Cancellation of Removal for non-Permanent Residents is a form of relief from deportation available to foreign nationals who meet the following four requirements: Have been physically present for a continuous period of at least ten years preceding the date deportation proceedings are commenced; Has had good moral character during that ten year period; Has had no convictions for any crime(s) that can render the [...]

The New York Times reported this past weekend about an immigrant from St. Kitts named Joseph E. Joseph who registered to vote back in 1992, voted in every presidential election since then and because of what he referred to as “doing his his civic duty”, he now faces deportation. In the U.S., only citizens are authorized to vote in [...]

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has recently published a delayed update of the poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010.  The poverty guidelines are usually published every year in late January or early February. The reason for the delayed update of this year’s poverty guidelines was due to legislation enacted in late 2009 and [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced yesterday that it will conduct an agency-wide policy review to examine and potentially change its policies concerning the adjudication of applications for benefits and customer service. The USCIS has selected the following ten (10) areas to examine in its policy review: National Customer Service; H-1B visas; Citizenship & Naturalization; Employment based green cards in general; Employment [...]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeks public comments on its proposal to increase filing fees for the adjudication of applications, and to recover costs in administering the immigration laws. The proposal was posted yesterday in the Federal Register.  The proposed increase would raise filing fees for most applications by 10%. The comment period begins on June 11, 2010 and ends on July 26, 2010.  [...]

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reported yesterday that it has designated a centralized location for foreign nationals applying for a Waiver of a Ground of Inadmissibility on Form I-601. Beginning January 27, 2010, applications of this type are to be mailed to the USCIS’ Vermont Service Center (VSC). The designation of the VSC as [...]