“So Ashley, what surprised you most about today's visit to VSC?” I ask.
We’ve just ended the annual stakeholder’s event at the new location of the Vermont Service Center (VSC) of US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), where we get to meet officers of the VSC face-to-face and ask them, “What the heck were you thinking when you issued a request for evidence on my last case?” (Just joking.) Rather, it’s a time for those with a vested interest or who are significantly impacted by the decisions that come out of the VSC (i.e., the “stakeholders,” which includes immigration lawyers) to visit the VSC and participate in informational sessions. Jen reported about last year’s event.
“I think it would have to be the five million pieces of mail that they reported were sent out last year…”
Read moreI’ve always wanted to visit India. When the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) announced they were hosting a trip to visit several parts of the country, I knew that this was my chance. The trip offered a great combination: access to three of India’s US Embassies/Consulates and their staff as well as a tour around the country to see many of its sites. Protima (who, in case no one knows, is Indian) and I decided to go together and add a few days of vacation as well, since who doesn’t want to vacation with their boss?
Read moreEvery year the firm sends a few lucky attorneys to
the annual American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
conferences. This June I was pleased to attend the San Francisco conference. The conference was perfectly timed. It started June 26, the
day the Supreme Court issued its decision in two seminal cases on the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA), which we will discuss in depth in a later
post. On this day, in United States v. Windsor, the Supreme
Court struck down section 3 of DOMA which denied federal
benefits to couples in same-sex marriages.
Read more
