News Update - January 16, 2010

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

Deadline for Legalization Program Is January 31, 2010

Readers should be reminded that January 31, 2010, two weeks from now, is the deadline for those who wish to apply for legalization under the "known to the government" cases.  These cases involve persons whose entry to the States was before January 1, 1982, and fell out of status before that date.  The "known to the government" class are not those who entered illegally.  This class is largely comprised of persons who entered legally on I-94 cards whose statuses were facially valid on or after January 1, 1982, but who had violated their statuses in some manner by then.  The government had previously argued that these cases could not qualify as the burden was on the individuals to prove that the government knew of the violations, but through government losses in court and a settlement in 2008, many people have the opportunity to gain legalization.  Unfortunately the government has not seen fit to adequately publicize the case, and those who believe that they can qualify must apply by January 31st.  Affected people could be F-1 students or J-1 students or scholars who stopped studying or working; B-1 or B-2 visitors who failed to report changes of address or their locations on a quarterly or annual basis as required by the law at that time; E-1,-E-2, H-1B, H-2, H-3, I, or L-1 temporary workers and trainees who stopped their required work/training, etc. For further information, please see our below article, "Legalization Is Alive But Has A January 31, 2010, Deadline In Underpublicized ' Known To The Government ' Settlement."

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2010 Alan Lee, Esq.

Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.