What Happens After My Asylum Is Approved? A Guide to Life as an Asylee in the United States
When the U.S. government grants your asylum application, it’s a major victory – and the start of an entirely new chapter. Many newly approved asylees ask the same question: “What happens after my asylum is approved?” 1. You Are Immediately Authorized to Work in the United States. Once asylum is approved, you are automatically eligible…
Traffic Tickets and the N-400: What Naturalization Applicants Must Disclose
A common question that I receive from clients preparing to file Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, is whether they need to disclose traffic tickets or other routine moving violations. Many people assume that a speeding ticket—or a citation that resulted only in a fine—is simply too minor to matter. In most cases, the ticket itself…
New Public Charge Guidance: How the State Department’s Expanded Health and Financial Review May Affect Visa Applicants
Recent reporting confirms that the U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued new internal guidance—via a cable distributed to consular posts worldwide—significantly expanding how consular officers evaluate visa applicants under the public charge ground of inadmissibility (INA §212(a)(4)). Although the statute itself has not changed, this directive reshapes the analysis by placing far heavier weight…
Bringing an Interpreter to Your USCIS Interview: Rules You Should Know
If you have an upcoming interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — such as for Adjustment of Status (green card) or Naturalization (citizenship) — it’s important to understand who can serve as your interpreter and what the current rules are. You Must Bring Your Own Interpreter USCIS generally requires applicants who need language…
USCIS Introduces New $1,000 Immigration Parole Fee — What You Need to Know
On October 16, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new Immigration Parole Fee following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Under this law, any person paroled into the United States under INA §212(d)(5)(A) must pay a $1,000 fee, unless a specific statutory exception applies. This new requirement applies to all…
Dual Citizenship
In the simplest of terms, Dual Citizenship is when you have citizenship in two countries. For those who are planning to immigrate to the United States and eventually naturalize, this would mean retaining citizenship in their home country after naturalization. However not all countries will recognize Dual Citizenship, and some citizens may have to renounce…
Citizenship Series Part 5: Deriving Citizenship when Your Parents were Legally Separated
Naturalization of Parent Having Legal Custody Where There Has Been a Legal Separation of the Parents: The USCIS phrase may sound complex, but this path to Derived Citizenship applies to children whose parents were divorced or legally separated. The key factor is “Legal Custody.” In this post, we’ll break down what counts as Legal Custody…
Citizenship Series Part 4: Deriving Citizenship with One Naturalized Parent
Derivative Citizenship is possible for those who only have one Naturalized Parent, but this is reserved for those in special circumstances. There are only three (3) situations in which having one Naturalized Parent may qualify you for Derivative Citizenship: In this Part of the series we will be discussing situation 1. Naturalization of a Surviving…
Citizenship Series Part 3: Derived Citizenship
In the two previous parts of this series, we discussed Acquired Citizenship under the Child Citizen Act of 2000 (CCA). It is understandable that you might feel it is unfair or arbitrary that the CCA applies only to children born on or after February 27, 2001, or those who were under 18 years of age…
Citizenship Series Part 2: Automatic Acquisition of Citizenship after Birth
As discussed by Part 1, there are 4 specific conditions that must be met on or after February 27, 2001: In this part of the Citizenship Series, we will discuss the specifics of these requirements and whether they may be applicable to you. In the event all these conditions were met before your 18th birthday,…
