Today was a pretty interesting day to say the least. I worked some more on some case files, and I helped fill out an I-90 application. This application is for the renewal of a green card for a permanent resident, and it can be due to either losing your green card or having a mistake/error on your green card. The clients I-90 that I helped fill out, had a green card with an error that was made by the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). It is very important for the client to receive her renewed green card as it is detrimental to her stay in the United States. I also worked on translating another document from English to Spanish, and I have to say, I think my brain is fried. I spent a good hour and a half translating the document, and I am still not even close to done! It has been really interesting to finally be able to use my knowledge of the Spanish language to aid others, as well as become more fluent in a foreign language I did not grow up listening to.
An important thing I learned today was the I-864 petition, which is a petition for sponsorship. I learned that anyone can sponsor someone to receive a green card, the only requirement is that their income be at a certain amount. When looking at payments, the number of people always starts at two because it includes the sponsor and the person looking to be sponsored. The reason I bring this up is because the firm received a consultation that had to deal with a joint sponsorship. This means that two people are looking to sponsor someone to receive their green card because one of the people does not receive enough income and or a substantial amount of income. With that in mind, the sponsor has to sponsor all 10 years the person they are sponsoring holds their green card, and the only exception is if the person they are sponsoring receives their citizenship within those 10 years. At that point, the sponsor is no longer liable. I learned that most of the time, the petitioner is considered the principal financial sponsor, which is why the petitioner is normally the U.S. citizen in the family. In marriage cases, the petitioner is the U.S. citizen spouse.
Over the past 4 days I have learned more about immigration then I have over the past 17 years I have been alive. I hope to continue learning more about immigration and its impact on society. It is important to note that I am not actually done with my work experience. My time at the firm is continuing throughout the summer, and I will continue making my work my first priority. I have had so much fun these past few days, playing chess, learning how to make phone calls, learning how to make appointments, and most importantly, going over and researching cases. I can’t wait to learn more and work for the next few weeks!