Author Archives: Andrés E. Martínez, ESQ.

Hello, my name is Andrés Martínez, Immigration Attorney here at Bailey & Galyen. February is the month of love. But many Americans are not able to celebrate with their true love, because they may be found overseas.

Luckily, Bailey & Galyen can help you. We help many US Citizens petition for their wives or their fiancees with a K-Visa. The K-Visa process is a two-step process. The first, is to petition your spouse found overseas, or your fiancee with a fiance petition. Then, after a few months, once that petition is approved, you have 120 days to then do the consular processing step. In the consular processing step, your fiance or spouse would interview in the US Consulate in the country where they reside. After that, the fiance then gets approved and gets to come to the US. The applicant then has 90 days to marry the US Citizen. If the two parties marry, then they can apply for the Green Card.

Right now, K-Visas are very popular. Luckily, USCIS has shortened their time frames to expedite these processes. However, many people are filing for K-Visas, causing some delays.

I encourage you to visit with us so we can explore the K-Visa process. We have worked with many US Consular offices in many countries, and we can definitely help you get your loved one here.

Hello, my name is AAndrés Martínez, Immigration Attorney at Bailey & Galyen, today I want to talk to you about the L visa for Intracompany Transferees.

The L visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables a US company to transfer an employee from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the US.

The L1A visa is for executives and managers, while the L1B is for foreign employees with specialized knowledge being transferred to their company’s US office. With either visa, the foreign employee can immigrate with their spouse and children.

The US company and the foreign company must have a qualifying relationship, that is, one has to be the subsidiary, branch, or parent company of the other. And the foreign employee must demonstrate one year of employment in the last three years prior to applying.

In the last few years, US Citizenship and Immigration Services has been scrutinizing L visa applications. This is not a project that you should undertake on your own.

I encourage you to contact us to set up a consultation to evaluate your company’s likelihood of sponsoring an employee abroad through the L visa. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Andrés Martínez, Immigration attorney here at Bailey and Galyen. Today, I want to talk to you about the new Public Charge policy taking effect on October 15 of this year.

This new policy will make it more difficult for individuals applying for Adjustment of Status to obtain their permanent resident card. The Department of Homeland Security will be able to take into consideration many factors of an applicant’s life to determine if they are worthy of becoming a US resident, such factors include: the applicant’s age, health, education level, English-speaking ability, the applicant’s credit score, whether or not they’ve filed taxes, financial status, size of family, skills and employment, among others. Moreover, the new rule will define a public charge as a person who receives any number of public benefits for more than a total of 12 months over any 36-month period of time. Such public benefits include Medicaid, SNAP, Section 8 housing, and cash aid such as TANF and SSI.

Remember that this new rule will mainly impact those seeking permanent resident status through family member petitions. It does not affect individuals who are already residents who are trying to naturalize.

Please come see us so we can discuss this new law and the effects on your case.

Hello, my name is Andrés Martínez, Immigration attorney here at Bailey and Galyen. Today, I want to talk to you about Military Parole in Place, or PIP for short.

Military PIP allows a foreign national who entered the US without authorization to obtain status for one year. Parole is considered a lawful immigration status for purposes of certain immigration benefits, such as obtaining a Green card.

You may be eligible for PIP if you are the spouse, widow, parent, son or daughter of:

An active-duty member of the US armed forces;

An individual in the Selected Reserve or the Ready Reserve; or

A military veteran (living or deceased) so long as the service man or woman was not dishonorably discharged

The Trump administration is seeking to terminate the PIP program, so if you believe you are eligible, come see me to discuss your situation.

I encourage you to call our offices to schedule a consultation with me. Thank you.