Out of Status

There are millions who live in the United States without status. While it is true that there are harsh inadmissibility bars triggered by spending time in the United States without any legal status, there are certain immigration options which are available to those who are in the US without status. If, however, none of the following saving provisions apply to you, then you may be deemed inadmissible and would have to apply for an inadmissibility waiver before you can obtain legal status.

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Successful Permanent Residence case through Labor Certification

After a case denial and spending thousand of dollars, I decided to look for a new lawyer in summer of 2006. That’s when I met Shah Peerally.
After my first meeting, I was pleasantly surprised to meet a lawyer with his caliber and down- to-earth personality. Something he said left a forever lasting impression in my mind

“hey, I was not born here. I went through the same process that you are going through. I understand the anxiety and pain that comes with it. I consider my customers my family.Once I take your case, there is nothing important for to take you to last milestone – APPROVAL” .

As happy as I was to hear this words,I was skeptical after past experience with lawyers . Anyways,we decided to give him a shot for our H1B renewal first before we hire him for green card application.
Oh boy, wasn’t I glad to to have hired him after getting our approval in 18 days. The part I loved was that the way Shah & team made sure I was updated every step. Digital copies of my application,email notifications and email responses
within a few hours. I am technical savvy and this was a huge deal for me. No more calling some lawyer office and getting rude responses from the other side. Shah even took time out of schedule to answer my email personally.
Since then , we worked with Shah on our various Adance parole,EAD and H1B renewals while we got in the queue for green card. It was like hiring your own personal lawyer.

Well fast forward 4 years, we have our I485 approval. As soon as our priority dates became current, he followed up with USCIS right away.(I believe this guy is a magician. He followed up with USCIS on Friday and I woke up Monday morning with I485 approval notice in email. He didn’t have to do this but this represent how dedicated he is to his clients interest.

I sincerely thank Shah, Hasan and their team for representing us. I feel fortunate to have found Shah. The process would not have been so worry-free and smooth,had it not been for Shah Peerally.
I would recommend Shah to anyone who is looking a friend more than a lawyer for anything immigration.

Thanks again Shah,Hasan and their team.

V.
Important: The testimonials or endorsements on this website do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. Each case is different and success in one case does not warrant or guarantee success in other similar cases or situations.

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Renunciation of Indian Citizenship/ Surrender Certificate:

Notice: Due to the large volume of Surrender Certificate applications we are unable to attend to ANY QUERIES at the counter. Collection of Surrender Certificate at the Consulate is between 4:00pm to 4:45pm (working days only).

Renunciation of Indian Citizenship and ‘Surrender Certificate’

Indian citizens acquiring US (foreign) citizenship and renouncing Indian citizenship are required to surrender their Indian passports and obtain a “Surrender Certificate” which is issued by the Consulate. The charges for obtaining this service is US$20/- for those acquiring US citizenship upto 31.05.2010 and thereafter it is US$ 175/- for those acquiring US citizenship on or after 01.06.2010. These passports are cancelled and returned to the passport holder for future reference.

Please attach money order / cashiers check payable to “Consulate General of India – San Francisco” for the service charge of US$ 20 or US$175/- depending on your date of obtaining US Naturalization for surrender certificate.

Detailed procedure for application of “Surrender Certificate” is given below:

Renunciation of Citizenship of India

The Declaration of Renunciation of Citizenship of India shall be made in Form to the Consulate by the concerned applicants resident in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming

The applicants shall state clearly the circumstances in which they acquired US (foreign) Citizenships.

On receipt of the Declaration of Renunciation of Citizenship of India, a Surrender Certificate, in the prescribed form, is issued by the Consulate. The Declaration of Renunciation is registered in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, through the Consulate.

Applicants may kindly send completed Form, along with all documents and a money order / cashiers check payable to “Consulate General of India – San Francisco” along with trackable Pre-paid return envelope to 540 Arguello Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118 (e.g. (a) USPS ‘Express Mail’ – Preferred (b) UPS (c) Fedex) also do not remove senders/customers copy (consulate will keep it).

All queries only by e-mail

For more details

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Leaked USCIS Memo – great news for H4 Visa holders

This internal memo-on-alternatives-to-comprehensive-immigration-reform a few days ago and got everyone talking. The memo clearly shows USCIS taking dramatic measures to ease immigration waiting lines and policies WITHOUT CIR – or legislative change. They are trying to do things that they can, internally, that are within their power, to effect positive change. This is commendable!! Something USCIS should have done years ago. Whoever’s behind this is SO doing the right thing.

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Important Notice from USCIS regarding fingerprints

USCIS has experienced some technical difficulties with the Form I-797C, Notice of Action – Fingerprint Notification. Between July 8 and August 4, 2010, USCIS did not print and mail this form to asylum applicants living in California and Arizona.

What You Should Do:

Go to the nearest USCIS Application Support Center (ASC) for fingerprinting and biometrics collection before your asylum interview if you:

Live in California or Arizona
Received an Asylum Interview Notice for an interview scheduled for August 2010
Have not received a Fingerprint Notification
Have not had your fingerprints and biometrics collected in the last 60 days for your asylum application.

