LEGAL PERMANENT RESIDENCE
Also known as "Green Card", "Permanent Resident", or "legal" in the United States. There are various ways to acquire such status, regardless of the location of the person who wishes to acquire it. It can be done either by:
- Family Petition
- Employer Petition
- Visa Lottery/iversity Visas
- Special methods
For countries such as China, India, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Philipines the wait times are significantly longer than for people of other countries. The place of birth, or citizenship, of the person asking for the legalization of the family member determines if he is on this 5 country list or not. In addittion, the status of the person requesting the other family member alters also the wait times, although not significantly in many cases.
We provide services online for requesting legal permanent residence at our web-office jdpabogadoinmigracion.com
- Family Petitions-
Parents requesting children, be it Legal Residents or US Citizens, can request biological children directly. The age of the child (adult or not) is not singificanlty relevant to the wait-times unless it is from any of the mentioned countries. On this type of petition one parent requests the child, regardless of the location and age of the child.
Spouse requesting Spouse (be it Husband or Wife). On this type of petition, if the spouse has children then they are also authorized to request to become legal with the spouse being requested, even if they are not biological children of the one making the petition. Ages are of significant importance in this cases, and so far only Heterosexual couples can request their spouses.
Brothers can request their brothers from the moment the brother asking for the legal status of the requested brother becomes a US Citizen via Naturalization. Of course, the rule applies regardless of the sex of the brothers or sisters buthe benefit applies only to biologial brothers and nt hlf-brothers.
-Employee Petitions-
This type of petition is substantially more complicated than a family petition, and significanlty more costly. Usually there is a pre-requirement of a employment certification or visa related to the employment; then the procedures to request legal residence. Not everyone qualifies for this type of petition and small changes cause big delays or problems with the case. As a law office, and based on our expertise, we only recommend this type of method when there is no other method available due to the lenght, cost, and complications associated with it. All fees must be paid by the employer requesting the employee, which is an addittional burden on the employer.
VISA LOTTERY/DIVERSITY VISAS
There are almost a million websites on the internet that claim to provide registration for the Visa lottery. The visa lottery is the method in which the US Government gives away a legal resident status opportunity to an individual.
There are very specific rules to this lottery such as: only one participation per person, participation available only to those who are citizens and/or live in any of the countries specified, registration must be done timely and before the deadline, educational and vocational minimums, and participation is FREE. The visa lottery/diversity visa does not mean you will get legal status immediately you win (or will get a legal resident card on the mail); further legal proceedings are required.
In addittion, those whom are from any of the countries that can participate in the lottery must be warned that most, if not all of the websites that claim to assist in registering you in the visa lottery are a fraud. Specially those whom, as of 2010, claim to register you for the 2010 or the 2011 Visa Lottery since the registration period is CLOSED. Ask for "State Bar" numbers of those whom will charge you to register and a "G-28" government issued form. Confirm the State Bar number with the State Bar from the State the person provided (State bar numbers are usually the two letters of the state and the number).
VISA LOTERRY REGISTRATION OPENED OCTOBER 4 OF 2011 AND ENDS NOVEMBER 5 OF 2011. IF YOU DID NOT REGISTER WITHIN THOSE TIMES, YOU WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY.
THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES CANNOT PARTICIPATE, SO IF YOU ARE FROM ANY OF THESE COUNTRIES DO NOT PARTICIPATE.
BANGLADESH, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA, COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PERU, PHILIPINES, SOUTH KOREA, UK EXCEPT NORT-IRELAND, AND VIETNAM.
REGISTRATION IS ONLY ONLINE, NO PAPER ENTRIES ACCEPTED. CONTACT US VIA OUR SISTER WEBSITE JDPABOGADOINMIGRACION FOR QUESTIONS BY ACQUIRING THE SERVICE OF "CONSULTATIONS"
We provide assistance in the registration of individuals to this visa lottery/diversity visa AFTER we confirm that the person can participate, qualifies to participate. We recommend contacting us for assistance 3 months before the government-ordered-registration times (last one was October 5 to November 3 of 2010 for the 2012 lottery). We will post the registration dates to facilitate the process for you on this page. We charge a fee to represent you, not a charge for the participation. We represent you, which means we will file the request for you if you qualify, review if you are a winner (the government does not notify you by e-mail), and notify you if so. From there, you can choose to continue representation untill you become a Legal Permanent Resident.
A consultation is required to determine if the person complies with all the participation requirements. If the person does, then we notify and charge for representation if the person chooses to use us as their representative on this matter. Contact us if you have any questions, we will gladly respond with answers. Payments are usually processed via Pay-Pal.
-SPECIAL METHODS/MISCELANEOUS-
If, for example, the person wishes to request legal status for someone he wishes to marry who is outside the United States, a special method will be used. It is explained generally under the Fiance section on the Visas tab above. This "method" is legally complicated due the substantial amount of requirements.
If, on the other hand, the person you wish to request for legal residence is holdint TPS status; a different "method" is needed since TPS never leads to legal residence under the law. This is explained on the TPS tab above.
There is also, although rare, the ocassion when a grandparent wishes to request a grandson. Due to the significant complications on this type of cases we provide no information about it to avoid any representation that could create a false sense of hope on the reader. We only deal with the specifics of this case via consultation because these cases are legally over-burdened.
WARNING:
ANYONE WHO IS ILLEGALLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE HE ENTERED WITHOUT INSPECTION (ENTERED ILLEGALLY), AND DOES NOT HAVE A PENDING APPLICATION FROM BEFORE APRIL 30 OF 2001 OR TPS STATUS, CANNOT REQUEST ANY IMMIGRATION BENEFIT (See TPS for specific exclusions), INCLUDING RESIDENCE, EVEN IF MARRIED. IF HE DOES, IMMIGRATION CAN GO TO HIS PLACE OF RESIDENCE TO ARREST HIM AND INITIATE REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS IN IMMIGRATION COURT AGAINST HIM. CONTACT US FOR A CONSULTATION.
FURTHERMORE, IF YOU ARE ILLEGALLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES FOR ANY REASON, AND YOU HAVE BEEN SO FOR MORE THAN 6 MONTHS; YOU SHOULD NOT LEAVE THE US TO REQUEST BENEFITS FROM ABROAD BECAUSE AT THE MOMENT OF DEPARTURE A 1, 3, 5, 10, OR 20 YEAR PROHIBITION ON BENEFITS CAN OCCURR. WE SAY 1, 3, 5, 10 AND 20 BECAUSE IT DEPENDS ON THE CASE EVEN THOUGH THE LAW SAYS 10 OR 20.