The process for the immigration is quite complex and need the guidance of the experienced professionals who have knowledge upto the extends and can fight for you. Sometimes it is needed to consult the immigration lawyer for the same purpose. There is a proper organisation of the lawyers who help the people and answers various questions related to the queries of immigrancy. Immigration has become an increasing topic for the debate among many surrounding activities in recent years. They are capable of handling the most difficult and all the seemingly impossible cases in no time. They provide a thoughtful and effective service to all those clients in their difficult situations. Many types of immigration forms are available where we can go for the permanent residency in the country and where ever we want.

There are many of the legal ways for the permanent residency, citizenship and the temporary visas available but only the skilled immigration attorney can safely navigate the bureaucratic process and ensure that all the processes are under the law.

The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formerly known as the subsidiary firm of the Department of Justice, but is now part of the Department of Homeland Security. The INS grants student visa, tourist visa or any extended stay visas for foreign born citizens who wish to extend their stay in the United States.

After the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the Immigration and Naturalization Services were made strict on strengthening the national security and tightening the antiterrorism. All the guidelines of this agency were made very stringent for issuance of visa and even on the general criteria for prolonged entry in United States.

INS also holds the responsibility of detention and questioning the suspected visa holders might be connected to terrorist organisation. The detention period can be of any reasonable length of time that might be required to check or gather the information required to scrutinise the suspect. INS is also powered by Mobilization Against Terrorism Act (MATA) thus it holds the power to deport or file a case against any foreign person that may be connected to any terrorism or such organisations. INS also holds the right to cancel the visa or green card of the suspect found in connection to any terrorist group.

INS works to cut down the number of people who entered United States through its Border Patrol. INS is also responsible for searching out the illegal foreigners and to deport them back to their nation. It also imposes stiff criminal penalties for the agents who exploit illegal aliens.

Thus INS works as a stringent security organisation that keeps an eye on each and every foreign born person who enters the United States and also keeps track on their activities.

An Immigration Lawyer is much like a Doctor that you may not need all the time but can be saviour when you are trapped into a big trouble. You may really not take a risk of not hiring a lawyer, because you never know when you may need him.

Before finalising your lawyer there are some of the check points you should apply in order to put your papers in trustworthy hands.

You can ask you family friends or colleagues who have already hired some immigration lawyer before. A satisfied person will always appreciate his lawyer and an unsatisfied person will never forget to beware you of the weak lawyer. You may take opinion of multiple friends in order to filter out your search; this may be a help to find the right and trustworthy lawyer for you.

You can also select your immigration lawyer through an introductory session which will help you to recognise as to how much your lawyer understands you. You can take along your spouse and elder children which would help lawyer too to understand the thought process of your family. You can ask him about his experience and some of his case studies too. Case studies will help you a lot to understand his way of practice; this could help you to substantiate whether this lawyer will be able to assist you or not.

You can also search for your lawyer on the website of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), it’s a national association of Immigration lawyers. You cannot always update yourself with the fast changing federal laws and rules; this association assures that its immigration lawyers are the best practitioners maintaining the commitment to its clients.

Finally when you have found a lawyer with whom you feel comfortable enough to solve all your issues, you can contact your local state bar to check if your lawyer is licensed and also to check if he was not a subjacent for any disciplinary action before. A Lawyer with fair background is the right choice for being a trustworthy.

If at any place you find that your lawyer is not trustworthy, you can instantly terminate the matter and look for a lawyer whom you can trust because the relationship of a lawyer and a client is purely based on trust, privacy and confidence.

So, stay proudly as an NRI and enjoy the ecstasies of The United States Of America.

Once you have all your documents all made and you have arrived to the United States then, that at the Air port you would have to pass through the POE (port of entry) this is the last huddle for you before you enter the United States with a legal status no matter on what visa or for what ever reason you are traveling.

