Know Your Rights

Know Your Rights cards in various Languages

 

http://unitedwedream.org/thank-deportation-defense-card-handy-phone/

When Should You Renew Your Work Permit?

Question: My employment authorization document (EAD), i.e., work permit card, is going to expire soon. When should I file the application for a renewal?

 

Answer: Generally, 120 days before the expiration date. If, however, the EAD is based on deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA), category (c)(33), then 150-120 days before the expiration date.


Don't file too soon! To calculate your soonest possible filing date, use https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html 


 

Wait Approximately Two Years? No, Become a U.S. Citizen!

Q: I’m a lawful permanent resident (LPR) (i.e. I have a green card), and my spouse entered the U.S. with a tourist visa. If I file an immigrant visa petition for my Mexican husband, Form I-130, how long will we have to wait?

A: Two years, approximately. The June 2015 Visa Bulletin shows that the current priority date for F2A Mexico is 08AUG13. The difference between June 1, 2015, and August 8, 2013, is about two years. So today, June of 2015, Mexican spouses who filed their I-130s about two years ago, on or before August 8, 2015, now have an immigrant visa available.  --- BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE: The problem is that even though the Mexican spouse entered the U.S. with a tourist visa, his stamp or I-94 expired already. Any 6-month extension would have also expired already. By overstaying, your husband failed to continuously maintain lawful status. Falling out of status makes one ineligible to apply for adjustment of status. This means your husband can’t get a green card inside the U.S. and there isn’t any waiver. Your husband will have to go to Ciudad Juarez, then apply for a waiver, Form I-601, AND WAIT OUTSIDE THE U.S. for the waiver to get (hopefully) approved. He could be trapped outside the U.S. for an unknown number of months, with zero guarantee. The solution is for the LPR wife to naturalize. The moment he is the husband of a U.S. citizen, two things happen: 1) there’s no penalty for his failure to continuously maintain lawful status, and 2) he’s adjustment eligible. This means he’ll be able to get a green card inside the U.S. and he won’t need any waiver. Whew!

Can you get a TWIC if you have an EAD? Maybe. Maybe not.

Q: Does my Employment Authorization Document (EAD), i.e. work permit card, make me eligible for a Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC)?

A: Depends. The following EAD category codes are TWIC eligible:

(a)(3) Refugee

(a)(5) Asylee (asylum granted)

(a)(10) Withholding granted

(a)(13) Family Unity Granted

(a)(14) LIFE Legalization

(a)(12) TPS

(a)(19) U-1

What’s in YOUR wallet?

Work Permit Renewed in Only 27 Days!

On April 2, 2015, we electronically filed ("e-filed") our client's Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewal application, Form I-765. 

On April 10, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) CIS issued the notice of the fingerprinting appointment, set for April 27, 2015.

On April 29, 2015, USCIS approved the renewal (new EAD valid 07/24/15 to 07/23/16).

So the total processing time was only 27 days!

TPS Re-Registration Approved – Even Though Filed Many Years Late!

A person who has Temporary Protected Status (TPS) must re-register before his TPS expires. USCIS will deny an application filed late.

Mrs. C of Honduras was granted TPS in 1999, but after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved the I-130 immigrant visa petition filed on her behalf by her permanent resident husband, she failed to re-register. Years and years went by.

In 2014, Rodriguez & Moretzsohn, PLLC, helped Mrs. C ask USCIS to please excuse her failure to timely apply for re-registration. Seven months later, USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). Rodriguez & Moretzsohn, PLLC, helped Mrs. C respond. Her failure to timely re-register was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond her control. She misunderstood the interaction of her approved I-130 and her ongoing need for TPS. She also relied to her detriment upon the erroneous belief that the approved I-130 somehow protected her and gave her status in the U.S. (which it didn’t).

Thankfully, USCIS approved her TPS re-registration – even though filed many years late.

An ICE hold is "not to exceed 48 hours"

You know how we’re innocent until proven guilty? Well, there’s also a federal law says that from the time a non-citizen’s bond is paid a jail can keep holding him (to wait for Immigration to come get him) for only 48 hours. 8 C.F.R. 287.7(d).

On Friday afternoon, 02/20/15, I called the local county jail.

“I need to send a fax to whomever is in charge,” I explained to the jailer. “It’s been more than 48 hours, so it’s illegal for the county to keep holding my client. Where should I send my fax?”

“You’re a lawyer,” the jailer said, derisively. “You should know where you can put your fax.” 

Then he hung up on me.

Whaaaa? Did he seriously just tell me to put my fax where the sun don’t shine?!

I then wrote and faxed an S.L.L. (Scary Lawyer Letter) to the chief of the jail. This was at 3:40pm. Government employees don’t answer their phones after 4pm, especially on a Friday. I didn’t expect anything to happen. 

So I was surprised when, that evening at 8:30pm, my client called me to thank me. They let him out of jail. He was already back home with his family. My SLL worked!