There is no question: If you can adjust status, do so. If you cannot adjust status you must face the alternative of consular processing. This session covers consular cases from the Nationl Visa Center to the Consular Post. Emphasis will be on Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Bars and waivers will be discussed on a practical level including time-frame for adjudication and new InfoPass appointment system for CIS in Ciudad Juarez.

Have you ever considered the R-1 or the EB-4 religious worker categories for your client and were concerned about the current USCIS approach to these classifications? This session will discuss current R-1 and EB-4 practices, and cover USCIS proposed regulations and where USCIS wants to take the religious worker categories.

This session will examine the extent to which state and local laws that seek to regulate employment by aliens are pre-empted by IRCA under the supremacy clause to the US Constitution. It will examine in detail all major court cases on pre-emption and apply these legal concepts to these legislative initiatives. It will not focus on state and local enforcement in the criminal realm but just in the civil arena. It will suggest that there may not be such a clear answer as observers might suspect at first glance and that, simply because a statute deals with someone from another country, does not necessarily make it an immigration issue.