THE YEARLY IMMIGRATION CHECK
The United States Immigration system is one of a kind. Apart from the fact that applicants must wait as long as 20 years to be able to obtain legal status it is also one that is ever changing.
Today you complete qualify for an immigration benefit. Today your priority date is current. Today you are able to travel and be reclassified upon your return. Today your conviction makes you inadmissible. But tomorrow something will happen. Tomorrow a case will be ruled. Tomorrow immigration authorities will change their policies. Tomorrow you may qualify for something or no longer qualify for anything.
THAT IS HOW UNPREDICTABLE IMMIGRATION LAW CAN BE!
My advice. Do a yearly immigration law check just as you do with a yearly medical physical exam. What happens in a physical exam? You check to make sure you are still healthy. Your annual medical check consists of a series of routine tests performed on you by your doctor to screen for diseases and to determine the general state of your physical health.
Well apply that same concept to immigration law. Check on a yearly basis and consult with an attorney to see if anything has changed from the last time someone reviewed your case. Have an immigration attorney screen your case for possible changes in the law, court decisions, or administrative rulings that may now favor you.
One good example that we can think of is the 2021 Supreme Court case in Sanchez v. Mayorkas in which the Supreme Court had ruled that a grant of TPS is not an “admission” for adjustment of status purposes. What a bummer right? But then just recently in July 2022, USCIS announced that TPS beneficiaries who had been inspected and admitted will be able to apply for adjustment of status under INA 245(a) and INA 245(k) even if the TPS beneficiary was present without admission or parole when initially granted TPS.
This is how quickly things can change in 1 year. So, whatever you do, don’t give up!