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Family Immigration: WTH?

January 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Family Immigration Explained: Part I

Because the US government isn’t what we would call good at explaining, in the coming weeks we at QuikHelp will explain the family immigration system. It’s complicated, confusing, and — to the untrained person — it’s impossible to navigate. But QuikHelp is here to make your life easy. So here we go.

The Petitioner

The US Family Immigration system requires that one person petition for another. That is, someone who is a US citizen or a legal permanent resident has to ask for their family member to be allowed to come here. Who they can petition for varies, but in general a US citizen can immigrate their family members faster than a resident, and can immigrate more family members.

A US citizen can immigrate their:

  • husband or wife
  • fiance(e)
  • children who are under 21
  • parents
  • adult children, married or single
  • brothers and sisters

A permanent resident can immigrate their:

  • husband or wife
  • children who are under 21
  • single adult children

The Preference System and “Immediate Relatives”

Who gets to come in and how long it takes depends on what category the immigrant is in.  The Department of State created Preference Categories to divide up the entire pie of potential immigrants.  For example, the spouse of a resident is in Category 2.  The married adult child of a US citizen is in Category 3.  Each category for each country is assigned a limited number of visa per year.  This means that in some countries, depending on the category, there can be a very long wait for a visa.

However, if you are fortunate enough to be an Immediate Relative, you do not have to wait for a visa.  There is a visa available for you whenever you chose to apply.  Immediate Relatives are certain relatives of US citizens, namely:

  • US citizen’s spouse
  • US citizen’s child who is under 21
  • US citizen’s parent

The complete list of Preference Categories is:

  • 1) Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens
  • 2A) Spouses and Children (under 21) of Permanent Residents
  • 2B) Unmarried Children (21 or over) of Permanent Residents
  • 3) Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens
  • 4):  Brothers and Sisters of Citizens

Knowing what category your family member fits into will help you to determine how long of a wait there is.  The wait is determined by the Visa Bulletin, which is published monthly by the Department of State.  The January 2011 Visa Bulletin is here: http://bit.ly/gSeBLN.

Stay tuned for our post next week, which explains the Visa Bulletin and how you can figure out how long it would take to immigrate a family member. Future posts will explain the consular interview process, adjustment of status, and more!

Post your questions as comments.

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Life isn’t fair, but your divorce should be

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When you’re getting a divorce, one of the first things you have to think about is how to divide up the property. All that stuff you’ve accumulated over the years — who gets it? The house? The cars? The debt?

Many people assume you just split it 50/50. Half for me, half for you. Well sure, if you both agree to that there is usually no reason why a court won’t give you that in your Divorce Decree. But if you can’t agree to a division of property, there is no obligation for the Arizona Superior Court to divide your assets in half for you. Instead, the courts make an equitable distribution because Arizona courts are courts of equity.

A court of equity is a court that is guided by the concept of fairness. They is no law that says that the court has to divide your property equally, they just have to divide it equitably.

What’s fair, anyway?

What’s fair or unfair depends on the judge. It is up to the judge to decide what is a fair distribution of your assets and your debts. And it is up to you to convince a judge that what you are asking for is fair.

If your petition is really skewed in your favor and unfairly skewed against your ex-, the judge may not think that is fair and he doesn’t have to give it to you. At the same time, if the judge thinks that it is fair for you to get everything, he can order that as well.

Fairness depends on your particular case. There are many factors that a judge can and will consider: length of marriage, who worked, who didn’t, who went to school, who raised the kids, who committed domestic violence, who moved out five years ago and never kept in touch, and more.

So before you go drawing a line through the middle of the house, remember that the family courts in Arizona are courts of equity. You may get half of the property and debt, or you may not — it all depends on what is fair.

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61 Days to Single: The Arizona Divorce Process

December 24, 2010 By 11 Comments

There are two main types of divorce in Arizona: the Uncontested Divorce and the Contested Divorce. Or, as I often think of it: the easy way and the hard way.

The Easy Way
The easy way is when you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse don’t have anything to fight about in the divorce process. This is often the case when you split up a while ago, or when you were married for so short a time that you didn’t really get a chance to have assets, debts, and children together. This is often an Uncontested Divorce –a divorce in which the other person doesn’t contest, or fight, your request for the divorce.

