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About Richard Hanus

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29 09, 2023

What Is An O-1 Visa?

By |2023-09-29T10:17:18-05:00September 29th, 2023|Categories: Employment-Based Immigration Law, Non-Immigrant Visas for Temporary Workers / H-1B, United States Embassies Abroad|

Working in the United States and fulfilling the American Dream is a wish for many people in other countries. Immigrants fill millions of jobs throughout the country, availing of amazing opportunities they can't find anywhere else. Immigrants can apply for work visas and lawful permanent resident status (green card) based on their employment in the U.S.  Some may eventually be eligible to naturalize and become U.S. citizens.  As far as work visas are concerned, a select group of immigrants may be eligible to be granted an O-1 visa, a visa allowing certain foreign nationals to enter the U.S. to apply their [...]

24 09, 2023

DACA, TPS & EAD’s: The Big Immigration Stories

By |2023-09-24T16:48:54-05:00September 24th, 2023|Categories: Employment Authorization / Work Cards in the U.S.|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. September 24, 2023 DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or “DACA” came to life in 2012 as an initiative allowing certain qualifying foreign nationals arriving in the U.S. as children, an opportunity to receive Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) and otherwise be shielded from deportation.   Since its implementation by way of President Obama’s Executive Order, DACA has allowed for life changing benefits for 600,00 young adults.  DACA has also been mired in litigation, with the latest chapter unfolding in the past week, where a federal judge in Texas once again proclaimed the program to be unlawful, allegedly having been [...]

8 09, 2023

The Case of NY’s Marie Eiffel Market and How Abused Foreign Workers Have Recourse

By |2023-09-09T06:47:56-05:00September 8th, 2023|Categories: DHS / Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. September 8, 2023 A foreign national who obtains a U.S. work visa or otherwise enters the U.S. to fill a job can be particularly vulnerable to employer abuse, especially if that worker is desperate to make the U.S. their home and has few, if any, visa options to choose from to remain here.  The good news is that foreign national victims of employer abuse have rights, including to press criminal charges, seek financial damages and even commence a legal process to secure their U.S. immigration status.  One recent example is the case of eight foreign seasonal workers [...]

21 08, 2023

Marriage Fraud Trouble

By |2023-09-08T09:55:36-05:00August 21st, 2023|Categories: Green Cards, Immigrant Visas for Spouse / Fiancee / Child Visas|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. August 21, 2023 Over the years I have come to take notice that our nation’s inaccessible legal immigration system, with its limited offerings, is one of the main incubators of the green card marriage fraud business and our fake immigration document market overall.  It is also one of the primary causes of our nation’s expanded undocumented population, now in the many millions and over the course of many decades.   In other words, if given a chance to immigrate legally and within a reasonable period of time, the foreign nationals breaking our immigration laws to live and work [...]

30 07, 2023

I am Undocumented, But My U.S. Citizen Kid Just Turned 21: Can I Legalize My Status?

By |2023-08-08T07:38:33-05:00July 30th, 2023|Categories: Family-Based Immigration Law|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. July 30, 2023 The undocumented foreign nationals I meet have been residing in the U.S. for periods ranging from 1 to 35+ years.  They play a role in pretty much every aspect of day to day American life, working as grocery store clerks, mechanics, assembly line workers, home builders, chemists, nurses, caregivers, electricians, truck drivers, restaurant workers, restaurant owners, housekeepers, computer programmers, real estate agents, home health agency owners, landscapers…the list goes on.  Some are even in law or medical school or are earning their Ph.D’s.  Many have families, including children born in the U.S.  Many have [...]

11 07, 2023

Big News for Central Americans Looking to be Reunited with U.S. Family

By |2023-07-11T16:29:13-05:00July 11th, 2023|Categories: Family-Based Immigration Law|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. Published July 11, 2023 Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new program allowing certain Central American relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to enter the U.S. in the immediate future and to complete their resident processing here in the U.S.  To be considered for entry under this program, the foreign national must: 1) be from (and currently residing in) Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras, 2) be the subject of an approved I-130 Alien Relative Petition and 3) meet other humanitarian criteria and security/financial support standards. Under current U.S. immigration [...]

26 06, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court: Biden Administration’s Immigration Enforcement Agenda Will Stand

By |2023-06-26T21:18:16-05:00June 26th, 2023|Categories: DHS / Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)|

By: Richard Hanus, Esq. June 26, 2023 Our nation is home to more than 11 million undocumented foreign nationals, a reality that has taken hold over the course of several decades and a half dozen presidential administrations.   Whether overstaying their visa or entering the U.S. without one, these immigrants, with some exceptions, work hard, pay taxes, and but for their immigration violations, are otherwise law abiding.   Like most of his recent predecessors, President Biden has put in place immigration enforcement priorities, coming to terms with the fact that budgetary constraints and other practicalities, prevent the initiation of deportation proceedings against a [...]

10 06, 2023

Why Is This New Immigration Proposal Different From All Other New Immigration Proposals?

By |2023-06-10T07:33:33-05:00June 10th, 2023|Categories: immigration reform|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. June 8, 2023  The Dignity Act is the name of the latest immigration reform proposal coming out of the U.S. House of Representatives.  News of the bipartisan bill was announced last month and its language covers extensive ground, ranging from improving border security, to making asylum processing fairer and more orderly, to establishing a legalization program and path to citizenship for millions of our nation’s undocumented. In the past 20+ years, significant bipartisan immigration proposals touching on many of the same issues have come and gone, with none reaching the finish line of being passed into law.   [...]

12 05, 2023

Immigration, Family and Death: Does the Green Card Process Die When the U.S. Petitioner Dies?  

By |2023-05-13T06:34:38-05:00May 12th, 2023|Categories: Family-Based Immigration Law|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. May 12, 2023 One of the questions I get asked most frequently has to do with the impact of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident’s death on a pending petition they previously filed for foreign national family, whether waiting overseas or in the U.S.  The answer varies depending on the circumstances, but many of my clients are pleasantly surprised to hear that not all hope should be lost.  As a matter of law, the death of a petitioning U.S. relative generally leads to the automatic revocation or discontinuation of the petition.  However, remedies to reinstate the [...]

25 04, 2023

How the U.S. Immigration System Fails Desperate Healthcare Facilities and Foreign R.N.’s

By |2023-04-26T06:43:55-05:00April 25th, 2023|Categories: Immigrant Health Care Workers in the U.S.|

By:  Richard Hanus, Esq. April 23, 2023 News from the U.S. Department of State earlier this month paints a picture of an increasingly frustrating immigrant visa line foreign workers, like registered nurses, are forced to wait in before arriving in the U.S.   The picture and long waits are ugly enough for foreign nurses and their petitioning employers to cut bait on all immigration efforts, or at least yearn for the old days. Back in the 1990’s when registered nursing had already been deemed to be a shortage profession, a healthcare facility looking to recruit foreign R.N.’s had the H-1A visa at [...]

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