葉律師@美國移民律師事務所 綠卡美簽 事務所創辦人葉律師為國立台灣大學畢業是美國會計碩士法學博士,是美國律師及會計師,並具有美國聯邦法院律師執照，且為美國移民律師協會會員.

美國政府今天 (2017年9月5日) 正式宣佈廢除歐巴馬時期設立的 DACA兒童暫緩遞解, 也就是移民局不再受理 DACA新件的申請. 但是移民局仍接受部份的 DACA Renewal 的申請，條件是:

1)   你的 DACA 到期日是在 3月 5 日2018年之前

而且

歐巴馬總統於去年11月頒布暫緩無證移民遣返的行政令，放寬「年輕無證移民暫緩遣返」計畫 (DACA) 申請資格，並宣布「美國公民父母暫緩遣返」(DAPA)新計畫，卻遭德州聯邦法官在16日下令暫緩執行，18日開放申請的DACA被迫暫時緊急煞車。

德州法官哈楠發布的臨時禁制令(temporary injunction)目前有效，移民局已表態遵守聯邦法院的禁令、暫不受理申請，也停止接收DAPA的準備工作。

這項臨時禁制令並不影響2012年8月生效的舊版DACA，亦即1981年6月15日以後出生的申請者仍可持續辦理DACA。

雖然美國聯邦政府關門停擺，大部份著名景點和國家公園都關門謝客，其中也包括美國的 IRS 國稅局，但是美國移民局仍照常營業，原因是申請人已付費.

美國政府在今年 (2012) 八月十五日正式宣布一項移民新政 “暫緩遣返” , 此政策有利部份在美非法居留者。

暫緩遣返此新政的好處是若申請獲批凖，即可合法在美工作兩年，兩年後可嘗試再更新，但要注意的是，此新政並不是給與在美非法居留者綠卡或美國公民身份!

最主要的考量是申請人目前在美是非法居留，還有其目前的年齡 (30 歲以下)、當時入美的年紀 (16 歲以下)、是否有美國高中同等學歷證書或正在學、在美是否已有連續五年以上的時間、是否有犯罪紀綠等等。

十二月二十二日美國在台協會正式宣布台灣成為免簽証候選區。假使正式批准，則免簽証將預期於二O一二年的下半年開始生效! 目前已有其他三十六個國家為免簽証批准區。

若免簽証正式生效，對於台灣來美觀光旅行者可以省去一筆簽証費。在過去申請觀光簽証需支付美國在台協會美金 $143 簽証費，但若免簽証正式生效，則只需在旅行許可電子系統上申請並支付美金 $14. 而旅行許可電子系統是一個國土安全部新設的線上系統，也是入境美國免簽證專案的一項基本要件，所有以免簽證專案赴美的會員國國民或公民必須在登機或登船前往美國之前取得線上核准。

一般而言，在旅行許可電子系統上註冊是兩年有效，而免簽証區觀光者每一次入美最多只能在美停留九十天，且與過去持B2入境不同的是沒有資格申請延期，並且若你逾期居留，你日後就不能再以免簽証資格入美! 至於若你的護照上仍有生效的美國觀光簽証，你應持續使用你已有的觀光簽証入美即使免簽証系統已開始實施。

Christmas Time is Here.  

Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas dinner in the US usually includes turkey or ham, potatoes, and pie. People also drink eggnog which probably has eggs and some nog - haha. On Christmas Eve, little kids are told to go to bed early so that Santa Claus can come to deliver their presents. Santa may skip their house if they are awake. Some kids leave out a glass of milk and a plate of cookies for Santa.  

Presents are usually placed under the Christmas tree and smaller presents are put in stockings that are hung above the fireplace. Kids on the naughty list receive a lump of coal in their stocking. Children have trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve since they are thinking about all the presents they will get. When they wake up in the morning, they run downstairs to open their presents.

Many people save their shopping for the last day so most stores are still open on Christmas Eve.  Catholics usually attend midnight mass and Christians may also have a special service.  

Recently, saying “Happy Holidays” is becoming more popular than “Merry Christmas”. There are many people that don’t celebrate Christmas. For instance, Jewish people celebrate Hanukah and some African-Americans celebrate Kwanzaa.

