Immig Judges’ Authority to Administratively Close Restored

The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has restored Administrative Closure as an inherent power of Immigration Court judges, effectively overruling the current administration’s attempt to preclude this standard procedure.  This tool permits adjudication of pending applications by temporarilly suspending immigration court proceedings. This is a very good decision for persons in immigration court proceedings because when there is potential …

EB-5 Q&A: What qualifies as an EB-5 troubled business?

Answer: A troubled business is defined as a business that has been in existence for at least two years, has incurred a net loss for accounting purposes during the twelve-or twenty-four month period prior to the priority date on the foreign investor’s I-526, and the loss for such period is at least equal to twenty percent of the troubled business’s …

Head of Household

Tax – Head of Household (Considered Unmarried) Many married people file their taxes as Head of Household in order to save money, not realizing that there are very strict requirments for such a status.  In order for you to qualify as “considered unmarried” you must meet the following criteria taken directly from the IRS website: Considered Unmarried To qualify for …

Family Can Be Social Group

Family Based Asylum Claim Explained – 4th Circuit The 4th Circuit held: “The BIA and the IJ improperly focused on whether Gomez’s father and brother were threatened due to a protected reason in order to impute such protection to the whole family. This was in error. The correct analysis focuses on Gomez herself as the applicant, and asks whether Gomez …

US 4th Circuit Reverses Deportation based on Virginia Grand Larceny conviction

Omargharib v. Holder – Dec 23, 2014 On December 23, 2014, the US Fourth Circuit Ct of Appeals issued its published opinion in Sayed Omargharib v. Eric Holder, Jr.  remanding  to vacate the IJ’s Removal Order based on conviction under Virginia’s  larceny statute. IBLF attorney Steffanie Jones Lewis presented oral arguments before the panel on September 16, 2014, and an amicus brief was submitted by the Capital …