Q. The U.S. State Department has launched a new web site to help individuals bring children from abroad here for adoption. The new site, www.adoption.state.gov, provides an excellent explanation of the rules for bringing adopted or orphaned children to the United States. Usually, this involves U.S. citizens adopting orphans.
A. U.S. citizen - married or unmarried and at least age 25 - may bring an orphan to the U.S. without prior physical custody by the parent. The site provides information about U.S. immigration rules and country-specific procedures.
Lottery day over for another year
Time has run out for you to enter this year’s diversity visa green card lottery. The deadline was Monday, December 1, noon Eastern Standard Time. To have entered the DV-2010 green card lottery, you should have gone to https://www.travel.state.gov/ and click on “Diversity Lottery Instructions.” You could only enter via the Internet.
Countries whose natives were NOT eligible for the lottery this year included Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan ARE eligible.
Can I work pending asylum application
Q. My asylum application is pending. Can I get employment authorization?
I filed an asylum application in August 2008. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not grant me asylum but instead sent the case to immigration court. My first hearing there was the first week of November. The judge adjourned my case until August 2009. I thought that if my case was pending for 150 days, I could apply for employment authorization, but my lawyer says the “clock” is stopped.
- T., New York
A. The law says that an asylum applicant may apply for employment authorization 150 after filing an application. Then, if the case is still pending, USCIS will grant authorization after 30 days. Therefore, in practice, an asylum case must be pending 180 days for an applicant to get employment authorization.
The 180-day clock can be stopped for a variety of reasons. For example, if you or your lawyer asked for a postponement for any reason. A denial of an asylum claim also stops the clock.
Applying for asylum was once an easy way to get USCIS employment authorization. Then, in 1994, the then Immigration and Naturalization Service created the 180-day clock rule to discourage frivolous applications. The change forced the INS to speed up asylum adjudications. Then, in 1996, Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to make the 180 rule part of our asylum laws.
Your case provides two good lessons for individuals considering applying for asylum. First, if you apply for asylum and the USCIS asylum examiner doesn’t think you have proven that you have a “well-founded fear” of persecution, you’ll end up in deportation proceedings. Second, applying for asylum is no guarantee that you’ll get employment authorization.
Of course, if you already are in deportation proceedings and you fear persecution in your homeland, apply for asylum. At that point, you have little to lose.
Once a citizen, can I change my name?
Q. Can I change my name so when I become a U.S. citizen my name will be shorter? My last name is 18 letters long. I have problems everywhere. I have been a permanent resident for five years and plan to apply to naturalize.
- R.S., Brooklyn
A. You can change your name as part of the naturalization process. Part 1, Section D of the N-400, Application for Naturalization, asks, “Would you like to legally change your name?” You can check “yes” and write in the name you wish to appear on your naturalization certificate.
For a legal name change to occur when you naturalize, you must be sworn in as a U.S. citizen by a federal judge or magistrate rather than by a USCIS officer. In New York, that is usually how a person is sworn in, but to be sure, you should confirm that you would be sworn in in federal court.
Allan Wernick is a lawyer and director of the City University of New York Citizenship and Immigration Project. He is the author of “U.S. Immigration and Citizenship - Your Complete Guide, Revised 4th Edition.” Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, Daily News, 450 West 33rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10001. Professor Wernick’s web site is www.allanwernick.com.
Allan Wernick’s Immigration column is reprinted from the Thursday, October 16 edition of the New York Daily News.