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Common Immigration Law Questions Question: I met and married a lady from Peru about 9 months ago. We filed a petition for Alien Relative and an Application to Adjust Status. Now, she has left me for my best friend, filed a petition for divorce and her attorney claims I have to pay her alimony even after we are divorced. Do I have to pay my wife alimony after we are divorced even though she committed adultery? Answer: Unfortunately, you are obligated to support your soon to be ex-wife. Even though your wife may not be entitled to post-divorce alimony (financial support) under the laws of the State of Texas, you have a financial obligation to your wife under the Federal law. When you decided to be her sponsor on the Adjustment of Status Application, you became financially responsible for her until the occurrence of one of the following: she becomes a U.S. Citizen, or she can be credited with 40 qualifying quarters of work, or she departs the United States. Another thing you should be aware of, when you signed and filed the I-864 (affidavit of support) it became an enforceable contract against you. The contract is enforceable by your wife, the state or federal government or any agency providing a means-tested public benefit to your wife. You can be sued by the federal or State government for the amount of any means-tested public benefit (food stamps, or other benefits) paid to your wife. I believe it is in your best interest to seek out the advice of qualified legal counsel experienced in family law and immigration law at your earliest opportunity. Question: My friend knows someone who is an alien (Lawful permanent resident) here in the united states. That person has committed a crime here in Texas and I think that person should be deported. Why hasn't our government deported the alien? Answer: Deportation requires a conviction. What is a conviction? A conviction exists in a case where adjudication has been withheld, when both of the following two elements are present: a judge or jury has found the noncitizen guilty or the noncitizen has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or has admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt; and the judge has ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the noncitizen's liberty to be imposed. Deportable criminal offenses are as follows: Conviction of a single crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years (10 years for certain aliens granted permanent resident status) after admission for which a sentence of one year or longer could be imposed; Conviction at any time after admission of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude (regardless of sentence) ''not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct; Conviction of an aggravated felony at any time after admission; Conviction of a crime relating to high speed flight from an immigration checkpoint; Persons convicted of violating or conspiring or attempting to violate any law or regulation of a state, the United States or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance, other than a single offense involving possession for one's own use of thirty grams or less of marijuana; Certain firearm offenses; Miscellaneous crimes, including sabotage, espionage, treason and sedition, violating the Military Selective Service Act or the Trading With the Enemy Act; Crimes of domestic violence including stalking, violating a protection order, or crimes against children. Question: I heard on the news the H-1B visa cap for 2007 was already reached this year. What does this mean? Answer: H-1B visa programs permits U.S. employers to hire, on a temporary basis, highly educated foreign professionals for "specialty occupations"--jobs that require at least a bachelor's degree or the equivalent in the field of specialty. Examples include doctors, engineers, professors and researchers in a wide variety of fields, accountants, medical personnel and computer scientists. There still are not enough U.S. students graduating with advanced degrees in these fields to fill highly specialized positions; and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the demand for such graduates will increase substantially in the next ten years. The H-1B program does not harm U.S. workers. The H-1B program has built-in safeguards to ensure that highly educated foreign professionals do not undercut the wages offered U.S. workers. Employers must offer the foreign professional a wage that is the higher of either the typical wage in the region for that type of work ("prevailing wage"), or what the employer actually pays existing employees with similar experience and duties. The numerical cap limiting H-1B visa program for FY2007 was reached June 1, 2006. The numerical cap limiting the H-1B visa program for FY2006 was reached nearly two months prior to the start of this year. Congress has allowed this to occur despite overwhelming evidence of the number of high-tech jobs that need to be filled in the U.S., and the shortage of U.S. workers available to fill them. Yet, as President Bush and many others recently have stated, a solution to this problem is clear and readily available: bring more highly educated foreign professionals into this country, by way of the H-1B visa. Simply put, without more access to H-1Bs, our businesses suffer, and the U.S. stands to lose rapidly not only the competitive economic edge generations of Americans have worked so hard to achieve, but also its preeminence in a variety of scientific and technical fields-areas vital to our prosperity and national security. Question: My husband and I are interested in adopting a child from another country. What will we have to do to adopt a child this way? Answer: If you decide to contract with an adoption agency, make sure the agency is accredited both by the Department of State and the country from which you desire to adopt. Your first step is to seek out a licensed social worker to perform a home study . Start accumulating the following documents: proof of