From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Sep 10 2009 - 09:18:22 EDT
Deadline looms for green card lottery winners
Allan Wernick
Thursday, September 10th 2009, 4:00 AM
If you won the DV-2009 green card lottery, you have until Sept. 30 to get
permanent residence. If you applied for adjustment of status (to get
interviewed in the United States) but the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services hasn't called you for an interview, make an Infopass appointment
and visit the USCIS office that has your application.
The New York office says it has lots of Infopass appointments available for
this month. Make an Infopass appointment at infopass.uscis.gov.
If you are applying for your lottery immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate
abroad, contact the consulate and see if you can get an appointment before
the Sept. 30 deadline. If you have been here illegally more than 180 days,
see an expert before leaving the U.S.
DV-2009 green card lottery visas are available for winners from all
countries except Egypt and Ethiopia. For Egypt, you qualify if your
qualifying number is below 22,900, for Ethiopia, below 23,900.
Q. My employer filed an application for a labor certification for me under
the PERM system in January 2008. I'm still waiting for a decision. What
could be the problem?
Deebee, New York
A. My guess is that the U.S. Department of Labor is auditing your case to
ensure that your employer complied with all necessary rules and regulations.
Hopefully, your employer is complying or will comply with the department's
requests and your application will soon be approved.
In most cases, to get employment-based permanent residence, the department
must certify that no qualified U.S. workers can fill your position. Your
employer must have made a good-faith effort to fill the position with a U.S.
worker at the prevailing wage - the typical wage for the job in this area.
Under the Web-based PERM system, the employer, or the employer's
representative, submits the application online. The employer must have done
a search for a U.S. worker, but the employer doesn't submit documentation of
the search unless the department asks for it in a process called an audit.
With high unemployment in the U.S., the Labor Department is especially
careful to ensure that an employer truly can't find a U.S. worker before
certifying the job offer. If the department has decided to audit your case,
the delay you face is typical. Your employer or the employer's
representative should be able to give you more information.
Q. Can a person with a DWI conviction get U.S. citizenship? The police
arrested this person for driving while intoxicated in December 2008. As part
of his sentence, he is in a rehabilitation program until November 2009.
Ana, New York
A. A conviction for driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence
usually won't bar naturalization, but it might delay it. Regardless,
immigrants arrested for criminal activity should have an immigration law
expert review their case before filing any immigration application.
These convictions don't permanently bar citizenship. Still, a naturalization
examiner might conclude that an applicant lacks the necessary five years'
good moral character needed to naturalize. That's especially true if the
person hasn't completed a program that is part of a court sentence. If he is
applying under the special rules for the spouse of a U.S. citizen, he needs
only three years' good moral character.
If the person wants to pursue naturalization before five (or three) years
have passed since the offense, I suggest he wait until he finishes the
rehabilitation program you mention. When he applies, he should provide
evidence of good character to offset the negative inference from the
conviction. That might include letters from people who can confirm that he
no longer drives intoxicated. He should also bring proof of having completed
the program.
Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York
Citizenship and Immigration Project. He is the author of "U.S. Immigration
and Citizenship - Your Complete Guide, Revised 4th Edition." Send questions
and comments to Allan Wernick, Daily News, 450 W. 33rd St., New York, NY
10001. Prof. Wernick's Web site: www.allanwernick.com.
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