Greg McLawsen

Deportation within the past 10 years – ground of inadmissibility

INA §212(a)(9)(A)(ii), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(9)(A)(ii) Once a person is ordered removed from the United States, she is inadmissible to return for 10 years. This becomes 20 years if it is her second removal. “Removal” is the technical term for what…

3- and 10-year bars for unlawful presence

INA §212(a)(9)(B), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(9)(B) Immigration law imposes harsh consequences on people who have stayed in the United States without legal immigration status. If someone has been out of status for six months in the United States, then departs, she…

Polygamy (multiple spouses) ground of inadmissibility

INA §212(a)(10)(A), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(10)(A) Polygamy occurs when an individual is simultaneously married to more than one person. U.S. immigration last has prohibited polygamy almost from the first days of the republic. Now, you might say that your fiancée or…

Crimes involving moral turpitude

INA §212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) Extremely minor crimes can make a foreign national inadmissible even if she was never convicted of the crime. In immigration law, crimes involving “moral turpitude” essentially refer to offenses that are intrinsically bad. Here’s one…

Prostitution ground of inadmissibility

INA §§212(a)(2)(D)(i)–(ii), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(2)(D)(i)–(ii) A person who has engaged – or tried to engage – in prostitution within the past ten years is inadmissible. Before you blow past this section, read on. Certainly, a prostitution-related conviction will be a…

Health-related grounds

INA §212(a)(1), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(1) U.S. immigration law has always been concerned about allowing people into the country who could impact public health. There are three categories of health-related inadmissibility issues you need to assess: (1) diseases of public health…

Economic grounds of inadmissibility

INA §212(a)(4), 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(4). This ground of inadmissibility may be the one that creates the most common problem for fiancée applicants. Your fiancée is inadmissible if the immigration agencies determine that she is likely to become a “public charge.”…

Introduction to the grounds of inadmissibility

The critical component of United States immigration law is the so-called grounds of inadmissibility. This is often an area of which people have only a vague awareness. For example, most people understand that criminal issues will create a problem for…

Filling out the Form I-129F Petition

This section goes line by line to the Form I-129F to help you complete the document correctly. I recommend that you do not read this section in its entirety, rather start working on the form and use this section as…

Consular visa interviews

The date of your visa interview is now just around the corner. As the culmination of a process that has lasted many months, this is a big day. If you are like most of my clients, you are going to…

What goes into an I-864 Affidavit of Support lawsuit complaint?
I’ve been representing clients in lawsuits to enforce the USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support for about a decade at this point. Over that time, I’ve made a lot of changes to the template that we use for federal lawsuit complaints. (A complaint is the initial case document that sets forth the plaintiff’s legal claim…
What is a joint sponsor’s liability under the Form I-864, Affidavit of Support?
A joint sponsor (also called co-sponsor) has the same liability under an Affidavit of Support as the primary sponsor. By signing the USCIS Form I-864, the joint sponsor agrees to “joint and several” liability on the contract. The sponsored immigrant can sue the joint sponsor for financial support in state or federal court. A joint…
Can you enforce the Form I-864 Affidavit of Support in a divorce case?
Yes – in most states the USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support can be enforced in a divorce case. A family law court has the authority to enforce the I-864 either (1) as a breach of contract claim or (2) through spousal maintenance (also called alimony). But as discussed below, divorce court is not necessarily…
USCIS Form I-864 enforcement in divorce court – another cautionary tale (Marriage of Bychina)
It is a theme that I have written about many times on this blog and elsewhere. Yes, the Affidavit of Support can theoretically be enforced in family law proceedings. But in practice, beneficiaries frequently encounter problems in that forum. Here is another example. Marriage of Bychina was a family law case in Illinois. See No.…
How do you calculate damages under the I-864, Affidavit of Support
In an important ruling for one of our I-864 enforcement clients, a Court ruled today that damages under the USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support are determined based on taxable income. In Flores v. Flores, the Western District of Washington ruled that the term “income” is governed by the definition contained at 8 C.F.R. §…
How do you settle a claim under the USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support?
As I explain elsewhere on this blog, almost all claims under the USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support result in settlement. To get an idea of how long that process takes, read this post. Having settled many of these claims, here is an overview of how we generally approach settlement. What goes into an Affidavit…
Can you enforce the Form I-864 Affidavit of Support with a preliminary injunction?
Non-citizens needing to enforce the USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support are usually in serious need of help. To have a claim under the Affidavit, their income needs to be below 125 percent of the poverty line. That’s about $1,400 per month for a household of one. But a lawsuit can take months or even…
What affirmative defenses are available to Form I-864 sponsors? None.
The Eleventh Circuit has held that the common law defenses of unclean hands, anticipatory breach, and equitable estoppel are unavailable to a sponsor who has signed a USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support. Blevich v. Thomas, 17 F.4th 1048 (11th Cir. 2021). Belevich joins a growing line of cases that stand for the proposition that…
The federal right to immigration “alimony” under the Form I-864, Affidavit of Support
A version of this article first appeared in the Side Bar journal for the Litigation Section of the Federal Bar Association (Spring 2021). If you are like most federal litigators – this author included – you would never enter divorce court unless your name was on the case caption. The vitriol, the sabotage, the meanness.…
How long does the I-864 support last?
A sponsor's obligation under the Form I-864 lasts indefinitely. It terminates only upon one of five Terminating Events, including when the green card holder has 40 quarters of work or becomes a U.S. citizen. It *does not* terminate automatically after ten years, even though lawyers mistakenly