Consular Processing: A Path For Your Immigration Visa (Green Card)

Immigration, Immigration News

Consular Processing | Law Office Of Jessie M ThomasConsular processing is one of two paths for obtaining an immigrant visa (green card) to the United States. The other path is “adjustment of status.” If the applicant is outside the U.S., the only path for immigrating to the U.S. is to use consular processing.

Consular processing refers to the process of applying for a visa through the U.S. consulate in a foreign country. Some applicants prefer consular processing over adjustment of status because it generally has a shorter processing time (about 4-6 months). What’s more, consular processing has a lower risk of refusal. Unlike USCIS officers, consular officers cannot refuse to issue a visa based on discretion. This means that the consular officer must have specific, factual evidence for denying an application. However, cases that are denied are generally non-reviewable. This means that it is a final decision.

The Law Office of Jessie M. Thomas offers full service legal counsel for consular processing. We guide your through every step in the process and ensure that you have a complete and thoroughly prepared application. We also help prepare you for your interview. Call us (214) 838-0045.

Examples Where Consular Processing May Be Chosen

  1. Ola is an Alien living outside the U.S. He is not eligible to apply for adjustment of status. Ola may only apply for consular processing.
  2. Katia is an Alien in the U.S. and is in a valid non-immigrant status. Katia may apply for either consular processing or adjustment of status after obtaining an approved immigration petition.
  3. Jose is an Alien living in Texas. Jose has an approved family-based immigration petition and a visa number is available. Because the time frame for adjustment of status based on a family-based immigration petition is long, Jose chooses to apply for consular processing for strategic reasons.
  4. Gunnar has an approved National Interest Waiver petition, but Gunnar’s H-1B is going to expire. Gunnar may apply either for consular processing or adjustment of status. Because applying for adjustment of status has the benefit of a work permit, Gunnar chooses to apply for adjustment of status.
  5. Lijuan has an approved National Interest Waiver petition. Lijuan was from China with a J-1 visa and it is very hard for her to get a J-1 waiver. Moreover, the immigrant visa number has a long backlog. Lijuan decides to go back to China to reside for two years to meet the home country residency requirement. After she resides in China for two years and her immigrant visa number becomes available, Lijuan may apply for consular processing.

Be certain to ask a prospective lawyer if their immigration service just includes the initial filing steps in the U.S. or whether they also include the critical consular processing steps. Prior experience working with the US consulate you will be dealing with is also highly valuable.

Steps for Consular Processing

  1. Determine Your Basis to Immigrate
    The first step in consular processing is to determine if you fit into a specific immigrant category. Most immigrants become eligible for a green card (permanent residence) through a petition filed on your behalf by a family member or employer. Others become permanent residents through first obtaining refugee or asylum status, or through a number of other special provisions.
  2. File the immigration Petition
    1. Family Based
      Family based categories require that a U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for you. For more information, see our Family Based Green Card page.
    2. Employment Based
      Employment based categories most often require the intending U.S. employer to file a Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker, for you. Entrepreneurs who intend to invest significant amounts of capital into a business venture in the United States may file Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur” on their own behalf. For more information, see our Employment Visa page.
    3. Special Classes of Immigrants
    4. Humanitarian Based
  3. Wait for a Decision on the Petition
    USCIS will notify the petitioner of a decision. If the petition is denied, the notice will include the reasons for denying the petition and any rights to appeal the decision. If the petition is approved, USCIS will send the approved petition to the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC), where it will remain until an immigrant visa number is available. See the USCIS Visa Availability & Priority Dates page for more information.
  4. Wait for Notification from National Visa Center
    The National Visa Center, which is responsible for the collection of visa application fees and supporting documentation, will notify the petitioner and beneficiary when the visa petition is received and again when an immigrant visa number is about to become available. They will also notify the petitioner and beneficiary of when they must submit immigrant visa processing fees and supporting documentation. Check the latest Visa Bulletin.
  5. Attend Consular Appointment
    Once a visa is available or a beneficiary’s priority date is current, the consular office will schedule the applicant for an interview. The consular office will complete processing of the applicant’s case and decide if the beneficiary is eligible for an immigrant visa.
  6. Enter the United States
    If you are granted an immigrant visa (green card), the consular officer will give you a packet of information. This packet is known as a “Visa Packet.” Upon your arrival to the United States, you should give your Visa Packet to the Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry. You will be inspected by a Customs and Border Protection officer and if found admissible, you will be admitted as a permanent resident of the United States. This gives you the authority to live and work in the United States permanently.
  7. Receive Your Green Card
    You will be mailed your green card. If you do not receive your green card within 45 days of your arrival in the U.S., call the USCIS National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 or visit your local office by making an InfoPass appointment.

