Victim of Trump ban can still try lottery
QI was born in Somalia, a country President Trump included in the latest travel ban. If I win the green card lottery, can I get an immigrant visa?
Kamil Mohammed, Somalia Beginning Oct. 18, nationals of countries included in President Trump’s new travel ban will be barred from getting immigrant visas. That includes winners of the 2019 Diversity Visa green card lottery. Still, I suggest you enter. There is no fee for entering. And 2019 lottery winners won’t begin getting immigrant visas until Oct. 1, 2018. By then, Trump could lift the ban or the courts could find it unconstitutional.
The latest travel ban impacts nationals of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Venezuela, Syria and Yemen. Nationals of Iraq and Sudan are no longer banned but can expect special scrutiny when applying for visas. The President’s travel ban allows for waivers, but only in limited circumstances. Note that individuals who already have an immigrant visa (green card) are exempt from the ban. For more on the travel ban, read the advisory prepared by the New York Legal Aid Society at http://bit.ly/2gezqW1. Is my husband a U.S. citizen? My husband’s and his two parents became permanent residents under President Ronald Reagan’s amnesty program. They naturalized in the 1990s. My husband is
AQnow 36. He has a green card and hasn’t had any problems getting a job. He has even worked on military bases. However, he wants to get U.S. citizenship and he is wondering if he can claim it though his parents or if he must apply to naturalize.
Name withheld, Colorado If your husband had not yet turned 18 when his parents naturalized, he is a U.S. citizen. The fastest, easiest and least expensive way for him to get proof is for him to apply for a U.S. passport. He will need his birth certificate, his parents’ naturalization certificates and his green card. While not required, if your husband wants a Certificate of Citizenship, he can apply using U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form N-600.
Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 4 New York Plaza, New York, NY, 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick.
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