[Blog]

When someone is in removal (deportation) proceedings, they are required to appear at all their scheduled hearings, or else they will be ordered removed in absentia. Latin for “in the absence.” Thank you, Missouri State University (Southwest Missouri State at the time) for the Latin lessons. The key problem with these kinds of orders are that the…

After almost two years in the same location, we are moving into our own offices in the Crossroads district of Kansas City. We will be closer to the Immigration Court and close to I-35 in either direction. Our phone number will remain the same, and all website/email information will remain the same, but we do…

We just got a positive result in an I-140 petition for an Outstanding Researcher from India. The petition was approved in five weeks. We pushed for an EB-1, so that a visa would be immediately available for her, and so she and her family could immediately file to adjust status to permanent resident (green card).…

Here is another update to my recent blog post updating an older post about Same-Sex marriage issues in the immigration Context: Today the Attorney General issued an opinion vacating and remanding an order for removal (deportation) to the Board of Immigration Appeals, so that the BIA can consider for the first time, the constitutionality of…

Come see us speak at one of the following upcoming presentations:   1. April 19, 2011, International Trade Council of Greater Kansas City. “Legal Hazards and Compliance” at the Kauffman Foundation Center, Kansas City, Missouri. 2. May 13, 2011, Missouri Bar Spring Committee Meetings. “Ethical Dilemmas of Immigration Law Issues Surrounding Family Law and Adoption Issues.”…

We recently received a decision from the Kansas City Immigration Court granting our clients request for asylum in a hard-fought case. The clients are from Zimbabwe and are white. They and their family have suffered a great deal of discrimination and abuse in Zimbabwe because of their race and political opinion. Whatever one may think…

Late last year, I posted this entry on the issue of same-sex marriage in the immigration context. Recently, there have been a few updates that I think warrants a new look at the issue. First, the Obama administration has indicated that they will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. However, Speak…

Recently, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a decision, Matter of Alla Adel Alyazji, 25 I&N Dec. 397 (BIA 2011), which overturns in part the precedent decision concerning whether and when an adjustment of status is an “admission” to the United States, at least for certain purposes.

In response to a recent Ninth Circuit case, Kazarian v. USCIS, 596 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2010) , the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is adjusting its procedures with regard to processing I-140 petitions for aliens applying under the following categories: Aliens of Extraordinary Ability (EB-1); Outstanding Professors or Researchers (EB-1); and Aliens…

Recently, the federal government has changed the emphasis of its approach to immigration enforcement in the area of employment. The prior emphasis taken by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit of the Department of Homeland Security was on raids on businesses to find and arrest undocumented workers, and place them in removal…