I am a US citizen and want to file a petition for a green card for my spouse. During his initial attempts to enter the United States 10 years ago, he was apprehended by border patrol agents and deported from…
Jenny ZhanJanuary 13, 2021
California District Court Judge White has blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s fee increase, originally slated to take effect on October 2, 2020. The October 2 fee increase would have significantly increased the costs for most employment-based applications and other…
Jenny ZhanOctober 5, 2020
USCIS announced that its planning to furlough of 70% of its employees on August 31 unless Congress acts on the agency’s $1.2 billion emergency funding request. Since March, USCIS has seen a 50% drop in receipts and incoming fees and…
Jenny ZhanAugust 21, 2020
The Department of Homeland Security has announced new application fees that will take effect on October 2, 2020. This new announcement will increase the application fees for most application types. USCIS is a for profit agency that uses application fees…
Jenny ZhanAugust 10, 2020
After halting all in person interviews and naturalization ceremonies for 3 months since March amid the coronavirus pandemic, USCIS has resumed naturalization ceremonies last week. Naturalization involves the filing of an application after the Legal Permanent Resident becomes eligible to…
Jenny ZhanJune 12, 2020
There are a number of factors that can derail the citizenship process. There are outlined below. You can find out more about citizenship by clicking here. Disqualifying Factors Criminal Convictions A Criminal conviction can disqualify a Legal Permanent Resident from…
Jenny ZhanJune 10, 2020
USCIS announced today that U.S. service members and veterans can now file for naturalization online. Naturalization is the process a legal permanent resident must go through to become a U.S. citizen. Although it is not necessary for permanent residents to…
Jenny ZhanMay 6, 2020
Scott Legal, P.C. just had a green card approval for a petition based on marriage. The applicant completed the adjustment of status interview and the green card was approved a few days after the interview. A marriage based green card…
Jenny ZhanSeptember 10, 2019
If you are a U.S. citizen and your child was born outside the U.S., your child may acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. However, simply being born to a U.S. citizen parent is not enough for the child to get the…
Jenny ZhanAugust 28, 2019
The Department of Homeland Security has issued the final rule on public charge. Originally published in October 10, 2018, the new rules seek to change the definition of what immigration officers should consider when determining whether a green card applicant…
Jenny ZhanAugust 13, 2019
A “green card” or permanent resident card is a document that shows a that a person can stay in the U.S. and work here in almost any capacity. One is eligible to apply for permanent residence/green card through certain family…
Jenny ZhanJune 20, 2019
On May 28, 2019, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act. This Act would provide a path to permanent residence and citizenship for current recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for…
Jenny ZhanJune 7, 2019
In lighthearted and joyous news today, the U.S. Embassy in Vienna has announced on Facebook that the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, Trevor Traina, signed a McAgreement with the McDonald’s chain in Austria. The agreement stated that any American citizens in…
Jenny ZhanMay 28, 2019
If you are a U.S. citizen and your child was born outside the U.S., your child may acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. However, simply being born to a U.S. citizen parent is not enough for the child to get the…
Jenny ZhanApril 22, 2019
Let’s analyze the following scenario: You filed your Green Card application with the USCIS and you simultaneously applied for an Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) card (Form I-765) and for an Advance parole (Form I-131), so that you are able to…
Jenny ZhanApril 17, 2019
If your green card application (such as family based green card, employment green card, or green card through the diversity lottery) was approved at the U.S. Consulate abroad, your Green card will not be issued by the U.S. Consulate. Instead,…
Jenny ZhanApril 16, 2019
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge George Hazel began trial on lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 census. The census is a population count that happens every ten years. The results are used to…
Jenny ZhanJanuary 23, 2019
Two requirements that you need to satisfy to become a U.S. citizen are continuous residence and physical presence. Even though these requirements may sound very similar, they are very different concepts, and it often happens that a person meets one…
Jenny ZhanJanuary 18, 2019
Let’s analyze the following scenario: Your uncle is a United States citizen and you want to immigrate to the United States. You cannot file form I-130, as nephews and nieces of a United States citizen are not one of the…
Jenny ZhanJanuary 16, 2019
If you were married or had children at the time your green card application was approved and your spouse or children did not apply for their green cards at that time, they may still be eligible for follow-to-join benefits to…
Jenny ZhanJanuary 16, 2019
On Friday U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a policy that treats non-citizens in the military as “second-class recruits” and prevented them from starting basic training. Judge Tigar found that the Trump administration failed to…
Jenny ZhanNovember 19, 2018
Although a Green Card is thought to be Permanent, there are a number of ways one could lose the permanent residency status. Here is an email that we send to our clients after they receive a green card that outlines…
Jenny ZhanNovember 12, 2018
As reported on June 6, 2018, the Trump administration will publish a regulation that will seek to bar a number of legal immigrants from applying for lawful permanent residence or citizenship due to the possibility of become a public charge.…
Jenny ZhanAugust 14, 2018
For some U.S. citizens, the wait after submitting an immigration applicant can be decades long, add another few years of holding permanent residence status before becoming eligible to apply for citizenship, you study hard to learn a few hundred years…
Jenny ZhanJuly 20, 2018
