All immigration strategies described in this resource require - at some stage in the process - an immigration medical examination. This examination is required because of the grounds of inadmissibility relating to medical conditions. Certain diseases of public health significance,…
Hi, my name is Greg McLawsen. I am a practicing immigration lawyer based in Washington state. I am the founder and managing attorney at Sound Immigration. We are a six-attorney immigration law firm that focuses on helping families unite and…
The mandatory USCIS filing fees must accompany an application or petition at the time it is filed. If you do not include the filing fee than the case will simply be returned to you and not filed. Here are some…
A TN visa authorizes an individual to live and work temporarily in the United States. But it is common for TN visa holders to become interested in pursuing lawful permanent resident (LPR) status while they are in the United States.…
Marriage visa / spouse visa. It is very common for a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (“U.S. spouse”) to initiate the immigration process for a foreign spouse living abroad. This is commonly referred to in the immigration law community as…
Fiance visa / K1 visa. To initiate marriage-based consular processing a couple must be legally married, as further described below. In scenarios where the couple is engaged but not yet married, it often makes greater practical sense to pursue a…
Marriage Greencards (adjustment of status) Certain foreign nationals who are physically present in the U.S. may be able to complete the marriage-based immigration process without leaving the country. This process is referred to as adjustment of status (i.e., adjusting to…
In the past year, the processing times for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) have become quite long. A recent stakeholder call with the Ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sheds some light on how bad the situation has become.…
You are someone who follows the rules. You have no criminal record and pay your taxes on time. You also happen to be married to someone from another country, and you want him/her to be able to move to the…
As negotiations in Congress stall, it appears very likely that there will be a federal government shutdown. What would a shut down mean for immigration cases? Here is a summary of the best information we have available. U.S. Citizenship and…