You should take the following with you to the ASC:
Your Asylum Interview Notice
Any dependent family members included on your asylum case
Photo identification, such as a passport, valid driver’s license, national ID, military ID, State-issued photo ID, or USCIS-issued ID, for you and all family members (if any)

Do not return to the ASC for fingerprinting and biometrics collection for your asylum application if:

You received a Fingerprint Notification after your fingerprints and biometrics were collected in the past 60 days for your asylum application

You attended your asylum interview

Your fingerprints were not rejected by USCIS

More information call (510) 742 5887 or info@peerallylaw.com

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HHS Updates Poverty Guidelines

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03au10-71]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary

Delayed Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for the Remainder of 2010

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This notice provides a delayed update of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010, and until the 2011 poverty guidelines are published, which is expected to occur in late January 2011. HHS is issuing this delayed update due to recent legislation that prohibited the Secretary of HHS from publishing 2010 poverty guidelines before May 31, 2010, and required that the 2009 poverty guidelines remain in effect until the Secretary of HHS published updated guidelines.

DATES: Effective Date: Date of publication, unless an office administering a program using the guidelines specifies a different effective date for that particular program.

ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program, contact the Federal, State, or local office that is responsible for that program. For information about poverty figures for immigration forms, the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program, and the number of people in poverty, use the specific telephone numbers and addresses given below.

For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves, contact Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201–telephone: (202) 690-7507–or visit http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.

For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at 1-800-375-5283.

For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria involving the poverty guidelines), contact the Office of the Director, Division of Facilities Compliance and Recovery, Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS, Room 10-105, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. To speak to a staff member, please call (301) 443-5656. To receive a Hill-Burton information package, call 1- 800-638-0742 (for callers outside Maryland) or 1-800-492-0359 (for callers in Maryland). You also may visit http://www.hrsa.gov/ hillburton/default.htm.

For information about the number of people in poverty, visit the Poverty section of the Census Bureau’s Web site at http:// www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census Bureau’s Demographic Call Center Staff at (301) 763-2422 or 1-866-758- 1060 (toll-free).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the Secretary of HHS to update the poverty guidelines at least annually, adjusting them on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The poverty guidelines are used as an eligibility criterion by the Community Services Block Grant program and a number of other Federal programs. The poverty guidelines issued here are a simplified version of the poverty thresholds that the Census Bureau uses

[[Page 45629]]

to prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and families in poverty.

However, provisions in three recent laws prohibited the Secretary of HHS from publishing updated poverty guidelines for 2010 before May 31, 2010, and required that the poverty guidelines published on January 23, 2009, remain in effect until updated poverty guidelines were published. These provisions were section 1012 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-118), section 7 of the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-144), and section 6 of the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-157).

The provisions included in these laws were in response to a decrease in the annual average CPI-U for 2009. In the absence of a legislative change, this decrease would have required HHS to issue 2010 poverty guidelines that were lower than the 2009 poverty guidelines, resulting in an adverse effect on potential and actual program beneficiaries. An explanatory statement in the December 16, 2009 Congressional Record described the first legislative provision to delay the publication of the 2010 guidelines as a “freeze” of the guidelines at 2009 levels “in order to prevent a reduction in eligibility for certain means-tested programs, including Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and child nutrition * * *.” (Congressional Record (House), December 16, 2009, p. H15370).

Legislation to further delay the publication of the 2010 poverty guidelines beyond May 31, 2010, did not pass Congress. Accordingly, HHS is publishing poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010 in this notice. These 2010 guidelines will remain in effect until HHS publishes the 2011 poverty guidelines, which is expected to occur in late January 2011.

If HHS had published the 2010 poverty guidelines in late January 2010, on the normal schedule, the update would have been based on the 2008 Census Bureau poverty thresholds and the percentage change in the annual average CPI-U from calendar year 2008 to calendar year 2009 (the period from January through December 2009). Since the publication of the 2010 poverty guidelines was delayed through May 31, 2010, HHS is basing this update on the 2008 Census Bureau poverty thresholds–which remain the most recent published thresholds available–and the percentage change in the average CPI-U from calendar year 2008 to the period beginning with January 2009 and ending on May 31, 2010. The average CPI-U for the January 2009-May 2010 period was 0.042 percent higher than the annual average CPI-U for calendar year 2008. (The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 requires that the starting point for the update of the poverty guidelines shall be the latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds, rather than the previous HHS poverty guidelines.) The percentage increase in the CPI-U was so small that after the rounding procedures used in the guidelines calculation, the guidelines for the remainder of 2010 showed no change from the 2009 guidelines.

The poverty guidelines are calculated each year using the latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds as the starting point. They are not calculated from the previous year’s poverty guidelines. As a result, the level of next year’s poverty guidelines–the 2011 guidelines–will not be affected by the way in which these 2010 poverty guidelines were calculated.

The poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010 are provided below. The guideline figures shown represent annual income. These guidelines will remain in effect until HHS publishes the 2011 poverty guidelines, which is expected in late January 2011.

2010 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia

(SEE PDF VERSION FOR TABLE)

2010 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska

(SEE PDF VERSION FOR TABLE)

2010 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii

(SEE PDF VERSION FOR TABLE)

Dated: July 30, 2010.
Kathleen Sebelius,
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2010-19129 Filed 7-30-10; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4151-05-P

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