29 10, 2019

Federal Court Injunctions Put a Halt to New Public Charge Rules

By Richard Hanus|2019-10-29T10:00:10-05:00October 29th, 2019|Categories: Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas|

Published October 29, 2019 Conversations involving the hot topics of public benefits and immigration have turned scary these days. That is because these are two of the biggest go-to issues for the Trump administration when it comes to political messaging and rousing up supporters. However, in just the past week 5 federal judges, presiding over 5 separate legal challenges, have ruled against the Trump administration. The rulings put a halt to the Administration’s initiative to greatly expand upon bases to deny green cards to prospective applicants due to suspicions they may become a public charge. To be sure, concerns about new [...]

22 09, 2019

Appeals Filing Fee May Skyrocket; Processing Times for Chicago Area Applicants

By Richard Hanus|2019-09-22T19:34:50-05:00September 22nd, 2019|Categories: Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Immigration and Criminal Law / Detainees, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings|

Published September 22, 2019 Administration Aims to Dramatically Increase Filing Fees for Appeals In an effort that will effectively deter appeals of certain immigration decisions within the deportation court system, the Trump administration is reportedly advancing a regulation to dramatically increase the filing fees associated with such appeals. The regulatory proposal being considered would increase the current filing fee of $110.00 by 900% to a total of $975.00 in most cases. If imposed, the new filing fee will create a severe financial obstacle for a significant portion of the impacted population, a mostly vulnerable population seeking to advance their right [...]

19 05, 2019

Making U.S. Immigration Great Again

By Richard Hanus|2019-05-19T13:47:49-05:00May 19th, 2019|Categories: Amnesty for Immigrants in the U.S., Asylum in the United States, Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, Customs and Border Patrol / Travel to and from the U.S., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, immigration reform, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, U.S. Immigration Law and Legislation, Undocumented Immigrants and Workers in the U.S.|

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Published May 19, 2019 I started practicing immigration law in the decade that followed the Reagan era’s 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the last large scale immigration amnesty in the U.S. Through this legislation, roughly 3 million undocumented, but otherwise law abiding, individuals were able to come out of the shadows and officially start their lives as U.S. lawful permanent residents. Eventually, the vast majority eventually went on to become U.S. citizens. Existing statutory avenues toward U.S. residence have allowed for approximately 1 million new permanent residents to the U.S. per year. In addition to these avenues to legal [...]

24 03, 2019