AILA Conference Takeaways + Q&A

[00:00:00]to do what they're doing and what they're going to do. We have some amazing panelists come share.

[00:00:05]That's one of the best things about AILA conferences. And this happens when government officials from customs come over, from USCIS come over, from ICE when they come over, from Department of Labor, the consulate officers. They come, the top dogs at AILA, the AILA liaison officers sharing what they have accomplished, some pretty cool rulings.

[00:00:24]But, today we're only focusing on customs CBP because I think that it packed it with a lot of other things that's going on, especially the World Cup, right? For example, the amount of people who are entering the country, um the different visas that they had to specially get that was newly invented just for this event and what we're preparing for for the Olympics next year and the future. So, there's a lot of things that we'll be covering about customs. Now, of course, as all as we always do, if you have any questions regarding immigration, I'm here. My name is Joseph.

[00:01:00]I'm a managing partner here at Zaw Associates. Um I'm a certified immigration law specialist and I'm here to answer your questions. Now, we mainly do business in uh family immigration law. We don't do criminal events. Uh but, if you have any questions that I generally know about, I'm happy to share with you that as well. So, one of the big updates that we're seeing is that customs is going to rule into facial recognition.

[00:01:24]Imagine a future where you cross through the border and when you come in, no longer waiting in line. As you just walk, it's just facial recognition and you will be admitted.

[00:01:35]They're trying to roll that out starting in Seattle and a couple of other airports.

[00:01:41]Mainly for the global entry, right? So, right now with global entry the past, I think, 70 years, they've already rolled out a system so it's good enough where you just need your passport, you scan it, and you're automatically in. And and and and all the times that people have been using the global entry, They've been using the visual recognition, right? You Every time you come in, you scan, and then you get admitted. Nobody says hi. You come in.

[00:02:04]But, all they do is advance the equipment a little better, so that way you come in, they just immediately scan you. It's already verifying you with your scan and password, right? So, that's what they're going to try to roll out. And the ones that Global Entry really does start working, then the people with other green cards might be able to do that, and then eventually for everybody else.

[00:02:23]Now, what does that mean? Now, why is it so important to do that? Because the demand has been insatiable regarding the number of people wanting to come into the country uh for the past 10 years.

[00:02:39]Every airport has been at max capacity.

[00:02:42]More airlines wants to add flights and add um flight paths, but the bottleneck has been the airports and the customs.

[00:02:51]It's not just uh the people who are at the towers. Um uh traffic control trying to bring the airports in. It's not that, you know, Boeing cannot create enough airplanes uh to bring passengers. It's not that airlines There's a sufficient amount of airlines that want to be able to bring people. It's not that the the demand people want to buy tickets.

[00:03:11]None of that is true, even though they're true in their own little small way. A big bottleneck is actually customs. Why? Because every single person that gets admitted into the United States, even domestically and that They're supposed to be screening the flight control, the flight decks, the TSA agents, the CBP officers.

[00:03:34]They're supposed to be screening people.

[00:03:36]They're supposed to be screening 2 minutes of in-depth questioning, and even that isn't really very good for national security purposes, right? Imagine somebody coming in, only 2 minutes to decide if they're a terrorist or not a terrorist.

[00:03:48]2 minutes. But, in reality, what have we been experiencing for in the past, I don't know, 5 years, 10 years?

[00:03:55]Most of the time the questioning is less than 10 seconds.

[00:03:58]10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds is already, oh my gosh, they've been, you know, been interrogating, they're they're they're racial profiling me for asking 45 seconds of questions.

[00:04:08]Think about the questions they're asking. Where Where did you come from?

[00:04:11]Where are you going? What did you do for a living? Job? When was the last time you come? How long are you staying? A lot of these questions, when you answer, 10 15 seconds, you're done.

[00:04:19]But they're supposed to be 2 minutes.

[00:04:22]And then if it's beyond that, they are supposed to be referred to the deferred inspection. And then at deferred, I'm not deferred inspection, at secondary.

[00:04:28]And even at secondary, sometimes the question is actually only 5 10 minutes long, right? And so, the officers themselves cannot ask enough questions, but they should ask enough questions. But with this type of screening, with the roll out of global entry in the past 10 years, allowing people to enter and moving more people to it and more to change the people to do it. Imagine if every single ESTA applicant from around the world, visa waivers, if all of them comes with global entry and facial recognition, it would make things a lot faster. Now, I don't foresee this happening within the next 5 years, but potentially in the next 10 years, that way airports don't have to build up more capacity, that way CBP agents don't have to double or triple size, using AI technology, using facial recognition, they will be able to identify a lot of people better. And then the problematic cases, those are the people that they used to spend 2 minutes on, 5 minutes on, 10 minutes on, right? So, that's the stuff that they're working on. It's already starting to roll out. Things are becoming a lot faster. The past few years, we've already seen they got rid of the stamps, right? Everything is digitalized, so I don't have to go back to online. So, now all the CBP across the airport, 40,000 people flying in, no longer need to waste ink. Just the ink and the stamp alone cost thousands, right? Every month for all the different airports in and Portland.

[00:05:50]Facial recognition is getting more and more advanced. Now, that's just with customs. We're going to talk about FIFA, we're going to talk about World Cup, we're going to talk about Olympics, we're going to talk about the new P1V1 category. Uh we're going to talk about influencers and content creators and and how customs adjudicate them right after the series of questions we're going Uh well, someone says they'll also be able to surveil us easier.

[00:06:10]Absolutely.

[00:06:12]For your information, customs actually have more authority than FBI and CIA in this one respect.

[00:06:19]If FBI and CIA wants to check your device, your phone, computer, uh your smart glasses, your iWatch, they need to get a warrant, right? Well, technically, right?

[00:06:33]Technically.

[00:06:34]>> [laughter] >> Customs do not.

[00:06:36]When you're going through the airport and going through land border, they have automatic permission to inspect everything.

