FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

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How Do I Start? Fill out the questionnaire on this website and send it to the office. You should fill it out and then fax it to me.If you email the form please be sure to leave a return email address. Otherwise we are unable to know what your email address is. You will receive an answer as soon as possible from me or from one of the advisors who can write you in your own language. There is no charge for this service, as an initial look at the record will give us a basis to know if we can assist you.

IMMIGRATION SCAMS AND YOU-WHAT CAN YOU DO? There are many fake immigration specialists. Be sure your adviser is qualified to give you advice. Ask to see the advisor's credentials. Is there a license to practice law? Is the organization recognized by the USCIS? Ask your friends for a recommendation based on past service. Find out how long the firm or store has been in business. If you are not reassured go elsewhere.Do not pay cash and always ask for a written proof of fees paid. In Massachusetts report the cases of immigration fraud to the office of the state Attorney General Tom Rielly.

WHAT IS PERM? The job based route to a green card is a process called labor certification. A new, streamlined process for labor certification is called PERM. The new system makes several major changes. Now you can make an electronic submission of the application directly to the federal Department of Labor. Formerly the process lasted for 18-24 months or longer. Now the process last only a few months- the track record is not yet in so as to verify a firmer date. The recruitment campaign results in alot of documents that are now not submitted to the government but held in the employer's office for five years. The process is subject to an audit but is largely self regulated. An employer would be subject to an audit in the same maneer he or she might be audited by the IRS, the American taxing authority. There is no connection with the state labor department except for the initial need to get a wage verification. The process is faster and so you can calculate how long the process will last as compared to the term of your visa. Possibly you will not have to go home to receive your green card. 

WHAT IS THE DEPT.OF HOMELAND SECURITY?  The department (ministry) includes four major directorates (Border and Transportation Security, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Science and Technology, and Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection).The Border and Transportation Security directorate will house the U.S. Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Protective Service, the Transportation Security Administration , the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Office for Domestic Preparedness. Outside of these four directorates, the old INS adjudications and benefits programs will exist as a separate bureau and report directly to the Deputy Secretary as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).This bureau (USCIS)is the key bureau for green card applications, visas, and the like.

DO I REALLY NEED A LAWYER? Probably. There are many forms that you could do yourself. The problem is that even the simple forms should be done as well as possible, not just ok. There are nuances and special features to many forms. Also an attorney will add a cover letter to explain the law to the INS reader and discuss any special characteristics of the application. Read the forms yourself and decide if you want the advice of an expert.

HOW DO I KNOW THE ATTORNEY IS REALLY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW? In the United States attorneys are licensed by a particular state, not the national government. For Massachusetts you can check by calling the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers in Boston.Walter Gleason is a graduate of Rutgers University Law School and was formally admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1987. He is also admitted to the Bar of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, and the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. Attorney Gleason is fully licensed to practice before all the Immigration Courts.

WHAT WAS THE INS? The American agency responsible for immigration matters was the INS,the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As of March 1,2003 the INS was reorganized. It had been a part of the Department of Justice; as of March 1, 2003 it was broken up into two sections and and each section was placed within the new Department of Homeland Security.

WHO PAYS THE FEES FOR THE FORMS? The applicant pays the fees on the forms submitted to the government. These fees are separate from what you pay the attorney. The fees are not large and sometimes there is no fee required. For example asylum applicants pay no fees.

CAN I APPLY FOR ASYLUM?  Any person already in the United States may apply for protection against persecution in the home country. You must prove past persecution or the expectation of future persecution based on politics, membership in an immutable social group, nationality, race , or religion. You should apply within 365 days of arrival in the states although there are exceptions to this general rule. Try to collect as much corroboration and documents from your home country before you contact an immigration lawyer.

