Arizona Immigration Laws

E1 & E2 Visas

The E1, E2 visas are very popular visas for visitors from all around the world. There is a requirement that United States have a treaty with the country where you are applying from, but there are so many countries that United States has a treaty with. You can find that list from my website – www.kanulaw.com. We’ve done E1, E2 for people from Pakistan, from Australia, from Germany. We’ve done E1, E2 for people from Britain and we’ve done E1, E2 for people from so many countries.

Visa Popularity

It’s a very popular visa for people that have money to spend in United States. When they raise these funds, they’re able to create jobs for themselves and create jobs for United States citizens and permanent residents to the extent that their businesses flourish and are doing well. They can stay on that visa for a very long time. There’s actually no end time as long as the business is doing well. It’s a very good visa for people. Canada uses it a lot to come to the United States. Mexico also uses it to come to United States to invest and do their work. It allows people to go back and forth to their home country. It’s a very stable visa for middle income people that have some money to invest in U.S.

By: Solomon Kanu

601 Waiver

In the past, we had what we call a 601 waiver. Those are waivers for people that have overstayed in United States, for people that have done some little thing here and there. Those waivers require that the immigrant go back to their home country, apply there, wait for it to be done there before they can come back.

601A Waiver

In 2014, we had a different waiver, which is called the 601A. Very good waiver. It now allows for people to file for this pardon here in United States, get it approved before you go to Mexico or go to your home country. That way the families stay together before the immigrant goes for the visa in their home country. The problem with that waiver was that the hardship was only for people married to U.S. citizens. The new waiver has been– the executive action expanded that waiver such that it’s no longer just people married to United States citizens. People married to United States, family, residents can qualify. People that have children here can qualify. They can also their children to show hardship because this is a waiver that you can get when you can show that if you move back to your country that either your child, your spouse, or your parent will suffer.

Now this waiver that was only for spouses of U.S. citizens has been expanded to include the parents and the children. Again, it’s very welcome. It’s quite expansive. It allows people to kind of pay for the mistakes they’ve made, but have a second life, which is what this country’s all about.

By: Solomon Kanu

By: Margaret Wong

About Solomon Kanu

Hi. My name is Solomon Kanu. I was born in Nigeria. I have some education in Nigeria. Actually my elementary and secondary education was in Nigeria. I have undergrad and graduate school in India. Then I have law school, which is the juris doctor degree from the United States. That way I know what it is to be born in a third world country, go to school in another continent, come to United States, and be able to succeed here.

Legal Experience

I’ve been practicing law now for (14) years. When I came to United States in 1991, I came as a visitor. By 2001, I had gone form being a visitor to being a permanent resident to becoming a U.S. citizen to being a lawyer, opening my own law firm, and practicing law in Arizona. I know what it takes to get someone from one little place to much bigger place. I’m not an immigration lawyer. I’m the immigrants’ lawyer. The difference between me and a regular immigration lawyer is that sometimes they have to look at the books to do this, but I’ve been through this myself. I’ve been through being a visitor to going through becoming a permanent resident to becoming a U.S. citizen to helping a lot of people get there also.

Visa Experience

I do visas for people from nearly (50) countries of the world. I know people from Asia, from Australia, from Africa, England. I know people from– I’ve done a visa just the other day for someone from Germany. I’ve been around and I know what it takes to get people to where they want to be. Immigration law is very complex. It may look easy at the face, but the more you go the more you find that you need someone that has not only the experience and passion, but also the desire to actually help you get to where you want to get to in United States.

Kanu & Associates

I’m available for private consultation. I’m available on the internet. kanulaw.com is my URL. The phone numbers are listed on my website. I have done consultations by Skype, by phone, in person. I prefer in person, but I realize that I have clients in Germany and France and Australia and Pakistan. I do Skype consultations for people and I’m able to do their work regardless of the location. Immigration law is national, so where you are doesn’t really matter, but if you need to call right away the phone number is (602) 324-5320. Again, (602) 324-5320. Toll free is 1-855-KANU-LAW. 1-855-KANU-LAW.

