Tag Archives: adjustment of status

Adjustment of status (AOS) posts in the CitizenPath immigration blog.

Supreme Court Clears the Way for a Restrictive, New Public Charge Rule

January 28, 2020Apply for Green Cardadjustment of status, affidavit of support, I-485, I-864, I-944

Trump administration's public charge rule change blocked by federal judges

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to implement its new public charge rule. The modified rule affects intending immigrants based on their past use of public assistance and a host of other new financial scores.

Titled “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds,” the rule sparked several legal challenges. The new rule basically reinterprets how the law defines inadmissibility. In other words, it re-defines how the government can keep out certain immigrants that may use or have used certain public benefits. In fact, there has always been a public charge rule. The Trump administration evaluated the law, and decided to interpret it differently.

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U.S. Taxes and Immigration Consequences

January 24, 2020Immigration News, Working in the U.S.adjustment of status, conditional residence, daca, deferred action, green card marriage, I-129F, I-130, I-485, I-751, I-765, I-821D, I-90, N-400, N-565, naturalization, undocumented, work permit

For immigrants arriving to the United States, the American tax system can be a very new and confusing concept. In fact, the U.S. tax system is so complex that most natural-born Americans have difficulty filing each year. As a general rule, U.S. tax law applies to you if you live in the United States or spend a significant amount of time here.

In the United States everyone with income above certain levels is expected to file a tax return. That’s not true in all countries around the world. In many countries, the government withholds taxes from paychecks, and the individual never has to directly file an income tax return. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the U.S. agency responsible for collecting taxes.

Whether you are a lawful permanent resident or an undocumented immigrant, it’s important that you get a basic understanding of your tax filing obligations.

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Dual Intent Visas and the Concept of Nonimmigrant Intent Explained

January 21, 2020Apply for Green Cardadjustment of status, consular processing, F-1 visa

A dual intent visa allows foreign nationals to be temporarily present in the United States with the intention of possibly immigrating to the U.S. permanently. That’s significant because most temporary visas require that the visitor intend to return home. Thus, attempting to adjust status to permanent resident with other nonimmigrant visas can potentially trigger severe, long-term immigration problems.

Most people will find it difficult to qualify for a U.S. nonimmigrant visa, such as a visitor visa, if there is any evidence of immigrant intent—a past intent, an intent to seek to immigrate during this trip to the U.S., an intent to immigrate to the U.S. in the future, or even a hope to immigrate in the future. The applicant must prove that he or she has nonimmigrant intent.

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Starting the Family-Based Green Card Process

January 7, 2020Apply for Green Cardadjustment of status, consular processing, I-130, I-485

The steps to obtain a family-based green card — officially known as a permanent resident card — vary based on the qualifying family relationship and where you live (inside the United States or outside).

If you would like to petition (sponsor) a family member for a green card or you are a foreign national that wants to permanently move to the United States, this article provides a basic overview of the eligibility categories and family-based green card process.

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Marriage Green Card: Obtaining Permanent Residence through Marriage

December 17, 2019Apply for Green Cardadjustment of status, conditional residence, consular processing, daca, green card marriage, I-130, I-485

Marriage green card is a common phrase used to describe a permanent resident card obtained through marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Permanent residence is an immigration status that allows a foreign national to live and work in the United States permanently. Generally, the permanent resident may also choose to naturalize as a U.S. citizen once eligible.

A marriage-based green card can be one of the quickest ways to obtain permanent residence. The marriage alone doesn’t provide any immigration status to a foreign national. But marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident is a qualifying relationship for a foreign national to apply for immigration benefits.

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DACA Green Card through Marriage

November 12, 2019Apply for Green Card, Humanitarianadjustment of status, daca, green card marriage, I-485, undocumented

Since September 2017 the Trump Administration has had a policy to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Although the decision to wind down DACA has been stopped in the courts for now, the future of the program is uncertain. The policy is being challenged in the highest court. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case (McAleenan v. Vidal ) that will likely determine the future for more than 700,000 DACA recipients. This has put a renewed emphasis for many DACA recipients to find other paths to legal status. Obtaining a DACA green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen is one of the most common ways to gain legal status.

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I-864 Affidavit of Support Sample

September 10, 2019Apply for Green Cardadjustment of status, affidavit of support, consular processing, I-130, I-864

Several years ago, CitizenPath launched an an innovative, online service to help our customers prepare Form I-864, Affidavit of Support. The online service includes a calculator that helps make Form I-864 easy for anyone to prepare. This article explains how the service works and includes an Affidavit of Support sample created from the CitizenPath software.

Many immigration attorneys consider the Affidavit of Support to be one of the most difficult U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) forms to prepare. USCIS routinely rejects Form I-864 or issues a Request for Evidence (RFE) as a result of incorrectly prepared Affidavits of Support. This is significant. That’s because the intending immigrant’s green card application will be denied if the I-864 does not meet the requirements.

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Adjusting Status After Unauthorized Employment in the U.S.

August 13, 2019Apply for Green Card, Working in the U.S.adjustment of status, I-485

Unauthorized employment and filing Form I-485

You may be wondering if you can get a green card if you’ve worked in the United States without permission. Perhaps you learned that you may be eligible to adjust status to permanent resident but also know that unauthorized employment in the United States is generally a bar from adjustment. This means that unauthorized employment can make many people ineligible to apply for a green card. Employment without permission from the U.S. government before filing Form I-485, Application to Adjust of Status, and after applying can have a negative impact.

Generally, unlawful employment is a violation of your nonimmigrant status and can result in a denial of your application. Fortunately, there’s an exception for certain individuals like immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Continue reading →

Form I-130 Instructions and Preparing the Immigrant Petition

July 16, 2019Apply for Green Cardadjustment of status, I-130, I-485

Although step-by-step guides through Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, can be helpful, they rarely cover the important topics. And you can find the official set of I-130 instructions on the USCIS.gov website. This overview introduces some of the broader — and critically important — issues you won’t find in the I-130 instructions. Everybody’s case is unique – there is no simple set of filing instructions for Form I-130.

The relationship between the petitioner and the beneficiary (intending immigrant) affects the instructions. As do many other factors such as adoption, step relationships and previous marriages, and immigration history.

Before you blindly fill out an I-130 petition, get to know these issues and how they can affect your relative’s immigration case.

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Overview of the H-1B Green Card Process

July 9, 2019Apply for Green Card, Working in the U.S.adjustment of status, I-485

By itself, the H-1B visa does not provide a direct path to permanent resident status (green card) in the United States. In other words, something else has to happen in order for an H-1B foreign national to become eligible for a green card. While generally we think of the employment-based path for H-1B visa holders, there are various ways through the H-1B green card process.

The H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa. Essentially, that means it’s temporary. A foreign national working in the United States on an H-1B visa may Continue reading →