Law Offices of Bryan Pu-Folkes

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES TO FIX A NOTORIOUS SNAG IN IMMIGRATION LAW -NEW RULE WILL SPARE THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM PROLONGED SEPARATIONS FROM IMMIGRANT SPOUSES AND CHILDREN

2012-01-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

The long-awaited change now proposed by immigration officials will benefit U.S. citizens who are married to or have children who are undocumented immigrants. Thousands will no longer be separated from their loved ones. The change will encourage Americans to come forward to apply to bring their out of status family members into the legal system.

Undocumented immigrants married to or who are children of American citizens are allowed to become legal residents by obtaining permanent resident status. The law requires most of them who are out of status to return to their home countries in order to receive their legal visas. Once they leave United States, they are automatically barred from returning to the U.S. for at least three years and often for a decade, even if they are fully eligible. They have to obtain some ‘Waiver’ from these tough measures, if the immigrants can show that their absence can cause ‘extreme hardship’ to the United States citizen. This waiver is tough and time consuming, and very unsuccessful in a lot of cases, as a result of which the family is separated for years, until the waiver is finally approved. Several times this waiver is never approved, as a result of which the immigrants are permanently stranded and separated from their American families.

Knowing the hardship to get through this ‘Waiver’ with risks of separation from the loved ones, many undocumented immigrants and their families decide to live hiding and do not apply for any immigrant benefits, even if eligible. The USCIS now proposes to allow the immigrants to obtain a provisional waiver in the United States before leaving the country. This will assure them to depart knowing that they will certainly be able to return back to the United States. The agency also seeks to streamline the process and cut down on the processing wait times.

The Director of USCIS – Alejandro Mayorkas stated ‘the goal is to substantially reduce the time U.S. Citizen are separated from the spouse or child that would yield an extreme hardship”.

USCIS will publish a formal notice in the Federal Register that is preparing a new regulation governing these waivers.

This humane change is one example of the measures taken by the Obama Administration, which does not require the approval of Congress. This will ease the burdens on Americans and immigrant families deriving from dysfunctional and outmoded immigration statutes.

In the effort of having more and more undocumented immigrants to apply for legal immigration status, this is a fundamental step in enabling thousands of them who are married to U.S. Citizens who have not taken advantage of the existing waiver. This will change their lives, and unite them to their families.

THE PROPOSED ACT – H.R. 3012 – THE FAIRNESS FOR HIGH SKILLED IMMIGRANTS ACT

2011-12-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

Highly skilled immigrants, particularly from India and China, are victims of the strict regulations set by the U.S. immigration policy relating to employment-based visas. The U.S. House of Representatives on 11/29/2011 passed H.R. 3012 – The Fairness for high Skilled Immigrants Act by a vote of 389-15 with no additional amendments. The bill has now moved to the Senate for consideration. It is likely to be approved.

This legislation targets elimination of country–by–country caps on visa availability to skilled workers for obtaining permanent resident status in United States. Once the bill is fully enacted eligible individuals may apply for permanent resident status on a first-come-first basis.

Currently 140,000 employment-based skilled worker green cards are available, and it limits availability to 7% of that allocation to each country. Countries like India and China, which is highly populated, receive an average of 3000 visas in this category annually. Calculating an average period, these countries have a wait list of approximately 65-70 years by the time the visas become available. The new bill will shorten the waiting time by eliminating the limit on the visas.

The Law Offices of Bryan Pu Folkes will keep you posted as more information becomes available. Hopefully, this bill will be enacted and will stop skilled immigrant workers from being forced to leave the United States due to immigration status.

THE U.S. CONSULATE IN MUMBAI RELOCATES

2011-11-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Consulate in Mumbai moves to a new location at Bandra Kurla Complex after years of operation at the Lincoln Center, Breach Candy. This relocation facilitates 44 interview windows and reflects the expansion in U.S. India relations. U.S. Consul General – Peter Haas comments – ‘our new home reflects the overall trend of U.S. India ties. Our relationship with India is growing and modernizing, and our consulate must do the same.” Lincoln Houses shuts operations to public on November 15 and reopens on November 21 at the new Bandra Kurla Location – East Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051 India

Keep Ravi Ragbir in the US with his family and community!