[00:06:44]Now, if there are confidential attorney-client privilege information, those need uh legal counsel from CBP to get permission to review and to use it as evidence. But generally speaking, if they want to just swipe your device and review everything, if you walk through customs, they have a plaque that says you are granting them that authority.

[00:07:07]So, customs do have certain authorities that everybody else does not. And that is already far more scary than facial recognition. I mean, any other country, the UK, China, a lot of places, CCTV everywhere, right? So, other countries have far more surveillance compared to the US, but at border security, they can swipe your device, which is I think slightly a little bit more concerning for most people than most people know.

[00:07:35]>> Yes, emphasis on technically.

[00:07:37]>> Technically, yeah.

[00:07:39]I mean, yeah.

[00:07:40]All the documentation you watch of FBI and CIA and other thing.

[00:07:44]Uh but yes, technically they're supposed to get a judicial >> Okay, so I Uh hello.

[00:07:50]Hello, Elite.

[00:07:52]Um okay, so feel free to add more questions in the chat. I'll take note.

[00:07:56]But I want to talk about the World Cup cuz CBP also they were really happy with how World Cup went.

[00:08:00]>> Right. Uh I was actually worried and a lot of attorneys were worried and a lot of people around the world were worried uh if World Cup was even going to even happen. If he felt was going to pull out. If immigration cracked down was going to be I mean, think about all the worst case scenarios that could have happened.

[00:08:16]Uh entire teams not being able to play, not being able to be admitted. The Iran tank team not being able to even cross the border, right? Um you know, last minute permission, they had to be stationed at Tijuana and they traveled by bus. That was already a pretty big nightmare, but that could have happened to a lot of people and a lot of countries. We saw a couple of referees that couldn't come, but in the whole it's just small individual cases, uh certain family members that couldn't make it to watch the game and stuff like that. But these are small little hiccups compared to the entire teams or entire team managers.

[00:08:54]>> Uh and yes, feel free to ask about merit-based immigration policies. Go ahead.

[00:08:58]>> Or even worse, being detained by ICE.

[00:09:03]Think about it. Not being let in is one thing, having visa refused is one thing, but being detained by ICE, being beaten, being Those were nightmare situations that the world was watching for or fans being detained.

[00:09:20]Those would have been a nightmare situation, but with the the huge demand from around the world of people flying in, um so far we haven't seen any major hiccups. Um customs were able to process everybody. A lot were able to find a way to come in. And we talked a lot about content creators and influencers. A lot of the fluent, they make content, they post it. A lot more worried that their visas will be banned. Their visas could be just technically you're not supposed to be coming in to be able to be filming these things and making money off of it. Which we're going to go into technical detail about it. But I'm going to ask you some a few more questions now.

[00:09:56]>> Uh yeah, we did see that Somalian referee who was >> I yeah, that's what I was referring to.

[00:10:02]There were small little hiccups here and there, but it wasn't something that would derail the entire tournament, right? Uh referee couldn't come in, they were going to find a substitute. You know, um you know, a team manager or family member couldn't make it to watch the game. You know, they were sad, it's unfortunate, but you know, it didn't it didn't it didn't throw off the tournament where something was completely unfair, right?

[00:10:23]Uh the ref's situation is probably the most unfair where one team was at a huge disadvantage.

[00:10:28]But luckily, at least, you know, um it was Mexico, United States, and Canada.

[00:10:33]Three different countries hosting, not just one country. So, I think, you know, in the future, if the US ever hosts these major tournaments again, it might be a good idea to always do it as a North America treaty together.

[00:10:44]>> Uh hello from to our viewers from France.

[00:10:48]Uh the petitioner has a misdemeanor, first-degree trespass, and third-degree theft. Can you handle our case?

[00:10:55]>> What?

[00:10:56]Um okay.

[00:10:57]If it is a non-immigrant visa trying to come into the country, it is possible to get a 212(d) And so, it depends on what kind of visa you want to come into the United States.

[00:11:10]Um yes, there's those criminal backgrounds, but 212(d) waives almost everything. And those things sound like it's not uh severe enough that is a permanent bar. So, that's the good news. If it's a green card petition, you're trying to get a green card, you will need a waiver, right? And that becomes a little bit more tricky. The 601 waiver is a little bit longer.

[00:11:34]We use them uh and you want to prove good moral character but also true hardship. So, it depends on the situation. Hopefully, you have a spouse or a parent that is a green card holder or US citizen.

[00:11:44]Uh so, that is why you want to look into it.

[00:11:47]>> And they said the petitioner has these misdemeanors. Does that change anything?

[00:11:51]>> Oh, the petitioner. Okay.

[00:11:53]Uh yes. So, in that case, it sounds like it's a family based petition. Sounds like it is a uh green card situation, not a not a good visa. And the petitioner having these things does not disqualify the beneficiary. Um Adam Walsh Act doesn't really touch on those two. Adam Walsh Act is a pretty pretty much a permanent bar. Um I I rarely see those cases get approved. We know a lot of the USCIS officers that do adjudication for these type of cases where the petitioner has been over records.

[00:12:22]But it is not one of those. Um Now, what it does affect it is does the guy or girl, the petitioner, have a steady job? Right? Because if you have these crimes, if you have a steady job, and have a long lasting relationship because uh what the government will do in these type of applications, they will see is the beneficiary on Earth meds? And should we protect the beneficiary from the petitioner in case there's any harm? And if there is, then they might deny the case. So, if the relationship is strong and good enough, if the person has been, you know, uh make the uh improve and reform and hold a steady job and a lot of good letter recs, potentially, that case can still go through. So, I would definitely want to book a consultation. It is $250. Uh you can book a consultation on our website. It doesn't have to be with me. Uh a lot of people can do it, but happy to do it as well. But just make sure you say uh you only want to speak with Joseph. That way our media team can reach you.

[00:13:26]>> Mm, do you have an opinion on VAWA for initial applications 2021?

[00:13:33]>> Do I have an opinion on it? Um I think it is extremely politicized.

[00:13:39]I think it is wonderful that VAWA exists.

