Immigration lawyers in Tampa, Florida are most likely to be busy, if they are not now, they probably will be really soon. Florida is considering a new law similar to the immigration law Arizona recently passed. Tampa immigration lawyers should be prepared for long days ahead if a law similar to Arizona's passes in Florida.
There has been a lot of controversy about Arizona’s new immigration law. If you are not familiar with it, here are the main points. Like Arizona, Tampa residents and the rest of Florida will require immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and police will be required to check the status of anyone who is reasonably suspected to not be in the United States illegally, meaning they were not born here, have not been through the immigration process, or have no visa to be in the U.S.
In Florida in 2008 they were an estimated 850,000 illegal immigrants. I imagine the metro cities, such as Orlando, Miami, and Tampa are prime locations for a lot of people who need to see an immigration attorney to be here (in Florida) legally.
Although there was an uproar about the immigration law in Arizona, voters in Florida seem to approve of what Arizona has done and are pushing for a change, every Tampa immigration lawyer will be busy because with number like 850,000 there will probably be a lot of people either put in jail, needing to go to court, or facing deportation.
I am not quite sure how the whole legal process works when someone is here illegally and wants to become a legal immigrant, but I would think that illegal immigrants are familiar with what it takes (or if it can de done- without having a fraud marriage, because marriage to a U.S. citizen is the fastest way to become a legal immigrant). This is where Orlando, Miami, or Tampa immigration lawyers help- by providing the best legal advice given the situation.
I imagine the people who have issues with the immigration law passed in Arizona would consider this ‘profiling,’ just like after September 11th with Muslims and others of Middle Eastern descent.
One negative I did hear of in regards to the law passed in Arizona is the number of people who I guess fled the state in fear of legal problems or deportation. The housing problem is bad enough with all the foreclosures; now on top of that, illegal aliens who were actually may have been paying their rent or mortgage up and leave, leaving the homeowner or bank with another property that will need to go on the market.
One other issue, which could be considered good or bad, depending on how you look at it, is the fact that the illegal aliens who up and left Arizona most likely had jobs. Their leaving vacates jobs, which would be good if you are a person who has had no luck finding a job and now more available, but on the other hand employers who have probably invested both time and money training or developing the departing employees’ skills may possibly have to spend more time and money to train new employees.
Even this scenario has a positive outcome. Hiring someone who is in the U.S. legally means when that person works they pay taxes, so on the flip side the illegal alien who was working was probably paid ‘under the table’ and paid no taxes.
Oh, did I forget to mention that the Arizona law also says that anyone knowingly harboring or transporting an illegal alien could also get in trouble!
If you or anyone you know is in the Florida illegally, more specifically Tampa, it would be wise to contact a Tampa immigration lawyer before any law similar to Arizona’s immigration law is passed.
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Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts
Immigration Lawyers Tampa | Tampa Immigration Lawyers
There are a few different ways a United States citizen can marry someone from another country and it will be legal. Marrying someone from another country is okay in the U.S. governments eyes, as long as it is done for the right reasons- love. One story I read is about a Tampa couple who went through a nightmare while being interviewed at the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services office, and had to end up hiring an immigration lawyer in Tampa where they lived.
While at the meeting agents pounded them with questions, many the couple were not in agreement with each other, and accused the marriage of being a sham. The Tampa immigration lawyer who accepted their case said he believes the couple married for love, and says he turns down cases where the parties admit they married solely for the purpose of the immigrant receiving a green card. There were plenty of people willing to testify the marriage was real. I don’t know the outcome after the Tampa immigration lawyer filed an appeal, but the woman was first denied her green card.
This goes to show how serious the U.S. is about stopping illegal immigrants from entering the U.S., where usually the citizen is paid to get married. At the time (2007), the head of the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security said the going rate for one of these ‘arranged’ marriages was between ,000 and ,000- definitely not pocket change.
The agents said there are ways they can tell if the marriage is a sham- living in separate bedrooms, no joint checking accounts, no bills in both names, and more. In the mentioned article it said there have been two major busts involving sham marriages. I am sure more than one Tampa immigration lawyer was contacted, plus those out of Tampa and even Florida, and all were busy because they were big operations and involved many citizens and immigrants in a number of different states.