An experienced immigration attorney can help determine if consular processing is the right option for you. Call the Law Office Jessie M. Thomas today (214) 838-0045.

K1 Alien Fiancé Visa Petition Can Reduce Separation Time

Family Immigration, Immigration News

The glorious sun is shining bright. The smooth silky sky is the most beautiful shade of blue anyone has ever seen and every drifting cloud looks like blooming hearts. You’ve got that silly sucker smile strapped to your face and Your mind is stuck on 1 person day and night. You’re in love and You have never felt so alive!
Now your back home and the love of your life is back in his/her home and reality has struck and you realize that you are oceans apart from the only one you want to spend the rest of your life with. You are a U.S. Citizen…. and she/he is not….. You can’t imagine being separated for almost 1.5 years waiting for him/her to get a green card via the Immigrant Visa petition before coming to the U.S. What could you possibly do now???

Well, this is where I, the managing attorney of The Law Office of Jessie M. Thomas, can assist.

Let me propose to you the K1 Alien Fiancé Visa Petition I-129F which generally takes less than half the amount of time. This also happens to be one of my favorite immigration subjects.

The K1 Alien Fiancé Visa Petition I-129F allows your foreign citizen fiancé to travel to the United States and marry you here. But there are some requirements that must be met.

First of all you must be a U.S. Citizen. This route cannot be used by green card holders and you must have met your fiancé face to face within the last 2 years prior to filing the K1 Alien Fiancé Visa Petition I-129F. In very limited circumstances USCIS can waive the meeting requirement. It is usually based on religious/cultural reasons or extreme hardship as the reason why you have not met your fiancé in the last 2 years. A very subjective test is used and you must be able to convince USCIS.

You must also show that you and your fiancé intend to get married within 90 days of his/her arrival- no excuses. If you both do not get married to each other within this timeframe then your fiancé (probably your ex-fiancé by that point) must leave the country immediately. Also note that your fiancé cannot change her mind and marry someone else while on this K1 fiancé visa that YOU filed for him/her.

You must be able to prove that you both are legally free to get married at the time of filing the K1 Alien Fiancé Visa Petition I-129F and that your marriage is legal in the United States in the state where you plan to get married.

Since the K1 Alien Fiancé Visa is also a high fraud category, government officials will be scrutinizing each K1 Alien Fiancé Visa Petition I-129F case that comes before them. Keep in mind that if these highly trained officials find out there is fraud involved you can be incarcerated for upto 5 years and/or be forced to pay a $250,000 fine. In short, do not use the K1 Fiancé Visa process illegally or in bad faith.

If you truly want to bring your fiancé to the U.S. as quickly as legally possible and you have a bona fide relationship with your fiancé then The Law Office of Jessie M. Thomas will guide you quickly and correctly from the K1 Alien Fiancé Visa filing to the NVC consular processing portion to the adjustment of status process until your fiancé gets the green card in hand.

USCIS fees are going to be increased from the current $340 to $535 on December 23, 2016. The legal fees for The Law Office Of Jessie M. Thomas are separate and will depend on the complexity of each individual case. However we offer one of the lowest fees around and offer flexible payment plans that most attorneys would never offer.