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is on the Fourth Thursday in November. The first Thanksgiving in America is considered to be the pilgrims sharing a feast with Indians after a successful harvest season. Pilgrims are first settlers that came to America from England.

On Thanksgiving Day, people usually eat turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner. The Thanksgiving holiday is also one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

The day after Thanksgiving everyone goes shopping on “Black Friday”. Retailers go into the “black” and earn profits for the entire year. In the U.S. black is considered profit whereas Asia uses the color red. There are many good deals on Black Friday as every retailer has sales. People stand in lines hours before stores open in order to get the best deals. People have been trampled to death as people push to get into stores when they open their doors. Some retailers open very early like 4:00 A.M.

In summary, this week Americans will travel through crowded airports and may be groped by TSA* at the security checkpoint. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBL3ux1o0tM 

A Colorado health insurance company denied coverage to a baby because he was in the 99^th percentile for height and weight for his age.

The baby was 4-months old and weighed 17 pounds. The insurer deemed the baby’s obesity a pre-existing condition and denied coverage. 

Health care reform is in the news daily as it is the focus of Congress and the President in the near term.

Almost 44 million people in the US are without health insurance or about 1 in 6 adults. It is estimated that 60% of bankruptcy cases are caused by health care bills and 75% of the bankrupt families had health insurance.

The right wing warns about socialized medicine but there is already socialized medicine in the form of Medicare. Medicare is administered by the US government and provides health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria.

A Hot TV Show : Jon & Kate plus 8

In the US , there is a popular show called Jon & Kate plus 8. It is a reality television show that follows Jon & Kate plus their 8 kids. They had twins and then sextuplets which is six kids at once. 

Jon is part Korean so their kids look asian. Now their marriage has deteriorated to the point where they may divorce – and people including me, can’t stop watching. 

Is Now a Good Time to Buy a Home in the U.S.?

There has been news about declining home values almost daily for the last few years. If you are a homeowner, you are likely “under water”, meaning your home is worth less than your mortgage balance. If you are a prospective homebuyer, with the decline in home values, there are some real bargains if you look around. http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107100/What-Will-400,000-Buy-Today

The article shows what $400,000 can buy in different cities throughout the United States. $400,000 is about $13 million Taiwan dollars. With a 10% down payment, monthly mortgage payments would be about $2,000, excluding taxes, insurance, points and fees.

In addition, first time home buyers may qualify for up to $8,000 first time homebuyers’ credit. This is a refundable credit meaning even if you do not owe any tax, you could get up to $8,000. There are other requirements such as income and living in the home at least 3 years.

很多藝人選擇在美國結婚，因為美國注重隱私且程序簡易，的確是一個不錯的Option. 但美國的離婚程序如何呢？這可能是當初不會考量的一個重點！

若在美國結婚，且有一個小孩，並且雙方對離婚內容已達成協議，譬如小孩歸誰 ( Sole Custody or Primary Caretaker ), 財產分配(Property Division), 這就會是一個 Non-Contested 的Case，可以採用簡易離婚手續 ( Simple Default Divorce，but not a Joint Simplified Dissolution Procedure)。但他們目前最大的問題是，他們其中一人必須在美國居住一般時間，要不然美國法院對他們的離婚案件沒有管轄權 ( Subject Matter Jurisdiction )，也就無法直接進行判決。
 

以伊利諾州 ( Illinois )而言, 若雙方都沒有錯，只是相處不來 ( Irreconcilable difference have caused the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage)，只要分居6個月以上，就可以申請離婚，但若未分居2年，則需雙方合作簽署Waiver ( No Fault Stipulation )，要不然就要証明一方有錯。

李慶安的雙重國籍

根據美國移民法，放棄美國國籍的方式有七種，其中一種是最近較熱門的話題 : 幫美國以外的政府工作且宣誓效忠。

如果直接閱讀此相關條例，一般人會誤以為李慶安在公職宣誓就職，就已經符合 “幫美國以外的政府工作且宣示效忠”，因而喪失美國籍，但事實並非如此。