If a U.S. citizen marries someone while in another country, and the country recognizes it, the marriage will be considered valid by the U.S. government; mainly because other countries are stricter about marriage than the U.S. A U.S. citizen may also apply for a K-1 fiance visa, which is used to provide the citizen’s fiance entry into the U.S. for the purpose of marriage. The couple must have seen each other within the past two years, although some exceptions apply (such as a country where it is customary not to see each other before marriage), and once the fiance is in the U.S. the couple must marry within 90 days.
Fiance (k-1) visas usually take anywhere from 3 to 4 months to get approved, providing everything is correct and all items check out. However, it is not uncommon for paperwork to be incorrect and there can be a significant time delay- sometimes up to or exceeding 12 months. This is one specialty of immigration lawyers in Tampa and every other city in the United States- making sure paperwork is correct, being a representative for the couple to overcome obstacles, and help speed up the process.
If someone is visiting from another country; via work, travel, or a student visas, then meets a U.S. citizen and they plan to marry, the foreigner can file for an adjustment of status from a non-immigrant to a permanent resident. If a foreigner comes to the U.S. with the intention on marrying a U.S. citizen, but enters the U.S. using a non-immigrant visa (travel or student), the non-immigrant will have to go back to his or her home country and apply for a K-1 visa or risk legal problems.
Some of the charges an issue like the one in the paragraph above, as well as marrying for money or for a green card, the parties can face are visa fraud, falsifying documents, marriage fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements. According to the head of the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, when threatened with these charges and a 15-30 year prison sentence the U.S. citizen involved usually ‘cracks’ if the marriage is a sham. He also said 95% of fraud in the Tampa area is marriage fraud, which is definitely keeping immigration lawyers in Tampa busy!
While at the meeting agents pounded them with questions, many the couple were not in agreement with each other, and accused the marriage of being a sham. The Tampa immigration lawyer who accepted their case said he believes the couple married for love, and says he turns down cases where the parties admit they married solely for the purpose of the immigrant receiving a green card. There were plenty of people willing to testify the marriage was real. I don’t know the outcome after the Tampa immigration lawyer filed an appeal, but the woman was first denied her green card.
This goes to show how serious the U.S. is about stopping illegal immigrants from entering the U.S., where usually the citizen is paid to get married. At the time (2007), the head of the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security said the going rate for one of these ‘arranged’ marriages was between ,000 and ,000- definitely not pocket change.
The agents said there are ways they can tell if the marriage is a sham- living in separate bedrooms, no joint checking accounts, no bills in both names, and more. In the mentioned article it said there have been two major busts involving sham marriages. I am sure more than one Tampa immigration lawyer was contacted, plus those out of Tampa and even Florida, and all were busy because they were big operations and involved many citizens and immigrants in a number of different states.
If a U.S. citizen marries someone while in another country, and the country recognizes it, the marriage will be considered valid by the U.S. government; mainly because other countries are stricter about marriage than the U.S. A U.S. citizen may also apply for a K-1 fiance visa, which is used to provide the citizen’s fiance entry into the U.S. for the purpose of marriage. The couple must have seen each other within the past two years, although some exceptions apply (such as a country where it is customary not to see each other before marriage), and once the fiance is in the U.S. the couple must marry within 90 days.
Fiance (k-1) visas usually take anywhere from 3 to 4 months to get approved, providing everything is correct and all items check out. However, it is not uncommon for paperwork to be incorrect and there can be a significant time delay- sometimes up to or exceeding 12 months. This is one specialty of immigration lawyers in Tampa and every other city in the United States- making sure paperwork is correct, being a representative for the couple to overcome obstacles, and help speed up the process.
If someone is visiting from another country; via work, travel, or a student visas, then meets a U.S. citizen and they plan to marry, the foreigner can file for an adjustment of status from a non-immigrant to a permanent resident. If a foreigner comes to the U.S. with the intention on marrying a U.S. citizen, but enters the U.S. using a non-immigrant visa (travel or student), the non-immigrant will have to go back to his or her home country and apply for a K-1 visa or risk legal problems.
Some of the charges an issue like the one in the paragraph above, as well as marrying for money or for a green card, the parties can face are visa fraud, falsifying documents, marriage fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements. According to the head of the Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, when threatened with these charges and a 15-30 year prison sentence the U.S. citizen involved usually ‘cracks’ if the marriage is a sham. He also said 95% of fraud in the Tampa area is marriage fraud, which is definitely keeping immigration lawyers in Tampa busy!
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