Greg McLawsen

Law firm value statements

Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to hear Jenny Anderson and I speak at Seattle University School of Law. In her portion of the talk on building a law firm, Jenny spoke about the importance of articulating a law…

DIY videos for law firm marketing

October 11, 2016
Greg McLawsen
Business of law, Events, For lawyers, Updates
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Producing videos for your law firm might seem daunting but it doesn’t have to be. Great videos can vastly increase your website’s search engine ranking and provide an important way to reach new clients. Best of all, relatively few attorneys…

The best (and most fun) free/low-cost legal tech for lawyers

Thanks to the Snohomish County Bar Association for inviting me to speak at today's CLE. Trying something new, I live broadcast a video of the talk on Periscope. You can view that video below, along with the slide deck from…

My greencard is expiring, should I file an I-90 before naturalizing (N-400)?

September 26, 2016
Greg McLawsen
Citizenship
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Congratulations - you're finally eligible to apply for citizenship! But uh-oh, your greencard (I-551) is about to expire. What should you do? File an I-90 application to renew your greencard, or just go ahead and apply for the N-400 (citizenship…

Free and Low-Cost Technology for Law Firms

This talk was prepared for the nice folks at the Kittitas County Bar Association. Thanks to the group for having me out to Ellensburg! In this video, we discuss various technologies that can help make your law practice easier. Topics include:…

9 free/cheap pieces of tech to make your lawyer life better

September 8, 2016
Greg McLawsen
Business of law, For lawyers, Uncategorized
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Thanks to the folks at the Kittitas County Bar Association for having me out to speak today. We'll be covering a potpourri of topics relating to the use of technology in law firms. Below it a list of nine unrelated tech…

Graphic Design for Legal Advocacy

Big thanks to Troy White of Counterpoint Legal for today's talk on Graphic Design for Legal Advocacy. This post contains all of the material from the presentation, including: Video of the webinar; "Slides" from Troy's talk (you'll see - they're…

Advanced I-864 Issues (webinar video)

September 1, 2016
Greg McLawsen
For lawyers, Form I-864, Immigration scholarship, Marriage-Based Immigration, Updates
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This post contains video of our August 31, 2016 webinar - Advanced I-864 Issues. Written material for the webinar is available here. The first video below was recorded at the live webinar and covers enforcement of the I-864 via litigation,…

Advanced I-864 issues (webinar material)

August 29, 2016
Greg McLawsen
Events, For lawyers, Immigration scholarship, Marriage-Based Immigration, Updates
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The material listed accompanies our August 31, 2016 webinar, Advanced I-864 Issues. The material in the body of this post was drafted along with Heather L. Poole and Ann Robertson for a panel at AILA National 2015 entitled Complicated Affidavit of Support Issues…

Stop: USCIS does not accept credit card!

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently issued a warning regarding filing fees. Currently USCIS does not accept filing fees by credit card. So if you have received a phone call or email, asking you to pay a USCIS…

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