The US Supreme Court heard arguments on SB 1070, Arizona’s anti-illegal immigrant law known as the “show me your papers” law on April 25, 2012.  This SB 1070 allows police officers to stop and detain individuals unless a proof of citizenship or legal residence is provided without probable cause or search warrants.

In opposition to this controversial law, the Obama administration challenged the validity of SB 1070, arguing that this law conflicts with federal immigration law because states do not have power to administer laws and policies exclusively reserved to federal government.  Immigration law is a federal law and Congress and federal immigration agencies have the power to administer immigration policies.  Moreover, the administration argues law would result in racial… Read more

In the city of Los Angeles, a new hot button political issue is whether undocumented immigrant residents should be able to obtain driver’s licenses.  Two notable events that occurred in Los Angeles reflect a movement towards legalizing California driver’s license issuance to undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.  The first event was when Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca voiced his support for legal driving permissions for undocumented residents.  The second event took place when the LA Police Commission voted 4-1 to amend the current impound law, permitting unlicensed drivers to be able to get their cars back the next day with a valid ID, registration and an insurance proof.

Obviously, above events reflect certain groups’ political movement – especially the… Read more

H.R.398 ammends the Immigration and Nationality Act to toll, during active-duty service abroad in the Armed Forces, the periods of time to file a petition and appear for an interview to remove the conditional basis for permanent resident status, and for other purposes. This means that people serving in an oversea military duty will not be required to follow the same time requirement to file and show up for an interview to remove their condition for permanent resident status. This law is to prevent any unfair result in missing immigration filing deadlines for active military members abroad. The bill was sponsored by Representatie Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and became law on November 23, 2011.

S.1487 is a bill to authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to establish a program to issue Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Cards, and for other purposes.  S.1487 became law on November 12, 2011 as it passed House, Senate and was signed by the President. This bill was sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed the Dream Act, granted illegal immigrant students access to state financial aid at public universities and community colleges. Brown however, vetoed a measure that would have allowed state universities to consider applicants’ race, gender and income to ensure diversity in their student populations.
The public financial aid as a result of the Dream Act would allow undocumented college students to receive Cal-Grants, a public program that last year provided aid to more than 370,000 low-income students.

The Dream Act has been a hot debate topic in California, especially because it would allow California more spending of taxpayers’ money for illegal immigrants. Conversely, proponents of the Dream Act argue that since illegal immigrants are… Read more

HR 3012, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act would act to remove employment based per-country cap entirely by fiscal year 2015 and raise the family-sponsored per-country cap from 7% to 15%.

The Obama administration said it will review deportation cases involving 300,000 undocumented immigrants. The administration is hoping it could find ways to help low priority offenders including the elderly, crime victims and people who lived in the U.S. since childhood stay in the United States. Although Obama administration has been very harsh on deportation proceedings in the past, this new declaration gives hope to many undocumented immigrants that there may be ways to stay.

As a Los Angeles immigration lawyer, I can hardly believe that Obama administration’s intent in such efforts is nothing other than his election campaign purposes considering the timing of this contrary action from the past.

One of the key concerns of an immigration process is whether an immigrant’s dependents such as his or her children can also come to the United States with the petitioner.  In most immigration scenarios, you can immigrate or move here with your dependents because each dependent is granted a legal status upon your accepted visa application. Whether you are filing for a marriage immigration visa, fiance visa, h-1B visa, E-2 or EB-5, you can have your dependents accompany you to the United States so long as your status is granted. Your dependent’s status is conditional upon the validity of the petitioner’s status.

Family immigration can therefore arise from many different type of immigration – marriage-based or employment-based. The goal is… Read more

Los Angeles, California is one of the biggest destination for immigrants from all over the country. Los Angeles is a cultural hub and a melting pot in California embracing its diversity and cultures from all over the world. Many immigrants live here and their method of immigration varies from employment to marriage immigration. Whatever the method you choose to take legal steps to immigrate to the United States, you need to talk to an immigration attorney because immigration law is very complex and it is often very difficult for non-attorneys to file for immigration visas and green cards. Often, tiny mistakes on an application could cause a long delay in the process or even a denial of one’s case.

Our… Read more

A foreign spouse must be able to prove that either the petitioner or the U.S. citizen sponsor or permanent resident sponsor spouse can support financially the petitioner. The whole purpose of this financial requirement is to prevent government spending on welfare and poverty benefits after accepting an immigrant who cannot be supported by him or herself or by family.

What if the sponsoring spouse’s income falls below the required 125% of the Poverty Guidelines?  Remember, a sponsoring spouse must show that he or she can meet at least 125% of the poverty guideline based on the number of household members. Is there anyway the sponsoring spouse’s family can contribute to meet the guidelines?  Yes

1.    Sponsoring spouse’s own assets can… Read more