If you are interested in hiring the Law Office of Jessie M. Thomas to handle your K1 Alien Fiancé petition filing or any other immigration related filing, please contact us for a free evaluation and fee quote by visiting our website and filling out a Contact Us Form or by emailing ContactUs@StayLegally.com or by calling (214) 838-0045.

Expanded I-601A Waivers

Immigration News, Immigration Waivers

Expanded I-601A Immigration Waivers | Law Office of Jessie M ThomasExpanded I-601A Waivers. On July 28, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security announced the final rule for expanding the I-601A provisional waiver program. This is a big change to the current program and should improve the logistical issues associated with the the current waiver process. Although this doesn’t fix the problem for everyone, it is a very good start.

The I-601A provisional waiver was created by the Obama Administration in 2012 to allow people subject to the 3 and 10-year bars to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility before they leave the United States to consular process their visas. The old way of doing things required you to leave and then apply for a waiver from outside the United States. That process often resulted in the beneficiary being stuck in their home country for months or years while waiting on the waiver decision.

Since March 4, 2013, certain immigrant visa applicants who are immediate relatives (spouses, children and parents) of U.S. citizens could apply for provisional unlawful presence waivers before they left the United States for their consular interview. On August 29, 2016, (the effective date of the final rule) the provisional unlawful presence waiver process was expanded to all individuals statutorily eligible for an immigrant visa and a waiver of inadmissibility for unlawful presence in the United States.

So, what does the new rule change? One very significant thing:

Anyone Eligible for an Unlawful Presence Waiver Can Now File Provisionally (File Before Leaving the United States). This move expands the ability to file the provisional waiver on Form I-601A to anyone who would be eligible for an unlawful presence waiver. So basically, anyone who has an approved immigrant visa (I-130, I-140, diversity, I-360) AND who has a U.S. Citizen spouse or parent or Lawful Permanent Resident spouse or parent AND can show “extreme hardship” if they were separated from the beneficiary may be eligible to apply for the I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver. The beneficiary has to be physically present here in the United States when the waiver is filed. Once it is approved, the person can consular process their visas. However, there is no new guidance on the “Extreme Hardship” standard. It was announced at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Annual Conference open forum with USCIS that they would be announcing this guidance soon.

Other Considerations

There are additional changes that are significant. One is that the USCIS will no longer deny the I-601A for “reason to believe” the applicant is subject to other grounds of inadmissibility. This change is good because the “reason to believe” denials are sometimes based on nothing more than the immigration officer’s suspicions. However, this change could have unintended consequences because a person may end up processing their visas abroad only to find out that they do in fact have some other ground of inadmissibility and need to apply for another waiver. This might lead to more people getting stranded outside the United States, especially those who file without a competent immigration attorney that analyzes their case for all possible grounds of inadmissibility.

Another change is that the provisional waiver will be available now even if you had a visa interview scheduled before January 3, 2013. That was a ridiculous addition to the original rule, which seemed designed solely to prevent people from “gaming” the system when they were already in line for waiver interviews outside the United States. If those folks are still in the United States because they ended up ineligible for provisional waivers, they will be eligible now.

All of these changes highlight the complexity of the current immigration system. Congress could easily simplify all of this by eliminating the 3 and 10-year bars. While the 3 and 10 year-bars were intended to encourage people to not be in the United States unlawfully, the reality is they encourage people to stay in the United States without status. The result is the creation of extreme penalties that are triggered only when you leave. For most people, that makes leaving a non-option, even if they would otherwise be eligible for a visa to come back. This is because the risk of an immediate relative (e.g., mother or spouse) getting stranded in another country for 3 to 10 years is, for most of us, too high.

To learn about how the new rule changes may affect your I-601A filing or your ability to file provisionally please contact the Law Office of Jessie M. Thomas at (214) 838-0045. An experienced immigration waiver attorney is available to answer your questions. You may also request a free case evaluation via our online contact form at www.staylegally.com/contact/

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