U.S.

IMMIGRATION LAW

IMMIGRATION FORMS FOR THE CLASS

https://www.uscis.gov/search

BIA → Board of Immigration Appeals

CBP → Customs and Border Protection
DHS → Department of Homeland Security
DS-156 → Nonimmigrant Visa Application
DS-157 → Petition for Special Immigrant Classification for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa
DS-158 → Contact information and Work History for Nonimmigrant Visa Application
DS-230 → Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration
DS-2019 → Form Certificate of Eligibility to obtain the J1 visitor exchange visa to enter the
US as an intern or trainee
TOURIST VISA → Nonimmigrant visas for persons who want to enter the United States
temporarily for business (visa category B-1), for tourism (visa category B-2), or for a
combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2)
EAD → Employment Authorization Document
EOS → Extension Of Stay
I-20 → Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status
I-94 → Arrival/Departure Record
I-129 → Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
I-129F → Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)
I-130 → Petition for Alien Relative (immediate relatives; from us citizen or lpr and prove the
family connection to the eligible relative)
I-131 → Application for Travel Document
I-140 → Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker
I-485 → Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
I-539 → Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
I-551 → Stamps and MRIVs
I-765 → Application for Employment Authorization
ICE → Immigration and Customs Enforcement
INA → Immigration and Nationality Act
IRCA → Immigration Reform and Control Act
IV → Immigrant Visa
LPR → Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holders → I-485)
N-400 → Application for Naturalization
NTA → Notice To Appear
RFE → Request For Evidence
SEVIS → Student and Exchange Visitor Information System
VWP → Visa Waiver Program
I-589 → Application for Asylum for Withholding of Removal
I-360 → Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant
EOIR 42a → Application for Cancellation of Removal for Alien Permanent Residents
EOIR 42b → Application for Cancellation of Removal and Adjustment of Status for Certain
Nonpermanent Residents
ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTES FOR THE CLASS

● NTA → Notice to Appear

● A XXX-XXX-XXX → File number’s case
● Respondent → defendant
● Alleges → allegations (always 4 per case)
● 1 year deadline to apply for asylum starting from the NTA date
○ if it is a minor, the deadline starts to run until he/she/they turn 18.
○ up to 2021 there was no disclaimer in NTAs saying the deadline of application
● Immigration and Nationality Act → base for immigration matters
● Demonstration of credible fear of persecution → I-589 (one of asylum’s elements to
check)
● Orlando Villa Case
● Pereira v. Session
● Mendez Riojas Settlement
● Nguyen v. Nguyen
● Common Law Marriage
○ Also known as marriage without formalities or informal marriage, is a valid
and legal way for a couple to marry in Texas. Texas law states that a common
law marriage may be proved by evidence that the couple, at the same time:
■ “agreed to be married”; and
■ “after the agreement they lived together in this state as husband and
wife”; and they
■ “represented to others that they were married”
● Illegal Procurement, or Concealment or Willful Misrepresentation
○ Naturalization is “illegally procured” when the applicant was in fact ineligible
for naturalization by failing to satisfy certain statutory requirements.

CHAPTER 1 UUSIL

● Board of Immigration Appeal (BIA) → 30 days to present the appeal

● Chinese Exclusion Cases
● Custom and Border Protection (CBP)
● Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
● Department Of Justice (DOJ) → providing response to non documented people
(judges)
● Department Of Labor (DOL) → handles heard applications
● Department Of States (DOS) → visas
● EOIR → under DOJ’s umbrella; any applications under the Supreme Court
● ICE → under DHS
● INA → United States Law
● Immigration Status → first thing asked when arrived
● Inadmissible → ex. I-601 (An individual who is ineligible to be admitted to the United
States as an immigrant or to adjust status in the United States, and certain
nonimmigrant applicants who are inadmissible)
● LPR → I-130 and I-485
● Precedent Decisions → ex. Pereira v. Session
 ● Quotas → each country has different regulation
● Regulations → Codes of Federal Regulation
● Unauthorized/Undocumented Foreign National → respondents
● USCIS → https://www.uscis.gov/search
● Visa → formal document which proves legal status in the U.S.

Immigration law addresses 3 questions:

● Which foreign nationals are permitted to enter the US and for what purpose (legally)
○ permitted → ¿visas?
○ F1 → to study
● Who is allowed to stay and for how long
○ F visa stays longer than B visa
● Who must leave
○ F visa and B visa → we have an understanding that they must leave at
certain point
○ Meanest when the stay has expired
■ removal proceedings if they don’t leave the US

In the history of immigration law, this has its roots in cases such as the Vietnam War in 1975,
Cuban immigration to the US, etc.

Key decisions and agencies today, an important foundation for any practitioner who may
interact with the immigration law.

● Congress has the primary authority to decide immigration policy → INA

● Executive Branch → DHS, DOS and DOL → implement congressional legislation (ex.
DACA) and regulate immigration.

