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Green Card Renewal When You Are Married or Divorced (Form I-751)

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from the The Ranchod Law Group and I want to thank you for tuning in to our weekly immigration show.

Today what we’re going to talk about is… the need to remove the conditions on your greencard if you have a conditional green card.

So why do you get a conditional green card? Well the reason you might get a conditional green card is if you were married for less than two years. In this case you need to remove the conditions on your greencard within two years. You can do that 90 days before the two year period.

What do you do if you’re no longer married? That can be a problem but you can file for what’s called a Waiver of the joint condition filing by demonstrating that there’s a good-faith marriage.

There’s a myriad of ways to demonstrate this. What’s really important is you you have appropriate documentation. For example, joint documents that demonstrate that you were truly married. There is other documentation that you want to submit as well such as affidavits from friends and family members.

To learn more about the procedure, I invite you to contact our office at (916) 613-3553 to find out if you qualify for a Waiver of the joint filing:

  • If you are divorced;
  • If you are planning on a divorce.

It’s important that you contact our office because you do need to file for the Waiver and meet this requirement or you could be put into removal proceedings so I invite you to contact us at ©(916) 613-3553 and I look forward to helping you. Thank you, tune in next week for another video from the The Ranchod Law Group.

Links Related to the Greencard Replacement Procedure:

News About DACA and How It Might Affect You

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from The Ranchod Law Group.
Before we start, just a reminder that everything we say here is not to be considered as legal advice – we’re just providing general information. If you want answers to specific questions, call our office at 916-220-3137.

Alright now we’re gonna move on to DACA :

what is going on with DACA?

It is just crazy right now with all of the different court decisions.

Right now we have Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. who issued a final judgment in favor of DACA : the Washington DC Court has said that they want DACA to go through and that Trump has to reinstate DACA . They gave a 90-day time period for President Trump to object – if he doesn’t appeal the decision then they said on August 23rd DACA would have to be reinstated.

If you have questions call us at 916-220-3137, post or comment below and we will try to answer.

We’re talking about DACA right now so I talked about the DC Court decision. In Texas another Federal Court decision is supposed to be coming out very soon, and we’re expecting them to say that they want to cancel DACA : at the moment we have two federal courts in conflict, so it’s very likely that this will go to the Supreme Court to make the final decision on what happens with DACA but as of right now you can renew your DACA application.

You cannot file a new application, the law of course is going to be changing very frequently so I invite you to just continue to watch our live show we will provide you with updates to let you know what is going on you can call at 916-220-3137 to ask us your specific questions regarding DACA or other immigration questions.

I want to thank you for tuning in to our weekly immigration update and see you next week

Related Information on DACA

News in Immigration Law Regarding TPS, I-212 Pardon and more…

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from The The Ranchod Law Group and Brian. We are here live to answer your questions.
What we’re going to talk about today are the most recent changes in immigration law. One of the most recent changes that is happening is that now USCIS has issued a memorandum stating that they can just deny cases without issuing a request for evidence, so it’s really important that you submit all of the documents that you need to submit when you file your application. Previoulsy, USCIS would issue a request for evidence advising on what you may need but now it is important to make sure that everything is complete before you submit your application.

Another big change is happening is that TPS is being cancelled for many countries. However there are options available on TPS that may allow you to get a greencard. There is a recent court case that came out in the Ninth Circuit that will allow TPS holders to apply for a greencard if they’re eligible: for instance in our office at Sacramento we are applying for a marriage-based greencard or parental based greencards if you have a U.S. citizen spouse or child. You could possibly apply for a greencard so if you’re in this situation and you’re on TPS give us a call at (916)-220-3137 to find out if you do qualify: every situation is unique and it also depends if you’re within the Ninth Circuit or where you live, because it depends upon the specific court ruling that has jurisdiction over your area. For instance the Ninth Circuit covers all of California, it covers Oregon it covers Washington.

Call us because every case is different and President Trump is just going all-out on trying to pass things that are against immigrants. We are here and we’re going to continue to fight for you.

We’re going to talk about some more of the changes here in this live video. I invite you to also ask your questions now to get them answered live. If you’re not able to be here live put them in the string below and we will try to answer them.

