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A Summary of What You Should Know About the Proposed “Public Charge” Policy
On October 10, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed policy to change the “public charge” rules. I’ve received a lot of questions from people about how the proposed policy change regarding the public charge definition could affect their immigration cases. One important thing I would like to mention is that this rule would not be retroactive. This means that public benefits a person has received prior to the start of the new rule, will not be counted against them. Another thing worth mentioning is that this public charge test would not look at U.S. citizen children or other family members who are eligible to receive public…
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Helpful U.S. Immigration Resource Links
A common statement I hear from people I meet with when discussing their immigration cases with them is that the Internet has a lot of information and they don’t know what is correct and what isn’t. They tell me they’ve read message boards with horror stories, or that they’ve somehow clicked on so many websites that they don’t know what to believe. As with most things, you can’t always believe what you read. I do believe some are legitimate sources of immigration law information, while there are plenty of others that are not. Also, most of the time, each immigration case has its own set of unique facts and circumstances,…
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Obtaining a Green Card Under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
The federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) provides victims of battery or extreme cruelty a way to get a green card. One purpose of VAWA is to remedy immigrant abuse and improve criminal justice in the areas it covers. A major difference between green cards obtained through family and green cards obtained through VAWA, is that VAWA green card applicants self-petition without the knowledge of their abusers. This provides protection from spousal abuse. For example, person A is a U.S. citizen, and person B is an immigrant. Person A and person B marry. A abuses B from the beginning of their marriage. B would like to apply for a green…
