Welcoming Week - My Perspective

September 13th - 22nd is Welcoming Week, a celebration of communities bringing together neighbors of all backgrounds to build strong connections between organizations and communities to achieve collective prosperity. This week is meant to put forth a welcoming attitude everyone, regardless of school of thought; race, gender, group affiliation, etc. traditionally it takes on a special meaning for our immigrant communities. As a conservative Christian, who believes in our Constitution and its foundation on Judeo- Christian values, I get lots of questions about my profession as an immigration attorney. The answer is simple. I’m called to love my neighbors, to defend the weak and the fatherless, to show Christ’s love to those who differ from me. To me, my profession, at its core, is the perfect Christ-centered, servant minded, affirmation of this. I have assisted religious organizations with R visas; spouses, fiances, children, and parents of US citizens from all walks of life, as well as those who have been abused by Lawful Permanent Residents or US citizens.

While politics play a role in most aspects of life, and I certainly exercise that right by voting, working with Legislators on changes to laws, etc. I work within the law as it stands to assist those with lawful remedies to remain in the U.S. if they so choose, to gain lawful status here, and to protect those who have been abused or persecuted. As an attorney, the Rules of Professional Responsibility prohibit an attorney from filing a frivolous case. If I am filing it, there is a lawful remedy. I have definitely explained to potential clients that they do not have a remedy at law.

I believe I can assist immigrants with their legal issues and want safety for my family with secure borders. I will continue to expect the government to not impinge on our constitutional rights and to be fiscally responsible with the tax revenue it is given. To me, these are not ideas Being an immigration attorney has benefited me in more ways than I can count. I have been blessed to meet some of the the most genuine and hard working people, many of whom I call friends.

Welcoming Week is all this to me. The perfect celebration of what is meant by love your neighbor.

Peace, Grace and Love,

Desiree

Owner/ Managing Attorney

Business Entity created before Jan, 2024? You have work to do!

Did you know there was a new regulation that required all current businesses, with very few exceptions, to register with FinCEN? This law is called the The Coporate Transparency Act or the CTA. The CTA is an effort to detect and prevent misconduct through the formation of business entities. Think Money Laundering! It requires certain companies to report Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).  As business organizational setup (LLCs and Corporations) is governed by individual states, it was generally thought a clearinghouse for information was needed.  States have different requirements for the disclosure of the owners of the business, therefore one streamlined online submission was created.  Generally speaking, the CTA requires most existing and newly registered entities in the United States to file reports with the federal government regarding their beneficial owners.  These reports will be filed with FinCEN and required compliance began January 1, 2024.

A Beneficial Owner is someone who exercises substantial (directly or indirectly) control over the company and has at least 25% of the ownership in that company. Domestic Companies created or registered to do business in the U.S. before January 1, 2024, will have until January 1, 2025 to file their report. Companies created after January 1, 2024 must file an initial report within 90 calendar days of approval notice.  After January 1. 2025, domestic companies will have 30 days to file the BOI report with FinCEN.

There are some exemptions to this reporting requirements, however, generally speaking, these are very narrow. A full list of these 23 exempted categories may be found at https://www.fincen.gov/boi-faqs#C_2.

Get started with your filing here: https://boiefiling.fincen.gov/.

There are multiple penalties, civil and criminal, for noncompliance with the CTA.  If you have questions on whether this applies to you, who are beneficial owners, or how to submit the form, please schedule a consultation with our office at https://www.gustafsonlawgroup.com/.

(SAVE) Act - Bill Requiring Proof of Citizenship to vote.

It is common knowledge that one must be a U.S. citizen to vote. Possible criminal charges, removal from the United States and the inability to become a naturalized citizen are on the list of probable repercussions of violating this mandate. In spite of this, it is extremely easy to register to vote in most states, additionally, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 did not require confirmation of citizenship status when registering. In Indiana, it’s a question, largely without any notice or explanation, upon applying for a drivers’ license. The argument has been, that you are attesting you are eligible to vote by saying yes to being registered, under a penalty of perjury. You can evaluate how this meshes with the new signing pads at local motor vehicle offices where you are not able to read what you’re signing. The fact is, most people, but especially those who cannot read English, or English is a second language will not ask for a written copy of what they are supposed to be signing.

Federally, a bill has been introduced aimed at authenticating citizenship before casting a federal ballot. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act, would require proof of citizenship before casting a ballot as well as require states to check their voter rolls for registered non-citizens.. This bill passed the House but is unlikely to pass the Democrat controlled Senate. Pres. Biden has stated he will certainly veto, if it makes it to his desk. It is argued the burden of providing citizenship proof is unduly burdensome. It is interesting to note, many states and local governments have adopted rules that allow citizens without citizenship to participate in local elections, these include; Oakland; Takoma Park, Maryland; and Burlington, Vermont. As election season gets closer, we are likely to hear more on these types of topics.

Keeping Families Together

This week the Biden Administration’s wildly anticipated Keeping Families Together Program was launched. This program allows those who do not currently have parole and are present in the United States without an admission, to apply for parole in the United States with the thought that eventually they can apply for lawful permanent resident status. This program specifically is available to those persons who meet the description above (physically present without parole and no lawful admission) for 10 years as of June 17, 2024 and have a legally valid marriage to a U.S. Citizen on or before June 17, 2024. As you can imagine, there are some qualifications, including no disqualifying criminal history or otherwise be considered a threat to national security.

This relief is also available to step children of U.S. citizens if they are unmarried and under the age of 21 as of June 17, 2024 with the qualifying marriage occurring before the child turned 18. Additionally, the 10 years of physical presence does not apply to step-children but they do have to be free of disqualifying criminal convictions.

Many may not be aware, adjustment without the parole hoop, is already available to those who are in a bona fide marriage to a U.S. citizen and had a lawful entry or admission. Admission is a legal term of art and is defined in statute. Both processes will undergo full inadmissibility analysis if they decide to apply for Legal Permanent Resident status, which is usually undertaken with a concurrent filing in the latter case.

It is important to note, Parole in Place has been around for a while for other populations (think US citizen children who have enlisted in active duty; their parents may be eligible) and it is discretionary. This means the local USCIS office has full discretion to deny without even issuing an RFE (Request for Evidence) or NOID (Notice of Intent to Deny). The Application packet should consider providing evidence of favorable discretion such as community ties, volunteer work, length of presence in the U.S. or other positive factors.

Outside of the normal; form not being available until the last minute, the clunkiness of USCIS government online filing (and their insistence it be filed online) and the crashing of the system mid day on the first day, the program is up and running!