Another big change has happened is with with Asylum, before it may have been possible to apply for Asylum based off of gang violence or domestic violence and now President Trump has stated that they’re not going to advocate on behalf of people who have domestic violence or gang violence and not allow Asylum if you fall within those categories.

I wanted to also answer some questions that we had last week where people weren’t able to get on live.

One question was related to a situation where they’re married to a spouse and they’re subject to the 10-year bar. They’re abroad or have been removed. In this situation you may be able to apply for the I-212 waiver. The I-212 waiver allows you to reenter the United States before the ten year period. If you do qualify, if you think you may qualify, remember that every case is different so give us a call at 916-220-3137 to see if you do qualify.
The I-212 does allow you to enter before the ten year period but it’s very specific and related to certain situations.

Another question we had was about the Fiancée Visa. We talked about this visa in our last live call where if you have a fiancee you’re intending to marry and you want to bring them to the United States, there’s something called the two-year meeting requirement. This requirement means that you need to have met your fiancé within the last two years: The specific question was:

How many times do you have to meet them?

I’m kind of paraphrasing the question, so in that situation it is important that you have met within the last 2 years – you just have to have physically met. There are Waivers available for that, but they do require a very good reason to get the Waiver so in general you need to have met within the last two years physically: for example travelling to Mexico to meet them or whichever their home country.

Okay that wraps up our live today did you have any other questions Brian or any questions that you see our clients asking us?

For example what is exactly an RFE? oh that is a great question! RFE (sometimes I abbreviate these things because when you’re doing immigration law everyday just becomes part of your vocabulary). RFE is a request for evidence. Normally when you submit an application to USCIS they’ll review the application and evaluate whether or not the application meets the preponderance of evidence requirement. If USCIS wants more information they will issue what’s called a Request for Evidence with President Trump as President they’ve adopted what’s called the extreme vetting standard, what that means is that they are issuing many RFEs based off of any reason. It seems like any reason that they can think of to issue an RFE based off of this extreme vetting standard.

Many times in our office we provided all the information and they’ll ask us for the same information that we already provided but most of our cases where we’ve responded to the RFE we’re getting them approved.

It is important that you do respond to the RFE. Generally they’ll give you 90 days but they’ll specify how long you have to respond, so when you get the RFE look at the date to find out when you need to respond because if you missed that date your case will be denied, so it’s extremely important that you submit the RFE on time before President Trump there were not as many RFEs and a lot of times applications would go in and get approved smoothly. Now it’s very important to prepare the case well, because if it’s not prepared properly, with the extreme vetting standard, cases are more likely to get denied, so it’s important that you get a very good immigration lawyer.

Back to the beginning of our our live video. What is happening now is the Trump administration has said that now they’re not for some cases if they find that you’re not eligible based off of the documents submitted, they may just deny the case immediately, so that’s why it’s extremely important you submit everything that you need to submit.

When you file, I know some attorneys submitted applications just to get them in, but that no longer is going to work under this new RFE memo standard that has been issued.

I don’t want you to be afraid of these new memos that are coming out, all it means is that for our team we’re just going to work harder! It inspires us to do an even better job we are committed to do whatever it takes to address these RFEs and to do whatever it takes to present the best case that we can.

Anything else Brian? We have a question about the I-212: what exactly is the waiver 212? So that Waiver is waiving the ten years not being able to come in to the United States. It waives you from the bar that has happened or that you’ve received while you’re outside of the country. In general it’s ten years from coming in, so this will allow you to come in before that time period. We commonly file these for spouses who are US citizens who want their spouse to come in but have been banned from coming in for ten years.

Not everyone who’s been banned is allowed to come in so it’s depending upon what the reason was so if you have a question on whether or not you qualify, give us a call at 916-220-3137 to see if you qualify for that I-212. It is a great way to reunite your family because of course ten years is a very long time.

Now if you’ve been banned don’t try to come in trying to get this Waiver because if you do you could get what’s called a permanent bar from reentering the US so it’s really important that you make sure that you go through the proper legal process to make sure that you qualify otherwise there could be further consequences.

