I.    ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES

 A.      The Meaning of "Admission"

 B.      Admission vs. Entry

 C.      Re-Entry of Permanent Residents

II.   GROUNDS OF INADMISSIBILITY

 A.      Health-Related Grounds

 B.      Criminal and Related Grounds

(a)     Crimes of Moral Turpitude

   (i)      Exceptions And Waivers of the Criminal Grounds

 C.      Security and Related Grounds

 D.      Inadmissibility for Violations of Immigration Law or Procedure

(a)     Illegal Entrants and Immigration Violators

(b)     Previous Removal and Unlawful Presence

 E.      The Public Charge Ground

 F.      Other Grounds of Inadmissibility

(a)     Labor Certification

(b)     Documentation Requirements

(c)     Persons Ineligible for Citizenship

(d)     Miscellaneous

 G.      False claim to U.S. Citizenship

III.  REMOVAL FROM THE UNITED STATES

  A.      General Considerations

IV. GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL (DEPORTABILITY)

A.      Inadmissibility at Entry and Status Violations

B.      Criminal Grounds

(a)     Crimes of Moral Turpitude

(b)     Aggravated Felonies

(c)     Other Criminal Grounds

   (i)      Avoiding the Immigration Consequences of Crimes

C.      Registration Requirements

D.      National Security Grounds

E.      Other Removal Grounds

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E. The Public Charge Ground

Any non-citizen who is believed likely to become a public charge is inadmissible at the time of application. INA § 212(a)(4)(A). Factors that immigration and consular officers must consider in determining whether a non-citizen is likely to become a public charge include age, health, family status, assets, resources, and financial status. INA § 212 (a)(4)(B).

Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, immigrants under family-based preferences, and a select group of employment-based immigrants are inadmissible without an affidavit of support. INA § 212 (a)(4)(C),(D). A sponsor must agree in the affidavit to provide support for the immigrant and his or her family at an annual income that is not less than 125% of the federal poverty guidelines for ten years or until the immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen. The affidavit is a legally binding contract. See § 5-5.1(d), supra.

F. Other Grounds of Inadmissibility

(a) Labor Certification

The INA lists the criteria for labor certification, without which most non-citizens immigrating under § 203(b) would be inadmissible. INA § 212(a)(5). This ground of inadmissibility has resulted in a process, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and the State Employment Services, known as labor certification. Prospective employers must obtain labor certification before petitioning for an immigrant by demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Department of Labor that there are not sufficient qualified, willing U.S. workers to serve in a position for which an immigrant is qualified and is willing to perform. See 5-5.1(b), supra.

(b) Documentation Requirements  

Section 212(a)(7) spells out the documentation requirements for non-citizens seeking admission. An unexcused failure to possess the required travel documents renders a non-citizen inadmissible. Immigrants must have a valid passport, travel document, or other document establishing identity and nationality, as well as a valid immigrant visa, border crossing card, or other valid entry document. Nonimmigrants must have a passport valid for six months beyond the date of admission and a valid nonimmigrant visa, unless they are entering under the visa waiver program or the requirements are waived by another provision. INA § 212(a)(7).

(c) Persons Ineligible for Citizenship

INA § 212(a)(8) renders inadmissible any immigrant who is "permanently ineligible to citizenship" and any person who departed from or remained outside the United States in order to avoid military training or service during a period of war. As defined in INA § 101(a)(19), the phrase "ineligible to citizenship" refers to ineligibility for citizenship due to violation of Selective Service laws or any section of the INA. Since commission of an "aggravated felony" is a permanent bar to obtaining citizenship (see § 8-2.2(b), infra), this section could be read to exclude anyone who has committed an aggravated felony. The Board of Immigration Appeals, however, in Matter of Kanga (BIA 2000), interpreted the phrase in this context as referring only to ineligibility for citizenship due to draft evasion. The Board reasoned that, since Congress has passed a series of laws making various aggravated felonies grounds for removal, if it intended to make the same crimes grounds of inadmissibility it would have done so explicitly.

(d) Miscellaneous

The "miscellaneous" grounds of inadmissibility listed in INA § 212(a)(10) include entering the U.S. to practice polygamy, being an international child abductor, and voting unlawfully. The same section makes former U.S. citizens who renounced citizenship to avoid taxation inadmissible. INA § 212(a)(10). The provision excluding persons who voted unlawfully was added by the IIRIRA in 1996. Congress amended this provision in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 to provide an exemption for persons who obtained permanent residence before the age of sixteen as the natural or adopted child of a U.S. citizen and who reasonably believed when they voted that they were citizens.

G.  False claim to U.S. Citizenship

A little known provision in the law can have extremely devastating effects on individuals who falsely claim that they are U.S. citizens. The Illegal Immigration Reform And Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA) created § 237(A)(3)(D) within the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which states:

Any alien who falsely represents or has falsely represented, himself to be a citizen of the United States for any purpose or benefit under this act.....or any federal or state law is deportable.

This law affects any individual, who after September 30, 1996, falsely represents himself or herself as a U.S. citizen. Not only can an individual already in the U.S. be deported under this provision, but a complimentary provision in the INA also precludes a potential immigrant from obtaining the green card.

Claiming citizenship can happen in many ways. A young adult desiring to go to college may state that he is a U.S. citizen when applying to college. Once this happens the lie continues on the school records. Finally upon graduation the person applies for a job. Since 1966 every employer must complete an Employment Eligibility Verification form at the time of hiring a worker, whether a U.S. citizen or a foreign born person. This from is called “I-9.” To complete it properly the new employee must check off whether he or she is a citizen of the United States, a permanent resident, or an alien authorized to work for a temporary period by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

If this misrepresentation was made after September 30, 1996, he or she can be deported from the United States. Worse, even is this person is married to an American citizen and has U.S. citizen children any application for a Green Card could be denied based on the false representation. At the time of the green card interview, an INS officer or consular officer could easily inquire whether such a misrepresentation was made or not. Most applications for immigrant visas require information about the last five years of employment. If the applicant was illegal during this period, the officer could look into how the person was able to work in the U.S. This may necessitate the officer could to request the applicant to submit the Employment Eligibility Verification form from his or her employer as a condition for approving the case.

There is absolutely no waiver for this ground of inadmissibility and deportability. Many families have been devastated because of this law. Be advised!

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