New York City Green Card Lawyer

If you’re serious about taking the next step to gain permanent residence status, hiring an experienced green card lawyer who is trained in and specializes in immigration law can save you months or years of worry and stress, and thousands of dollars in wasted money.

Millions of foreign nationals apply for green cards annually, and many of those people are rejected after spending an average of 2 years dealing with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the immigration court system. That can mean years of wasted time and thousands of dollars gone with no progress.

Immigration attorneys work within the court systems constantly and know the immigration process better than anyone else. The green card process can be intimidating, but with an immigration lawyer, like Jason A. Dennis, on your side, your entire journey to gaining permanent residence will be as quick and easy as possible. You can contact our office to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case and learn how we can help you with your application process.

How Can a Lawyer Help You Get a Green Card?

Over the past decades, millions of people have immigrated to the United States. The process has gotten more complicated as the years go by and can take a long time. Obtaining a green card to allow you to live and work in the U.S. does come with a lot of challenges.

Not everyone enjoys the stress of these procedures or knows just how to work their way around things involving government bureaucracy and paperwork.

Hiring a skilled New York immigration lawyer can help boost your chances of obtaining a green card faster. This is because you won’t have to deal with complex immigration matters all by yourself. The U.S. government might request documents you never thought necessary or don’t exist and it can complicate your process. Including the possibility of your documents getting misplaced.

Any mistake during this process can lead to your application being denied. This, therefore, declares the immigrant to be unacceptable to process a green card for years. Using a seasoned green card lawyer increases your stakes and raises your chances.

Who Can Apply for a Green Card?

One of the most complicated issues for many people trying to obtain a green card is determining if they are even eligible to receive one. There are categories of persons who can apply for a green card if they meet the necessary criteria. Some of the criteria that make one able to acquire a green card include:

• Immediate family members of U.S. citizens.
• Having specific experience in certain in-demand employment fields.
• Have been under refugee or asylum protection for a specific amount of time.
• Have been a victim of trafficking or other certain types of crime and hold either a T or U Visa.
• Certain victims of abuse.
• Other special green card categories.

When applying for a green card, the applicant will have to complete several complicated forms. Most importantly a green card application form I-485 and an immigrant petition form. While you can fill these out yourself, it can be easy to make a mistake or not file it correctly.

The Green Card Application Process

The specific steps involved when applying for a green card vary depending on each applicant’s situation, but most applications follow the same general structure:

• Filing an immigrant petition either by a sponsor or applicants eligible to file for themselves.
• After the U.S citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) have approved your petition, the next step is a visa or green card application. This can only be done when there is a visa available for your category. The visa application is done with the U.S department of state and the green card application with the USCIS.
• Next, biometric data is collected. This involves the provision of signatures, photos, and fingerprints.
• An interview is conducted after the biometrics has been done.
• All that’s left is a final decision on your application.

How Long Does a Green Card Last?

A green card has an expiration date that it needs to be renewed by. The typical green card will be valid for 10 years before needing to be renewed, but some green cards can be conditional and have an expiry date of as little as two years.

For someone with a 10-year valid green card, it can seem like a long time but be aware that renewing a green card can take between 6 to 15 months.

When Can a Green Card Be Revoked?

While a green card does grant you permanent residency status, there are some cases where it can be revoked. Reasons that can lead to a person’s green card being revoked include:

Abandonment

A person can have his green card revoked if they are seen to have abandoned their permanent residency status intentionally. You can be perceived to have abandoned it if you perform one of the following:

• Nonimmigrant declaration on your U.S tax returns.
• Move to a different country to live there permanently.
• Failure to file your income tax returns while based staying outside the United States.
• Staying outside the country for about 6 months unless based on temporary absence.

Fraud

Omitting important information, lying, and committing any fraudulent act during a green card application can lead to it being revoked.

Criminal Acts

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) has a few criminal activities listed that can lead to your green card being revoked should you engage in any. Crimes like aggravated felonies, drug-related offenses, and what are referred to as moral turpitude.

How to Help a Family Member Get a Green Card

Immigration laws allow permanent lawful residents to petition or apply for other family members to acquire a green card. A green card holder may sponsor a family member who is their spouse, child below 21, or unmarried child of any age.

The process for getting a family member a green card begins with filing the Petition for Alien Relative, form I-130. This petition shows that there is enough family relationship existing between you and your eligible relative and initiates the request for a green card.

Once the petition is approved, the relative can now apply to be a lawful permanent resident. For a relative already in the United States, with a visa available, he or she can be eligible to get a green card. It is through filing the Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, form I-485.

Can You Appeal a Green Card Denial?

You may have already started your process of becoming a permanent resident in the United States, and something went wrong. Whether you simply submitted the wrong evidence and paperwork, or you misrepresented your eligibility, the immigration system can quickly turn against you If you need help filing an appeal, or fighting against removal proceedings, your first step should be to find an experienced green card lawyer to look over your case and get you back on the right track. Immigration authorities are harsh and immigration forms are complicated. Even the tiniest mistakes can affect your immigration benefits and status.

Whether your immigrant visa expired during your process, a criminal record caused a rejection, or any other manner of legal issues, an experienced immigration law firm can pick up your case at any point and try to repair any damage already done.

Contact an Immigration Lawyer Today

Are you looking to speak with a green card lawyer? Do you want the best outcome for your green card application? Then you need an expert that will always have your back–someone experienced in these cases with tons of successful clients under his belt.

At The Law Office of Jason A. Dennis, we can help with any immigration issue and increase your chances of getting your green card approved in time and without stress. We are here to guide you through every immigration process and provide extensive resources at your disposal. Contact us today so we can get started working on your case.