I want to thank you for tuning in live here today we are going to continue doing this where you want to continue to help serve the community we will be back next Wednesday 11:15 if you weren’t able to tune in live we will be here every week so tune in next week at 11:15 on Wednesday and you can also leave your question down below and we’ll try to answer it. You can give us a call at 916-220-3137. Thank you have an awesome day and we look forward to seeing you next week!

Renewing Green Cards And U Visa

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod here from The Ranchod Law Group, live with Brian, our paralegal today we’re going to talk about some exciting immigration laws and visas. The reason I’m so excited today is because we’re talking about one of my favorite visas – the U Visa. The U Visa is an extremely powerful visa because even if you’ve been out of status, even if you have entered without inspection more than once, even if you may have criminal convictions, all of these things can be waived with the U Visa.

The reason for that is that it’s a humanitarian visa. If you are the victim of a violent crime, then you might qualify for a U Visa but it’s not just being the victim of a violent crime, you’ve had to also cooperate with the police department and have that documented generally in the form of a police report. Types of violent crimes include:

  • domestic violence;
  • suffered from physical injury for instance someone hit you.

That also may qualify as a violent crime.

Something that doesn’t qualify as a violent crime would be burglary or someone hitting you in a car accident. Those would be crimes that don’t qualify as a violent crime.

It’s extremely important that you also cooperate with the police and file a police report if a violent crime does occur. The other way we demonstrate and win our cases is showing physical and emotional damage. The way we can do that is if you go to a therapist. Your hospital records can also be used. If you’re over 21 years old you can also file for your spouse (include your spouse) and also file for your children if they are under 21.

The first step in the U Visa process is to make sure that you file the police report. What we then do is file an application with the police to get a certification from the police in California. The state legislature passed a law where the police departments are required to issue the approval if you qualify within 90 days. This is specific to California so every state has it’s own unique requirement.

The next step with the U Visa after the police certification we go onto the next step and file the application with the USCIS which is at the very heart of our strategy, the bulk of the case. When we apply with the USCIS this is where we build your case to demonstrate that you cooperated with the police, that you faced mental or physical harm, and this is also where we go back and also show that this qualifies as a violent crime which is the foundation, the basis of your case.

Recently processing times have increased significantly, it’s taking 43 to 45 months to get an approval: what we are seeing is a progressive increase in the approval timeline. This has been a trend with the Trump administration across the board – we’ve seen that the government is just taking an increasing amount of time to process cases. Towards the end of the case, once they start reviewing your case, you can get work authorization, which will allow you to work lawfully in the United States, which is another great aspect of the U Visa.

So we’ve been talking about the U Visa, the steps in the U Visa and the processing times. Then you receive work authorisation if it’s likely that your case is going to be approved. Consequently you can apply for a greencard three years after getting your U Visa. Going back to the EADs, they are getting issued if your case is likely to be approved, that’s when they are issuing the EAD, when it’s coming close to the end of the process to obtain your U Visa. This is based off of deferred action.

So we talked about the U Visa – now we’re going to move onto a different topic. Here at the The Ranchod Law Group we’ve been getting questions about greencard renewal.

When can you apply for a greencard?

We also receive a lot of questions related to greencards without expiration date. A law passed years ago where even if you have that kind of greencard where there’s no expiration date, you are still required to file for a renewal. In this case and you can file for a renewal six months prior to the expiration date on your greencard. The USCIS is taking a long time to process such applications these days, it’s taking over a year generally to get these approved – the government processing times do change but as of today, as of the broadcast of this video that we’re doing, it is taking over a year.

Do you have any other questions Brian that you are getting or any questions for me?

How soon can someone apply for a greencard renewal?
What if my greencard hasn’t expired yet, when can I apply for a renewal?

You can apply 6 months before the expiration date of your greencard. if you have a 10 year greencard which is known as a permanent greencard then you can do that 6 months prior to expiration. Now that brings up an important point. If you have a conditional greencard, it requires a different application. What we’re talking about is the greencard renewal where you have the permanent greencard for 10 years.

