IMMIGRATION CHARTS AND GRAPHS

Simplifying And Demystifying Immigration Law

Understanding immigration rules can be difficult.

We’d like to help you out.  We know lawyer explanations often makes things more confusing.  It’s lawyer talk.  It’s part of our training.

So we have designed charts and graphs to help simplify immigration rules, regulations, and concepts.

IMMIGRATION PETITIONS FOR FAMILY MEMBERS

This chart shows which family members you can immigrate to the United States.

There are two columns. The left column is for U.S. citizens.  The right column is for lawful permanent residents.

For more information on immigration family petitions, click here: Immigration Family Petitions And Visas .

DEPORTATION DEFENSE: THE HARDSHIP SPECTRUM

Hardship is often the important concept in cancellation of removal cases and deportation defense trials.

This series of graphs share immigration lawyer Carlos Batara’s view how immigration courts presently assess hardship and how they should assess hardship.

Click here for a complete set of hardship graphs, including the version used by immigration courts: Immigration Hardship Spectrum.

DEPORTATION DEFENSE: INA 212(c)

Section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was eliminated by Congress in the the mid-1990s. Since that time, there had been a major debate over which lawful permanent residents still qualify for defense against defense under this provision.

These charts illustrate both the older approach which had been used by immigration courts to decide 212(c) cases for several years and the newer approach outlined by the Supreme Court in December 2011.

For more information on this issue, click here: Immigration And Nationality Act Section 212(c).

THE LEGACY OF IIRAIRA

For nearly two decades, immigration rules have been increasingly tightened. Avenues for legalization have been restricted or eliminated, especially for immigrants who face the risk of deportation at immigration court.

This set of graphs provide a summary of immigration history and show the role Congress has played in narrowing the opportunities for immigrants to earn permanent residency.

To view the complete set of these graphs, click here: Immigration History: IIRAIRA.

FAMILY UNITY WAIVERS: I-601 HARDSHIP FACTORS

Some media outlets have called I-601 waivers the new family unity waivers.

These waivers, if granted by the government, overcome inadmissibility problems for undocumented immigrants seeking to win permanent residency status.

To win these cases, the hardship of U.S. citizen family members must be proven.

There are, at minimum, eight essential factors which can be used to demonstrate your family’s hardship.

For more information about hardship waivers, click here: I-601 Hardship Waivers.

IMMIGRATION DEFENSE TIMELINE

Much of the news about immigration law focuses on issues of deportation.

For example, the proposed prosecutorial discretion measures for immigrant youth, even the I-601 waivers for immigrant spouses, are related to deportation defense.

To an extent, the history of immigration law is the history of deportation law.

As this chart shows, the rules for excusing immigrants who arrived without permission, overstayed their permission, or perhaps violeted a condition of their residency have grown tighter over the years – at the same time as the country’s political policies towards immigrants have grown more restrictive.

For more information, click here: Immigration History: A Deportation Defense Timeline.

SUBMIT YOUR REQUEST

We plan to keep adding new charts and graphs to this section.

If there are any rules or regulations, concepts or data, you would like explained, feel free to submit your questions. Simply submit your request in the box provided at the bottom of this page.

We’ll do our best to address your concerns, and to help you better understand the ins and outs of immigration law.