Asylees or permanent residents who became residents through asylum may face obstacles if they return to their country.  If such a trip is necessary as for instance a parent is seriously ill or a family emergency occurs that requires the physical presence of the asylee, it is essential to apply before leaving the U.S. for [...]

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Undocumented children have an unquestioned right to attend public school, full time. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a Constitutional right to a free public education in the district where a child resides. A school district may not inquire at the time of enrolling as to the student’s immigration status, and the school registrar [...]

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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 child of a U.S. citizen [...]

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Since the military is facing severe shortages in skilled personnel such as health care and linguistics translation, it is opening a pilot program to attract immigrant enlistees who have lived in the U.S. for more than 2 years and have permanent residence.  This program would shortcut a path to U.S. citizenship for enlistees who would [...]

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A permanent resident can lose their permanent residence if he/she remains outside the U.S for one day more than one year.  A primary residence in the U.S. is necessary to apply to Immigration for citizenship.  Normally residents who need to stay outside the U.S. for more than one year must apply for a re-entry permit [...]

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The Immigration Service has created a new test for the ostensible purpose of applicants learning to identify the basic values of citizenship.  There are new reading tests, and  also history and government questions. These tests will be used for applicants who apply after October 1, 2008. For permanent residents who apply after October 1, 2008, we [...]

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 Immigration officials predict to have 930,000 citizenship applications completed by September 30, 2008. The backlog has been a unfortunate. If the Immigration Service keeps its word, tens of thousands of new citizens will be able to vote in the fall election. The immigration projections may be overly optimistic. Of 1,050,000 pending applications, only 70% of [...]

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Citizenship fees were raised by 80% in July, 2007 on the promise that the application process would be expedited. The Immigration Service can’t seem to handle all the applications filed. The Immigration expected 3.2 million applications in two years; instead it got more than 3.2 million in two months! Due to this ineptitude in handling [...]

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A federal court action may be brought to compel the Immigration Service to expedite naturalization applications delayed by background checks. Federal Courts have recently held that once the Immigration Service has scheduled a naturalization hearing, within 120 days of the naturalization interview, the Immigration service must decide the case. The Court reasoned that the Immigration [...]

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