So if you’re applying for a conditional greencard that is where you are removing the conditions after you get the conditional greencard that is good for 2 years and that is generally based on having a good faith marriage to your spouse. In that case you’re going to have to demonstrate to the USCIS that you still have a good faith marriage and the way to do that is by providing documentation of your good faith marriage such as bank account statements such as joint leases as some examples of joint documents that are included in the I-751 application which is to get rid of the conditions on your greencard so you can get a permanent 10 year greencard.

Now what happens if you get a divorce with the conditional greencard?

It’s still possible to remove the conditions on your greencard but it’s going to require more work. You will probably be called in for an interview to ensure that your marriage was in good faith. The USCIS will look at why or what happened to cause the separation – that could be one thing they will look at the interview. They will also evaluate the documents that you have. What I’m talking about now is if you actually got a divorce, they will look at the documents to evaluate wether or not you had a good faith marriage, they will also want to see affidavits from friends and family. Another way that you can waive conditions on the greencard is if you’re not filing it jointly as if it were based off of domestic violence or abuse. That is another way to also waive the joint filing requirement.

You may also qualify if you are married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident for something called the Violence Against Women Act which is the violence against women’s act. So that’s another way if you’ve been a victim.

I want to thank you for tuning in to our show, we’ll see you next week, thank you and have an awesome day!

Call us if you have questions or send us an Email. You can also fill in the form at the bottom of this page

Related Information on U Visas

Preparing for your Consular Appointment

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We here at the The Ranchod Law Group know how stressful any immigration process can be—especially if your case requires you to return to your home country for a consular interview! Here are some questions many of our clients have at this stage in their immigration journey.

  1. What should I bring to the interview?
  2. How long does the interview last?
  3. What should I expect during the interview?
  4. What happens after the interview?

What should I bring to the interview?

You should pay close attention to the items that are on the checklist available for download at the U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Be sure to bring original documents, where needed, for example:

  • marriage certificate;
  • birth certificate(s);
  • police certificates;
  • court records;
  • divorce decrees;
  • etc.

You should bring copies of all original documents you are required to deliver

.

If you have updated financial records, like new Federal tax returns, please bring those as well.

Additionally, we always recommend that our clients bring 15-20 color photographs to show the relationship between beneficiary and petitioner.

Lastly, you should always refer to the appropriate consulate’s website for any specific information.

Back to the list of Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the interview last?

Based on feedback from our clients, the interview itself usually lasts about 15-20 minutes. Lots of preparation for such a short interview!

Back to the list of Frequently Asked Questions

What should I expect during the interview?

You will be called to a window —similar to the DMV- to have the interview. The officer will look at the documents they have in their hand, and also may ask you for some of the documents that are on the checklist. It is at the officer’s discretion what they would like to request, so it is important to be prepared.

The officer may also ask you some questions. The most common questions are:

  • When did you enter the United States?
  • How did you enter?
  • When did you get married?

They may also ask about whether you have worked in the U.S. without authorization

Whatever the question, it is important to answer truthfully and to the point. The officer already knows a lot about you, so it is best to not contradict the information they already have!
You will know at the end of the interview if your greencard has been approved.

Back to the list of Frequently Asked Questions

What happens after the interview?

You will need to wait for your passport, with your U.S. visa, and the sealed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) packet to be returned to you: This usually takes about 5 days, but could be shorter or longer depending on the consulate. In order to re-enter the U.S., you will need your passport, U.S. visa, and the sealed CBP packet.
After you re-enter, you are considered a green card holder (congratulations!). You should receive your greencard and social security card in the mail within a few weeks of your re-entry.

Back to the list of Frequently Asked Questions

If you or someone you know would like some guidance with this process, please contact our firm! call (916) 613-3553, email, or use the contact form to provide us with more detailed information.

Related Information on Preparing for Consular Appointments

I-601a Hardship Waiver – DACA Success Story

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from the The Ranchod Law Group. Today I’m going to answer a question that has been on people’s minds regarding the I-601a Waiver.

