I am often asked about international travel for persons with Green Card (Permanent Residents)

The issue is that there are requirement for establishing and maintaining a Permanent Residence Requirement for both Green Card as well Naturalization proceeding later on. I refer my clients to USCIS Publication below for complete list of criteria’s:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=0c353a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0c353a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

What documents do I need to travel outside the United States?
In general, you will need to present a passport from your country of citizenship or your refugee travel document to travel to a foreign country. In addition, the foreign country may have additional entry/exit requirements (such as a visa). For information on foreign entry and exit requirements, see the Department of State’s webpage at www.travel.state.gov.

What documents do I need to present to reenter the United States?
If seeking to enter the United States after temporary travel abroad, you will need to present a valid, unexpired “green card” (Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card). When arriving at a port of entry, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer will review your permanent resident card and any other identity documents you present, such as a passport, foreign national I.D. card or U.S. Driver’s License, and determine if you can enter the United States. For information pertaining to entry into the United States, see U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s webpage at www.cbp.gov.

Does travel outside the United States affect my permanent resident status?
Permanent residents are free to travel outside the United States, and temporary or brief travel usually does not affect your permanent resident status. If it is determined, however, that you did not intend to make the United States your permanent home, you will be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status. A general guide used is whether you have been absent from the United States for more than a year. Abandonment may be found to occur in trips of less than a year where it is believed you did not intend to make the United States your permanent residence. While brief trips abroad generally are not problematic, the officer may consider criteria such as whether your intention was to visit abroad only temporarily, whether you maintained U.S. family and community ties, maintained U.S employment, filed U.S. income taxes as a resident, or otherwise established your intention to return to the United States as your permanent home. Other factors that may be considered include whether you maintained a U.S. mailing address, kept U.S. bank accounts and a valid U.S. driver’s license, own property or run a business in the United States, or any other evidence that supports the temporary nature of your absence.

What if my trip abroad will last longer than 1 year?
If you plan on being absent from the United States for longer than a year, it is advisable to first apply for a reentry permit on Form I-131. Obtaining a reentry permit prior to leaving the United States allows a permanent or conditional permanent resident to apply for admission into the United States during the permit’s validity without the need to obtain a returning resident visa from a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad. Please note that it does not guarantee entry into the United States upon your return as you must first be determined to be admissible; however, it will assist you in establishing your intention to permanently reside in the United States. For more information, see the “Travel Documents” link to the left under “Green Card Processes & Procedures.”

If you remain outside of the United States for more than 2 years, any reentry permit granted before your departure from the United States will have expired. In this case, it is advisable to consider applying for a returning resident visa (SB-1) at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. An SB-1 applicant will be required to establish eligibility for an immigrant visa and will need a medical exam. There is an exception to this process for the spouse or child of either a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or civilian employee of the U.S. Government stationed abroad on official orders. For more information on obtaining a returning resident visa, see the Department of State’s webpage on returning resident visas at www.travel.state.gov. This information is listed under its Visa section for immigrants.

Additionally, absences from the United States of six months or more may disrupt the continuous residency required for naturalization. If your absence is one year or longer and you wish to preserve your continuous residency in the United States for naturalization purposes, you may file an Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes on Form N-470. For more information, please see the “Continuous Residence and Physical Presence Requirements” under the Naturalization section of this website.

Last updated: 07/26/2010

If you need to look up what you have been charged with after a recent stop on the Pennsylvania roads. Please feel free to click on the link below and  find what you need.

Just Remember, you need an experience attorney to help you defend your Rights IN COURT.

CALL 215-240-7565 to speak to an Attorney TODAY

However, the burden of proof is on the employer to show that you did something to cause to be discharged and that your actions would qualify under the “willful misconduct” definition of the Pennsylvania UC Section 402 (e).

So what does that mean: “willful misconduct” ? In essence the employer must show that the employee’s action rose to the level of willful misconduct.  Willful misconduct is an act of wanton or willful disregard of the employer’s interest.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? CALL PENNSYLVANIA UNEMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY- ROBERT BOND 215-240-7565

In order for you to effectively fight those charges and continue to receive the benefits from unemployment compensation you need an experienced attorney who can prove that your actions did not rise to the “willful misconduct” or that you had compelling reasons for your conduct.

It is very easy for the employer to show that your actions rose to the level of willful misconduct.  The way it is commonly done is by showing that you violated some act or regulation of either state or federal government that made your employment with that particular employer problematic.  For example, if you are a driver who has tested positive for alcohol or illicit drugs would violate a Department of Transportation regulation and thus would make your employment problematic for your employer since the employer would be prohibited from employing.  Thus, if you were fired as a result of a failed drug test, drug screen or alcohol screening in your company that would make you ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits based on the provisions in 402(e).

Another example is absenteeism or tardiness.  If the employer had any evidence that you were absent or late for work, it would give them grounds that it was your willful misconduct.  Some other violations either even on or off duty are commonly used under Section 402(e) to deny benefits.  You need an experienced attorney to represent you from the appeal from the start to make sure that the records properly reflect or some material from your records are properly excluded that may sway the referee or the unemployment board of appeals that is not favorable to you but to your employer.

The case that governs most of those decisions that allegedly rose to willful misconduct took place outside of the employer’s premises or not on the employee’s time is Berger v. Unemployment Board of Review.

The bottom line is that as soon as you receive a Notice of Appeal, you need to hire an attorney so that we can collect all the supporting documents and file a timely response to the suspension of benefits notice.

