed to immigrate on their own, successfully, without the help of a lawyer, it is fair to say that the Trump Administration complicated immigration to an incredible degree and that it will take the Biden Administration awhile to sort everything out.
There are still denials and requests for evidence happening, immigration continues to change daily and most people are going to struggle to get it right.
If you get it wrong, it may be harder and more expensive to correct your situation after a misstep. This alone may be a good reason to go ahead and call an immigration attorney to find out what you’re actually looking at in terms of costs.
Ultimately, it’s your decision. But if you want to immigrate to the United States, an attorney can smooth your path and help you overcome expensive roadblocks. Ultimately, your dreams may be worth the cost.
See also:
In the News: Biden Plan for Immigration
5 Steps to a Smoother Immigration Process
New Immigration Fees Philadelphia Immigrants Should Know About
We look forward to helping you with your immigration case. We have the experience, knowledge and staff to handle your matter swiftly. Reach out today to discuss your needs for representation.