I want to share a success story of a recent case where we got the Waiver approved for someone who entered on DACA

This person came to the United States as a child and doesn’t know Spanish very well: if his wife were to return home, she would face extreme hardship because financially she wouldn’t be able to support herself and on top of this, she is pregnant: anyone with children knows how expensive it is to have kids.
if she were to go back to Mexico with her husband, they wouldn’t be able to support themselves especially with the child which is what we argued to prove extreme hardship. We also argued that she had suffered a very difficult childhood and had mental conditions: this is all about the United States citizen – exceptional hardship has to be about the United States Citizen not about the immigrant; if you’ve entered the United States illegally it’s not about you it’s about your spouse who entered or is here as a US citizen. This is what the law provides and that is if you as a US citizen had to return to your spouse’s home country – this is another prerequisite. If your spouse is a US citizen or permanent resident, then you’re eligible for an I-601 a waiver.

If you want to know more about the I-601 waiver and DACA, take a look at our Videos on this subject.

So I digressed, I’m going to go back to the hardships that we focused on. So far we talked about mental hardship and we talked about financial hardship. Additionally we also argued about the country conditions that are prevalent in Mexico, the gang violence, the lack of access to health care, etc. which are current in certain regions of Mexico. We used all of these arguments to create an extreme hardship case that was ultimately approved.

The big question that I’ve been getting since I’ve shared this success story is:

Do you need to have applied for DACA and be approved for DACA in order to qualify for the I-601a waiver?

I don’t want you to be confused about this specific case where this person had DACA. You do not need to have been approved for DACA and you don’t need to have applied for DACA if you’re married to a US citizen or if you’re a child and you have a parent who is a US citizen. You might be able to qualify for this specific I-601a waiver and you can also be a permanent resident as well.
So as you can see every case is unique, every case has unique factors so for this I invite you to contact our office at (916) 613-3553 or email us at info at info@ranchodlaw.com to learn about your options – we’re here to help you every single day. This is a very difficult time right now in our country for people with your specific situation. I don’t want you to be afraid: there is hope, contact us and we can make things right for you. Thanks and have an awesome day

Fiancée Visa in Sacramento California

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Hi this Kaushik Ranchod from The Ranchod Law Group. Today I’m going to answer some of your frequently asked questions, about the Fiancée Visa. The Fiancée Visa is a process where you are engaged to your Fiancée but you’re not married yet and you want to bring your Fiancée from their home country to come and live in the United States. Now the question that we get asked a lot is “can’t I just get my Fiancée here into the United States and then get married? I don’t recommend this procedure because that can be considered as Visa Fraud.

Because you’re supposed to enter the United States with the intent to temporarily stay with the visitor visa you’re supposed to return home: the proper method to enter the United States in this case is with the Fiancée Visa. There is the Fiancée Visa against the immigrant visa. Today, in this video, we’re going to just talk about the Fiancée Visa because you’re not married yet. In this case it’s faster to obtain a Fiancée Visa than the immigrant visa: if you are married you could apply for the immigrant visa.

The first step is filing for the Fiancée Visa Petition. This can generally taking anywhere from three to six months considering government processing time. Once the Fiancée Visa Petition is approved, it goes to the National Visa Center where background security checks are performed. Then, the Fiancée Visa Petition is sent onto the U.S. embassy. It is really important to document that you have a real relationship with your Fiancée. This aspect will be evaluated at the Fiancée Visa Petition stage: the authorities are seeking evidence to prove you have met – you need to have met with your Fiancée in the last two years. The U.S. embassy will be evaluating this as well to determine your eligibility to enter the United States.

Once you have and successfully passed the interview, you will be allowed to travel to the United States and you will be required to get married within ninety days.

Since we are talking specifically about Sacramento, once you get married you will need to file for a marriage based adjustment of status. You will go through the entire process and you’ll have another interview that will take place in Sacramento, California if you’re living in Sacramento.

So that’s the Fiancée Visa process in a nutshell.

I invite you to contact us if you have questions you can reach us at (916) 613-3553 or email us at info@ranchodlaw.com thanks and have an awesome day!

Related Information on K1 Fiancée Visas

J1 Hardship Waiver Approval for Client from Egypt

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J-1 Exceptional Hardship Waiver Approval

Filed: May 25, 2017
Request for Evidence Issued: November 9, 2017
Request for Evidence Response Filed: December 2017
Approved: May 21, 2018
J exceptional hardship Waiver Approved for Client from Egypt

The Facts

  • Client entered the United States
  • Married an American woman of Egyptian descent

In order to win these cases, we are required to prove that there would be exceptional hardship under the following circumstances:

  • In the event client’s American wife accompanied client to Egypt for two years
  • If she remained in the U.S. without client

There were numerous factors we used to successfully argue our case

Client’s wife does not wear the Muslim veil and dresses in an Americanized way which makes her an extremely obvious target in Egypt.

