Clients seeking an immigration lawyer in Indianapolis often have family-based concerns involving spouses, children, parents, or permanent residence.
U.S. immigration law allows qualifying family members of U.S. citizens and certain non-immigrants to pursue immigration benefits for spouses and children. U.S. citizens may also petition for parents, siblings, and fiancé or fiancée.
Immigration through Marriage
Marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident is one of the most common paths to obtaining a green card. Whether you are married or in a relationship and planning to get married soon, you could become a U.S. permanent resident.
Haranlaw helps couples understand the process, prepare complete filings, and avoid delays or denials. The Carmel office serves families throughout the Indianapolis metropolitan area and across Indiana. The multilingual attorney Haran talks directly to individuals in Tamil and Hindi.
Fiance(e)
U.S. citizens may sponsor a fiancé(e) for a K-1 visa when they plan to marry within 90 days of the fiancé(e)’s arrival in the United States. The eligibility criteria are strictly reviewed to detect any fraud or misrepresentation. A K-1 fiancé(e) enters the U.S. as a nonimmigrant and must marry the U.S. citizen petitioner before applying for permanent residence.
In most cases, the couple must have met in person within the two years before filing. However, USCIS may grant a waiver of the meeting requirement in genuine situations involving cultural, religious, or hardship factors.
Marriage Interview
In rare cases USCIS schedules an interview to remove condition from a marriage based green card. This is to determine if the marriage is real and ensure that there is no immigration fraud in obtaining the green card through marriage
Waivers
An immigrant or nonimmigrant visa is approved individually after a family member is determined admissible. The person must show eligibility for the visa and is not subject to any grounds of inadmissibility.
previous immigration violations, criminal convictions may cause problem getting approval. the attorney will assess need for a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility and advise you about your options. The most common waiver is the unlawful presence waiver after entry without a visa.
It is important to carefully prepare waivers against immigration-related, health-related, and criminal grounds of inadmissibility.
Children
Children of the marriage or from a previous relationship(s) can accompany or join the immigrating parent, with some limitations, including an adopted child and stepchild.
Processing times wait or the priority date not being current can cause the child to age out. Age restrictions may cause the child to be left behind, resulting in family separation. Timely action may help seek age-out protection under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).
In a remarkable decision, children covered under CSPA can still be eligible for its protection when the parent naturalizes.
Child Citizenship
Children can go through their parents or grandparents. Citizenship law evolved almost for a century. Many citizens are unaware that they are not unlawful entrants or permanent residents. People in this category are deported without evidence or knowledge of their citizenship. Many continue to renew their permanent resident card, ignorant of their citizenship status. This is frequently the case among adopted children.
Adoption
Children born abroad can immigrate before age 16 through adoption, and older siblings can also be adopted up to age 18 if a younger sibling is adopted. Hague International Adoption Convention requires the adoptive parents to seek permission from the Department of State before considering foreign child adoption and is a pre-requisite to commencing immigration procedure for the adopted child.
Victims of Abuse
Abused spouses/children of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and abused parents of U.S. citizens are eligible to seek permanent residence based on abuse.
The abused spouse of an H / E-3 non-immigrant may seek work authorization.
Call me at (317) 660-6174 if you have questions.