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Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage

17 03, 2024

California Green Card Marriage Fraud Ring: A Story of Profit and Prison Sentences

By |2024-03-19T06:38:33-05:00March 17th, 2024|Categories: Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, Green Cards|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. March 14, 2023 As access to our legal immigration system continues to be plagued by obstacles and exceptionally limited options, illegal avenues to life in the U.S. continue to make for profitable business for ambitious, unscrupulous entrepreneurs.  One recent example involves an enterprise with 600 immigrant customers being charged $20,000 to $35,000 each to be set up in fake marriages in order to obtain U.S. resident (Green Card) status.  In the past week, the chief architects and operators of this enterprise received prison sentences of 1 to 2 years along with other penalties following an extensive federal [...]

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21 12, 2023

My Marriage is Broken and My Green Card Application Failed – Now What?

By |2023-12-22T11:12:54-06:00December 21st, 2023|Categories: Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage|

By: Richard Hanus, Esq. December 19, 2023 Marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident is one of the more popular avenues through which foreign nationals apply for U.S. lawful permanent resident status, also known as a “Green Card”.   There are a variety of reasons a foreign national’s efforts at obtaining a Green Card can fail in this context, and below is a discussion of some of the more common ones, along with possible remedies and recently issued guidance for certain denied applicants. Obtaining the initial Green Card:  Marriage based applicants are typically issued a 2 year, conditional Green Card [...]

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8 03, 2023

Marriage Fraud & Conditional Green Cards:  If We Don’t Get You in the Wash, We’ll Get You in the Rinse    

By |2023-03-08T16:07:21-06:00March 8th, 2023|Categories: Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage|

By: Richard Hanus, Esq. March 8, 2023 There are some moments in our lifetimes where we look back and vividly remember the exact sights and sounds, and no matter how far in the past or unsensational the moment.  One of my favorite unforgettable immigration lawyer moments, was a simple, non-confrontational interaction with a veteran immigration officer at the then Immigration and Naturalization Service’s (INS) Chicago Field Office.  It was the conclusion of a marriage-based adjustment of status interview of a foreign national and his U.S. citizen wife, and just after the officer announced she was going to approve the case and [...]

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31 10, 2021

Battered Spouses and U.S. Immigration – 2021 Update

By |2021-10-31T09:16:23-05:00October 31st, 2021|Categories: Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Family-Based Immigration Law, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings|

By, Richard Hanus, Esq. Published October 31, 2021 In the world of U.S. immigration law, a foreign national battered husband or wife, and sometimes child, may be eligible for special immigration benefits, including permanent resident status – and all without the cooperation of their abusive U.S. citizen or resident spouse or parent.   Indeed, foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens or residents are often vulnerable to the whims, cruelty and even brutality of their U.S. spouse, and accordingly, Congress enacted a variety of laws aimed at protecting these foreign nationals.   The following is a summary of the legal options available to achieve […]

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19 09, 2021

The Latest on I-751 Receipts and DHS/CIS COVID Vaccine Requirements

By |2021-09-20T07:47:40-05:00September 19th, 2021|Categories: General, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. Published September 19, 2021 I-751 Receipts Now Feature a 24 month Extension of Resident Status Foreign nationals obtaining lawful permanent resident status, also known as a “green card”, based on a recent marriage are accorded a 2 year conditional resident card – a process that is among the most popular U.S. immigration avenues.  The process of renewing the 2 year card involves the filing of an I-751 Petition to Remove Conditional Basis of Residence and in recent years the processing time for such filings have skyrocketed.  To address this reality, U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS/CIS) now [...]

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10 08, 2021

2021 Update – Marriage Based Green Card Interview Horror Stories

By |2021-08-10T11:12:10-05:00August 10th, 2021|Categories: Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. Published August 10, 2021 Question: Which travels quicker – good news or bad news?  Bad news, of course.  “Train Wrecks” are exciting, interesting, sensational and satisfying.  Yep, train wrecks sell! For instance – in the U.S. government realm, when was the last time you heard about how great the U.S. postal system, or any government agency, was working?  And those green card interview stories, where marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident is involved!  Everyone has heard about them – either from their friends or acquaintances, the movie “Green Card”, or simply by surfing the internet and coming […]

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9 11, 2020

How To Get A Green Card Through Marriage

By |2021-01-04T09:48:13-06:00November 9th, 2020|Categories: General, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S., Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S.|

Published November 9, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. Obtaining lawful permanent residence, or green card status, by way of a genuine, bona fide marriage to a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident is one of the more commonly used processes under U.S. immigration law. Much of the time processing of a marriage based filing remains straightforward, although a number of factors can complicate things, such as sudden changes in the law or questions surrounding the sincerity of the marriage. Other complicating circumstances include an applicant’s history of previous immigration violations or even criminal offenses. Below is a discussion of: a) [...]

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24 09, 2020

How Do I Apply for a Green Card ?

By |2020-11-14T12:37:16-06:00September 24th, 2020|Categories: Asylum in the United States, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Employment-Based Immigration Law, Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, Immigrant Health Care Workers in the U.S., Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Immigration and PERM / Labor Certification, Lawful Permanent Residence in the U.S., Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings|

Published September 23, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq.   How do I get a green card in the U.S.?  It’s one of the more common questions an immigration lawyer gets asked.    The answer is many layered and involves dozens of variables, but in the end there are some basic principles that the asker of this question will want to know about, and here they are.   First, what is a green card?   It’s a document evidencing a foreign national’s lawful permanent resident status in the U.S., a status allowing for pretty much unfettered lifetime of freedom to live and work in [...]

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11 06, 2020

Immigration Related Government Offices Inching Their Way Back To Normalcy

By |2020-11-14T12:42:38-06:00June 11th, 2020|Categories: Asylum in the United States, Citizenship / Naturalization and the N-400 Application, Conditional Permanent Residence Based on Marriage, DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Family-Based Immigration Law, Green Cards, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings|

Published June 11, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Citizenship and Immigration Service local offices (US DHS/CIS): In the past week, the public has seen the first signs of normal operations at US DHS/CIS offices across the U.S., including the Chicago Field Office.   Approved applicants for U.S. citizenship who have been waiting to be scheduled for a ceremony to be sworn in as U.S. citizens are finally starting to receive notifications to appear.  The new dates are for mid-June, and due to social distancing requirements the number of applicants scheduled have been significantly reduced compared to previous practice. Further, [...]

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13 05, 2020

Large Scale H-1B Visa Lawsuit Settled; The Latest on Immigration Office and Court Operations

By |2020-11-14T12:44:00-06:00May 13th, 2020|Categories: Asylum in the United States, 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 Health Care Workers in the U.S., Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas, Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, Removal / Deportation Proceedings and Court Hearings, United States Embassies Abroad|

Published May 13, 2020 By: Richard Hanus, Esq. Update:  One Year and a Federal Lawsuit Later, DHS Finally Approves 150 Pending H-1B Filings for Lab Technologists I cannot recall a time when so many federal lawsuits to compel or correct decisions by the Department of Homeland Security/Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS/CIS) have been filed.  One recent example is the lawsuit filed by Management Healthcare Systems LLC (doing business as MedPro Staffing) in the District of Columbia 3 months ago to compel DHS/CIS to finally decide over 150 visa petitions for foreign medical lab technologists. At the time of filing in February, 2020, [...]

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