DO I NEED TO GO HOME BEFORE APPLYING? That depends on how you entered the country? If you entered at an airport and were checked by the GOVERNMENT then you had a visa of some kind and may have later stayed beyond the date to leave. If so, there are several ways to change your immigration status without leaving the states. For example, there is a statutory provision that allows marriage to a citizen to waive the overstay. In other circumstances you will need to ask for permission to stay or remedy an overstay. If you entered the states without checking with the government you have severe problems in changing your status without returning home. Again there are some possibilities but you should have assistance of counsel.

I ARRIVED ON THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAM AND OVERSTAYED. WHAT IS MY STATUS? You will have to leave with very few exceptions. The deal was a quick visa in exchange for your departure within 90 days. Exceptions are severe medical problems or similar extreme circumstances. If you already overstayed this visa you risk deportation. Consult an attorney before you file for any new status.

HOW DO I GET A SOCIAL SECURITY CARD? If you now have no documents you do not qualify. False numbers are now double-checked by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and employers will be notified of inconsistencies. Sooner or later the employer will be in the difficult position of firing you or keeping you on the payroll and facing the Government. If you have an employment authorization card, take the card to the local office of the SSA and fill out the simple application. The employment card is sufficient proof of eligibility for a social. Understand that a social is proof of a membership in the federal retirement plan but that the government and others consider the social as a form of a national identity card. As soon as you qualify for a social you should get one for your self and separate numbers for each of your family. Once you get a social it is irrevocable. Your loss of immigration status does not revoke your social. It lasts as long as you do-death plus ten years.

I MARRIED AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. WHAT IS NEXT? If you entered the states on a visa you may apply directly for a green card despite unlawful work or unlawful presence. For example, you entered a few years ago on a tourist visa, overstayed and worked without the permission of the government. Then you met your future spouse and were married. You qualify even though you stayed longer than allowed and worked without permission. There are special problems if you entered on a visa waiver program and you should consult an immigration attorney. If you did not enter with a visa then you do not qualify for applying here for a green card and must return to your home country to receive permission to return. Understand that the government is suspicious of many marriages; as false marriages are a real problem. If you participate in a fake marriage, the citizen risks a felony conviction and the alien risks deportation. You must prove the reality of your marriage.

DO IMMIGRATION LAWS CHANGE FROM STATE TO STATE? No. For the Americans, immigration is a job allotted to the federal government in Washington, not to cities and states throughout the United States. The federal nature of immigration law and practice is based on many judicial cases at the federal level and confirmed by cases in state courts. There is no real isssue about this allocation of responsibility. Contrary remarks can be dismissed as merely partisan commentary.

MY FUTURE WIFE HAS THREE CHILDREN OVERSEAS. CAN I BRING THEM HERE? This government lets you decide who will be your spouse.If she lives overseas, there are special procedures for her receipt of a green card based on marriage to an American citizen. The American files the application to make her eligible for a green card. If the children are biologically her own, unmarried, and and under the age of twenty one, each is understood as an immediate relative of the immigrating woman and qualifies for a geen card. If the children are not biologically from the immigrating woman or are over the age of twenty one, then the children do not qualify.

I WAS ARRESTED FOR DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL. WHAT ARE THE IMMIGRATION CONSEQUENCES? Before you appear in Court, consult not a criminal lawyer but a criminal lawyer who knows immigration law. Do not accept a plea deal without the advice of counsel. Any plea that includes a guilty verdict, a continued without a finding, or your admission of sufficient facts for conviction will have adverse  immigration consequences. If you already pled to the charge, retain a criminal lawyer with immigration background and seek to change the Judge’s ruling. If this incident is history then be sure to check with an immigration lawyer before you file anyhting with the government.

IF MY IMMIGRATION CASE IS UNSUCCESSFUL AT TRIAL AND ON APPEAL, DO I HAVE ANY ALTERNATIVE TO ACCEPTING THE APPEAL RULING? By law, your immigration case can be appealed outside the administrative courts and into the regular federal judiciary in the US Court of Appeals. Clients seldom take this additional step but it is an important avenue for a final review. Consider this step in your strategy talks with your lawyer.