2011-10-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sign this petition today to help Ravi and his family!

Long time resident, community activist, father, and husband, Ravi Ragbir, faces permanent exile from his life in the US. A 15-year green card holder, Ravi has worked as an organizer to protect the rights of all immigrants, including through the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City. But he is now at risk of deportation to Trinidad—without a single meaningful hearing in immigration court—because of a single, decade-old conviction.

Ravi experienced the worst of the deportation system. An immigration judge ordered him to be deported without considering any of the evidence of his character and strong community ties. Ravi was detained for years throughout his immigration case and was transferred to an immigration jail in Alabama, far away from his family and community.

Upon release from immigration jail, Ravi rose to leadership in the immigrant rights
community. Through his work, Ravi met his current partner and wife, Amy Gottlieb, another community leader. They live in Brooklyn and spend the majority of their time in the New York/New Jersey area, where their family—including Ravi’s teenage daughter, Deborah—also lives.

Despite the overwhelming public support for Ravi to remain in the United States with the family and the community that so desperately needs him, he faces imminent deportation.

Please sign this petition to tell ICE to not deport Ravi!

Thank you! Grace Gleason has been Released from ICE Detention!

2011-10-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

On October 10, 2011 we blogged about how you can support efforts to release Grace Gleason from ICE Detention. Grace has a U.S. citizen husband, a U.S. citizen daughter, a son who is a U.S. lawful permanent resident and an elderly father who is also a U.S. lawful permanent resident.

Three thousand supporters signed a petition asking for Grace to be released and it worked. Grace was released on Tuesday, October 18, 2011.

Thank you!

Dishonest Data on Immigration Cripples Honest Debate and Sensible Lawmaking

2011-10-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

For years, data produced by restrictionist, anti-immigrant advocacy groups have permeated politics and policy. Today is no different. What’s alarming, however, is the ease with which politicians and lawmakers are using this dishonest data to support their restrictive positions on immigration.

Take the recent passage of HB 56 in Alabama. Sponsors of the bill are using flawed data produced by the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) to defend the passage of the bill. Using FAIR’s numbers, they claim unauthorized immigrants in Alabama use public services to the tune of $280 million a year. In the media, these supporters fail (as does the media reporting on it) to cite where the numbers come from. Passing them off as “official” state data, the average person would assume that these numbers were crunched by Alabama’s own legislature or government agencies. However, this is simply not the case. In fact, Alabama legislators failed to produce a fiscal note enumerating the fiscal impacts of HB 56, so the only fiscal justification they had for this bill was flawed data from FAIR.

Strikingly, during the last few debates among GOP presidential aspirants, more than one candidate referenced data by FAIR and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), another extreme anti-immigrant research group. Michele Bachmann recently quoted FAIR data claiming the costs of unauthorized immigration to the U.S. were $113 billion dollars per year, with $82 billion being shouldered by states. This is the same study Alabama officials pulled their state data from and passed off as official data.

Explaining the basic flaws in FAIR’s reporting is actually simple: they exaggerate the costs associated with unauthorized immigrants while vastly undercounting their contributions. What’s most appalling about their “economic” analysis is how they include the costs of educating the U.S.-born children of immigrants and never credit back the productivity of these children when they grow into contributing adult citizens. FAIR also adds unsubstantiated costs derived from unsupported assumptions about the children of unauthorized immigrants. For example, FAIR assumes all children of unauthorized immigrants are using ESL programs and free and reduced price lunch programs. Finally, to exaggerate the costs as much as possible, FAIR vastly underestimates the contributions that immigrants make as consumers, workers, and taxpayers. This formula allows FAIR to make to make it look as if unauthorized immigrants cost more than they contribute.

