A Beginner’s Guide to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status

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Created by Congress in 1990, the Special Immigrant Juvenile program seeks to aid foreign minors living in the United States. Minors unable to live with one or both of their parents in their home country due to abandonment, neglect, or abuse, may be eligible for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS). SIJS permits a minor to remain in the United States and apply for legal permanent residency, and eventually, US citizenship.

Why is it important?

Last year, we wrote about the surge of Central American children crossing the US-Mexico border. While the number of unaccompanied minors entering the US has decreased, the motivations underlying their entry remain. Poor conditions in Central America, including poverty and gang-related violence, still prompt thousands of minors to flee their home countries every year. While some of these minors may be eligible for asylum (for individuals who have been persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group), U visas (for victims of certain crimes in the US who aid law enforcement in investigating or prosecuting the offender), or T visas (for victims of human trafficking), others are better candidates for SIJS.

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New York Times: "Want a Green Card? Invest in Real Estate"

Investing in real estate to secure permanent residency status (i.e., a Green Card) in the US has increasingly become big business in New York City. Through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa, which was created in 1990 by Congress "to stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors," foreign nationals (more than eighty percent from China) are investing billions of dollars into commercial and residential NYC projects, including hotels, condominiums, officer towers, and public works. The New York Times breaks down the investments: 

Twelve-hundred foreigners have poured $600 million into projects at Hudson Yards; 1,154 have invested $577 million in Pacific Park Brooklyn, the development formerly known as Atlantic Yards; and 500 have put $250 million into the Four Seasons hotel and condominium in the financial district. The list of projects involving EB-5 investments also includes the International Gem Tower on West 47th Street and the New York Wheel on Staten Island.

To qualify for the EB-5 investor visa, foreign nationals must invest $1 million, or in some cases $500,000, and create ten full-time jobs. In certain cases, foreign nationals can invest in projects approved by a US Citizenship & Immigration Services as designated Regional Center. Securing a Green Card through the EB-5 program is generally faster than obtaining one through other employment-based and some family-based routes, although Chinese nationals may now face delays since their country quotas will likely be met, resulting in backlogs of about two years.

The popularity of the EB-5 program has surged in the last four years. In fiscal year 2010, 1,885 visas were issued through the program, and in fiscal year 2013, the figure jumped by 354 percent to 8,564. Last year the entire annual allotment of 10,000 EB-5 visas were used by August, before the end of the fiscal year in October. As the program becomes more popular, it's unclear if Congress will raise the quota or perhaps the investment minimum. The surge in popularity has been attributed to not only the recession which made securing traditional funding and loans difficult to obtain but also the realization that many EB-5 investors require significantly less of a financial return than traditional loans, as EB-5 investors are more concerned about securing Green Cards. It's not only real estate projects benefiting from EB-5 investments—hospitals, ski resorts, and even state turnpikes have seen EB-5 funding as well.

The EB-5 program has faced significant criticism over the years. An Op-Ed in the New York Times once said that ‘’the program is so rife with fraud and corruption that it could actually have the opposite impact and deter investment." Numerous reports have detailed some instances of serious fraud, and if a project fails the investor can lose both the funding and the Green Card. But Peter Joseph, Executive Director of Invest in the USA, defended the program: '''It's a win for the investor, who's seeking to get an immigration benefit, along with a return on their investment, along with the American worker who's able to get to work, thanks to the capital investment coming through the program[.]'''

Maintaining Green Card Status (Even When Temporarily Living Outside the US)

As an immigration attorney, it gives me great joy to tell our clients that their Green Cards (giving them permanent residency status in the US) have been approved. My husband is himself a Green Card holder so I know firsthand how important the freedom and security that permanent residency in the US provides for immigrants; at the same time, it’s also important for Green Card holders to know their rights and responsibilities as permanent residents—including how to maintain their permanent residency to ensure that they keep their Green Cards and, if they so desire, apply for citizenship down the road!  

The following dialogue is a fictional example of a conversation I often have with our clients about maintaining permanent residency.  (No Daryanani & Bland client information is used or revealed and any similarity to real people is entirely coincidental!).