[00:13:45]Um our firm existed at a time when VAWA didn't exist yet. And so when it came out we we rejoiced.

[00:13:52]Helped so many people over the years with VAWA. I think it is wonderful. I think it has protected a lot of people.

[00:13:58]Specifically many women and children but a lot and some men as well. And I think um of course over the years there was fraud but there was fraud in almost every single category. And I think it is right now heavily politicized and a lot of pressure on adjudicating officers. So when you do an initial application you definitely want to go above and beyond to help the officer adjudicating your case because they don't want to get fired, right? So you know, they're going to approve your case but their name is going to be forever tied to your case.

[00:14:26]So help them help you. Help them help you.

[00:14:30]>> What are the red flags they see during marriage-based green card interviews?

[00:14:35]>> There's a lot. USCIS If you search it you'll you'll see a lot. So USCIS was able to get this this from USCIS. Now these lists are constantly updated and changing but um a lot of these are also common sense but here's a couple for your references. Do the two people speak the same language?

[00:14:51]Right? And you'll be surprised. A lot of people actually don't. Do they share the same address within a 50-mile radius?

[00:14:58]Right? If there's two different addresses and you do a background check on both people you can see oh there's two different addresses and it's over 50 miles away. Well, do you really live together?

[00:15:08]Um if there are multiple residential addresses. If social economics are way too far off, right? One person that has a master's or PhD the other person didn't even graduate junior high, right?

[00:15:20]Or social economically somebody is like the prince of Nigeria and the other person was homeless, right?

[00:15:26]If the wealth disparity is far too large, uh socioeconomically, culturally, and what's that word called? Stereotypical?

[00:15:37]No, uh superficial. I've seen so many officers say, "If I If I see an application with no pictures, I RFE." Now, that that might That might be fair, but why do officers want pictures? And lots of pictures, not just same pictures, same basic outfit, same hair.

[00:15:57]They want pictures throughout the course of the relationship because they want to really see what whether it's AI-generated. And second, um the transition and the growth of a couple. And also, do they look like they are a fit?

[00:16:13]If the guy No.

[00:16:17]Well, let me just put it this way.

[00:16:19]We all judge different couples. And if they just don't look like a good match, you kind of get a good feeling of it, right?

[00:16:26]One is way too good-looking for the other, there might be a problem.

[00:16:32]Just a red flag. Just a red flag that invites further question, right? So, these are some of the things that's most common. Obviously, they use big data, search different ethnicities. When they match it together, it's just like less than 1% were this ethnicity and this ethnicity, this country of nationality and this country of nationality, less than 1% chance. If it's less than 1% chance, it's a red flag.

[00:16:54]Anything that's less than 1% is a red flag.

[00:16:57]Uh same-sex marriages used to be a red flag when it when the Supreme Court first dropped down DOMA.

[00:17:04]Now, it isn't.

[00:17:05]Right? Because officers are well-trained.

[00:17:09]Um I could go so much into that, but but there's just There's just a long list of things for you to consider >> Is $500 a standard charge to for a lawyer to accompany someone to an interview? Just for the interview.

[00:17:23]>> 500 to 5,000 is what I have seen and it completely depends on what the service entails.

[00:17:33]The $500 mark is definitely at the super lowest end and those are some of the attorneys where they are literally in the room.

[00:17:44]They finish with the client and then you come in and you feel you want that safety net. You pay them sometimes in cash and they walk with you into the room together. I spoke on a panel about this just this Wednesday and we were advising a lot of the attorneys to be considered if they are doing that.

[00:18:02]To be hired same day or the day before or even a week before without knowing the case is almost close to being malpractice.

[00:18:13]Right? If you are an attorney representing your clients you don't know the case, you accept monetary compensation and you go with them into a room. What value can you really do to help them?

[00:18:25]You know? And there's only so many things you can do. Um and I could go a lot into details about this, right? Because if the client says something that's true or not true as the attorney you don't know if you don't know the case. Then if they say something wrong and you are there, you validate their claim and now they get in trouble, now you are under liability. Is that the smart move as an attorney? Now, for the clients who are paying $500, is it worth it or not worth it? The attorney when they go with you, they can only sit in back of you and they can really only call their supervisor when the the the interview goes a lot.

[00:19:05]But if they don't do anything, they sit behind you for 10 minutes, it was a clean interview. Um that you know, what do they really do for you other than your emotional comfort, right? And if they uh don't know your case, they don't know how to really help, right? Now, that's the the $500 one, right? The $5,000 one, well, that's also very possible, too, because what if your case is 3,000 pages long and the appeals attorney doesn't know the case and they need to spend a long time to review everything and coach you for 10 sessions before you go to the interview, right? So, there's so many, you know, things, but we do 500 5,000 is the range. It depends on really what you need. Uh and I think there's so much I can share about this. We work with so many different appeals attorneys. I go through appeals on certain occasions on certain cases.

[00:19:52]Uh so, just be aware of this.

[00:19:55]>> Have you seen an AOS for the mother of the citizen be approved without an interview lately?

[00:20:01]>> Yes.

[00:20:02]>> Okay. Does one petty offense conviction, is that okay for a good moral character within the statutory period?

[00:20:09]>> I believe so because there's a called a petty theft petty theft exception. Now, with the new memo that came out last year regarding good moral character both for the naturalization and adjustment of status and in this case change of status and everything else, uh petty theft exception even if it applies, that no longer is sufficient for you to prove you have good moral character.

[00:20:33]It proves, you know, statutory-wise, you are no longer, well, statutory-wise, if you have a misdemeanor, if you have a petty theft, you are no longer deportable, so you can keep your green card potentially, but that doesn't mean necessarily you have enough good moral character to get the citizenship or to get the green card if you committed the misdemeanor uh while you're in your non-immigrant status, right? So, uh petty theft exception is still a thing.

[00:21:00]It is statutory. You can argue that legally, but officers have a lot of discretion and they might not approve the green card or citizenship. You you should still do your absolute best to prove your good moral character and kindness.