Another recent reference to restrictionist data came from Mitt Romney and his staff, who quoted a CIS study which claims almost half the jobs created in Texas under Governor Perry went to unauthorized workers. Fortunately, these numbers were challenged by FactCheck.org, which noted that the report has been debunked in the Dallas Morning News by Pia Orrenius, an economist and immigration expert at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas—and by a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation who wrote an analysis critical of the CIS study.

No one is arguing that the drastic increase in unauthorized immigration over the past two decades is not an appropriate debate topic or that policy changes aren’t needed. However, we will never achieve real solutions unless we demand intellectual honesty, rather than pandering and platitudes, in debates on immigration. The data and research put forth by anti-immigrant groups, whose only solution is to deport them all, cannot be the basis for honest policymaking or policy discussion.

Photo by jypsygen.

Source:**Immigration Impact

Near End for Occupy Wall Street....

2011-10-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

Occupy Wall Street has become a daily topic on our media sources and New York topics. The protesters at Zucotti Plaza have made Battery Park their new home, but as the four-week period of occupying has passed Mayor Bloomberg has announced that the park will shut down Friday, October 14 at 7 A.M. As a result some of the "99%" are now cleaning the park themselves in effort to not shut down the protest. Their main concern is that once the Parks and Recreation crew is finished cleaning up protesters will not be allowed to bring back any kind of sleeping gear. In the end, this will terminate the protest partially.

Source:**New York Times

More DREAMers Arrested

2011-10-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

After a "sit-in" outside ICE in Los Angeles, five DREAM Act leaders were arrested after protesting immediate action from President Barrack Obama to grant some sort of relief to Dreamers all over the country. All five leaders are College educated individuals who immigrated to the U.S. as children. For now they will have to be content with knowing that future undocumented students will receive financial-aid for either city or state universities.

Source:**America's Voice

USCIS Updates 2012 H1B Count – 41,000

2011-10-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

USCIS Updates 2012 H1B Count – 41,000

As of October 07, 2011 – USCIS received approximately 41,000 H1B cap-subject petitions. They received 19,100 H1B petition towards the Master’s exemption of 20,000 for aliens with advanced degrees. The master’s quota will be exhausted quickly. The regular quota is moving at a faster pace, and is expected to end soon as well.

Posted by neha shah on October 13, 2011

Not So Sweet Home Alabama

2011-10-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

The fleeing began the same day the Immigration Laws in Alabama were passed. Parents withdrew students from schools and farm workers left their jobs. As a result farmers, who were dependant on undocument immigrants to work on their crops and land, are closing up and absenty rates are increasing in schools. According to the Alabama's Attorney General, "illegal immigrants" are the reason why Alabama is lacking jobs, they are only part of 4% percent of their workforce. Using the excuse that 182 inmates are now held by ICE, yet the inmate rate in Alabama is 31,000. Apparently the numbers do not matter in Alabama...

Source:**Immigration Impact

Tell ICE to Free Mom/Wife from Immigration Detention Now!

2011-10-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Sign this Petition to support the immediate release of Heng Yee Chee (also known as Grace Gleason)from Immigration Detention on the basis of humanitarian grounds. The Department of Homeland Security has agreed that her old deportation case should be reopened so that she can obtain a green card but Immigration Customs and Enforcement is still not releasing her from detention. Grace is being neglected of proper medical attention that will have a detrimental impact on her long-term health. Grace’s family, which consists of a U.S. citizen husband, a U.S. citizen daughter, a lawful permanent resident son, and a lawful permanent resident father, are all suffering and very worried about Grace’s health and well-being. Please sign this Petition now to help Grace and her family and to tell ICE to release her immediately from immigration detention.

Great News - California DREAM ACT Passes!

2011-10-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), the author of the California Dream Act said today (Saturday, October 8, 2011) that California Governor Jerry Brown has signed the bill allowing undocumented immigrants attending California universities to receive state financial aid.

