This week I was thrilled to attend the citizenship ceremony for my sister. While it's always thrilling to watch foreign nationals naturalize and become US citizens, especially when it’s my sister, this was a special ceremony at the New York Historical Society with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg administering the citizenship oath. Justice Ginsburg, who will mark her 25th year on the bench in August, addressed the 201 new citizens from fifty-nine countries speaking of her father's own immigration story, and said: “We are a nation made strong by people like you.” Acknowledging that the US is an imperfect union, she encouraged the new citizens to vote and foster unity. “We have made huge progress, but the work of perfection is scarcely done,” she said. Yusif Abubakari, born in Ghana, tells the New York Times. “She is supposed to be at home but she came because of me, because of us, and that made me feel so special today. May God bless her and give her more life and prosperity.” My sentiments exactly. Oh yes, and congratulations to my sister!
What Can I Do Without an Immigration Lawyer?
I will be the first to tell you that immigration law is complex and changing and requires vigilance and care in preparing applications, but there is no requirement that foreign nationals, their employers, or family members use a lawyer. It is also true that under the Trump administration, foreign nationals (and even immigration practitioners) have become more cautious and even hesitant about filing petitions given the increased scrutiny of their applications by immigration officials and consular officers; nevertheless, there are certain applications that should still be straightforward enough to file without legal assistance. Cases filed by individuals without legal representation are subject to the same review and adjudication process as others filed by attorneys. We’ve previously discussed why an experienced immigration attorney can be valuable and in some cases absolutely recommended, but in this post we’ll more closely examine the types of applications and petitions that foreign nationals in most situations can prepare and file on their own.
Read moreMy Immigration Story
Immigration has always been a central component to my family’s story, one that can be traced back through several generations. Although my grandparents, parents, and I were all born in Barranquilla, Colombia, my paternal great-grandparents were born in Bethlehem, Palestine. In the early 1900s, seeking better economic opportunities, they immigrated to the port city of Barranquilla, joining the large community of Christian Arabs living in the region. They, like the majority of people in this ethnic group, fully assimilated to Colombia. My grandfather was born there, later meeting my grandmother who is not Arabic, but instead, like many Colombians including my mother, is descended from a mix of European immigrants.
Read moreMoral Test
NPR: “Immigrants Are Scrambling To Submit Petitions For Family Members To Come to U.S.”
As President Trump continues his call to limit family-based immigration, an increasing number of immigrants residing in the US are filing petitions to bring eligible family members to America, in case an immigration bill restricting family reunification is eventually passed. Currently, the US immigration system allows for family reunification (what President Trump derisively calls “chain migration,”) where in certain cases Green Card holders or citizens can sponsor eligible relatives to come to the US. President Trump has proposed limiting family-based immigration to immediate family members, including spouses and minor children, and restricting it for parents, siblings, and adult children.
Read moreUSCIS Expands Credit Card Payment Option for Fees
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that the agency will now be accepting credit card payments for forms filed and processed at USCIS Lockbox facilities. This new payment option is available for forty-one fee based forms, including most forms for both marriage-based green cards and employment-based green cards, as well as citizenship applications. Examples of these forms include Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, Form I-131 Application for Travel Document, Form I-140 Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, Form I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, and Form N-400 Application for Naturalization.
Read moreMy Immigration Story
Growing up in the Moscow region of Russia in the late 1980s and the 1990s, I don’t quite remember the Soviet times—but I do remember perestroika (“rebuilding”) and the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapsing. I remember standing in long lines to buy bread and bringing a milk can to be filled from a truck that came to my town on certain days of the week from a nearby farm.
Read moreAlla Malova: The DLG-Proust-Actors Studio Questionnaire
Alla was born and grew up in the Moscow region in Russia. When she was a teenager, her stepdad received a job in the Washington D.C. area, and her family moved to the United States, just as she was set to attend Moscow State University. Although her family moved away, she still attended the university, one of the oldest and most prestigious in Russia, and majored in philosophy. “I knew I was always good with languages and humanities,” she says. “Philosophy seemed like a good match.” She specialized in cultural studies, which would be close to American studies in anthropology. After graduation, she moved to the US to attend graduate school at The George Washington University, where she studied international policy.
Read moreCNN: “ Supreme Court narrows grounds for revoking citizenship of naturalized citizens”
The Supreme Court last week issued a ruling narrowing the grounds on which naturalized citizens can have their citizenship revoked. The case involved Divna Maslenjak, an ethnic Serb who arrived in the US in 2000 as a refugee and was granted citizenship and later naturalized; however, in 2013, a jury found her guilty of making false statements on her naturalization application. She was subsequently stripped of citizenship.
Read moreNew York Times: “Supreme Court Bars Favoring Mothers Over Fathers in Citizenship Case”
The Supreme Court ruled last week that unwed mothers cannot be treated differently than unwed fathers when it comes to matters of children claiming American citizenship, since the gender-based difference violates the equal protection granted by the Constitution. The ruling came out of a case brought by Luis Ramon Morales-Santana, born in the Dominican Republic in 1962 to unwed parents, whose father was an American citizen and a mother who was a non-citizen. Morales-Santana, who has been living in the United States since he was thirteen, was convicted for robbery and attempted murder, among other crimes, causing federal authorities to seek his removal from the US.
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