If a child is under the age of 16 and cannot qualify for permanent residence through his or her own family, adoption by a U.S. citizen or green card holder might be an excellent means for the child to obtain permanent residence—even if both parents of the child are still alive.

The prevailing wisdom at the USCIS is that a high percentage of marriage cases are fraudulent. Even those that have a legitimate case often have to fight for respect from the USCIS because of the false cases.

An immediate relative is actually an appropriately named category.

Family-based petitions are probably the largest group of permanent residence petitions.

We are at a milestone in U.S. immigration history. It has been front-page news that Congress is attempting to resolve the issue of illegal aliens.

The REAL ID Act will create very significant problems for aliens without valid status.

As of March 1, 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ceased to exist. With the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the largest restructuring of the federal government in the past fifty years occurred.

The change with possibly the biggest impact may have been the demise of Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Immigration laws are in constant flux. While it is popular to blame the USCIS for its harsh treatment of aliens, it must be kept in mind that they are only carrying out the laws enacted by Congress and signed by the president.

Before discussing the specific eligibility categories in Section 2 of this book, it will be helpful to provide some orientation as to where an application is filed.

It is important to fully understand some of the terms that are used most frequently in any immigration process.

A good place to begin is to understand the different types of immigration status, including your own. Every person in the U.S. has an immigration status. It is one of the following, in rough order of preference.