[00:21:12]>> I am an LPR, just renewed it, but I have a minor DWI, non-aggravated, from 8 years ago. Can I be taken by ICE?

[00:21:22]>> Um I don't believe ICE would want to take you.

[00:21:26]Um now, let me back that up. Um ICE is generally not going after green card holders, especially people who haven't their green cards haven't been revoked. Um they don't have enough bandwidth to really focus on that. They are under pressure to detain anybody from Customs with drug offenses. We definitely see that with our clients and also with other people as well.

[00:21:52]Um but other things that are not drug offenses is not massive. Yeah, I mean, unless if Customs stop you and other sheriffs stop you, if you're already in jail, and the deputies, government officials, pass you over to ICE, and they see that you are under mandatory detention, then they will get you.

[00:22:12]But if you are thinking, "Oh, I have this conviction. My green card is still intact. Nobody has taken it away from me."

[00:22:19]Will ICE suddenly go after you? The chance of that is extremely >> I have Uh so, I've been on admin processing for 2 years. Every 3 months we send an inquiry, check on CA- CEAC, says expired. Is that an error?

[00:22:36]I sent them everything they need, all the required documents, and the status was refused for the past 2 years.

[00:22:43]>> Um I actually don't know. Um Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I know my team knows, so if you look at our website, you know, I think Gabby would probably know that. Kathy would probably know that. Uh Amy Shire would probably even know that. Um there's a lot of people who know who do these cases on a daily basis. These type of glitches um I I really don't know.

[00:23:05]>> Um what was that list you mentioned where you can see all the red flags that USCIS looks for for marriage based green cards?

[00:23:13]>> Um you know, are you going to pull that?

[00:23:17]>> Yeah, let me take a look.

[00:23:18]>> Yeah, let me pull find it and uh we'll we'll uh you know, you know, what >> If my father signed voluntary departure, but is being kept in ICE custody, can I file habeas corpus?

[00:23:31]>> Habeas corpus?

[00:23:37]Can you file it after voluntary departure has been signed and not released?

[00:23:45]I that fact pattern hasn't come across my desk yet.

[00:23:49]I don't believe so.

[00:23:54]But what other option do you have?

[00:23:59]Right? If if it's you know, I mean, hopefully it's not more than 3 weeks or 4 weeks uh after voluntary departure is signed. Uh but a couple months, I mean, I I really hate you to spend attorney money to go through a case to do a habeas corpus. My my recommendation is um prepare it, use ChatGPT, prepare it, go to ICE detention and say, "Look, we're ready to leave. If not, we're going to file this." I believe put the pressure on them.

[00:24:35]And potentially you, the non-profit, uh uh legal representative can potentially get ICE to move them.

[00:24:42]Uh we've seen people with voluntary departure get to stay for an extra bunch of weeks. But that's just because that's just chaotic to schedule flights. And you know, I I I coming to AILA conference, I was working with some non-profits. And it's not just ICE.

[00:25:00]The home country has to be has to accept it to go into their detention facility to rehabilitate them.

[00:25:07]And that's something a lot of people don't think about, right? It's not just ICE deporting them, but they the home country has to receive them. They have to arrange the flights and they have to do a lot of other things as well. So, you know, ICE can push back and say it's not us. ICE can say there's no points to us.

[00:25:22]Two, three weeks, I think is unfair, unreasonable, but given the circumstances in the world, there's only so much they can do. If it goes on for months, what other option do you have?

[00:25:36]>> Okay, it looks like that AILA doc is for AILA members, so it's behind uh paywall.

[00:25:40]>> Oh, is it behind a paywall?

[00:25:41]>> Yes.

[00:25:42]>> Um I hate to say join AILA just to get it, uh but since it's so important, what we're going to do, um and you can remind me of this, >> [clears throat] >> uh we'll make a dedicated video on this.

[00:25:53]So, yeah, my YouTube subscribers >> Yeah, that's a good idea. Uh my husband's on a green card. He applied for my adjustment of status.

[00:26:00]Uh my interview's next month. I came on a tourist visa.

[00:26:04]Uh was on status. We had like a cultural wedding.

[00:26:07]Any thoughts?

[00:26:09]>> Okay, brother.

[00:26:10]>> Yeah, B1/B2 AOS to green card. Uh and the husband's on a green card.

[00:26:18]>> Husband is on a green card and then now you're already AOS?

[00:26:22]>> Yes, and their interview is next month.

[00:26:25]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:26:26]Um >> Uh F2A.

[00:26:30]>> Okay. We just had a client that did this last week.

[00:26:35]Um I'm assuming your question is does the new memo apply to you, the May 22nd memo with regards to if you do a tourist visa and you are now adjusted, how would that affect the officer's adjudication of the case? And part of that uh four questions that you really want to answer is, why did you choose to do adjustment of status in the US as opposed to being abroad? Uh was this premeditated? Did you lie to an officer?

[00:27:00]Uh what advantages does the US get? Is there any legal reason why you couldn't leave the US? These are the things that you want to think about and prepare for.

[00:27:07]We had a lot of clients since May 22nd.

[00:27:09]So, now they have already gone through the interview. Some get asked these questions, some don't get asked these questions. Um some ask the question and you answer appropriately and it's fine.

[00:27:17]The most important thing is you don't want to show you deceived the customs officer. You came into the country as a tourist. You did do tourist things. You know, if you if you went to Vegas, do go to Vegas, right? You said you want to go to Vegas. You Whatever tourist thing you were going to do with your husband, do that. If there priority did change during the time that you were here and that was a new thing unexpected and you filed adjustment of status, you want to be able to explain that.

[00:27:42]You know, you want to be able to explain why your spouse who is in the home country couldn't leave to go back to their home country to do the adjustment of status with you. The process having been so long. You want to be able to explain some of these factors to the officer. Um we spent a lot of time at the conference talking about this. I taught on it personally this Wednesday.

[00:28:00]Um it's still going forward. A lot of cases are still getting approved. We haven't seen a case yet denied due to the memo specifically, although I have heard a panelist say they got um a case denied um through just random discretion, right? Not that it's that it's the memo specifically. They're preparing a lawsuit for it.

