Family Petitions (green card)

A large portion of immigrant visas issued each year are from petitions from family members who are U.S. Citizens or permanent residents and are living inside the U.S. Family petitions are often filed for spouses, parents, children, and even siblings in some cases. 

K1/K2 fiancé visas & k3 spouse visas

A K-1 visa allows the fiance(e) to enter the U.S. for a temporary period of 90 days to marry. This is great option to avoid long wait times and consular processing. Similarly, A K-3 visa allows a person who married a U.S. citizen in their home country to enter the U.S. while their petition is pending.

Daca 

Fortunately, thanks to a preliminary injunction issued by a federal court earlier this year, current DACA recipients will be allowed to submit a renewal of their status. If you previously received DACA and your DACA is expired or will expire soon, you may be eligible to file your DACA renewal the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Waivers (pardons)

There are often issues that prevent a person from obtaining lawful permanent residence. For example, individuals that are inside the U.S. and marry a U.S. citizen may face a 3 or 10 year bar for entering without inspection at the border. At this point, a waiver for the 3 or 10 year bar is proper. There are also waivers for issues like fraud, certain criminal grounds, alien smuggling, and others. 

removal/deportation defense

If you are currently in removal proceedings or suspect that you may be placed in removal proceedings, it is important to be informed regarding your options to stay in the U.S. Cancellation of removal, asylum, and other forms of relief may be available depending on your case. 

Freedom of information act requests (foia)

The Freedom of Information Act gives the public access to records from any federal agency. Federal agencies are required to produce any information requested under the FOIA (unless the information is exempt of course). A FOIA request can be made for any agency record, by any person (Citizen or not), as long as it is properly address to the correct FOIA office. 

Citizenship (naturalization)

Citizenship is the final and most important stage after obtaining a green card. A permanent resident can still be deported under certain conditions, so citizenship helps avoid removal. Before applying, it is important to consider you travel time, criminal background, the civics test and language requirement. 

u-visa (for victims of crime)

The U-nonimmigrant status (U visa) is set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and have been helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. It is also important to note that the crime must have occurred inside the U.S. or violated U.S. laws. 

Removal of conditions on green card

You are given a conditional resident status if you were granted your permanent resident status when your marriage was less than 2 years old. This is done in order to prevent individuals from evading immigration laws through fraud. You may file to remove the conditional status 90-days prior to the second year as a conditional resident. There may be other options to remove the conditions in instances where there has been a divorce or other situations where the marriage was dissolved.