EXECUTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO CONGRESSIONAL INACTION
Congress has failed to enact immigration reform since the Presidential Election, almost two years. The Director of Immigration has been directed to extend benefits and protections to undocumented immigrants under the powers of the Executive Branch without relying on Congress now. These powers may be used to aid family [...]

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Governor Paterson of New York who promised to grant Pardons to immigrants who had committed minor crimes or had occurred years ago, just fulfilled his promise, granting a Pardon to a Chinese man who as an adolescent had been involved in a series of muggings in Chinatown, NY. Immigration officers recently jailed him for [...]

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U.S. citizens and permanent residents, not to mention non-immigrants are often plagued by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at points of entry to the U.S. because of reports in the Border Patrol’s dossiers or because the entrant has a similar name to someone else who has such a record.  One egregious example was that [...]

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Visa waivers are allowed to nationals of most West European countries, and Japan & Australia, permitting a visit to the U.S. for 90 days without extensions.  If a national of these countries overstays, he/she can be barred from returning to the U.S.   The New York Circuit Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) is one of the [...]

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Work authorization in the U.S. may be obtained in various ways, depending on an applicant’s skills, education, experience and financial worth.  Alternatives are available according to your intentions and your proficiency in your work.  If you want to come soon, then the fast track is by a non-immigrant (temporary) petition; the immigrant (permanent) visa takes [...]

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Even though a U.S. Petitioning Parent dies before an adult child obtains permanent
residence, still the child may now receive permanent residence if the petition had already been approved.   A U.S. parent petition for an adult child, is normally approved forthwith.  However, because of  worldwide quota delays, the quota delay can take years to be [...]

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Formerly if a U.S. citizen who petitioned for an alien spouse had died within the first two years of the marriage, the widow(er) and his/her children were shown the door.   The government imposed a hidebound rule that revoked any and all alien relative petitions for spouses and their children if the petitioner had died [...]

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New Immigration regulations set to take effect on January 1, 2010 will eliminate the HIV Positive Ban on permanent residence for HIV sufferers.  Formerly any applicant who tested HIV positive could not receive permanent residence and there was no Waiver available unless an applicant had a spouse, parent or unmarried [...]

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Congress approved an end to the “widow penalty” last week.  Formerly the Immigration Service cancelled a permanent residence application for a surviving immigrant spouse of a U.S. citizen if the U.S. citizen spouse died before the marriage had lasted two full years.  Congress sought to change this rigid law denying an [...]

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Predawn raids by Immigration officers armed with pistols and shotguns have focused on private homes in New Jersey and Long Island recently, violating Immigration’s own rules and the U.S. constitution.  These raids originally planned to arrest serious criminals and terrorists have instead principally leaned on undocumented aliens, in a manner suggesting racial profiling.  Of arrests, [...]

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