Arizona Immigration Laws

Religious Visas

Religious visas are visas that are carved out exclusively for people that are engaged in religious work. So they could be pastors. They could be rabbis. They could be imams coming from outside of the United States to do religious work here.

Religious Visas for Pastors

We’ve been very successful in doing that for people in the Catholic and Anglican church. We bring pastors and religious workers from all over the place. We insure when they come here and do what they say they’re going to do. It gives me a lot of joy each time I’m able to help a pastor concentrate on their pastoral work, because it’s very very difficult to come in and not know what to do. So we help all these churches. We help some of the dioceses in United States to bring pastors from all over the world, put them where they’re supposed to be. Ensure that the transition from being a religious worker to permanent residence because you do need to stay two years before you can apply for permanent residency when you come in on a religious visa. So we moved in from religious visa to permanent residency and eventually to U.S. citizenship. So it gives me so much joy when we do that.

Religious Visa Lawyer

It is one of the areas that I do sometimes do for less than my normal price because I have a some kind of special interest in helping religious workers, pastors, and other people that do religious work. I would never forget one of the people we helped from Romania that does his chanting in the Orthodox church– in the Romanian Orthodox church. By the time we were done to when my office with flowers just to thank me for what I did. But I said, “Well I charged you money. Why are you paying me?” They said, “You don’t know what you did for us.” Our church would have fallen apart but for this man. So it gives me joy when this churches can stay together because the pastors or the rabbis are there.

By: Solomon Kanu

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

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

By: Margaret Wong

Naturalization

Unless you were born in the United States, if you want to become a citizen, most ways would be through naturalization. So, you can naturalize after five years of permanent residency. There are a few exceptions where you are naturalized after three years: if you were married to a U.S. citizen, you got your permanent residency through a U.S. citizen, and you’ve been married to that U.S. citizen for three years. So, in a way we reward you for being consistent in your marriage. People that have served in the armed forces also get that grace to apply for citizenship in three years. But, the biggest hurdle people have in citizenship, is that some people don’t realize that when you have permanent residency in U.S., you’re actually on probation for five years. You can’t do anything. You can’t make any mistakes. You can’t commit crimes. So, when people commit crimes within those years, they run a risk of their permanent residency being taken away. If that doesn’t happen, when they come for citizenship, that is when all those things come out.

Preparing for Citizenship

We want to know who you are, how you’ve behaved, whether your moral character is good enough for us to make you a U.S. citizen. All these issues come up at the time of citizenship. There are questions to be answered. We prep people for that. When people pass my test, they always pass at the immigration level, because I’m very thorough. I want to make sure that you do well, while you’re in my office. I go with people to the interviews. Whether it is a permanent residency interview, or the citizenship interview, I always go with my clients, because I have a stake in what they are looking for. I want to make sure that they do well. I feel happy when they succeed. That way, the money they paid me has value for them, beyond just paying for a lawyer.

Receiving United States Citizenship

So, naturalization is one thing that gives people so much joy. When you look at the last words of our national anthem, it said that this is the land of the free, but is a home for the brave. If you’re going to live in this country, you’re going to have to become brave. That’s why I take people to citizenship interviews, to teach them how important it is to become naturalized citizens. Get to vote, get to be voted for, and do federal government work, live anywhere in the world without any fear of coming back to United States. It is such a glorious step to be a U.S. citizen.

By: Solomon Kanu

We have done a lot of cases through the years, because every year we do 4,000 to 6,000 new matters that includes all our consults, our cases around the country, around the world, and all the work permits we got, the deportation, the filings, the asylum, the green cards, the extraordinary.

There are quite a few cases that came back to my mind. One of that is U.S. sitting president, President Obama’s auntie’s case. She’s a woman in the 60s. I met her right before the election of the president, and because of the press– I mean, at that time we don’t know if he’ll win. We are very careful of not letting the public know that I’m working on this case. She’s really an awesome lady. Of course, my partner talked about my firm, or also working with the uncle’s case. Uncle and auntie are so different even though genetically they belong in the same family. Uncle’s a lot more reserved, a lot more– He’s very gentle. Auntie is very more feisty and making sure that things are done right. So it’s two different personalities, and I said through the years, to work with clients you have to work with them on their– because immigration work is very different from corporate or tax.

Because the vision of course is keep them in America, get them a work permit, and get them a green card.   But you also have to work with that person. It’s a very retail, as I said in the industry. It’s not a wholesale practice. It’s a very retail orientated which means that with her, with the public uproar, did we get special treatment? Absolutely no. In fact, it drove me nuts. It’s easier to work on a low profile case than a high profile, because I know all my lawyer, federal friends are watching me. I know the government is watching. I know the right wing, the left wings, they are all watching. In order to be a good lawyer or a great lawyer, you really have to work in the trenches for years, and years as Blackwell said in The Outliers that you have to give them at least 10,000 hours of core competence of hard work. And I’ve done it for 38 years, 36 years.

So but with auntie’s case we won which is– Auntie’s case, it’s difficult because of the pressure, because of the disability, and also because of the law. She didn’t come to America until the 90s. In Immigration work, generally, the older you came to America– I mean, the longer ago you came to America, the better the case is, because laws have since changed. So and I’m the type of lawyer to work it, because I’m not young enough to not know history, but I’m not that old that I forgot.

By: Margaret Wong