In simple terms, in an uncontested divorce one of you lets the court know you want a divorce, lets the other person know about the court case, then waits for a certain period of time (60 days minimum in Arizona), and then the judge signs the divorce. Sixty-one days after your started, you’re done!

Of course, nothing in the legal world is that simple. You have to file the right set of papers, follow the requirements of the law about how to let the other person know about the divorce, and watch your deadlines. But, with a little help and know-how, an Uncontested Divorce can be a relatively painless process.

The Hard Way
Unfortunately, in many divorces taking the easy way is not an option. Sometimes you just can’t agree on everything, or there are assets, debts, and children that need to be taken into account. In this case the divorce process is not as simple.

In a contested divorce, the process starts off the same: someone opens the case with the court and has to let the other person know about. The other person then has twenty days to respond. Once the other person responds, then you can ask the court will step in to help.

There are two main processes to go through before you get to a hearing: Mediation and Settlement Conferences. In Mediation you discuss child custody and visitation. In Settlement you discuss division of assets and debts. The two matters – children and money – are handled separately. Anything that cannot be agreed upon during these conferences will get decided in front a judge in a hearing.

While a contested divorce has a few more steps than an uncontested divorce, both processes can be navigated with a little help and know-how.

Knowing which process you are about to go through can go a long way towards helping you to get ready. Ask yourself if you and your spouse need some help coming to an agreement or if you just want to be divorced and be on your way. If you’re going to need the court’s help to come to an agreement about assets, debts, or children, you’re probably facing a contested divorce, so do not plan on being done in sixty days.

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Attorney vs. AZCLDP

December 6, 2010 By 3 Comments

You probably don’t know what an AZCLDP is, and who could blame you? Its one of those acronyms that you skip over when you come across it because you don’t know what it is, and you don’t care.

But you should. Let me tell you why.

An AZCLDP can save you time, money, and a whole lot of headaches. An AZCLDP is an Arizona Certified Legal Document Preparer. “Oh,” you’re thinking, “a paralegal!” No, not a paralegal.

Paralegals are people who work under the supervision of an attorney to help the attorneys with their work. This means that in order to get the services of a paralegal, you have to go through an attorney. A paralegal cannot legally help you on their own. And you and I both know that anytime you go through an attorney, you’re going to pay big bucks.

An AZCLDP, a Legal Document Preparer, can prepare your legal documents without the supervision of an attorney. The Supreme Court of the State of Arizona grants a special license that allows us* to prepare documents on our own, at your request. So if you need something done — a will, a divorce, a law suit – we can do it for you, with the blessing of the Supreme Court.

“Well”, you’re thinking, “then I’m going to fire my attorney and just use an AZCLDP!” Not so fast. There are some things that attorneys can do that a Legal Document Preparer cannot.

First and most importantly, an attorney can give you legal advice, a Legal Document Preparer cannot. This means that if you have a huge hairy problem and you just need someone to tell you what to do, you need to go talk to an attorney. An attorney can give you your options and advise you on which one is the best one for you. A Legal Document Preparer can help you when you already know what you want to do, and just need some help getting it done.

Secondly, an attorney can represent you, a Legal Document Preparer cannot. This means that if you don’t want to or cannot go in front of a judge or just would rather not do the talking, then you need to hire an attorney. A Legal Document Preparer can get you ready to go to court, prepare you documents, and explain the process to you, but we cannot go with you. Choose a Legal Document Preparer when your problem won’t require you to go to court, or if you feel comfortable representing yourself.

There are definitely times when you will need an attorney, but it is important to also know that there are times when you will not. Ask most attorneys and they will tell you than in about 80% of the family or civil cases, one or both of the people involved don’t need an attorney. And statistics in Maricopa County show that in almost 90% of divorces one or both people are self-represented. http://bit.ly/8WZFSU

If your case is one of those 80% or more of cases who don’t need an attorney, consider using the services of an Arizona Certified Legal Document Preparer to save you time, money, and a whole lot of aggravation.

*QuikHelp’s AZCLDP is Tannya R. Gaxiola Gaxiola, Arizona Supreme Court license number 81199

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Welcome

November 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Welcome to the QuikHelp Blog.  Blog entries in this category are coming soon!

como estas

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