The government’s focus on zero tolerance policy goes beyond illegal entry and illegal immigration. There is a heavy hand in multiple areas of immigration, making it more difficult than before for people to be legal in the United States.
Some notable changes include:
1. New Deportation Guidelines: A Notice of Appearance (“NTA”) is a document that signals the initiation of removal proceedings against you. If you receive an NTA, it means you must appear in Immigration Court on the specified date or on a date to be determined in the future.
- USCIS officers may issue an NTA for a broader range of cases involving evidence of fraud, criminal activity, or when a foreign citizen applies for an immigration benefit and is denied or lost any legal status to remain in the United States. Therefore, be careful when applying for any benefits, such as a green card or citizenship.
2. Denial of applications for immigration benefits without notice: Previously, the USCIS provided applicants with a courtesy letter explaining to the person that they needed more information or that something as simple as a date of birth was missing, the applicant had Approximately 87 days to respond to the RFE or NOID and your request continued to be processed.
- Today, USCIS will reject any application that does NOT have sufficient documentation, supporting evidence, or a simple mistake of not having the signature date, etc .; They will process the case, take the fees, and then deny the request. The applicant may have to start the entire process, or USCIS may decide to subject the applicant to deportation proceedings if a new application is not filed. Applicants must be diligent when filling out their application requests or have an experienced attorney fill out the forms.
3. Marriage applications: When applying for a marriage-based immigration benefit, Immigration Services requires that you provide additional documentation to demonstrate that you have a “good faith relationship”. This means that the relationship / marriage you are claiming is true and real, and not a fraud in an attempt to obtain immigration benefits, such as a green card or permanent residence.
USCIS will now require couples to live together in the same residence To prove the relationship, cohabitation is decisive at this time, unless there is a very valid excuse, for example, that a person of the couple is on an army mission or that the couple has small children and before marriage both they lived in different states and it is inconvenient to take the children out of school so that the couple can live together before the interview. The first residence that is given based on a marriage, has an expiration of 2 years, 90 days before this period expires, the applicant must make an application to apply for permanent residence based on that relationship. If the marriage ended before this date, the applicant can apply for permanent residence, as long as he is divorced and can demonstrate that the marriage was in good faith.If your relationship that originally applied for residency ends before the day of your citizenship interview, you will be denied citizenship and your current status could be at risk if you never applied for permanent residence (10 years).
4. Expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS): More than 200,000 immigrants have permission to live and work in the United States under their temporary protected status. TPS is a temporary benefit that does not lead to lawful permanent resident status or grant any other immigration benefits. The current TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen are all under this protection. The government has declared that it will not renew the program for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan and will lose protection this year.
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