The governor’s action also allows those without citizenship papers to tap into institutional grants while attending the University of California and California State University systems, and to get fee waivers in the California community college system. See this article from today's Los Angeles Times.

Staytuned for official word from the Governor's office!

Question of the Day

2011-10-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

The lawyers at the Law Offices of Bryan Pu-Folkes are ready to answer any of your immigration-related questions, concerns and/or worries. The latest question received was about an I-130 Alien Relative Petition filed by a father for his son. Please read the question and answer below:

QUESTION
"Hello, well my dad is a legal Resident (not Citizen) and submitted the I-130 Alien Relative Petition. Today I got the paper saying that I’m approved but I'm [not] eligible for adjustment of status. Why? My dad did this with my older sister and her petition didn't have any limitations or priority date. By the I-485 instructions I’m ok to apply, there’s no problem. What can I do? I got a 203 (a) (2) (A) INA. I'm from Colombia and my priority date is May, 02, 2011. I don’t understand what to do or why I have to wait to apply?"

ANSWER

Dear M.G.,

Thank you for writing the Law Office of Bryan Pu-Folkes. Congratulations on the approved I-130, Alien Relative Petition.

The status of the petitioner (in this case your father) and the beneficiary (in this case you) will impact how long it will take for the beneficiary to apply for lawful permanent status (a green card). Since your father is a U.S. lawful permanent resident and you are a child the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services puts you into category Family 2A. See our Visa Dates site. As you can see from looking at the chart they are currently processing the priority date January 8, 2009. Based on the current visa bulletin and your priority date (May 2, 2011) you will have to wait approximately two years or so before your priority date is current and you can apply for your green card. You can visit our website from time to time to check the visa bulletin (http://www.pufolkeslaw.com/).

I am not certain why your sister didn't have to wait to apply. If your father applied as a lawful permanent resident for your sister then she would also have to wait for her priority date to be current - it may be that at the time your sister's I-130 petition was approved the priority date was already current.

Please note, if you get married prior to your visa becoming current or prior to receiving lawful permanent resident status, then your approved I-130 petition will be automatically revoked. That is because there is no category for a married child of a lawful permanent resident. Your father would have to resubmit a petition on your behalf after he naturalized and became a U.S. citizen.

If you have any other questions please feel free to write back at http://bryanpufolkeslaw.blogspot.com/ and thanks again for writing!

Law Offices of Bryan Pu-Folkes
**Please be advised that this response does not form an attorney-client relationship. Electronic mail and Internet-based communications may not be relied upon as legal advice, unless expressly stated as such. If your case is similar to the one above, please be aware that each case has different information that makes a case unique in its own way. Please seek legal help or email us your actual information for advice.***
--
Bryan Pu-Folkes
Law Offices of Bryan Pu-Folkes
78-27 37th Avenue (Suite 4)
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
tel: 718-205-5353
fax: 718-205-5133
email: bryan@pufolkeslaw.com
web: http://www.pufolkeslaw.com/

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Queens HIV Testing Stops

2011-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

74th Street/Roosevelt Ave E, F, M, R, 7
82nd Street 7
90th Street 7
103rd Street 7

Jackson Heights Tutor's Shaping the Briliant Minds of our Community

2011-10-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

The area of TriBeCa in Manhattan is not only homeground for Wall Street, NYSE and City Hall, Universities and prestigious schools are located with in the same radius, such as Stuyvesant High school. A walk around Battery Park on a mid afternoon Wednesday is deinitely assured that you will run into a stampede of Stuyvesant students with over packed bookbags and NYCDOE instrumental pieces. 72% percent of the student body is of Asian descent or from an Asian country. In 1972, Stuyvesant along with other specialized high schools became part of the "Specialized High School Examination" schools. Back in Queens many of the Korean, Chinese, Bengali and Indian communities have started prep schools for these exams. They are called cramm schools. Fifteen years ago a Bangladeshi man began his tutorial business with three students to ensure that the children in the Jackson Heights community were accepted to either Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. Now with seven location, including a brand new location in Astoria, Dr. Mansur Kahn, the founder of Khan's Tutorial, one hundred students are accepted into specialized high schools each year.

