Monday, February 1, 2010

Dragon helps me out!

Forgive me for being absent so long, my friends. It is been a crazy couple of months.

I recently purchased the Dragon voice-recognition software, and I could not be more pleased. This software can even determine what I am saying, which is a step up from our last attempt at voice-recognition software.

New things in immigration:

TPS for Haitians - it's about time that the nice people from Haiti got a break. It is too bad that it took a devastating earthquake to give them that break. This is great news for those from Haiti facing deportation, as this process will stop for a while.

CRI -- comprehensive immigration reform has been presented and is pending in Congress and the Senate. I certainly hope the president is more successful with this endeavor than he was with healthcare reform.

In recent cases, I have won quite a few 240 A(b) applications for my clients, and although the government is starting to appeal every loss, we are undefeated on appeals. You may remember these cases involve non-permanent residents who have been in the US for more than 10 years, who can show exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to their qualifying US citizen or lawful permanent relatives.

At Citizenship and Immigration Services, they remain very leery of every marriage case, and the decisions on petitions to remove conditions remain as baffling as ever. I saw a decision recently, during a consult, where the immigration service officer called the US citizen wife a lesbian, and said this was why he could not approve the case. If your petition to remove conditions has been denied, do not feel special. Too many good people are having their lives disrupted and their bank accounts destroyed because of poor decisions from the local office.

I hope to write more often in the future. Sorry I have been absent for so long.

Neil