By: Solomon Kanu

Temporary Relief

Executive action is the newest thing that the President has done to help people that are in the United States illegally who have been here since January 1, 2010, and happen to have children here, even one child that is either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. It allows them to get work authorization. It allows them to not be deported or be in process of being deported. It allows them to get driver’s licenses and social security number, so we can actually document what they do and how come they drive.So if an accident was to happen, you would know who the driver is and all that. It’s a welcome thing.

DACA vs. DAPA

Initially it was for only the children and we call that one DACA. Now it’s moved to DAPA, so we now have the children and their parents being able to get some relief from deportation. Again, this is not amnesty. It’s just a temporary relief for about three years to allow these people that have been stuck here that are hiding to actually come out and get the relief that the United States offers.

By: Solomon Kanu

Asylum vs. Withholding

Asylum is for people that are running away from their country, coming into United States. And we have a lot of them all the time. Withholding is usually a situation where if the person does not qualify for asylum – and there are so many reasons why they may not qualify for asylum – then we give them withholding of removal, which in our matter was it.

Safety First

We will not send you back to your country until things improve or until we are sure that you will be safe if you went back to your country. We’ve done that many times. One of my favorite cases is for a young man from Guatemala who had been persecuted because of his religion. When he came back to United States, he was detained for months. Eventually we went to court, we were able to persuade the judge that people in his country stopping him from practicing his religion was enough reason for us to keep him here. Even though the government fought very vehemently to send him back, we were able to prevail and he’s still in United States now.

While he was detained, his wife had a baby. The wife, because of her own status, couldn’t even go to see him in jail. We fought very hard until he was released and he went home, reunited with the family. They are very happy now, they are doing very well.

Kanu & Associates

So we do asylum for people. If you are running away, if you are being persecuted because of your sexual orientation, because of your religion, because of your race, because of your political opinion, we are here to help you. We are here to make sure that those your fears, United States actually does understand those fears. I will give you the protection that you deserve.

By: Solomon Kanu

About Solomon Kanu

I was born in Nigeria and I came to the United States in 1991. I became a US citizen in 2000 and I have been in Arizona since 2001. Immigration laws come very natural to me because I’ve been an immigrant but I don’t just do immigration law. I look at the immigrant holistically. They want to go from being a visitor to being a permanent resident to being a US citizen owning businesses. That part is very, very rough. I look at them as people that have to be taken care of from day one to the end.   Where you’re born doesn’t have to be where you live or where you die. The freedom that you get living in the United States is unbelievable. People want to be part of this because once they experience this people want to experience it for their grandchildren. And so I understand why they want to be here. This is such a blessing for me naturally because this is what I think I’ve been called to do.

Family Immigration

Family immigration is one of my favorite areas because it brings families together. It deals with parents filing for children, children filing for parents, spouses filing for each other, siblings filing for fellow siblings. In some situations, even step-parents filing for their children. It does bring families together.

Kanu & Associates

We’re very knowledgeable this area of immigration and we do this very well. If you’re thinking of coming to United States or you’re already in United States, you were even born in United States, but you want to bring your parent or your brother, your sister to United States, we will help you. That’s what we love to do. That’s what we have passion for. We’ve been successful in the past and we’ll help to bring the families together.

By: Solomon Kanu

Hi, my name is Marisela Marquez. I’m an attorney with Margaret Wong & Associates. I have been practicing law for over six years. The last two have been with this firm. We are a full service immigration firm. I handle all types of immigration cases.

Most of my time is spent on removal or deportation cases. That means I represent clients who the U.S. government is actively trying to remove. For that purpose I travel all across the country and appear in all immigration courts. I also specialize in obtaining green cards for individuals with exceptional or extraordinary abilities. What makes our firm unique is that when you hire Margaret Wong & Associates to represent you, you acquire an army of eight experienced immigration attorneys and over (30) support staff that speak (15) different languages all dedicated and fighting on your behalf.

By: Marisela Marquez