Source:**Wall Street Journal

"Papers"

2011-10-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

Please watch the trailer.... great documentary on the lives of undocumented students...

The Numbers are IN!

2011-10-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Center for American Progress published a great piece on their website by Angela M. Kelley, Vice President for Immigration Policy and Advocacy and Philip E. Wolgin, Immigration Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress. They both worked together to calculate the economy impact that an immigration reform would provide the country with.

source:**Center for american Progress

Alabama immigration laws has students fleeing

2011-09-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Tough new laws on immigration have been passed in Alabama and the aftermath is as expected, the fleeing begins. Like Arizona, many undocumented parents started withdrawing their children out of school. But if immigrants start fleeing the state who will take over their jobs... read more.

Islamophobia Scandal

2011-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Ten years later, the Muslim communities still have to deal with the phobia 9/11 left behind. The Federal Bereau of Investigations have had to respond to Muslim leaders who claim that the counterterrorism training displays Muslims as violent and radically dangerous. As the FBI got in touch with Muslim leaders they notified them that many agents made complaints and a few others walked out of the training. Yet this conference left many with lingering questions and the conclusion that it was not much of an apology.

Sources: Mother Jones Danger Room

Nadia's deportation gets reprieved!

2011-09-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Nadia Habib will be going back to Stony Brook's campus on Monday as ICE reviews her case. Her and mother Nazim arrived to the United states in the 1990's, Nadia was a four month old baby in her mother's arms when they traveled over here with a tourist visa. Nineteen years later, Nadia is on her way to finishing her studies in psychology and become a drug researcher. Nazim, her mother is a wife of a cab driver and mother of three U.S. Citizen children.

"I'm just going to continue doing what I've been doing, living my life as I have and just wait for an answer," Habib said to the Daily News in Federal Plaza. Sadly, that is what many undocumented students have to deal with while the rest enjoy their college lives, study abroad and take their government help checks every semester. Nadia should be an excellent example on why an immigration reform for undocumented students should be passed.

Sources: The Daily News

A message From Nadia!

2011-09-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

GQ's Hecho en America

2011-09-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

A great piece by Jeanne Marie Laskas, please read ...

Stop Nadia and her mother Nazim's deportation!

2011-09-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

The live's of mother and daughter Nadia and Nazim Habib are about to change as their deportation date approaches. Please continue reading here.

Risks Seen for Children of Illegal Immigrants

2011-09-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

NY Times Article shows that children with immigrant parents have future risks as time goes by.

Don't Be Fooled by Copycat Immigration-Help Sites

2011-09-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent this bulletin at 09/19/2011 10:25 AM EDT

Some private websites that charge to prepare immigration forms mimic the look and feel of official government sites, leading users to mistakenly believe they are dealing directly with the government and paying USCIS fees. Many copycat sites add to the confusion by charging applicants the same amount for preparing an immigration form that USCIS charges for filing that same form.
As a result, some applicants have sent forms to USCIS without submitting the filing fees. These applicants mistakenly believed they had paid the USCIS filing fee when they paid the private firm for preparing the forms.

To learn more, visit: http://blog.uscis.gov/2011/09/dont-be-fooled-by-copycat-immigration.html

Our Firm's Overview

2011-09-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Law Office of Bryan Pu-Folkes is a full-service law office that specializes in a range of practices which include immigration, loan modification and foreclosure prevention, bankruptcy, wills, trusts and estates, personal injury and medical malpractice. Other legal services include corporate organization and development and drafting and review of contracts.

We strive to provide our clients with energetic, effective and aggressive representation in all of our practice areas. Languages spoken at the firm include English, Spanish, Hindi and Gujarati.