Articles Posted in Immigration

Many people find themselves in Immigration Removal proceedings (also called deportation). While some people are being deported for simply being in the US without a visa or similar legal status, other people are being deported for criminal convictions. In fact, a lot of people being deported for criminal convictions have some sort of legal status and may even have a green card or Lawful Permanent Resident status.

If you’re being deported for your criminal convictions, you may not feel like you have many options to defend against deportation. However, when deporting someone for criminal convictions, the Government can’t simply see that someone has criminal convictions and deport them. Instead, the person being deported may be able to argue that even serious-seeming criminal convictions don’t make them deportable.

First of all, only certain categories of crimes warrant deportation. Most of these are either Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMTs) or Aggravated Felonies. Figuring out what convictions constitute a CIMT or an Aggravated Felony, however, is no easy task. There is no list stating exactly what crimes are CIMTs or Aggravated Felonies. Instead, someone trying to claim that their criminal conviction doesn’t fall into these categories needs to perform a complicated legal analysis. For instance, some theft crimes often don’t qualify as CIMTs or Aggravated felonies.

Posted by Volha (Olga) Hirynskaya

An E-2 treaty investor visa is a NON-immigrant visa that available for foreign entrepreneurs of countries that have a treaty of trade and commerce with the United States. The E-2 investor visa allows an individual to enter and work in the U.S. based on an investment he or she will be controlling while residing in the U.S.

In this article, we are going to explain the basic E-2 visa requirement and qualifications.

Posted by Christian K. Campbell

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is an immigration classification that allows minor children to obtain lawful permanent immigration status through the state juvenile system who meet certain criteria.  The specific requirements include that the applicant be under 21 years old, unmarried, declared dependent in a juvenile court, that reunification with one or both minor’s parents is no longer viable because of abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similarly situated state law, and it is not in the best interest of the minor to return to their native country.

There are a number of benefits and reasons why one should consider obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.  As an immigration remedy, SIJS requires the involvement of a state juvenile court, rather than solely proceeding before federal immigration authorities. Obtaining an SIJS predicate order provides the basis for a minor child to apply for adjustment of their status to lawful permanent resident (LPR). LPR status allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States, travel outside of the United States, become eligible for certain public benefits, and apply for U.S. citizenship.