World Journal Weekly Q & A - December 10, 2006It is Hard to Take Back Naturalization Once GivenTing Reader asks: I became a U.S. citizen in March of this year. However, I have
a business in Taiwan and plan to be in and out of both places (because
my children are all in the U.S.). I plan to use Taiwan passport
for in and out of Taiwan and U.S. passport to enter into the U.S..
Will I have problem entering the U.S. this way, since my U.S. passport
will not have any exiting stamps? Dear reader: Once an individual becomes a U.S. citizen, it is extremely difficult for that person to lose citizenship status in the absence of fraud during the citizenship process or the commission of expatriating acts. Use of another country's passport would generally not rank as an expatriating act unless the person is required to renounce allegiance to the U.S. and does so with the intent of losing U.S. citizenship. There is, however, a chance that you will suffer an extended inspection upon reentry to the U.S.. Can You Process an I-90 Green Card replacement Application for Another Person?Kong Reader asks: My relative is a green card holder. She came to U.S. over 10 years
ago and has no job. She has mental disorder. Last year she said
her green card (might be expired), Social Security card, Chinese
passport were all stolen. She did not want to apply for a replacement.
Without documents, she could not see a doctor, take an airplane
or do anything. 1 It might be possible that U.S.C.I.S. might accept an I-90 replacement green card application from a legal guardian or even begin the process through the husband's explanation letter of his wife's mental illness, but the I-90 process requires an appearance by your relative at the U.S.C.I.S.application support center to take biometrics which consist of photographs and fingerprints along with a signature. Without an appearance for processing, it would be difficult to persuade U.S.C.I.S. to process a replacement green card. 2 As our practice is exclusively devoted to questions concerning immigration and nationality laws of the U.S., I cannot answer your questions concerning divorce. If your relative decides to remain in the U.S. without a replacement green card, she would most likely not be bothered by the Department of Homeland Security. However, her right to travel even within the U.S. might be restricted, and she might find difficult to apply for a replacement Social Security card, state identity cards, or driver's licenses. 3 Again, I cannot answer this question as it is not within my field
of practice. The Effect of Medicaid Assistance on Naturalization ApplicationsLiu reader asks: I am 70 years old. I came to the U.S. in 1995 legally and received my green card in 1999. In 2002, I followed the application’s stipulation and received the Medicaid assistance. Will it affect my naturalization application? One article stated that receiving government benefit would not affect naturalization because the Immigration would not discriminate against the low-income individual/family; but one said that receiving government benefit would affect naturalization because the examiner could ask difficult questions during the interview. Which one is correct? Dear reader: Generally speaking, a person in your situation should not have a problem on the question of Medicaid during the naturalization application. If you were sponsored by a family member, that individual was supposed to guarantee the government that you would not become a public charge through the filing of an I-864 binding affidavit of support. To my recollection, the question of whether to take away green cards from immigrants who fell into distress and took public assistance came up many years ago when legacy INS was stopping green card holders at the airports and giving them a hard time on the question. However, the negative publicity caused INS to back away from the issue. In your case, assuming that you were sponsored by a relative, the U.S.C.I.S. could not charge you with lying that you were not a public charge at the time that you received your green card as it was three years before you receive Medicaid assistance according to your letter. I also note that the N-400 application for naturalization does not contain a question on whether the naturalization applicant has received governmental needs based assistance. Although an immigration examiner can ask a number of questions at the time of interview, your actions would not seen to disqualify you for naturalization or subject you to revocation of your green card. Brother/Sister I-130 Petitions Where Beneficiary is HereChen Reader asks: I came to U.S. in 9/2001 under B1 visa and was allowed to stay for 6 months. My sister is a U.S. citizen and she applied I-130 for me in 8/2002. I had also provided Texas Immigration with our sister/brother relationship certificate. However, the processing time was really slow on the brother/sister category. I really want to go back to my home country. Is there a way to expedite my case? Dear reader: At this time, there is no way to expedite your I-130 case as there is a quota system which only allows so many individuals to immigrate under the specified categories annually, and the brother/sister category is heavily over-subscribed. For the month of December 2006, only those filing before December 01, 1995 for most of the world (for China April 22, 1995) are eligible for