citizenship (birth certificate), proof of marriage (if married), divorce decree, proof of financial stability, tax returns, financial statement, psychological reports, pictures of your family and home and a criminal history and clearance from CPS of each person seeking to adopt. After the home study is completed, you will file an I-600(a) application with the USCIS, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. Once your dossier is complete and you have approval from USCIS, your dossier is sent to the foreign country. Adoption procedures vary from country to country. Some countries require the full adoption of the child in the foreign court after the child has been declared an orphan or released for adoption. Others allow simple adoption, which means that the adoptive parent(s) can be granted guardianship of the child by the foreign court. This would allow the child to leave the foreign county to be adopted here. I recommend re-adoption of the child once you return to the US as a precautionary measure. My best advice is to hire an attorney experienced in immigration law and family law. Question: My housekeeper does not have legal status here in the U.S. Is it possible to change her status to a lawful status? Answer: This is a complicated question. Adjustment of status (AOS) is normally not available to a non citizen who accepts unauthorized employment prior to filing an application for adjustment of status, or who has failed to maintain lawful status in the U.S. However, A non citizen could be in a situation where she is not maintaining lawful status but still would not be unlawfully present in the U.S. Even if she falls within the definition of unlawful presence she still may obtain an visa through a consular office outside the U.S. The Consul applies a different set of laws and there is no problem with unauthorized employment when a visa is obtained through consular processing. Moreover, if she fails to disclose to the INS any period of employment on the AOS application and the INS subsequently discovers that she lied, she has bigger problems. The INS may charge her with document fraud (mandatory deportation) or worse, if it's determined she lied to obtain a visa she is subject to a $10,000.00 fine and/or imprisonment for more than five years. This is a short summary of a much more complicated answer. Be careful, because any person that assists a fraud can also be sentenced to prison. Question: I have met and married a woman from Argentina. She is here on a student visa. How does our marriage affect her immigration status? Answer: A U.S. Citizen petitioning for his or her spouse as an immediate relative must have entered into a legally valid and bona fide marriage with that spouse. You can file an application to change her status to a permanent resident. You do this by first hiring an immigration lawyer. The attorney files two applications a family petition and an application to adjust status. You did not state whether or not you were a U.S. Citizen, if you are a permanent resident the waiting period can be as long as 5 8 years. Depending on your status, and where the marriage is less than two years old, your spouse is granted "conditional permanent resident" status. This "conditional" status lasts for two years from the date a person becomes a lawful resident, not two years from the original marriage date. The person must petition to remove the "conditional" status. Even if you divorce, your spouse can apply for a waiver and still remove her "conditional" status. There are many forms and exhibits (documents) that must be included in the foregoing applications. I would not suggest completing these forms without the advice of an immigration attorney, please call us today or email us at info@galvestonlaw.net to arrange an appointment. Question: I am a physician from Italy completing my residency program here in the US. I am required to return to my home country for two years. Are there waivers to the two year residency requirement? Answer: Foreign Physicians who received their medical education outside the United States and wish to pursue medical residencies and/or other clinical training in the US must enter the US under the sponsorship of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. It is difficult to qualify for entry to such programs. Participation subjects the alien to the 2 year home country physical presence requirement. The requirement is rarely waived for an international medical graduate. There are waivers of the two year home residency requirement as follows: (1) No Objection Waiver, the no objection statement is a formal, diplomatic communication from the foreign physician's home country made directly to the State Department. Foreign medical graduates are specifically precluded from applying for this waiver. Unless the waiver is at the request of a state department of health or another gov't agency; (2) Exceptional Hardship, on the basis that exceptional hardship to a US citizen or LPR alien spouse or child would follow if the visitor complied with the requirement; (3) Persecution, is a claim that the alien will be persecuted on account of his/her race, religion, or political opinion, if the foreign national doctor is required to return to the home county; (4) Interested Government Agency, Where a US gov't agency believes a waiver to be in the public interest and physician's prospective compliance with the 2 year requirement to be detrimental to a program of that agency; (5) The Appalachian Regional Commission, is an agency that will recommend waivers for physicians who agree to practice medicine with a health care facility or group for at least three years within the defined Appalachian region or in a rural Health Professional Shortage Area; (6) State Public Health Department's Requests for a waiver, The purpose of this specific waiver is to relieve shortages of health care professionals in certain geographic locations as designated by the Department of Health and Human Services
Unless otherwise indicated, Not Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. |