Here at the port of entry the immigration or the customs officer would be asking you questions about your travel and the reasons of your travel, the duration of the stay which is intended for and they would be expecting reasonable answers as per the other paper works would say there could be conversations that he or she might choose to indulge in to based upon what the officer deems fit. Once all that is done, and the officer is convinced with the reason of your travel and he is sure about the legal aspect of your passport, visa and other related paper works then they would stamp your passport. Once the stamping is done then they would be giving you the counter part of the I 94 form.

Now you need to understand that what ever date is mentioned in the I 94 is what your legal deadline is for staying in the United States. This has got nothing to do with the dates mentioned on the Visa. As per the new program called US Visit, the travelers to the United States would be required essentially to provide the authorities with their finger prints and their digital photo graphs. This law is applicable at all the 115 airports across the United States, along with the 15 sea ports that are present in the United States. All the travelers would have to pose for the digital photographs and their finger prints would be collected by the designated officers, at the port of entry.

This US Visit program has added another level of security to the United States department of homeland security. Now once all that is done. Then you are all good to move ahead to proceed towards the luggage collection counter. The conveyer belt would be carrying your baggage to you. What you also need to understand that like you your luggage would also have to pass through different levels of security before they are actually permitted in to the United States. Thus once the officials are convinced about the contents of your luggage are absolutely not hazardous then only they are passed for collection by the traveler. So the luggage collection counter would be the last stop for you in the airport post that you could proceed towards the cab.

Getting a new apartment immediately after immigration to the United States is really a big hassle. There is a whole lot of questions those are required to be answered related to your requirement and besides there are a million things those are required to be taken in to consideration before choosing on to a house.

Chances are that immediately after immigrating to the United States you would be given a temporary home by your employer, for some time but the sooner you shift in to your own the better for you. Am sure these are some of the most common things that one would consider but trust me they are very important and in case you miss out on any of the parameters you might have to be paying a very heavy cost to fix the same in terms of having to move to a place that is more convenient for you.

Before moving in consider the following:

1. Choose the location of the apartment wisely it should not be very far from your work or the nearest departmental store.
2. Normally 1^st floor apartments are cheaper than the ones on higher floors but do choose to consider the security part.
3. The rent that you pay should include the basic facilities like the hot water supply and the expenses for the garbage disposal. In case it does not include them then you would have to pay separately for them. Also do confirm if electricity is included in the same or not?
4. Standard equipments in all apartments should be a dish washer, a cooking range or a gas and a refrigerator.
5. In case the apartment you choose comes with amenities like swimming pool, AC, Gym etc then be sure they are going to cost you extra.

To be considered on the maintenance aspect:

1. Do ensure that you have made an inventory of the preexisting furniture and the fixture in the apartment. Any thing that is broken or damaged should be deducted from the security deposit given.
2. Consider checking the carpet before you enter the apartment as depending on the condition charges for the same might be deducted from your deposit.
3. Usage of hammers on the walls to push in nails is an absolute no-no. This could leave marks on the walls and the same could be charged to you. Rather usage of board pins and push pins would be a much better idea.
4. It’s advisable to cover the cooking range with an aluminum foil to keep off those oil related stains. Also do clean the exhaust regularly.

These are some of the tips that could come in handy for you when you are new in the United States and possibly these are the things that can cause a rip off to you.

A family based immigration in to the United States is some thing that could be done easily. This is done if you could fulfill the under mentioned terms and conditions. In this kind of immigration the guardian angle happens to be the relative who is either already staying in the United States, or is a lawful permanent resident already in the US.

The above mentioned could be done in 2 ways (this is the IR category).

1. Some one who is an immediate relative of an US citizen, which is a spouse, widow or an unmarried child who essentially needs to be under the age of 21. This category could also be useful for the parents of an adult US citizen.
2. People with a returning resident status. This applies to people who have been previously staying in the United States as a permanent resident and now is coming back after a stay in some other nation for a year.

As far as the above mentioned is concerned (limited family based immigration), there are some preferences which are involved in the same. The hierarchy of the preferences are as per the under mentioned.

Preference 1 – Children of people who are already US citizens who are below the age of 21.

