New York is currently and historically one of the states which immigration has the most effect. After all, many from around the country had ancestry who came through Ellis Island. And not much has changed, as New York is only second to California in terms of permanent residents in 2008. New York had almost 150,000 new legal permanent residents in 2008, while California had close to 250,000 new permanent residents.

Let’s focus on New York. What has the impact been on New York with so many living here? It’s clear New York has been one of the most populous place for both citizens and permanent residents, but the effect of new immigrants can always have positive and negative effects.

First, what does permanent residency mean? What’s a green card?

A green card and permanent residency mean you have the right to live and work in the U.S., and travel in and out with few restrictions. You cannot vote, and technically can be deported if you break laws.

Most with green cards are family members of U.S. citizens. Often naturalized immigrants have children here and these children are considered U.S. citizens, so if you’ve been naturalized, you can expect your children to be U.S. citizens.

Many also get permanent resident status (green cards) through marriage. This is technically legal, but has been abused in the past and occasionally is abused today. You must in a sense prove you intend to marry your spouse and have serious feelings; otherwise it might look suspect. If you already have children with this spouse, it’s often an easier argument to prove you do indeed want to marry this person.

Before we move onto the impact permanent residents have had in New York state, what has  the impact been nationwide? In 2010, the foreign-born population in the U.S. is expected to reach 43 million, which is almost 14 percent of the total. While this may seem to be a large number, in years past there have been ever more foreign-born living permanently in the country. Canada, for example, has a 17 percent foreign-born population, while Australia has almost 25 percent. So it’s not an event localized to the U.S.

As for New York, the state traditionally with high foreign-born permanent residents, the numbers are different. While it used to be the majority flocked to New York and other large states such as California, when you compare 1995 to 2000, less immigrants have flocked to the traditionally large states, and more have gone to North Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada in large numbers.

That said, New York is still #2 on the list of total permanent immigrants in 2008, with about 144,000. That’s a number which has varied in recent years, but typically you can expect California to be #1 for new permanent immigrants and New York #2.

With 144,000 new residents, and such a problematic economy, it’s safe to say new permanent residence may have trouble finding work here. New York has  one of the highest unemployment rates in the US, over 10 percent by recent numbers, with new jobs added stats going down.

The impact may not be negative. With the economy slowly rebounding, and the New York unemployment rate going down in recent months, you can expect to find more jobs. To make sure you can work in the state as a permanent resident,  you must always follow the laws, work with an immigration lawyer, and apply for citizenship if you do have a green card.

The best way to get a green card is to voice intentions of marrying a US citizen or if you’re already married to a US citizen. To get a green card via family, you must be an immediate relative of a US citizen.

Say for example you are visiting your love in New York. You love it in New York, stay longer than you intended, and decide to stay here and apply for citizenship. You must prove you intend to marry this person, this person must be a US citizen, be legally able to marry, and have visited this person in the US within the last two years.

It does get complicated, but it’s really the best way to get sponsored for a green card and live in the US.

Let’s go over in more detail how to gain US citizenship and a green card while currently in the US or any other country.

How You Apply for a Green Card in the  United States
You are immediately not eligible for a green card if you visited the US legally and stayed past your intended date (which is on your I-94 card). There are exemptions which a professional immigration lawyer can help you with, namely being if you’re an immediate relative of a US citizen, and applying because of that.

If you visited New York but entered the country illegally somehow, you may actually face deportation. You should consult a New York immigration lawyer who can help you immediately, or hire one in any state you visit.

Applying for a Green Card From Outside the United States
If you’re living in Great Britain and want to apply for citizenship, you first apply for a Visa. Once accepted, the National Visa Center will begin sending you letters. The NVC will then help you handle immigrating from Great Britain  to the US through the US embassies there.

Your US immigration process is not over yet. The local consulate will set up an interview with you for your green card. They will tell you to get a medical exam and photos. You’ll then have to meet with them and hand over some documents, including your passport, birth and marriage certificated, and even police certificates. There are various other documents they typically ask you to bring too.