KEY DEFINITIONS

● Immigration status → a person's status with respect to the US immigration law. This
can include either a legal or unlawful status in the US. There are 5 general categories
of immigration status, such as:
○ US citizen → person who obtains his/her citizenship either by birth, adoption
or naturalization.
■ Birth exception → foreign national in another country with a US parent
→ Derivative Beneficiary
○ LPR → foreign national who has immigrated here; person intends and is
authorized to reside permanently and indefinitely in the US. Individuals who
are LPRs have a document as evidence of their immigration status. ex I-551
→ Permanent Resident Card or stamp → “green card”
■ How to receive a Green Card?
● I-130 (immediate relatives)
● Being an employer and want to bring someone to work in the
US (worker is getting the LPR from an LPR employer)
● Marriage
○ Nonimmigrant → foreign national who is in the US for specific purposes such
as tourism, temporary work or study.
 ■ Nonimmigrant visa → presented at a port of entry so the request of
entry and remain in the Us can be determined by CBP, officer or
authorized staff → if not granted, the nonimmigrant can stay for a
period of time to pursue the visa’s purpose
○ Refugee → foreign national who faces persecution in his or her home country
and has been granted protection so that s/he doesn’t have to return there.
■ If entering the US, they receive their status while outside the country
■ If physically in the US, they apply for asylum → if granted they are
known as asylees
■ Refugees and asylees have to apply for LPR after 1 year of the grant
of the protective status
■ If not eligible to enter US as refugees, they may be allowed to enter
the country temporarily as parole granted by officers from DHS based
on assessments of emergency, humanitarian concern or because it’s
of public interest
● If granted the parole, they will be known as parolee → ex.
Cuban nationals
○ Undocumented/Unauthorized foreign national → person who entered the Us
without being inspected by US immigration authorities or who entered lawfully
but remains here despite the violation of the law, whether they remained
beyond the period authorized or they breached terms of the granted stay.
■ Who enters without permission is known as Enter Without Inspection
(EWI) → nobody saw them
■ EOIR 42B → cancellation of removal if asked to leave the US
● Lawful Status → foreign national who is in the US with the permission of the US
government, either temporarily or permanently.
○ ex. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months → USCIS → I-821
● Visa → official document permitting a person to travel to a US border in order to
request permission to enter the country in a specific category.

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION LAW

● The American Civil War → passage from 14th amendment (protect the newly free
enslaved people in terms of naturalization → slaves) to the U.S. Constitution.
● Late 1800s until 1920 → over 22 million immigrants arrived to the U.S., including a lot
of children unaccompanied by parents → UAC
● 1952 → Congress passed the INA (aka McCarran-Walter Act) → exclusion or
deportation of noncitizens deemed to be subversive and engaged in activities that
were prejudicial to the public interest.
○ Due to the political context and ideology about communism.
● 1965 → discriminatory national origins quotas came to an end through the INA of this
year, which established quota for the eastern and western Hemisferes immigrants.
● 1980 → Refugee Act → uniform methods to admit and support new refugees, while
also creating a system for individuals already in the U.S. to apply for asylum and
thereby seek protection from persecution.
● 1986 → IRCA → requirements to legalize their immigrant status after the termination
of Bracero Program in 1964:
○ To have entered before january 1st, 1982
○ Not have been convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors
● 1986 → IMFA (Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act) → conditioned the
regularization of immigrant status by marriage to 2 years prior to the LPR joint
indefinite status request.
● 1996 → AEDPA, Welfare Reform Act and IIRAIRA (increase of enforcement due to
terrorism and crimes perpetuated by foreign nationals)
● 1997 →NACARA, HRIFA, Cuban Adjustment Act
● 2000 → VTVPA → U Nonimmigrant Status and T Nonimmigrant Status, IRVP for
additional protection under the Child Chitizenship Act
● 2001 → USA PATRIOT ACT
● 2002 → Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act
● 2003 → Homeland Security Act
○ Establishes CBP as responsible for protecting the U.S. borders; ICE strictly
as an enforcement body and USCIS as responsible for granting immigration
benefit
○ UAC cared for by Office of Refugee Resettlement under DHS
● 2005 → REAL ID Act
● 2017 → Trump proclaimed Muslim Ban 3.0, Executive Order “Buy American and Hire
American”
● 2018 → zero tolerance immigration policy
● Immigration system today
○ Congress branch → passes laws
○ Executive branch → formulates regulations and implements laws
○ Judicial branch → reviews regulations, statutes and lower-court decision
○ DHS implements immigration laws
■ It has 7 major agencies under its authority, which 3 (USCIS, CBP and
ICE) are relevant to immigration law.
● ICE → divided in 2 sections: ERO (Enforcement and Removal
Operations) responsible for detaining and removing those who
have violated U.S. immigrant laws; and HSI (Homeland
Security Investigations) responsible for investigating
cross-border criminal activity.
○ DOS maintains consular offices in foreign countries where foreign nationals
can apply to obtain visas to enter the U.S. on a temporary or permanent
basis. It regulates the entry of refugees into the U.S. through the Bureau of
Population, Refugee and Migration (PRM)
○ DOL is responsible for reviewing and approving certain employment-based
applications for the benefit of foreign workers → position for the foreign
doesn’t undercut the wages of or displace a capable and available American
worker → it’s a gatekeeper to protect American jobs.
○ EOIR (it is NOT a part of DHS) is a part of the DOJ and is responsible for
interpreting and administering the nation’s immigration laws and adjudicates
the immigration cases of those in removal proceedings to determine if the
foreign can stay or must leave.
○ ORR (in the Administration for Children and Families → HHS) administers
programs that support refugees and minors who arrive in the U.S. without
parents.
BASIC IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS AND FORMS