Preference 2 – The spouses of the lawful United States citizens with or without their children, who are below the age of 21. However in the case of unmarried daughters there is a relaxation. Daughters even if they are over the age of 21 still they are permissible, as per the said provision.

Preference 3 – Next in the preference grid comes, the number for the children of a United States citizen whose children are married.

Preference 4 – Last but not the least the siblings of a person who has the status of a permanent resident in the United States are also allowed as per the provision.

Be it the IR category or the preference category, the relative in the United States has to first submit a petition related to the immigrant visa. The said petition has to be essentially accompanied by the proof of your relation ship with the citizen who has filed in the petition.

Post the approval is received on the petition that has been filed in by the relative, who is either a citizen or a permanent citizen in the United States, the department of States would be considering to figure out if there is a number that is available to be given to you for the immigration related visa. However this is applicable only if your current residency is out side the United States. In case you are inside the United States then, you could apply for a change in the status. That would involve a form called I – 485.

There are some advantages and benefits which are shared here under and for the same one should look out only to avail for opportunities to be a legal immigrant to the United States.

1. People do know that the illegal immigrants are some what help less and thus they tend to take advantage of the situation. There are many ways in which an illegal immigrant may be exploited. For example over work, underpay, abusing so on and so forth. These are things that no one would dare to do with a legal immigrant, as they would have the American law to protect them.
2. As per the cops the legal immigrants are more of the law abiding citizens and therefore gets better mixed with the American society. This helps materialize the goal of sharing the culture and the heritage of other countries in the American soil.
3. Legal immigration is always better as this would certainly encourage the best and the brightest people to look for the immigration opportunities, which is not only good for the immigrants but is also good for the United States as they get better talent globally who helps enrich skills in the Unites states. This also enhances the opportunity and the number of the high wage jobs.
4. The legal immigrants are citizens of the United States. They help and pay towards maintaining the social security system. On the contrary an illegal immigrant does not do any thing good for the social security system. Rather they eat up the job which should have gone rightfully to someone else.
5. United States normally respects the laws and cultures of all nations and thus they expect the same towards their laws, from the rest of the world. By going as per the law a strong message that goes out to the people is that United States is a land where the law is always upheld. Also the American government is extremely citizen friendly and they would do or go up to any extent to protect the interest of their citizens.
6. The procedure of legal immigration is to ensure that immigration process is done as per the requirements of the country. It’s never stopped entirely. There is one more thing that happens with the legal immigration is that people immediately find a job and their income standards get only better in the United States.
7. The legal migration process also helps the Federal government to uphold the rational behind the immigration procedure which is to protect the oppressed and the abused and giving them a better living standard.

Apart from many other benefits these mentioned above are only some of the benefits of legal immigration in to the United States.

There are a million people who dreams day in and day out of immigrating to the United States. But trust me; this is just the easy part. Once you have legally immigrated to the United States then all the laws Federal laws would be applicable on you too like on any other American. You would be liable to pay all the applicable taxes which you are liable for, and some questions like the SSN, the ITIN, determining the alien tax status, and the taxation of the resident and the nonresident aliens would not take very long to steal away your sweet night sleep.

Mentioned here under are the answers to some of the questions mentioned above. Trust me these are just the starting. But eventually as you get used to these they would not be bothering you so much. So let’s move to the first topic.

1. SSN Application – SSN or the Social Security Number is very important for a person living in the United States. Though we are not going to dig much in to it but let’s just keep it limited to the fact that your eligibility to file for an SSN depends on whether or not the DHS has granted you permission to work in the United States.
2. ITIN – You can call the ITIN as a substitute for the SSN to some extent. In other words if you are required to file for the federal tax return and in case you do not have the SSN in that case you would require an Individual Taxpayer’s Identification Number”.
3. Determining Alien Tax Status – Chances are that the IRS guys would deem you to be a resident alien in the United States even if you are not a lawful permanent resident of the United States, or you do not hold a Green Card. A detailed peek in to the IRS would help you understand how the mechanism works and the status of your alien tax.
4. Taxation for the NR Aliens and the Resident aliens in the United States – As far as the taxation is concerned, for a typical non resident alien; they are just subjected to the income tax part only, to the extent of their income source only in the United States. However when we look in to the situation of a resident alien the story changes a lot. These people are subjected to the normal federal taxes as is done for any other United States citizen.