You’ll then make an appointment and wait for a consular officer to meet with you at the consulate. They will review your documents and talk with you. It’s then over for many people, as you’ll be accepted, have your passport stamped, given a US visa to be used within six months so you can claim permanent resident status, and get your green card a few weeks or months later by mail.

Problems with Your Green Card
There are many cases where you might have trouble not only getting all the documents but being able to get a green card so you can live in the US. If you want to live in New York, for example, you may want to meet with a professional New York immigration attorney who can help you. This costs a fee, but few people can afford to do everything by themselves, as it can be a complex, time consuming, and often taxing experience.

Depending on your situation, immigration fees do change. The best route for a quick immigration process is to hire a professional immigration lawyer in the state you intend to visit. Typically, for the basic forms and fees to get you started, it can cost $300-800. That does not include some of the more expensive applications. You also need to pay for a medical examination, which can cost around $300.

What Other Fees?
You typically hire a immigration lawyer so you can get all the documentation correct. Since immigration law is a complex subject and the US handles it via a process of forms, your best choice is to hire professional counsel to get started.

It should be noted that you can have certain immigration related services waived if you prove that you are unable to pay. If you are without a job and want a better life for you and your family, for example,  you can submit a separate form to the USCIS and ask them to waive the fee.

How Do I Get a Green Card? How Much Does that Cost and How Long Does it Take?
There are a number of different opportunities for getting a green card, but the most common are having immediate family in US and/or being offered a job by an employer in the states. There are many other programs for getting into the US, such as for being a political refuge, and you’ll find more info on that upcoming on this blog.

The green card typically costs around $1,000 if you file all the applications yourself. If you hire an experienced lawyer, that’s an additional fee. If your employer is bringing you over from another country for a special skill, those fees can be paid. In total, it might cost you or your employer, with lawyer and application fees included, $5,000-7,000 to get the green card successfully.

Green cards are not easy to get, as only so many are allowed into the US. and it’s even tough for employers to get them because they must first prove trying to find a skilled worker in the US. However, many do successfully get green cards, but usually you experience the benefits before you actually get the green card. A green card may take 2-3 years to get, in other words, but you can be in the US enjoying all the benefits before that.

Is a Lawyer Worth It?
Definitely, hiring a professional immigration lawyer in the US to get you, your employee, or family member to the US is a wise choice. With the chances of being rejected very high, and all the opportunities new immigrants have, hiring a professional immigration lawyer can actually save you time and money. You just have to choose the right one. Hire someone with experience in the field, who can educate you on the subject, and who’s upfront about fees.

Most scientists believe that human beings first came to America over the Bering Straits about 20,000 years ago. These were the ancestors of the many Native American cultures, which would people the landscape for thousands of years. Around the year 1000, a small number of Vikings would arrive. Five-hundred years later, the great European migration would begin. Crossing the Atlantic meant two to three months of seasickness, overcrowding, limited food rations, and disease. But the lure of available land and the hope for political and religious freedoms kept the Europeans coming.

So, they came to America, “Land of the Free”, and people from Europe and all around the World are still coming today. The United States of America has embraced and welcomed immigration since its beginning. Between 1880 and 1930 over 27 million people entered the United States, but after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, American attitudes toward immigration began to shift. Nationalism and suspicion of foreigners were on the rise, and immigrants’ loyalties were often called into question. Through the early 1920s, a series of laws was passed to limit the flow of immigrants.

Between 1892 and 1955, nearly all immigrants came in to the United States through Ellis Island, the historic “gateway” to America. Those with visible health problems or diseases were sent home or held in the island’s hospital facilities for long periods of time. They were then asked 29 questions including name, occupation, and the amount of money they carried with them.

Generally, those immigrants who were approved spent from two to five hours at Ellis Island. However, more than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers were rejected outright because they were considered likely to become a public charge. About two percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as chronic contagious disease, criminal background, or insanity. Ellis Island was sometimes known as “The Island of Tears” or “Heartbreak Island” because of those two percent who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage.

