As a result, people with careers, jobs, homes, cars, and children who leave the United States will most likely not be able to re-enter for approximately eight months. Many immigration issues have been covered in the press and as a result, Presidential Order 13768 has been overlooked by many.

It is a very dangerous provision. A simple shoplifting charge can keep someone out of the United States. Unless a visa or Green Card holder applies for a waiver (a complex legal document that uses legal precedents to ask the government to overlook a charge or conviction) and has it approved, he or she will most likely not be able to re-enter after their vacation is over.

Only about 1% of immigration lawyers are qualified to create waivers, and they are the legal equivalent of open-heart surgery. There are various sub-categories of waivers but not all immigration offences qualify for waivers.

Some waivers are only for visa holders, and not available for Green Card holders. It takes, on average, eight months to be able to re-enter after filing a waiver, which itself takes 3-4 weeks to prepare. Once a foreigner is outside the country, he or she will not be able to enter, even while waiting for the result of the waiver.

For people in the United States on a student visa or with serious career and family obligations, this situation can be extremely destructive.

Steven Riznyk is lead immigration attorney at Waiver-Strategy.com

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. International Finance Magazine does not take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, suitability or validity of the information in this article. International Finance Magazine does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

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The post Why US visa and Green Card holders need to be careful appeared first on International Finance.

Permanent Residents with criminal records should file an immigration waiver in order to have any offense ‘waived’, or overlooked. Absent a winning waiver, a simple traffic stop is all it takes to turn someone’s life upside down.

One would hope that love of country is the reason people apply for citizenship, but there are many other benefits to being a US citizen:

• Voting is only possible for a citizen.
• If someone wants to sponsor their parents, for a Green Card, it is only possible if the petitioning party is a citizen.
• If someone wants to sponsor a foreign spouse or child, the procedure is much faster if the petitioner is a citizen.
• If someone falls in love with a foreign person and wants to petition the person for a fiancé/ee visa, it is only possible if the petitioner is a citizen.
• If someone is seeking to spend extended time outside the country with aging parents or on a retirement vacation, it is safer to do so as a citizen as Permanent Residence can be lost in a year.

There are a number of reasons people apply for U.S. Citizenship, and now more than ever, people are filing in order to protect their ability to remain in the United States with their families and their lives.

The post Citizenship applications are on the rise, and the reasons are interesting appeared first on International Finance.