OC Immigration Attorney

Our client’s case was approved this morning after an interview with USCIS in Santa Ana. My clients live in Newport Coast in Orange County. The husband is a United States Citizen, and the wife is from Australia. They met a few years ago while the wife was visiting the United States. After she returned to Australia, they remained in contact, and he visited her on three occasions. In April 2010, she visited him in the United States. Although she intended to merely visit with him, they decided to get married. In July 2010, the couple married.

In August, we filed for adjustment of status to change the wife’s status to lawful permanent residence so that she could stay and work legally in the United States. I attended the interview with the couple in Santa Ana, and everything went smoothly. The USCIS officer asked several questions about the couple’s relationship, and after approximately 30 minutes, she approved the case.

The couple is excited to move forward with their lives together in Orange County.

If you are considering the adjustment of status process based on marriage, contact The Nunez Firm to schedule a consultation with managing attorney Jay Nunez.

David Neumeister, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court
Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Judge Neumeister in December 2010. Judge
Neumeister received a bachelor of arts degree in 1973 and a master of arts degree in English in
1978, both from California State University, Dominguez Hills and a juris doctorate in 1980 from
Southwestern University School of Law. From 1980 to December 2010, he was in private
practice in Bakersfield, Calif., exclusively practicing immigration law since 1982. Judge
Neumeister is a member of the State Bar of California.

Lee A. O’Connor, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court
Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Judge O’Connor in December 2010. Judge
O’Connor received a bachelor of arts degree in 1981 from the University of California, Berkeley,
and a juris doctorate in 1984 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. From 1999 to December
2010, he was the directing attorney of the Immigrants’ and Language Rights Center at Indiana
Legal Services Inc. From 1994 to 1999, he was senior attorney for the Legal Aid Society of San
Diego, Inc. During that time, Judge O’Connor was a judge pro tem for the San Diego Municipal
Court. From 1998 to 1999, he served as an adjunct professor of immigration law in the paralegal
program at Southwestern Community College, Chula Vista, Calif. From 1988 to 1994, he was a
staff attorney for the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, Inc. During that
time, from 1993 to 1994, Judge O’Connor was a judge pro tem for the Los Angeles Municipal
Court. From 1985 to 1988, he was staff attorney for the Center for Human Rights and
Constitutional Law in Los Angeles. From 1984 to 1985, Judge O’Connor was an associate with
Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolf & Levanas in Los Angeles. Judge O’Connor is a
member of the State Bar of California and the Indiana State Bar.

Rachel A. Ruane, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court
Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Judge Ruane in December 2010. Judge Ruane
received a bachelor of arts degree in 1997 from Wesleyan University and a juris doctorate in
2001 from Emory University School of Law. From October 2003 to December 2010, she served
as deputy chief counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Office of the Chief Counsel in Los Angeles, Calif. From 2002 to 2003, she was an
attorney advisor for the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
in Los Angeles, Calif. From 2001 to 2002, she worked as a judicial law clerk for EOIR in
Boston. Judge Ruane is a member of the State Bar of Massachusetts.

We received good news that our premium processing of an L-1B application was approved without a request for additional evidence. The employee is currently working for our corporate client in their office in Poland. He has been working at that office for the past three years, which is more than the required 1 year of employment necessary for the L-1B intra-company transfer.

Because of his superior grasp of the company’s product, the company wants to transfer him to the corporate headquarters in the Southern California. Although we were confident that the case was approvable, we were afraid that USCIS might issue a request for additional evidence, which has been a growing trend with the USCIS California Service Center. The California Service Center has been issuing cumbersome and overly broad requests for evidence for L-1B cases in the last year. We were happily surprised when we received the approval notice.

The employee will schedule his consular interview in Poland. Assuming all goes well at that interview, he will be able to move to the US in early 2011.

If you or your company are interested in pursuing foreign-born employees, contact The Nunez Firm to schedule a free consultation. Managing attorney Jay Nunez will personally discuss your company’s employment needs and help you better understand the process involved.

We recently received the good news that H-1B status was approved for a new employee of one of our corporate clients in Southern California. The employee was already working in the United States in L-1 status for another company located in Ohio. Our corporate client hired him as a business systems analyst because of his extensive knowledge with information technologies. He has Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Pune in India.

We filed the necessary forms for his wife and him with the California Service Center under premium processing, in order to cut back on any delays and allow the employee to start working as soon as possible. We were happy to receive the approval within a week. The client and the employee were very happy, and he plans to start at his new job soon.

If you or your company needs help with an employment-based immigration case, contact The Nunez Firm to schedule a free consultation. Managing attorney Jay Nunez will discuss your case with you and help you better understand the process, timeline and fees associated.

This morning the naturalization application was approved for a client living in San Juan Capistrano. She is originally from South Korea. She obtained her lawful permanent resident status through employment. She previously applied for naturalization a few years ago. The officer questioned whether she still worked for her employer, and she responded “no.” The naturalization application was denied when USCIS referred the case to the immigration court accusing her of fraudulently obtaining her permanent residence through employment.

The immigration court eventually dismissed the case finding that there was no evidence that she fraudulently obtained her green card.

I assisted her with her second naturalization application. At the interview, I explained the situation regarding the immigration court proceedings to the USCIS officer. We brought copies of the judge’s order dismissing the case. The officer was satisfied that my client was eligible to naturalize, and he approved the case.

The client was very pleased with the result and how smoothly the application processed. She will likely attend the naturalization oath ceremony in January.

If you are considering the naturalization process, call The Nunez Firm to schedule a free consultation. Managing attorney Jay Nunez will personally discuss your case with you and help you understand the process and any potential issues facing you.

CLE Law Review has invited managing attorney Jay Nunez to speak at its CLE event on immigration law on December 7, 2010. The event will take place in Orange, California. Jay Nunez will be speaking along with Brian Lerner, a fellow immigration attorney from Los Angeles, at the event.

The event, entitled Immigration Law Fundamentals, will cover a wide range of topics for beginning immigration attorneys. The cost of the program is $295; you can register for the event  here.

The all-day class will cover the following topics:

• Introduction to Legal Immigration Law
• Family Based Visas
• Victims of Crime Visas & VAWA
• Employment based Visas
• Asylum, Withholding of Removal and CAT
• Inadmissibility and Removal Proceedings
• Immigration Law Issues and Ethics