We Help Protect The One You Love The Most
Immigration law is about families.
Immigration law is about bringing or keeping your loved ones together.
It’s about being able to living, working, and going to school legally in the United States.
It’s about enjoying your parents, your spouse, and your children without the fear that one day your family will be torn apart because of immigration problems.
The road to immigration success is neither simple nor easy.
But that’s where we come in.
For over 20 years, we have assisted immigrants achieve their dreams of family unity.
From helping win immigrant visas, green cards, and citizenship – to fighting deportation and removal – we have one foremost goal.
To help immigrants protect those they love the most.
La Quinta Family, Green Card, And Citizenship Services
Born into a multicultural family, Carlos Batara has a knack for working with immigrants from across the globe, which has enabled him to help clients from over 80 different countries throughout his career.
On behalf of immigrant families, Carlos provides assistance and guidance with all aspects of the family unity triad – family visa petitions, green cards, permanent residence, and citizenship.
Family-Based Family Visas And Petitions
Would you like to bring a family member or fiancee from another country to live in the United States? Are you in the U.S. on a tourist visa, but want to remain here with someone you recently met and fell in love with?
Our La Quinta family immigration services include family visas, same-sex marriage and relative petitions, as well as fiancé/fiancée visas and requests for more evidence.
Green Cards And Permanent Residency
If you’re like most immigrants, becoming a lawful permanent resident is your ticket to a better life. It means you can live, work, and go to school in the United States legally, without fear of deportation.
Our green card services cover all aspects of the permanent residence process. This includes helping you and your family with adjustment of status and consular processing applications. We also take care of related matters, like your affidavit of support, conditional green card, and I-601 family unity waiver needs.
QUESTION AND ANSWER:
Why Is My Husband Being Detained In Immigration Jail Without Any Bond?
“I just got home from my husband’s bond hearing. The government lawyer claimed his drug conviction disqualified him from being released at all. The immigration judge agreed. How can this be? He’s been a lawful permanent resident since he was a young child. He is over 40 years old now. He never went to jail for his crime and this happened a long time ago.”
(Submitted by Gloria D., La Quinta, CA)
Click this link for the complete answer.
Citizenship And Naturalization Services
Are you ready to take the big step to becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen? We’ll be here to help you through each step of the naturalization process. There are many benefits which citizenship offers, such as:
- Protection from deportation and removal
- Ability to freely travel outside the U.S.
- Help certain family members obtain green cards
- The right to vote and hold public office
La Quinta citizenship lawyer Carlos Batara helps clients with all types of citizenship cases, not only naturalization. Such assistance includes handling dual citizenship, derivative citizenship, citizenship by acquisition, and denaturalization matters.
Unlawfully Present Or Out Of Status?
It’s not uncommon for certain terms to confuse individuals applying for immigration benefits like permanent residence or citizenship.
Carlos Batara, as your immigration lawyer, makes it a point to ensure your comprehension of definitions, rules, and regulations which affect the outcome of your case. He believes the more you understand, the better your chances for success
Take, for instance, the distinctions between unlawful presence and out of status:
Unlawful Presence
If the government claims an immigrant is unlawfully present, they are referring to someone who is physically present in the United States without authorization.
This means he or she entered the country without being admitted, paroled, or inspected.
The definition of unlawful presence also includes situations where an immigrant entered using fake documents or providing false information, or remained in the U.S. after the period of his or her temporary visa expired.
Out Of Status (Unlawful Status)
On the other hand, out of status pertains to circumstances when individuals have lost their immigration status due to a violation of their visa terms.
As an example, when immigrants enter the U.S. on visitor visas, they are limited to a six-month stay. If they stay longer, they have violated their visa terms.
Other types of violations include:
- An immigrant who enters on a fiancé visa, but fails to get married within 90 days
- An immigrant who enters on a student visa, but does not enroll in classes
In each of these cases, immigrants are said to be out of status. When referring to such matters, some attorneys use the terminology “unlawful status”.
What’s The Difference?
An immigrant can be out of status but not unlawfully present.
The immigrant who is in the United States on a visitor visa may have exceeded his stay. Before his six months period ended, he applied for an extension. While he waits for a decision, he is out of status, but he is not unlawfully present.
If his extension is granted, his legal visit does not end until the addition time ends. He is no longer considered out of status.
If his extension is not granted, he is not only out of status, but also unlawfully present. It means he is in the U.S. illegally.
Both unlawful status and unlawful presence can lead to being denied eligibility for permanent residence and lead to deportation charges.
Both should not be taken lightly.
Click here for more information on how these issues lead to an adverse impact on the past residence history in green card cases.
La Quinta Immigration Court And Deportation Defense Services
Over the course of his career, Riverside immigration lawyer Carlos Batara has developed a reputation for handling difficult deportation cases for immigrant families living in La Quinta and adjacent communities, cities, and counties.
Defense Against Deportation And Removal
Our deportation defense lawyer services for La Quinta residents include representing you and your family at Immigration Court hearings and trials. Most hearings for La Quinta residents are held in Downtown Los Angeles.
Our services include master calendar immigration hearings, immigration trials, bond hearings, and motions to reopen.
Are there problems in your home country which make it unfeasible for you to return?
Maybe your life would be threatened if you returned, or the conditions due to a natural disaster make it unsafe to go back.
If so, you may be eligible for programs like asylum or temporary protected status.
At your immigration defense hearings, there are other options which may be available for you and your family, such U and T Visas for trafficking victims, or VAWA for abused immigrant spouses and children.
As part of our deportation and removal defense services, we will help you contest adverse decisions of immigration judges, which deny you or your relatives to live legally in the United States.
We handle appeals for immigrants at the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California.
