EXECUTIVE ACTION: What Does It Mean For You?

Yesterday evening President Obama announced a series of executive actions to help expand available options to a large number of immigrants in the U.S. If you would like to know if you, your family, or your friends can benefit from these changes, please refer to the following information.

Key Points of the Executive Action

The President’s initiatives include:

• Allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, provided they pass required background checks and other requirements.

• Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to young people who came to this country before turning 16 years old and have been present since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years.

• Creating pre-registration for Adjustment of Status. Individuals with an approved employment-based immigrant petition who are caught in the quota backlogs will be able to pre-register for adjustment of status to obtain the benefits of a pending adjustment, such as employment authorization. 

• Expanding the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens 

• Allowing certain investors to be paroled into the U.S., or be granted parole in place if already in the United States, for job creation. Also, entrepreneurs, researchers, inventors, and founders will be eligible for national interest waivers.

Some of these initiatives will be implemented over the next several months and some will take longer, at least until spring of 2015. While USCIS is not accepting requests or applications at this time, if you believe you may be eligible for one of the initiatives listed above, you can prepare by gathering documents that establish your:

• Identity;
• Relationship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; and
• Continuous residence in the United States over the last five years or more.

Beware of Scams

These initiatives have not yet been implemented, and the government is not accepting any requests or applications at this time. Beware of anyone who offers to help you submit an application or a request for any of these actions before they are available. You could become a victim of an immigration scam.

Please call or e-mail our office to obtain updates as we receive new information.

DHS Announces Temporary Protected Status Designations for Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone

The Department of Homeland Security recently released the following announcement: 

Due to the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has announced his decision to designate Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months.  As a result, eligible nationals of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone who are currently residing in the United States may apply for TPS with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Federal Register notices provide details and procedures for applying for TPS and are available at www.uscis.gov/tps.

The TPS designations for the three countries are effective Nov. 21, 2014 and will be in effect for 18 months. The designations mean that eligible nationals of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone (and people without nationality who last habitually resided in one of those three countries) will not be removed from the United States and are authorized to work and obtain an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The 180-day TPS registration period begins Nov. 21, 2014 and runs through May 20, 2015.

To be eligible for TPS, applicants must demonstrate that they satisfy all eligibility criteria, including that they have been “continuously residing” in the United States since Nov. 20, 2014 and “continuously physically present in” the United States since Nov. 21, 2014.  Applicants also undergo thorough security checks.  Individuals with certain criminal records or who pose a threat to national security are not eligible for TPS. The eligibility requirements are fully described in the Federal Register notices and on the TPS Web page at www.uscis.gov/tps 

Liberians currently covered under the two-year extension of Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) based on President Obama’s Sept. 26, 2014 memorandum may apply for TPS. If they do not apply for TPS within the initial 180-day registration period, they risk being ineligible for TPS because they will have missed the initial registration period. Liberians covered by DED who already possess or have applied for an EAD do not need to also apply for one related to this TPS designation. However, such individuals who are granted TPS may request a TPS-related EAD at a later date as long as the TPS designation for Liberia remains in effect.

Applicants may request that USCIS waive any or all fees based on demonstrated inability to pay by filing Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, or by submitting a written request. Fee-waiver requests must be accompanied by supporting documentation. USCIS will reject any TPS application that does not include the required filing fee or a properly documented fee-waiver request.

All USCIS forms are free. Applicants can download these forms from the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov/forms or request them by calling USCIS toll-free at 1-800-870-3676.

NEW Florida Business Opportunity: Own your own Ice Cream and Sweet Shoppe!

Business purchase opportunity–A client of the law firm has asked us to post the following information about the sale of an ice cream and sweet shoppe:

After recently receiving her green card, the owner is wishing to sell her business in Southwest Florida. The business is a well-known national ice cream franchise and confectionery business, located in a mall and anchored by major tenants.

This shoppe offers customers an impressive selection of fine confections and ice cream, all in an enjoyable, service-oriented atmosphere and is designed to give a warm welcome and a nostalgic nod to the good ol’ days of old-fashioned sweet shoppes. From fine chocolates, handmade fudge, and caramel apples, to their own original recipe ice cream, the shoppe offers a selection of quality confections.