[00:28:19]But, generally, if you have a good case, you should still be fine. Um Our case got approved.

[00:28:27]So far, every single case that's filed from May 22nd till now, the adjustment of status through the new memo has gotten approved.

[00:28:34]Um hopefully that's helpful. We've made a lot of videos on this on our YouTube channel. You can feel free to check it out. Um and if you have additional specific questions or you want to do a mock interview prep with the officer asking questions, you know, be do that as well. 250 points.

[00:28:48]>> They've been married for 3 years.

[00:28:49]>> Okay.

[00:28:50]That's additional proof.

[00:28:52]>> Okay. Oh, so for this uh father who's currently being detained, detained since June 3rd, he was arrested in a house raid but was not the intended target.

[00:29:00]>> Okay, June 3rd. That's 20 days. Um that's not even including you know, when he signed the law for the departure, right? So, um give yourself maybe 3 weeks uh Again, it's not just ICE. It's ICE, it's detention center, it's the home country, and the logistics, it's the paperwork.

[00:29:20]There's a lot of things.

[00:29:21]>> Okay, so feel free to keep putting questions down in the chat. I will take note of them, but I want to talk about O-1 and B-1/B-2 for streamers, permissible activities, especially with the World Cup.

[00:29:36]>> This is an area of law that have changed dramatically in just the past few years. And we're talking 180° shift, right? So, let's just go back to some of the fundamentals that has not changed.

[00:29:49]As a tourist visa as as a tourist or an ESTA holder, visa waiver, when you come into the country, you cannot work.

[00:29:57]Right? So, that's bottom line. If you want to work paid, you need to get a proper visa.

[00:30:05]E-2, P-1, O-1, different There's so many different visa categories.

[00:30:09]If you want to work, you're supposed to get a visa. But, for the majority of the world, people don't get work visas. They use a tourist visa or ESTA waiver to fly into the country, especially in times like these where there's international uh events.

[00:30:25]In the past 5 years, 10 years, content creation, influencers, um full-time broadcasters became a job description that the world has never seen before.

[00:30:39]Right? In the past, you know, you needed to be represented by a studio and they sent a journalist to come. Now, anybody with a phone can step out and become a YouTube star, Tik Tok star, Instagram star, and they that is their livelihood.

[00:30:57]Is that permissible under the tourist visa guideline?

[00:31:01]It's a yes and a no. And depending on how you answer, and depending on how you present yourself, and depending on what the officer thinks, your visa could get denied and you might be returned to your home country with a 5-year ban not to return. And that we have seen over the years.

[00:31:17]So, that I think everybody knows.

[00:31:19]However, the shift recently has become much more I want to say realistic.

[00:31:28]Just I want to say 2 years ago, what we were talking with customs officer about it, the majority of the understanding was still if you come into the country, who is paying you?

[00:31:41]Like, right? You are a tourist, but nobody in the US is paying you.

[00:31:47]You are filming, but it's your home country that's paying you.

[00:31:52]And so, who's paying you was the most important thing in the past, cuz you're not replacing a US worker.

[00:32:00]With the advancements of international transactions, Zelle, PayPal, it is so easy for a US worker to be paid to do the same thing. Who's paying you does not become the most important thing anymore.

[00:32:17]And this what there was a this big Nike case where the person came in, they were filming, Nike was a brand, but it was the overseas Nike that was paying for them, but they were still filming. Was that okay? Was that okay? There was a big fight over it. Eventually, it got resolved, but the issue before was who's paying? Now, the argument is, well, you could have hired a US employee, a US content creator.

[00:32:44]Um, you didn't have to hire these overseas people to come in to film.

[00:32:48]Who's paying you? Doesn't matter that important. Even if it's a US brand, even if it's a foreign brand, it doesn't matter anymore. The location becomes most important. The event becomes the most important thing. If you're flying in for the full intent purpose of coming to record the World Cup, the Olympics, the fashion show, and you're getting paid abroad, the brand is abroad, if you are a you if your job, if your profession is a full-time influencer or content creator or streamer, and you're doing this, and that's your livelihood, the US event is the product, and you should find a lawyer.

[00:33:31]That is now the understanding of the officer. Now, between content creation and influencer, there's also a big split, and now they're sophisticated enough to understand that. If you're an influencer, you're coming here to promote a product or a service, and you're getting paid for that. If you're in content creation, if you're here, that could be your hobby. You could be like, "Hey, you know, I love soccer."

[00:33:53]Then you're enjoying soccer. If it's a lifestyle, that may or may not be work. It could be your hobby. It could just be, you know, what you're interested in. But if you are one of those uh content creators that you get paid hundreds of thousands of millions from sponsors, from YouTube, from all the and and and you just go around the world doing it, and US is a destination, again, that is a product. Now, if it's just once a year, once every 2 years, and filmed before a short duration, that might be overlooked. But if you are constantly coming in once every 2, 3, 4 months, you're staying for a couple weeks, you're going to these major events, and you're getting paid big bucks, sorry. O- one was the right application? you. You get paid so much. USC has to take a cut of that, right? So, you need to apply for the proper visa to be able to get the visa.

[00:34:41]Content creation little bit more um uh uh uh better according to customs.

[00:34:50]Influencers, right? Brands are paying you to promote a product or service and you're coming here to show your skin care product at, you know, people will look up. Maybe not so good. So, influencers definitely don't get as good of a rep.

[00:35:03]And um and the players, right? The family of the players, they created a special visa category for O-1 trainers uh for V O-1 B2 trainers. They're coming with everybody to train. That is technically work, right? That should have been under O-1 category, right? or O-3 category.

[00:35:22]But, because that process was so long, so complicated, they just created a designated V O-1 B2 category for you the trainers, and it's okay to come. So, it's an evolving world. Customs' understanding of this new digital age is changing, and that is has been a large success for customs in gearing up for the Olympics, which is going to be actually far bigger and more complicated than what we saw here. So, it was a perfect training run.