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The Affidavit of Support

The affidavit of support is a critical component to family-based and some employment-based applications for permanent residence (i.e., for a Green Card). The law requires that a petitioner submit an affidavit of support along with their petition for permanent residence on behalf of the foreign national to demonstrate to the satisfaction of US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) that the petitioner’s income or assets are sufficiently above the federal poverty level. USCIS requires this affidavit to ensure that the immigrant will not come to the US as a permanent resident only to later become a public charge.

The affidavit of support serves as a contract between the petitioner sponsoring the immigrant and the US government in which the petitioner agrees that a US government entity may, under certain circumstances, recuperate from the petitioner any funds that were used to provide the public benefits provided to the immigrant. The idea behind the affidavit of support is that the petitioner, who must be a US citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) over eighteen and residing in the US, will be financially supporting the immigrant, if necessary. This is shown by submitting recent tax filings as well as a recent job letter that show annual earnings, along with proof of citizenship or LPR status.

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DHS Extends Eligibility for Employment Authorization to Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) Director León Rodríguez announced today that as part of President Obama's executive actions back in November 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is extending employment eligibility to H-4 visa holders of H-1B spouses who are seeking employment-based permanent resident status. Applications will start being accepted on May 26, 2015.

This action is "one of several initiatives underway to modernize, improve and clarify visa programs to grow the U.S. economy and create jobs." Director Rodríguez said that granting employment to these spouses will not only provide "more economic stability and better quality of life" to the families but also that it will help "U.S. businesses keep their highly skilled workers by increasing the chances these workers will choose to stay in this country during the transition from temporary workers to permanent residents."

To qualify, individuals must be H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who: 

  • Are the principal beneficiaries of an approved Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker; or 
  • Have been granted H-1B status under sections 106(a) and (b) of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 as amended by the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act. The Act permits H-1B nonimmigrants seeking lawful permanent residence to work and remain in the United States beyond the six-year limit on their H-1B status.

Eligible applicants must submit a Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization along with supporting evidence and the required $380 fee to USCIS, beginning on May 26, 2015. H-4 applicants can begin work in the US upon approval of the application and receipt of the work card. 

As many as 179,600 individuals this year could be eligible for employment authorization under this new eligibility rule, USCIS estimates, and DHS expects that "this change will reduce the economic burdens and personal stresses H-1B nonimmigrants and their families may experience during the transition from nonimmigrant to lawful permanent resident status, and facilitate their integration into American society."

This announcement comes amid court challenges to President Obama's expansion of DACA as well as the possible impending shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (the mother agency of USCIS).

I love you. You’re perfect. Now, we need a visa.

When I became an immigration attorney, something happened that I wasn’t quite expecting. I found myself curious about the immigration aspects of strangers’ lives. From the famous actress on the Oscars’ red carpet who is speaking with that lovely accent to the athlete from Eastern Europe joining the NBA to the random bike messenger with a brogue, I wanted to know the path that led them to the US. It was more than that, too. When Justin Bieber was arrested (multiple times) my first thought was, “How will this affect his immigration status?” When George Clooney became engaged to a British woman, my mind immediately went to what kind of a visa would she get (and then shortly thereafter to, “Guess my chances are gone”).

Needless to say, I love all things pop culture, and that includes reality television. So, when Joseph sent me a link to TLC’s 90 Day Fiance, I was immediately intrigued.

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From Visitor to Green Card: The Life of a Legal Immigrant

In media coverage of immigration reform, one of the common complaints of anti-immigrant groups is that “illegal immigrants” should have followed the current immigration law to come to the United States.

As someone who advocates every day for people struggling to live and work here, I often wonder if most people realize just how long, arduous, and seemingly arbitrary the path to a Green Card (or even a non-immigrant temporary visa) can be for those who follow the rules. As an example, let's take a look at "Maya"—a fictional character not based on any particular individual, but a representative example of the journey many foreign nationals take.

As many foreign nationals do, Maya first comes to the US as a visitor with her parents as a young girl to visit family friends who moved to the US. After she spends two weeks on the beaches of Florida and goes to Disney World, she thinks that the US is an amazing place.

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