These are just the beginning and trust me there is a lot more than that meets the eye, related to the above mentioned topics. Thus your best bet for the above mentioned questions would be to dig in to the IRS. Or wait till we happen to talk about each one of these in details later.

In 2006 March, the PHC (Pew Hispanic Center) estimated that the number of illegal immigrants was some where between 11.5 to 12 million people in the United States. These numbers have also been supported by the GAO (the Government Accountability Office). From these 12million a staggering 57% belongs to Mexico. 24% contribution comes from the Latin American countries, and 9% is contributed by the different Asian countries while 6% comes from Europe and Canada and the rest 4% is contributed by the rest of the world.

A spooky feeling gets aroused when ever I hear of the word illegal immigrant in to the US there are a lot of people who loose their life in the process. First of all the touts who smuggle humans illegally charge a fortune and then those poor people are normally transported in containers in the cargo ships where the conditions are really inhuman in the containers as they would travel for weeks in side the sealed container. Once they reach the United States shore then chances are they would be caught and then they would be either jailed or deported.

Even if that is escaped by some means then there are worse things waiting for you inside the country. The first and fore most problem that an illegal immigrant would face is that they would not find a white collar job and when they decide to settle for the blue collar jobs the pay that they would be getting would be way less then the minimum wage rates decided by the government and then in that case there would be no one the immigrant would be able to go and complain to. As if the cops get aware of that the consequences are going to be deportation.

If you think that’s bad, then just wait till I tell you more. Being an illegal immigrant another big problem would be to get a decent accommodation for your self. And as far as opening a bank account is concerned you can forget that.

The next very important thing that you need to start, immediately after immigrating into the United States, is that you should start praying. Yes you heard me right. You need to pray so that you don’t fall sick. Trust me the medical expenses in the United States are very high and thus in case you do not have insurance and you are sick then you have very strong reason to consider yourself in a soup. So the best thing to be done to avoid all that is get in touch with an immigration lawyer who would legally help you to immigrate into the United States.

For people who are already a citizen in the United States, for them there are primarily 2 ways to get their spouses to the United States to live with them.

The first one would be to file an immigrant petition filing for an alien relative. This is done using the immigration petition form I-130. The next step up on the receipt of the approval on the petition filed, you would be required to visit the United States consulate in your home country and get the physical immigrant visa. The third step would be to file for your Employment Authorization Card (EAD). The fourth step would be to file for your SSN or the social security number; this is done at the social security office. This concludes the required step for the first option.

The other option would be using the Non immigrant visa for your spouse. This visa is also known as the K3 visa. This K3 visa is sort of a temporary provision for the spouses to come over to the United States and stay together on a temporary basis. While the formalities for the formal spouse immigration is still pending. There are some specifications that needs to be taken care of for the K3 visa.

The application for the K3 visa needs to be filed in the country where the actual marriage took place. It is important that the said K3 visa has to be issued from the same country where the marriage had actually taken place. Once this visa issuance is complete then the spouse can travel to the United States and wait for the time period that would be required for the, actual immigration visa paperwork to be complete.

The filing for the said visa can be done in the nearest US consulate and in case there are children staying with the spouse, as a result of the marriage such children may apply for a K4 visa. Point to be noted here is that such children should essentially be below the age of 21.

Once the spouse has traveled to the United States on such a visa, then in the States they would have to file for the Adjustment of Status (AOS) this is done by filing the form I-485.

The next most important thing would be getting the eligibility for a job thus the next logical step would be filing for the employment authorization card or the EAD.

Once that is done then is the turn for the SSN. The spouse would be required to visit the social security office, and file for the social security number there.