[00:35:50]So, let's say someone wants to be completely safe, right? Where is the line between permissible and posting on Instagram and non-permissible B1/B2 activity?

[00:36:04]For a majority of the population in the world, it's not going to be a problem, right? Uh most people don't get paid.

[00:36:11]Most people don't monetize their Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube channel.

[00:36:14]And even if they do, a couple dollars, a couple hundred dollars, it's a tangential thing. It's part of your lifestyle, not a big deal. Most people have full-time jobs, and they have maybe a YouTube channel with that, right?

[00:36:28]So, the majority of people have a problem. We're talking about maybe the top 1% of content creators whose is their full-time job. They have tons of equipment, they have a huge following, they get paid a lot.

[00:36:44]If that is the situation, then you need to draw a big question mark.

[00:36:47]Should you apply for the proper visa?

[00:36:49]Second question is where are you going? How long are you going to be there? And why are you going, right? So, you might be coming in and if you're here for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and you're coming for your honeymoon, you just got married, and it just so happens the World Cup is also here and you'll be attending one day and you have one ticket, it's probably your travel, right? You're The US is not going to ban every single content creator just because they have a channel from ever coming to the US and invalidating their tourist visa. But, if they come in, they have, you know, 10 tickets to the World Cup, they have all the gear, they're getting paid, they get asked at they scan your phone and you have all this itinerary and meeting up with all these other people and doing all these interviews, it looks like this is a work trip.

[00:37:40]Looks like you're getting paid, looks like you're dedicated and focused on that.

[00:37:43]Or you come in as a tourist visa, that becomes a big, big red flag, right? And so, again, officers denying visas, revoking visas, giving 5-year bans is still probably less than 1% of all travelers, but if you're doing this as your profession and you're constantly doing this and you've been warned about this, um once you get that 5-year ban, it is going to be extremely painful to try to get another visa and to get a waiver and come back. It's not impossible. On our YouTube channel, we've definitely done a lot of success stories on how to get waivers if that happens to you.

[00:38:21]Uh we have several clients who have been doing that and have and especially in the past 2 years. And I foresee in the next 2 years more bans will happen.

[00:38:28]Maybe it moves up 1% to maybe 2%, but that's because majority of the world they don't want to go through the normal visa process. For US companies, they don't want to hire and spend that much effort getting the proper visa. So, somebody else from a different country just a tourist visa flying in, people want to do the work, gladly pay that, easy transaction, easy logistics, but customs they are becoming more sophisticated in understanding this and they have increased the denials.

[00:38:59]>> Mhm.

[00:39:00]Okay. Uh, anything else you want to say or should we move on to some more questions?

[00:39:03]>> Let's go.

[00:39:04]>> Okay. Other than tax, bank statements, bill, photo, kid, lease, what proof can I prepare for a marriage-based green card interview?

[00:39:14]>> You should always prepare for a Stokes interview.

[00:39:16]So, two people separated.

[00:39:19]You have all these documents, great. But any fraud or children married can also prepare all that. In fact, we heard an officer say, "Hey, just because you have a kid together does that mean your marriage is real?"

[00:39:28]>> That's crazy.

[00:39:29]>> [laughter] >> Absolutely mind-boggling.

[00:39:33]In that specific context, it was an 8-month-old pregnant woman.

[00:39:38]And it was like, "How can you say that?"

[00:39:40]And the officer said, "Well, the kid is not born yet. There's no birth certificate. What if the woman is just pregnant with somebody else and you're just tagging along?"

[00:39:50]You see, you know, the officer said, "You will be surprised at the lengths that fraudsters do to secure a So, there's so many things the way they dress, the way their documents they present to get, you know, if you really want to compare, an EB-5 investment is a million dollars to get a green card.

[00:40:11]If you want to fake a marriage, how much do you spend and you get a green card?

[00:40:15]Well, they're They're both green cards, right? And so, a lot of people go through crazy depth to be able to get these green cards.

[00:40:22]Now, they have all these things, still prepared to be separated.

[00:40:28]And when you are separated, the officer will ask you guys different sets of questions, and they will match them.

[00:40:33]And if it feels statistically, it becomes a bigger bigger fraud investigation.

[00:40:39]Doesn't mean the case will be denied, but it becomes a much bigger fraud investigation opportunity.

[00:40:44]Um that's one of the most important details, right? Because it is you know, you prepare documents, you prepare really well, and I can give you a 100 other documents to prepare to prove your marriage is real, but there's nothing that quite beats a stealth interview, because it's just so hard to prepare for.

[00:41:01]Um I can give you some examples right here right now.

[00:41:05]If the two of you are separated, and the officer asks, "Oh, you know, what's the last five trips you went on?"

[00:41:10]Uh you list it out, no problem. What were the trips that you almost went on?

[00:41:16]That you didn't go.

[00:41:18]You Nobody just selects these locations together, and there's no disagreement.

[00:41:23]Selecting where which dinner place to go, you might have like all sorts of options, right? All right, you did go on these trips, I believe you. I see the hotel, I see the I see travel, but what were the trips that you almost went on that you didn't?

[00:41:35]What did you want? What did she want?

[00:41:38]Why didn't you do that?

[00:41:40]List that out.

[00:41:41]And do it in 1 minute. Oh, yeah, easy.

[00:41:43]She wanted to go to Japan. I want to go to Vietnam. I want to go, you know, uh Spain, and she wanted to go London.

[00:41:51]Uh but we and we settled on Switzerland, right? List it all out. This is why.

[00:41:55]Because if it's real, you would be able to list it out, and you'd be able to explain. The other person list it out.

[00:42:00]And if it's way different, well, that's a problem, right?

[00:42:06]What's your favorite brands? List it all out. What's your favorite brands? What brands do you used to like now you hate?

[00:42:13]That becomes a lot harder for the other person to guess. Both of you go to work.

[00:42:18]Tell me about the work drama that the other person has.

[00:42:21]Who do they like? Who do they dislike?