final immigration. There is hope that Congress may expand the number of immigrant visas available for all immigration categories in a lame-duck session in November or failing that, in the next Congress. If so, the period of waiting could drastically decrease. From your letter, it is unclear whether you have maintained your legal status or have some entitlement to section 245(i) benefits which are available to individuals who filed labor certification applications or immigrant visa petitions by April 30, 2001 and were physically present in the U.S. on December 21, 2000. I do note that the residence requirement for section 245(i) is not necessary for cases in which the labor certification applications or immigrant visa petitions were filed by January 14, 1998. If you are not protected under section 245(i) which would allow you to interview in the U.S. upon payment of a fine amount when your priority date becomes current, you would be faced with a 10 year bar upon return to this country if you left to consular process your immigrant visa overseas. There is, however, the possibility that Congress may amend the law if it passes the earned legalization bill so that individuals in your situation could leave the U.S. in the future without a bar on return. L-1 Intracompany Transferee Application ProceduresDavid Reader asks: If it is at all possible, please provide me with L-1 visa application procedure, such as documents needed and the initial stage. Dear reader: To fulfill your request would unfortunately take more room than
we have available in this column. In short, however, a petitioning
U.S. organization needs to show that it is a branch, subsidiary,
or affiliate of an overseas company in which the person to be sponsored
has been working during one of the past three years in an executive,
managerial, or specialized knowledge position. The forms are I-129
petition for a nonimmigrant worker and I-129L classification supplement
to form I-129. They must be sent with appropriate fee to the Vermont
Service Center of U.S.C.I.S.. Usual materials accompanying an application
for an established company are proof of the bonafide nature of both
the petitioning and the overseas organizations such as annual reports,
proof of affiliation, eg, stock share certificates, and a company
letter describing the company, the position to be fulfilled, and
the position that the beneficiary has or is presently fulfilling
in the overseas organization. If the organization is sufficiently
large (engaged in commercial trade or services, done business in
the U.S. for more than one year, have at least three domestic or
foreign branches, subsidiaries or affiliates, and either been approved
for least 10 L-1 visas during the past 12 months or has combined
annual sales of at least $25 million, or has a U.S. work force of
at least 1000 employees), it can obtain a blanket L-1 petition approval
from the service center and only file further paperwork at the consulates
for its employees rather than having each petition approved by the
U.S.C.I.S. If the organization is small or just established, it
should put up as many forms of proof as it possibly can to show
the bonafide nature of the organization and its need for an executive,
manager, or person with specialized knowledge. Readers should note
that U.S.C.I.S. is much more prone to give small and new organizations
problems than established ones. Timing on Filings for K-1s Removing Conditional Basis of Residence and on CitizenshipVirginia Reader asks: I came to U.S. in 7/2003 under K1. I was married same year in August and received conditional green card on 7/11/2005. When can I apply for U.S. citizenship? Dear reader: You can apply for your U.S. citizenship up to 90 days prior to the third anniversary of the granting of your conditional green card -- that is, beginning in April 2008. Please note that you must apply to remove the conditional basis of your green card within the 90 day period before the second anniversary of your granting of the conditional card, e.g. April-July 2007. The difficulty that some people encounter is the differing attitudes of U.S.C.I.S. officers when the conditional residence has not been lifted by the time that they are eligible to apply for naturalization. Currently it appears to be accepted that individuals can apply for naturalization even though the I-751 application to remove the conditional basis of residence status is still pending. However, there also seem to be divergent attitudes upon naturalization interview when the I-751 is still pending with some examiners calling the naturalization filing illegal, others actively seeking to have the I-751 adjudicated immediately so that they can adjudicate the naturalization application, and others just sitting on the cases and waiting to be notified that the I-751 has been approved. If you are caught in the situation of filing for naturalization and having an interview during the time that your I-751 is still pending, you will hopefully encounter a proactive immigration examiner who will work to have both adjudications done as soon as possible. If the examiner informs you that he/she believes that your naturalization filing is illegal, you or your legal representative should ask to see his or her supervisor.
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Copyright © 2003-2006 Alan Lee,
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