We included extensive evidence supporting that Egypt is extremely dangerous due to instability, terrorism, and lack of women’s rights, among other factors.

Country conditions (i.e. lack of suitable medical care, the economic crises, etc.) would also inherently result in exceptional hardship to her. Also, client’s wife is currently pursuing graduate school and is financially dependent on client.

Finally, we argued both scenarios in the event of a denial would have resulted in exceptional mental health hardship because client’s wife was diagnosed with depression and takes prescription anti-depressants. Client and his wife were alarmed and worried when they received the Request for Evidence, but issuance of these requests has become more common recently and we were able to aggressively respond on client’s behalf and get the case approved.

About Waiver of the Exchange Visitor Two-Year Home-Country Physical Presence Requirement

Research scholars, professors participating in programs for medical or business training with J1 Visas are subject to a two-year home-country physical presence requirement. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 212(e) J-1 Visa holders are required to return home for at least two years after the exchange visitor program. If you cannot return home for two years, you must apply for exceptional hardship a Waivers. The Department of Homeland Security must approve your Waiver before you can change status in the United States or receive a visa in certain categories.

Criminal Immigration

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Criminal Immigration, also known as

“Crimmigration”

Is an area of the law where immigration law and criminal law converge.

Criminal immigration is one of the most important and specialized areas of deportation and removal defense.

Two important federal laws, sections 212 and 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, make immigrants ineligible for a greencard or deportable for committing crimes such as domestic violence.

But most crimes – including DUI, drug crimes, or domestic violence – fall under state law. For immigrants to know if a state crime they committed falls under federal laws of deportation, they must rely on a “crimmigration” attorney.

Attorneys experienced in both criminal and immigration law are able to identify which crimes committed fall under the categories of federal crimes that have immigration consequences. As a result of over two decades of Supreme Court decisions, attorneys must use the categorical approach to determine whether a state crime has federal consequences such as deportation.

Crimmigration is a sub-specialty of immigration law which employs the categorical approach to determine if a state crime has immigration consequences

The categorical approach has its origins in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990).

After decisions in Moncrieffe v. Holder, 569 U.S. 184 (2013) and Descamps v. U.S., 570 U.S. __ (2013) defined the scope of the categorical approach, immigrants today are left with a clear structure in how to analyze whether their state-based crimes make them deportable or otherwise ineligible for a greencard.

J1 Waiver Exceptional Hardship Explained

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from the The Ranchod Law Group and today I’m going to tackle one of the most frequently asked questions regarding J-1 Visas and that is: What is exceptional hardship for J1 waivers. Many of you think they are going to be ripped away from their family and I know that’s hard, that’s really hard but unfortunately the government does not see that as exceptional hardship.

Is that fair? No it is not but that’s where we come in with our legal team and explain all the other different factors that you have: we do that in a legal brief to create a case for you demonstrating what exceptional hardship is – facts such as financial disruption, career disruption, medical issues psycological issues and adding all these factors. In most cases, most people don’t have the bulletproof exceptional hardship where you’re going to be dying or your United States citizen spouse or child is dying from cancer: usually it’s by making all these individual arguments into a set of circumstances which demonstrate exceptional hardship.
I know it is hard for you to be separated from your family, I know that it is painful and it’s adding injury or insult to injury when the government states your conditions are not extreme hardship but those are the cards that we have been dealt and I’m happy to say that we’ve been very successful in getting these exceptional hardship waivers approved.

Our approval rate is 20% above the national average and I have to give you a little disclaimer that it doesn’t mean that your case is going to get approved but we know how to present an awesome case for you so if you’re not sure whether or not you meet the legal standard I invite you to call many calls that we do are free, it will depend upon your situaton so call us at (916) 613-3553 and we will discuss whether you can qualify for extreme hardship – thank you and have an awesome day!

Information Related to J1 Waivers