Immigration

Immigration law is federal. The same rules apply in Chicago as anywhere else in the United States, but the offices that apply them — United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the consulates abroad, and the immigration courts — work differently from one another and on very different timetables. This page explains the main routes people come to us about. It is general information, not advice about your case.

Applications and petitions

Most immigration matters begin with a petition or an application on a form, supported by evidence. A citizen or a lawful permanent resident may petition for a relative. A fiancée or fiancé abroad may be brought here on a K-1 visa and married within ninety days of arrival. A spouse already in the United States may in some cases apply for permanent residence without leaving the country; in others the case has to be finished at a consulate abroad. After enough years as a permanent resident, an application for citizenship follows.

These cases are decided largely on the documents in front of an officer, so the work is in building a file that answers the questions before they are asked: proof of the relationship, the immigration history of everyone involved, and plain explanations for anything in the record that looks unusual.

Immigration court

Removal proceedings — what most people call deportation — are different. They begin with a document called a Notice to Appear and are heard by an immigration judge. There is no appointed lawyer in immigration court the way there is in criminal court: a person facing removal has the right to counsel, but at their own expense. Many people go through the process alone without ever learning that relief might have been available to them.

The first hearing is short and procedural. The hearing that decides the case comes later, and that is where the argument actually happens. Between the two there is usually time to gather evidence, and using that time well is most of the case.

Where immigration meets criminal court

A criminal charge can change an immigration case completely, and a plea that a criminal lawyer treats as a good result can quietly end a green card application. The two systems use different definitions of the same words. Because this office works in both, we look at the immigration consequences of a criminal case while there is still time to do something about them.

Matters in this area

• Citizenship and naturalization
• K-1 visas for a fiancée or fiancé abroad
• Family petitions for spouses, parents, children and siblings
• Removal defense in immigration court
• Permanent residence through marriage

Language

Consultations here are held in English, Turkish or German. Immigration cases turn on details of dates, places and family relationships, and those details are easier to get right in the language you think in.

The next step

Bring whatever you have: passports, entry stamps, any notice from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or the immigration court, earlier applications and their decisions, and the dates of any arrest anywhere in the world. If a document you received has a deadline printed on it, say so on the phone.