SPECIAL PROGRAM

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Do you Qualify for a Green Card through a Special Program?

At the Law offices of Brian T. O’Neill, we help immigrants qualify for benefits under special programs. Some of the programs like Asylum or NACARA, allow our clients to move directly to permanent resident status. Others such as Temporary Protected Status, offer only short term benefits. A temporary visa, however, can often protect you from deportation, allow you to work legally in the USA and become a springboard to earning green cards for you and your family. Even if you never heard of certain programs, at the Law offices of Brian T. O’Neill, were ready to evaluate your eligibility and guide you through any program which provides benefits to you and your family.

HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION PROGRAMS

For some immigrants, leaving their country is a life or death situation. Some Immigration Programs offer assistance to these individuals

• Asylum (clients must prove the have a legitimate fear of persecution in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group)
• Temporary Protected Status (this program allows immigrants from countries in turmoil to live and work temporarily in the USA. The turmoil may be due to a huge national disaster or major civil war. When the home country conditions improve, the right to stay in the USA ends)

ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS

Since immigrants are easy targets for criminal, some programs have been designed to protect victims of abuse and cruelty.

• Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (sometimes US citizens or lawful permanent residents take advantage of their status and abuse their immigrant spouse and children. The abusers withhold petitions to
  immigrate their family members. If we can prove the history of extreme cruelty, under the Violence Against Women Act, clients will be allowed to obtain permanent resident status on their own, without the abusers consent)
• Temporary Visas from Trafficking Victims (Trafficking is the use of coercion, deception or force for the purpose of placing men, women or children in slavery like conditions. For such immigrants of trafficking, the
  government has created special ‘U’ and ‘T’ visas)

COUNTRY SPECIFIC PROGRAMS

From time to time programs are created to benefit immigrants from specific countries due to political, social and economic reasons.

• NACARA (generally the first part id for immigrants from Nicaragua and Cuba. Second pertains to immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as immigrants from the former Soviet Union bloc countries)
• Cuban Adjustment Act (immigrants from Cuba apply for permanent resident status if they have been present in the USA for ‘one year and one day’, if they have been either admitted or paroled by the US government. Nearly all Cubans are allowed admission or parole if they reach the shores of the USA and they express fear of returning to Cuba)
• Visas for Iraqi Employees (July 2008, the USA implemented a new program to help Iraqi employees of the USA obtain visas and US citizenship. To qualify, Iraqi immigrants have to prove they worked on behalf of the USA for at least one year and face threats due to their assistance to the USA)

OTHER PERMANENT RESIDENT PROGRAMS

Because immigration Law is tied to international events, various programs emerge over time to meet special concerns of the US government.

• Registry (immigrant who have lived in the USA since 1972 may qualify for permanent resident benefits. It does not matter how you arrived, whether you crossed the border without proper documents or entered on a tourist visa and decided to remain in the USA. You must prove you are a person of good moral character and having lived in the USA since 1972)
• Diversity Lottery (to qualify, you must have been born in a country with a low rate of immigration to the USA. Each year 55,000 visas are made available through the Diversity Lottery Program and the program randomly selects applicants who can apply for a green card)

Call the Law office of Brian T. O’Neill at 617-722-4000 or contact us online. We will gladly answer your questions or schedule a consultation.

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