Did You Know that Marriage Based Green Cards are Always Available to Immigrants?

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One of the most popular means for becoming a lawful permanent resident of the United States is through obtaining a marriage based green card.  If you are married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you can apply through him or her for your own lawful permanent resident status.    A spouse who is a U.S. citizen is considered an “immediate relative” by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), conferring you with the highest immigration priority.  This means that if you apply for your green card through your U.S. citizen spouse, you will not have to wait for a green card slot to become available.  Spousal green cards are available all the time.  Your Immigration Angel helps immigrants navigate the U.S. immigration system.  Our special focus is helping people stay in the U.S. immediately.  If you have any questions on becoming a U.S. citizen through a marriage based green card, call or email us for a free initial consultation.

Despite Growing Economic Benefits that Accompany the Increased Popularity of the EB-5 Investor Visa, the Program Faces Congressional Review for Renewal in 2015  

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The EB-5 visa offers foreign investors a chance to live in the United States and become U.S. citizens in exchange for providing $500,000 to $1 million in capital and creating at least 10 new jobs in the U.S. Although the cap for investor visa has never been reached, the State Department recently announced that the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program reached its cap of 10,000 visas for the 2014 year.  The EB-5 program sometimes raises concerns that it provides immigration privileges to wealthy investors and can be susceptible to fraud. However, a Brookings Institution analysis found that the EB-5 program has created 85,500 full-time jobs and brought $5 billion of investment monies over the 25 years that the program has been implemented.  Despite this good news, the program is not permanent and is set to expire in 2015 unless Congress renews it.

Are you a DREAMer and a student?  Hurry, there is still time to apply for scholarships up to $25,000!

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Two years after President Barack Obama announced his executive order for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which lets young people who were brought without immigration papers by their parents to the United States apply to stay for a certain period of time, education benefits are being made available.  The Dream US, a national organization with $32 million to help young people, announced that applications for scholarships up to $25,000 are being accepted from undocumented youth who will be first-time college students or who will transfer to a four-year university to finish a bachelor’s degree.  The scholarships – to which individuals can apply online through Sunday, Oct. 26 by 11:59 p.m. (Central Standard Time) – can be used to pay for college tuition, as well as books and fees. The scholarship amount depends on a young person’s financial need and the cost to attend a university or college.  Scholarship recipients need to be considered as in-state students, in terms of tuition, maintain a grade point average of 3.0, stay enrolled in a college or university that is a partner of TheDream.US and keep their DACA status.  TheDream.US has posted guideline information, as well an application link, FAQs and stories from scholarship recipients.

A Nation of Immigrants

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“Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.”

–John F. Kennedy, A Nation of Immigrants

President Obama Promises to Take Executive Action in the Wake of Congressional Failure to Implement Immigration Reform  

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The United States has historically been a melting pot of immigrants, each immigrant community bringing an additional ingredient to the rich mélange that is the U.S. population.  As such, immigrants have been instrumental in helping build this country and are an intrinsic part of American history.  However, Immigrant communities have been waiting for months for immigration reforms to meet the growing needs of the people.  Unfortunately, Congress has been unable to agree on any actions to meet current immigration needs.  Every U.S. President since 1965 has made executive decisions on immigration issues, and President Obama is no exception.  The President has broad executive authority to shape the enforcement and implementation of immigration laws.  The President can exercise prosecutorial discretion to defer deportations and streamline adjudications.  Already, President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, has deferred deportation for young adults brought to the U.S. as children.  Further reform focusing on circumventing family separation is one of the main areas expected to be addressed soon by the Obama administration.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Finally Addresses the Problems Faced by Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) in Detention Facilities

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DHS has been conducting spot inspections of detention facilities.  Conditions that may warrant additional inspections include increases in UAC apprehensions that result in many UAC being held in CBP facilities longer than 72 hours and credible allegations of

DHS employee misconduct.  During one routine spot inspection, DHS observed that CBP personnel did not properly segregate a UAC with a communicable disease. They also did not ensure that food and water were readily available.  CBP agents working at that time were unfamiliar with the protocol for dealing with UAC resulting in the above failures.  A second inspection of the facility a week later was required.  During the subsequent inspection, food and water were readily available and the station had addressed all issues from the previous spot inspection and only CBP employees familiar with UAC were assigned to that facility.  DHS has promised to continue monitoring the welfare of UAC and conducting spot checks of CBP facilities for compliance with protocol.   Border Patrol apprehensions of UAC declined three fold since June 2014, from over 10,000 detainees per month to a little over 3,000/month in the subsequent months.  Only a limited number of CBP facilities are processing UAC. CBP personnel are transferring most UAC to appropriate Health and Human Services (HHS) housing within 6 hours.

Immigrant Women Forming a Formidable Force in the U.S. Workplace  

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As of 2014, immigrant women slightly outnumber immigrant men in the United States. Nearly half of all immigrant women are naturalized U.S. citizens.  Immigrant women number more than 20 million in the U.S. today, and are making their presence felt in U.S. society.  More than a quarter of immigrant women have a bachelor’s degree or even higher education.  On average, 56.4 percent of foreign-born women were in the labor force in 2012, compared to 59.2 percent of native-born women.  Of all employed women in the United States, 15 percent are foreign-born women.  Immigrant women can be found working in every field, with one-third being in management and professional occupations, nearly a third work in service occupations and a little less than a quarter work in sales and office occupations. Clearly, the economic contributions of immigrant women are important to the U.S. economy.