Today, Ellis Island no longer processes people who want to immigrate to the United States, but the millions of immigrants who were processed through the Island still has their influence on America. Everyone in America understands how music influences our culture, our souls. No place on Earth understands the influence of music on our livers better than Chicagoans.

Chicago has given rise to many forms of music and is the birthplace of House Music, but did you know it is also the place where Jule Styne grew up and was educated? Styne became a famous American songwriter for his compositions contributed to Broadway and often revived to this day. He was championed by none other than Frank Sinatra who sung Styne’s hit single, “Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week.” He wrote many songs for the movie industry, and he was elected to the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1972. Jule Styne immigrated from England to the United States and through Ellis Island in 1913.

Today’s immigration laws, like in the 1920s, are still designed to limit the flow of immigrants into the United States. They are much more complicated than they were in those early days of America, but there are still many ways a foreigner can immigrate to the United States, become a permanent resident, or become a citizen.

Maybe you have had or know someone who has had a difficult time immigrating to the United States, becoming a permanent resident, or a citizen. If you don’t understand our immigration laws, you want to learn how to immigrate, or you have a relative that wants to immigrate to the United States, you will need legal help to understand our immigration law.

Even if you already live here and just want to become a permanent resident or citizen, or have a relative that wants to become a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, contact us right now at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration lawyer in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law. Who knows, your relative, or a friend may be the next Jule Styne that influences America.

Most scientists believe that human beings first came to America over the Bering Straits about 20,000 years ago. These were the ancestors of the many Native American cultures, which would people the landscape for thousands of years. Around the year 1000, a small number of Vikings would arrive. Five-hundred years later, the great European migration would begin. Crossing the Atlantic meant two to three months of seasickness, overcrowding, limited food rations, and disease, but the lure of available land and the hope for political and religious freedoms kept the Europeans coming. People from Europe and all around the World are still coming today in order to seek out the “Land of the Free.”

The United States of America has embraced and welcomed immigration since its beginning including Eberhard Anheuser, a German-born soap and candle maker. He and two of his brothers moved to the United States in 1842. He was a major creditor of the Bavarian Brewery Company, a struggling brewery founded in 1853.

When the company encountered financial difficulty in 1860, he purchased the minor creditors’ interests, took over the company, and became the President and CEO changing the company name to the Eberhard Anheuser and Company.

His daughter Lilly married Adophus Busch, a brewery supply salesman, in a double wedding with Anna Anheuser, Lilly’s older sister, and Ulrich Busch, Adolphus’ brother. The unions prepared the way for Adolphus Busch to found the Anheuser-Busch Company in 1879. The company’s North American corporate headquarters are still located in St. Louis, Missouri today, but InBev, a Brazilian-Belgian brewery bought out Anheuser-Busch in 2008 for $70 a share for a total of over $57 billion.

Between 1880 and 1930 over 27 million people entered the United States, but after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, American attitudes toward immigration began to shift. Nationalism and suspicion of foreigners were on the rise, and immigrants’ loyalties were often called into question. Through the early 1920s, a series of laws was passed to limit the flow of immigrants. Today, Ellis Island no longer processes people who want to immigrate to the United States, but the millions of immigrants who were processed through the Island still had their influence on America. Eberhard Anheuser has had a lasting influence in not only St. Louis, Missouri, but he has had a lasting influence on all of America.

Today’s immigration laws, like in the 1920s, are still designed to limit the flow of immigrants into the United States. They are much more complicated than they were in those early days of America, but there are still many ways a foreigner can immigrate to the United States, become a permanent resident, or become a citizen. Maybe you have had or know someone who has had a difficult time understanding our immigration laws. If so, you or they need legal counsel. Even if you already live here and just want to become a permanent resident or citizen, or have a relative that wants to become a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, contact us right now at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration lawyer in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law. Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know that wants to be a legal resident in the United States will make a lasting impression like Eberhard Anheuser.

Throughout its history, millions of immigrants have landed at America’s shores. Their practical contributions are still felt in every field of endeavor including agriculture, industry, and the service trades, but within the great immigrant migration to America there also came gutsy and talented individualists, artists, and dreamers. Many of these exceptional talents have gone on to win worldly renown, and their names have lived on in history.

