Veronica Serrato is an American immigration lawyer. She is a recipient of the Ohtli Award, the highest award given by the Mexican government to people serving Mexicans abroad. [1]
Veronica Serrato is an American immigration lawyer. She is a recipient of the Ohtli Award, the highest award given by the Mexican government to people serving Mexicans abroad. [1]
Serrato was born in Chicago; [2] her parents immigrated to the US from Moroleon, Guanajuato, Mexico. [3] [4] Serrato attended Harvard University for her undergraduate degree (A.B. in 1984) and Boston University School of Law for her J.D, graduating in 1988. [3] [4] She was the first in her family to attend college. [3]
Serrato was the founding executive director of Project Citizenship, a non-profit focused on helping legal permanent residents (green card holders) become American citizens. [5] [6] [7] Under her leadership, 8,300 immigrants achieved US citizenship. According to Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA), it is the largest citizenship provider in New England. [8] They are "unapologetically pro-immigrant." [8]
In 2019, Project Citizenship and Ropes and Gray sued USCIS for their plan to remove fee waivers for the naturalization process. [9]
Prior to Project Citizenship, Serrato served as a Senior Attorney at Volunteer Lawyers Project. She served as a Clinical Instructor and later, Domestic Violence Specialist, at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, where she handled domestic violence cases. [8]
A K-1 visa is a visa issued to the fiancé or fiancée of a United States citizen to enter the United States. A K-1 visa requires a foreigner to marry his or her U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of entry, or depart the United States. Once the couple marries, the foreign citizen can adjust status to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States. Although a K-1 visa is legally classified as a non-immigrant visa, it usually leads to important immigration benefits and is therefore often processed by the Immigrant Visa section of United States embassies and consulates worldwide.
Ropes & Gray LLP is a global law firm with 13 offices located in the United States, Asia and Europe. The firm has more than 1,500 lawyers and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agencies, universities, and health care organizations. It was founded in 1865 in Boston, Massachusetts by John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray.
The Naturalization Act of 1906 was an act of the United States Congress signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt that revised the Naturalization Act of 1870 and required immigrants to learn English in order to become naturalized citizens. The bill was passed on June 29, 1906, and took effect September 27, 1906. It was repealed and replaced by the Nationality Act of 1940. It was modified by the Immigration Act of 1990.
The V visa is a temporary visa available to spouses and minor children of U.S. lawful permanent residents. It allows permanent residents to achieve family unity with their spouses and children while the immigration process takes its course. It was created by the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act of 2000. The Act is to relieve those who applied for immigrant visas on or before December 21, 2000. Practically, the V visa is currently not available to spouses and minor children of LPRs who have applied after December 21, 2000.
Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli II is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the Principal Deputy and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and was Attorney General of Virginia from 2010 to 2014.
Diane Patrick is an American lawyer specializing in labor and employment law. She served as the First Lady of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015 during the gubernatorial tenure of her husband, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. She was a partner in the labor and employment department of the Boston-based law firm, Ropes & Gray.
The United States EB-5 visa, employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program, created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990, provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents—informally known as "green card" holders—by investing substantial capital to finance a business in the United States that will employ at least 10 American workers. Based on the EB‐5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, which was signed into law on March 15, 2022, the minimum investment requirement to qualify under the EB-5 program is $1,050,000. The investment requirement is reduced to $800,000, however, if the investment is made in a qualifying infrastructure project or targeted employment area (TEA).
Under the public charge rule, immigrants to United States classified as Likely or Liable to become a Public Charge may be denied visas or permission to enter the country due to their disabilities or lack of economic resources. The term was introduced in the Immigration Act of 1882. The restriction has remained a major cause for denial of visas and lawful permanent residency ever since; in 1992, about half of those denied immigrant and non-immigrant visas for substantive reasons were denied due to the public charge rule. However, the administrative definition of "public charge" has been subject to major changes, notably in 1999 and 2019.
Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She has been House Minority Whip since 2023 and was Assistant House Democratic Leader from 2021 to 2023. Her district includes many of Boston's northern and western satellite cities and suburbs, such as Medford, Framingham, Woburn, Waltham, and her home city of Revere. Clark was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011 and the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013.
Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas is an American government official and attorney who has been serving as the seventh United States Secretary of Homeland Security since February 2, 2021. During the Obama administration, he also served in the Department of Homeland Security, first as director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013), and then as deputy secretary of DHS (2013–2016).
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for an employment authorization document in the U.S. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients. The policy, an executive branch memorandum, was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012.
A special election for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district took place on December 10, 2013, due to the resignation of Democratic Congressman Ed Markey following his election to the United States Senate in a special election on June 25, 2013. Primary elections were held on October 15, in which Democratic state senator Katherine Clark and Republican Frank Addivinola won their party nominations. State law required that Governor Deval Patrick call a special election between 145 and 160 days after the vacancy became official. On December 10, Clark easily defeated Addivinola with almost 2/3 of the vote, holding the seat for the Democrats. Clark's win marked the 92nd consecutive U.S. House loss by Republicans in Massachusetts since 1996.
The American Civics Test is an oral examination that is administered to immigrants who are applying for U.S. citizenship. The test is designed to assess the applicants' knowledge of U.S. history and government. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administers the test as part of the naturalization process.
Barbara Hines is an American immigration rights attorney. She is the founder of the University of Texas Law School immigration clinic. Hines is recognized for her defense of the rights of immigrants, coming to national attention for her work in winning the release of families detained in the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas in 2008.
The R-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa which allows travel to the United States for service as a minister or other religious occupation. Between October 2019 and September 2020, there were 2,399 R visas issued.
Lee Francis Cissna is an American lawyer and government official who served as Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2017 to 2019. Prior to assuming that role, he was the Director of Immigration Policy in the Office of Policy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Veronica Escobar is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 16th congressional district, based in El Paso, since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as an El Paso County commissioner from 2007 to 2011 and the El Paso county judge from 2011 until 2017.
Glendora McIlwain Putnam was a civil rights activist and the first African American female to serve as the Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts.
Ur Mendoza Jaddou is an American attorney who is the current director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security.