Boston Immigration & Naturalization Law Blog

People who come into the United States are often no different than millions of other people born in this country when it comes to family. All over the world, people have a determination to stay close with their families and are willing to go to great lengths to preserve a family unit and protect relatives. Current immigration laws can be very confusing and complex when it comes to the options that people in Massachusetts and across the U.S. have to bring foreign relatives into the country.

Unfortunately, the intricacies of these laws have resulted in millions of people being torn apart from family members. Children born in the United States are watching as their undocumented parents are deported. Young people without proper citizenship documentation who have been raised in this country are sent back to a country about which they know nothing. But reports indicate that the topic of family immigration is a top priority addressed by immigration reform.

There are many complications and obstacles that people who do not have the proper immigration paperwork face when they are living in the United States. A person's citizenship status can end up to be a very important detail in ways that some Boston folks may not realize. If an immigrant's visa is expired or there are complications with a person's green card or permanent resident status, he or she can end up facing serious legal issues.

One woman recently found herself battling for the custody of her biological daughter because of her residential status. The woman was 17 and living in the U.S. illegally when she had a baby with the 15-year-old father. The baby's father and paternal grandparents are all legal residents of the country and for a short time, the teen parents, their baby and the baby's grandparents all lived together.

There are many people and families who have come to the United States because they cannot or do not want to return to their home country out of fear of persecution. Many families seek asylum in the U.S. because of the political, racial, social or religious discrimination they face in their country. The fear and anxiety that many immigrants are experiencing when they come to the U.S. is not uncommon and many are hopeful of securing protection from being sent back to their country.

There are many legal complexities that may come up when a person is applying for asylum. In general, an Asylum Officer must approve the application based on a variety of factors, the most significant of which may be the reason that a person is seeking asylum here.

At a young age, many people are taught to value family and relationships over money. We learn that financial security, while important, is not as important as having a strong and loving support system. However, when it comes to immigration, the very opposite may be true according to some politicians who are involved in the current negotiations over immigration reform.

Sources indicate that a group of key senators are working to make it more difficult for some family members to get visas through their U.S. relatives. As it is now, there are two types of family-based visas: Immediate Relative visas and Family Preference visas. The group of senators is reportedly in favor of putting an end to giving visas to some of the people included in the Family Preference category. Instead, they believe that the roughly 90,000 visas given to unmarried children over 21 and married adult children and siblings should be given to highly-skilled workers.