[00:42:23]Who's their work wife? Who's their work husband?

[00:42:26]Who are you jealous of? Who are you not jealous of?

[00:42:29]List that out. Can the other person guess it correctly? These are things that are just nearly impossible to prepare every single scenario, right?

[00:42:39]Nail clippers.

[00:42:41]Where are they in the house? Which drawer?

[00:42:44]You know, like just a random thing that everybody should know if you really truly live together. But can you really memorize a thousand things that is in the house? Dishwasher detergent, nail clippers, right? You have laundry the multiple laundry baskets. Where's the station, right? How many suitcases do you guys all have drawing me together?

[00:43:02]It goes on and on and on. What do you think are some of the most common Stokes and Zuber questions are?

[00:43:08]They don't um They actually train the officers to say, "Think about yourself and come up with one every single morning and just use that and the next day do a different one, right? And again, they give these kind of examples, right? Like What was the last argument you had with your spouse? Who won the argument? What were the five points, right? And so the officers use their own life experience as a basis and use that week's experience and there there there's no way people can can predict and to anticipate. But you don't have to get 100% correct, right? I think the passing rate, I believe it's like 70%.

[00:43:49]But if you if it's not a real marriage, you don't know each other well enough.

[00:43:56]Getting even 50% is nearly impossible, right? Your best friend, right? Just think about your best best friend.

[00:44:04]It's impossible to guess those things even with your best friend. That alone, somebody who's not.

[00:44:09]>> So, how do you prepare for something like that?

[00:44:12]>> That's why. That's why it is the ultimate test of whether or not Americans are real. So, if you just got If you just got married, you go in. It's okay. You can You can challenge the officer to ask you a different question.

[00:44:24]That's permissible.

[00:44:25]Right? So, let's say you guys just got married. You guys submitted the paperwork, and within 3 months you get called to an interview. And now you have to sit this interview with the officer.

[00:44:34]The officer looks at you and says, you know, tell me about, you know, the the 10 best friends that the person has.

[00:44:41]Officer, we only met 3 months ago. I know right now my spouse hangs out with these three people. We met We had drinks. I know this is a bad example. I don't know them that well. We had, you know, one outing together, and it was a bar. It was really loud.

[00:44:55]I I just don't know that question. Can you ask me another one? Oh, yeah, sure.

[00:44:59]All right. You've been living together for 3 months? Okay. Okay. Where are all these people located? Well, we just moved in together, right? Everything's still in boxes. We even We don't have everything up. Can you ask me a different question?

[00:45:08]Sure. Um Yeah, like you could challenge the officer to give you one that is actually reasonable given your circumstances. Now, obviously, if you do that again and again, the officer is going to say, "Hey, I asked you 10 questions. You can't answer any of them. You know what?

[00:45:22]We could postpone this interview, and I'm going to hire a fraud inspector to go to your house. Your adjudication time instead of 3 months becomes 3 years."

[00:45:32]But that's what you signed up for, right? You got married. You You You filed the case. Prepare for a 3-month 3-year adjudication. You know? So, um now, after 3 years, you guys are still together, file a joint action. Then you get called into an interview 3 years later, asked the same questions. You pass with flying colors. You still get the green card, right? So, these are things to kind of think about and prepare for.

[00:45:53]>> So, all that being said, what do you think the best way to prep for a green card interview is?

[00:46:00]>> The best way, um pretend to a mock interview.

[00:46:05]Use AI. Hey AI, you are a USCIS officer doing this interview. Ask us 10 questions. You know, and just do it again and again. Like how do I prepare?

[00:46:13]You know, AI can help you a lot.

[00:46:15]Obviously, you can pay a law office that does these routinely. But specifically, you want to hire It's It's best to hire a law office that does it at your location, right? Because the way Miami USCIS officers are interviewing is different than LA's, different than New York, different than Seattle.

[00:46:34]Find somebody who does these routinely, who have a lot of in-depth knowledge about what the officers what those officers generally care about, the timeline process, and practice with them at least once. It will, you know, ease your nerves and improve you.

[00:46:49]And help you too.

[00:46:51]>> So, do you think influencers will have problems renewing visas in the future, especially if they do get dinged from CBP for unauthorized work?

[00:47:01]>> If you've already gotten dinged, renewing a visa becomes much more difficult. And but it completely depends on the influencer's background. Like I said, most people are not professional influencers. But that industry is growing so rapidly, right? There are so many people that their entire full-time job is just standing in front of the camera 10 hours a day advertising things. And then now you travel around the world going to different locations to do that. And then the officer looks at your passport and say, "Wow, in the past year you went to 10 different countries, stayed in all these different places. You know, what do you do? I look at your gear.

[00:47:41]I think you're not a real tourist, you know? So, it depends on your situation.

[00:47:47]>> Is it still possible to do AOS with a US son?

[00:47:51]US citizen son.

[00:47:52]>> Yeah.

[00:47:53]I don't see why not.

[00:47:56]>> Uh what are some other things you want to share? Uh, big takeaways from AILA this year.

[00:48:01]>> Uh, so many good ones.

[00:48:05]I don't think category-wise.

[00:48:07]Uh, I think USCIS is going to get a lot more strict in the next 2 years.

[00:48:16]I have absolutely no doubt about that now. Before, I was kind of like, "Okay, um, USCIS getting stricter, memos are coming out. It could be a theatrical stunt, you know, Donald Trump wants to prove that he's doing a lot with immigration regarding ICE. It's a lot of theater.

[00:48:35]They release all those memos, whether or not they're going to actually execute them, whether or not more memos going to come out that's going to change the landscape.

[00:48:44]It could just be theater first 2 years, then the last year he focuses on what he really wants to do.

[00:48:49]I don't believe that anymore after this conference. I believe immigration is going to get stricter and stricter.

[00:48:57]These memos that come out is going to have more implementation. I think USCIS and ICE is going to work much more much more closely together. I think people have to really prepare how when AI adjudicates your case and when an inexperienced officer is doing it and how you have to explain to the officer.