In a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision follow-up on Corbin v. Kholsa, 607 Pa. 88 the question whether or not people driving uninsured vehicles can recover for economic losses.  In general Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, (MVFRL), 75 Pa.C.S. 1701-1799 would control the issues of non-economic losses as it relates to first party benefits for uninsured motorist.  An uninsured motorist in Pennsylvania means that a person is operating a registered vehicle that does not have a financial responsibility or in other words, insurance.  A person operating any such vehicle without insurance would be prohibited from collecting a no fault medical coverage or other economic losses such as lost wages, if he is hit by another person who would be at fault for this accident.  The driver of the uninsured vehicle would still be able recover for non-economic losses such as pain and suffering.  However, a person driving an uninsured registered vehicle will be deemed to have selected the limited tort option.  Specifically Section 1705 of the motor vehicle financial responsibility law provides that each person who selects the limited tort alternative remains eligible to receive compensation for economic loss sustained in a motor vehicle accident as the consequence of the fault of another person pursuant to applicable tort law.  Unless the injury sustained is a serious injury, each person who is bound by the limited tort election shall be precluded from maintaining an action for non-economic loss.  Prior to the decision that I am currently discussing, this section was interpreted as precluding the people driving an uninsured vehicle from collecting economic losses from an actual party.  However, in this current decision by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania the court has unequivocally stated that people driving registered, uninsured vehicles can continue to collect economic as well as non-economic losses from what they call a “third party tortfeasor”, or in other words, a guilty party who is responsible for the accident, assuming it is not the uninsured driver.

We are  often asked to fill out forms online. Often those forms can’t be saved for later editing and then you are forced to print it out, scan it or continue editing online. While I don’t pretend to understand why some agencies such as Department of Home Land Security, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services  will allow you to fill out most if not all their forms online such as N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship or I-765, Application for Employment Authorization but will NOT allow you to save the application on your computer, for your records or to continue editing those multipage applications later. I just hope they have compelling reasons for doing it, and not just to frustrate the Applicants.

Even more bizarre is some State Agencies continue to ask that the materials you submit to them be “Typed on Typewriter” … Case in Point ARD application for Delaware County District Attorney’s office here in Pennsylvania.

Here is the good news… With the help of two simple applications, requiring no installation you should be able to fill any PDF file or any other file for that matter.

Here is a step-by-step guide:

1. If the File is PDF file, download it (even if you can fill it out online), then simply go to https://www.pdffiller.com/index.php open the PDF file and start typing anywhere on the document. This is not a free program but if need to just fill one or two forms a year you can download a free PDF editor from www.download.com
2. If the File you are trying to Fill Out is not in a digital format, but something you were handed out by someone, just take a picture of it or scan it if it can be scanned and then go to http://pdftools.egedsoft.com/, This program allows you to convert ANY (or so they claim) file into PDF, and once the file is converted follow instructions in section #1
3. If you need to Fill out a Form that is not in PDF but in Jpg or Word document, simply convert it to PDF using instruction in section #2

Again, this is the best solution for saving some trees and time. And of course Forms filled out using a computer as a opposed to handwritten just look more professional and often are simply more legible.

The following blog is my attempt to explain the ESIGN ACT also know as U.S. Pub.L. 106-229, 14 Stat. 464, enacted June 30, 2000, and codified as 15 U.S.C. ch.96, is a United States Federal Law also commonly known as Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act.

Although every state has at least one law pertaining to electronic signatures, it is the federal law that lays out the guidelines for the interstate commerce in general. The ESIGN Act further describes in its very first section that a contractor signature “may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it in electronic form.”  Furthermore, the ESIGN Act Section 106 defines electronic signature as any electronic means related to technology having, electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities.  The term electronic record means contract or other record created, generated, sent, communicated or stored by electronic means.  Finally, the most important component of this article is electronic signature defined as the term “electronic signature” means electronic sound, signal or process attached to or  sent with a contract or other records and executed or adopted by a person with an attempt to sign the record.

In order for the electronic signature to be given full legal force of authenticity, two things must happen:

1.         The consumer must sent electronically in a manner “reasonably demonstrative that consumer can access information and the electronic form that will be used to provide the information that is the subject of the consent”.

2.         That the business that provided the consumer with a way of signing electronically must retain a record of the transaction and the record must accurately reflect the substance of the contract and is accessible to people who are entitled to access it in a form that is capable of being accurately reproduced for later reference whether by transmission, printing or otherwise.

All in all, the ESIGN Act allows consumers or businesses to attach their signatures electronically to any contract or document in state, interstate or international commerce and this signing would be afforded the equal protection under the ESIGN law which has been enacted for the past 12 years since 2000. The ESIGN Act affords  the same protection to electronic signatures as if signed by hand on paper! So go ahead save some trees and USE ELECTRONIC MEANS OF SIGNING DOCUMENTS

1. The child must not be working and earning more than $1,000 per month.  This varies from state to state but in general gross earnings may not exceed $1,000.00 per month.
2. The most important thing is, however, that the child must have a physical or mental condition or a combination that results in “marked and severe functional limitation.”
3. Last but not least, the child’s condition must have lasted be expected to last for over 12 months, or must be expected to result in death in order for your child to be immediately qualified to receive social security benefits one of the following conditions must be met:

• HIV infection
• Total blindness
• Total deafness
• Down syndrome
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Cerebral Palsy
• Severe mental retardation
• Birth weight below 2lbs., 10 ounces

The last criterion is probably the most often associated with children qualifying for social security.  If your child has a low birth weight he/she has a very good chance of receiving social security benefits.

However, to assure that your child is eligible, please contact my office at 215-240-7565.