Rachel Browning’s Legal Blog

In his campaign for the presidency, President Barack Obama vowed to promote policies that would reform our nation’s immigration system comprehensively, those that focused not just on border security, but reforms that would “bring people out of the shadows,” keep families together and remove the various hurdles that encourage people to enter and remain in [...]

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        Yesterday U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the DHS would be granting deferred action for two years to widows and widowers of U.S. citizens—as well as their unmarried children under 18 years old—who reside in the United States and were married for less than two years prior to their [...]

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One major issue many legal permanent residents (LPRs, or “green card” holders) must contend with is that of travel outside the U.S., specifically how travel abroad (for lengthy periods of time) can affect their status as permanent residents.  Often, because the process of obtaining a green card in the U.S. can last multiple years, many [...]

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             The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (the “Act”) allows certain foreign-born, biological and adopted children of U.S. citizens to acquire U.S. citizenship automatically. These children do not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth, but are rather, granted citizenship when they enter the United States as lawful permanent residents (LPRs).  To qualify under the terms of [...]

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            As I stated in yesterday’s blog, the USCIS has recently updated its civics and history test that applicants for naturalization are required to pass before becoming U.S. Citizens.  I often encourage permanent residents to begin the process of filing for naturalization as soon as they are eligible, because while the distinction between permanent residency [...]

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