[00:49:16]I believe motions to reopen will be considered and APA lawsuits in federal court is going to be much more important because that's the only way to correct an agency that is led by Trump appointees working with ICE with inexperienced officers. Um, it's it's it's going to be a tough battle the next 2 years and we'll see what happens afterwards, but the landscape of immigration, I think it's forever changed. We're not going back to how it was and this is the new era of immigration that we're going to we're stepping into.

[00:49:50]>> Someone says, "I've seen a few influencers admitting to work without without authorization and I was curious."

[00:49:57]>> Yeah.

[00:49:58]Great.

[00:49:59]>> Well, not great for them.

[00:50:01]Um Yeah, so what do you think the overall mood has been uh talking to attorneys here at this conference? What what are kind of like the atmosphere?

[00:50:10]>> Um You know, it's actually a lot better than from last year.

[00:50:16]You know, um I think I think most attorneys that survived last year, they come to this conference, they've already seen the crazy battles that go on.

[00:50:27]They've seen what's happening.

[00:50:30]And a lot of people have already adapted.

[00:50:33]And now they know that they have to keep on adapting.

[00:50:36]And they're learning and they're working with each other and and the atmosphere of this conference is more so, how can I help you? How can you help me? How can we work together? And I see nonprofits and NGOs working together. I see law firms and pro bono attorneys working together. I see vendors and attorneys working together.

[00:50:52]I see AILA is trying to do their best to try to change things to make things better. So, I feel like the fighting spirit has been like rekindled as opposed to last conference We have to outlast. We have to outsurvive." Um you know, tired, you know, a lot of complaints.

[00:51:11]Just in survival mode, whereas this time is more so like, "Let's fight this through." Because cuz last year and this year, so many crazy battles have already been won.

[00:51:22]And so they see, even though there's crazy, but there are solutions and victories could still be obtained.

[00:51:31]But there is that dark shadow looming where I see USCIS getting more and more difficult.

[00:51:37]But there's small slivers of pockets where bright lights are still shining that we see, "Okay, there's still maybe a pathway out." We need to get together >> Mm.

[00:51:49]>> What do you think those those pathways are really like right?

[00:51:52]>> Um January of last year, humanitarian parole was cancelled by executive order.

[00:51:57]I was at the border the day after that, two days after the executive order was issued and customs did not let my client in for humanitarian parole. Over the time I would spend almost a whole year prepping it and working it and getting the permission from customs that we would be doing.

[00:52:14]Cancelled and the full year we didn't do a single humanitarian parole.

[00:52:18]Not I know. Maybe we did one or two, but I didn't know about those.

[00:52:23]And then in November of last year the announcement went out that humanitarian parole can be done. It comes with a thousand dollar fee.

[00:52:34]And on a uh case-by-case basis, not like it humanitarian paroles.

[00:52:39]That opened up that sliver of of of of light that oh, it it's starting again. The government just wants money, you know? Um which you know, for somebody who's been who's been separated from their family for like decades, a thousand dollars, yeah, it's worth it.

[00:52:57]I mean, a ticket to to soccer is a thousand dollars, right? So, being able to be reunited with a family or being able to see their father one last time before they pass away, right? Or, you know, um being incorrectly, you know, removed but the process that took eight years and their baby is in the US being able to come here and take care of them.

[00:53:15]You know, so many things that require humanitarian parole cancelled for an entire year.

[00:53:21]Small light available November of last year.

[00:53:25]This conference talking to customs.

[00:53:28]Customs said, "We are here. The law that had changed, humanitarian parole is still here. It's still being issued. We made a few mistakes charging people a thousand dollars. We shouldn't have charged them. We're giving refunds."

[00:53:39]>> Mhm.

[00:53:39]>> But that tells me that it is working, and it is possible, and it's it might get back to how things used to be. Maybe not as much, but human approval is still possible.

[00:53:55]Desperately needed still can happen. It cost a couple of thousand dollars now, but it's still possible.

[00:54:01]>> Mhm.

[00:54:02]>> And it's not just one example. There's so many, right? But, by going to these conference, talking to the officers, you just don't know what you don't know. You don't know what can be done and what can't be done. And you don't have the endless resources to try everything, right? So, once you figure out this could be possible, somebody else is doing this, it could work. Then when a client comes to you and you know they may have the need, you point them in the right direction, and then you do it together, and it might be possible, right? It's amazing.

[00:54:28]>> Do you deal with asylum?

[00:54:29]>> No. We do not do asylum cases.

[00:54:33]>> And if you had to sum up this year's AILA, uh cuz we're almost at the end of our time, sum up in, you know, just a brief you know, put a cap on it, what would you say?

[00:54:44]>> I would say coming to this AILA conference, never before have I been so certain that you are not alone.

[00:54:54]Every >> [clears throat] >> The loudest motorcycle I have ever heard.

[00:55:03]>> let me On the point of you're not alone, a peloton of uh uh motorcycles were together and just was so That's awesome, right?

[00:55:11]And again, you are not alone because chapter uh AILA chapters are going to be stronger than ever because of the new bylaw changes, they don't have to take on some crazy national uh some call it BS.

[00:55:29]But, chapter uh AILA members have a a more autonomy and freedom and ability um um without having so much responsibility.

[00:55:43]That is a plus and that can help you rank.

[00:55:46]Vendors are here to help.

[00:55:48]Uh they let you have the national because they're now much more consolidated. They should be able to pull a lot faster and push a lot further and do a lot more things much more quickly without all the bureaucracy and and there's a lot of bureaucracy even within AILA. So, hopefully in the next few years you will see this organization the conferences become a lot better to help you help the clients that you want.

[00:56:17]>> Okay, and that is our time.

[00:56:19]>> Thank you and I'll see you guys next week. Thank you.

[00:56:21]>> Yeah. Uh so, when will we be live next week?

[00:56:22]>> Well, we we are we should be live Thursday um at noon.

[00:56:27]>> Okay. Bye, everyone. Thank you.

[00:56:29]>> See you.