Annual revenues are $400,000, allowing the owner to have a salary of $75,000 (including benefits). Low staffing requirements. Equipped with full remote camera monitoring system. Appliances and leasehold improvements are in excellent condition.  The business is well-suited for a couple working part-time. Owner is willing to train Buyer on operations. Priced between $450,000-$550,000.

For franchises, this shoppe offers a successful, modern business backed by years of experience.

For more information, please call (514) 947-1993 or e-mail kamal@mekhal.com.

President Due to Issue an Executive Order Regarding Immigration

There is nothing official about helping “illegal” immigrants; but there is real hope.

President Obama is expected to announce—perhaps as early as this week—a temporary relief program  for almost 4 million people  from the fear of deportation and qualify for work permits. As president he does not have the authority to change the U.S. Immigration laws; but he  can order changes in how the law is applied—at least for the next two years.

 But it takes the U.S.  Congress  to change the Immigration laws with the agreement of the President. At this time, Congress does not seem willing to pass a new law to help the some 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. Most Republican members of Congress are also objecting to the President’s plan by threatening not to make money available to pay for the cost of implementing it.

The order that is expected from the President would halt deportation fears for about 3.3 million immigrants who are either married to a U.S. citizen or are the parent of a U.S. citizen child and have been in the U.S. for at least 5 years.

 The White House is also considering expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which helped about 600,000 young immigrants who came to the U.S. prior to their 16^th birthday.  The expansion could help another 700,000 young people.  There is also discussion to allow parents of DACA children to qualify for deportation relief.

 It is important to know that this hope is not yet in effect nor will it be a permanent solution for those currently illegal in the U.S. Some unscrupulous  people—some call themselves “notarios”—are claiming they can already register illegals for the new policy the President has indicated he may order soon.

For the latest actual status of  any new Immigration policy, we suggest you check with the Jaensch  Immigration Law Firm website: www.visaamerica.com or call us at (941) 366-9841.

Lufthansa Announces Direct Flights for Tampa-Frankfurt!

Lufthansa will make Tampa its newest U.S. destination, launching nonstop flights to Frankfurt next fall.

Starting Sept. 25, the carrier will fly four weekly wintertime flights on the route. Lufthansa will increase that to five a week for its summer schedule. Lufthansa will use Airbus A340-300 jets on the route, which will become the airline’s third to Florida. Lufthansa already flies to Miami and Orlando.

“We’re delighted that our passengers will soon be able to fly in comfort, non-stop from the West Coast of Florida to Frankfurt,” Lufthansa CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt says in a statement. “We’re expecting the new direct connection to elicit huge interest and demand, especially from leisure travelers.”

Tampa also appears to become the first destination to get service on Lufthansa’s A340 aircraft that are reconfigured in a 298-seat layout targeted toward leisure markets. Lufthansa is rolling out the higher-density set-up to seven of its older, four-engine A340s.

There will be no first class cabin on the reconfigured aircraft, but they will include 18 of Lufthansa’s updated lie-flat business class seats. There will be 280 seats in coach, including 19 in Lufthansa’s just-launched Premium Economy section.

Carsten Spohr, CEO of the broader Lufthansa Group holding company that includes Lufthansa as well as subsidiaries Austrian, Swiss and Germanwings, discussed Lufthansa’s reconfigured A340s with Today in the Sky on Monday.

“This is basically maintaining and extending the operation of our 340-300s in the fleet,” Spohr said to Today in the Sky from the carrier’s offices in New York’s Empire State Building.

Spohr said the reconfigured aircraft will be used “partly … on routes which are loss-making now and partly taking on some new routes,” of which Tampa becomes one of the first.

Despite the increased seating capacity on its A340s, Spohr said “this will be the full Lufthansa product. (We) will just be reducing the number of premium seats to 18 business-class seats, leaving room for more than 280 economy and premium economy seats.”

Spohr said “that’s enough for us to enlarge our network” by allowing the carrier to fly to more leisure-focused markets that may not have enough demand for the carrier’s high-end first class seating.

As for Tampa International, the carrier lauded the new route to Frankfurt.

“This is a huge win for the Tampa Bay region,” Joe Lopano, CEO of Tampa International Airport, says in a statement. “Lufthansa is one of the best-run and profitable airlines in the industry and their investment in this community is testament to the strength of our international travel market.”

Tampa International noted that Lufthansa can offer connections via Frankfurt to more than 145 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

SOURCE: USA TODAY