Carl Shusterman Immigration Lawyer Blog

Immigration Blog

Former INS Attorney Carl Shusterman has been writing an immigration blog on a regular basis since 1996.

Obama Administration Steps Up for DREAMers

The Obama Administration has issued a memorandum to confer immigration status to DREAMers. Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced that, effective immediately, certain individuals who were brought to the United States as children and meet specific criteria will be considered for relief from being put in deportation proceedings or removed from the country. Let […]

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The Government Declares War on Employers
Huge Increase in I-9 Audits

Government I-9 audits are spreading like the plague. I-9 audits are silent raids which have increased from virtually zero under the previous administration to over 7,500 under President Obama. The number of employers arrested by ICE for criminal immigration violations this year is over 100 and we are only in May. The amount of administrative fines levied […]

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CSPA: 9th Circuit Grants Petition For Rehearing En Banc

On April 20, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit granted our Petition for a Rehearing En Banc in De Osorio v. Napolitano. The issue in this case is whether a child, who is a derivative beneficiary of a visa petition, who ages-out before his priority date becomes current may retain the […]

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May Visa Bulletin Brings Bad News

There is little good news, but a lot of bad news, in the May 2012 Visa Bulletin. The worldwide family categories all advance modestly, from 3 to 5 weeks. For persons born in Mexico and the Philippines, many of the categories fail to advance at all. The worldwide EB-3 category moves forward 3 weeks while […]

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Ask an Attorney, Not a Paralegal

This seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? However, during the past week, I had the opportunity to talk to two different immigrants who are headed for immigration disaster because they relied on the legal advice of a paralegal rather than speaking with an attorney. Immigration attorneys constantly warn potential clients about the dangers of hiring immigration […]

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DHS Reforms Affecting Highly-Skilled Immigrants

On January 31, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a number of new initiatives meant to aid legal immigrants. This announcement roughly mirrors the White House’s recent release of the “Startup America” immigration agenda. It should be emphasized that each of these initiatives are still in the planning stage with no set date as to […]

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Prosecutorial Discretion
Will You Be One of the Lucky 50,000?

If you are in removal proceedings, your chances of being saved by President Obama’s new prosecutorial discretion policy are about 1 in 6. At least, those are the numbers which have emerged from the ICE pilot programs just completed in Denver and Baltimore. From early December until mid-January, 16 ICE attorneys reviewed 7,800 pending removal cases […]

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Spouse of U.S. Citizen – Easy Case? Read On

In January, our law firm represented a middle-aged woman from Eastern Europe in a removal hearing. She had entered the U.S. over 10 years ago on a K-1 fiancee visa filed by a U.S. citizen who she met on the Internet and who had traveled to her country to meet her. Only when she arrived in […]

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New I-601 Waiver Policy Would Promote Family Unity

January 8, 2012 A proposal to change the process of filing I-601 waivers was put forth last Friday by the USCIS which would allow thousands of spouses of U.S. citizens to come out of the shadows and apply for green cards. This is as it should be since the stated purpose of our immigration laws is to […]

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Bill Would Help Supply Doctors to Rural and Inner City America

On December 13, Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) introduced the S.1979, the Conrad State 30 Improvement Act. This bipartisan bill would make it easier for physicians educated in other countries to obtain temporary visas and permanent residence in the U.S. if they obtain offers of employment in medically-underserved areas of this country. […]

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