Ellis Island’s Famous Immigrants tells the story of some of the best known of these legendary characters and records their actual immigration experience at Ellis Island. Celebrities featured within Ellis Island’s records include such entrepreneurs as Max Factor, Charles Atlas, and Etorre Boiardi; painters Arshile Gorky and Joseph Stella; authors Isaac Asimov and Ludwig Bemelmans; spiritual figures Father Flanagan and Krishnamurti; Hollywood actors Claudette Colbert, Rudolph Valentino, and Bob Hope; sports figures Knute Rockne and Johnny Weissmuller; and Supreme Court jurist Felix Frankfurter.

You do not always have to be an artist or a dreamer to make a contribution to our American culture. Abraham Zapruder was simply at the right place and at the right time to make one of the most historical contributions to our society in the twentieth century.

Zapruder, born in Ukraine, immigrated with his family to the United States in 1920 settling in Brooklyn, New York. In 1941, following a job offer by a friend, Zapruder moved to Dallas to work for Nardis, a local sportswear company. He was a supporter of the Democratic Party and an admirer of President John F. Kennedy. When he learned that Kennedy’s motorcade would pass through Dealey Plaza, he filmed the procession with one of the latest Bell and Howell 8mm cameras. His film captured the assassination of the President and has become one of the most studied pieces of film in history. The film became an essential part of the Warren Commission Hearings.

The United States no longer processes immigrants through Ellis Island. The immigration laws have changed through the years, and it is much harder to immigrate to America today than it was in the days of the famous Ellis Island immigrants mentioned in this story.

Whether you live in Dallas, or outside the United States wanting to live in Dallas, you may be interested in immigrating to America to be a citizen or in becoming a permanent resident. Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know who wants to be a legal resident in the United States may make the next significant historical contribution to American society just like Abraham Zapruder.

If you are having a difficult time understanding our complicated immigration laws, you need legal counsel. Make this the right time and the right place in history by contacting us right now at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration lawyer in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law.

Throughout its history, millions of immigrants have landed at America’s shores. Their practical contributions are still felt in every field of endeavor including agriculture, industry, and the service trades, but within the great immigrant migration to America there also came gutsy and talented individualists, artists, and dreamers. Many of these exceptional talents have gone on to win worldly renown, and their names have lived on in history.

Ellis Island’s Famous Immigrants tells the story of some of the best known of these legendary characters and records their actual immigration experience at Ellis Island. Celebrities featured within Ellis Island’s records include such entrepreneurs as Max Factor, Charles Atlas, and Etorre Boiardi; painters Arshile Gorky and Joseph Stella; authors Isaac Asimov and Ludwig Bemelmans; spiritual figures Father Flanagan and Krishnamurti; Hollywood actors Claudette Colbert, Rudolph Valentino, and Bob Hope; sports figures Knute Rockne and Johnny Weissmuller; and Supreme Court jurist Felix Frankfurter. The United States no longer processes immigrants through Ellis Island, but there probably has never been a more famous immigrant to come to the United States than Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

Arnold Schwarzeneggar was born in a small village of Austria in 1947 where his father was the local chief of police. Raised in a strict Roman Catholic household, it is common public knowledge that Schwarzeneggar never got along with his father or older brother. Seeking a better life for himself, he took to body building where he quickly excelled at an early age being the youngest ever to win Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia bodybuilding titles. To this day, he has remained a prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. After winning the Mr. Universe contest for the first time, he immigrated to the United States where he eventually won four more Mr. Universe and seven Mr. Olympia titles. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1983.

After one of the most storied bodybuilding careers ever, Schwarzeneggar moved on to realize his life long ambition of starring in the movies where he has been the lead role in over thirty. Probably his most famous roles have been in the “Terminator” movies. For a couple of his movie roles, he was nominated twice to receive awards from the Golden Globes, but never won.

After his movie career, Arnold chose to enter the political arena. Choosing to be an active Republican ever since he was naturalized a citizen, Schwarzeneggar came to public light politically in the late 1980’s. In 2003, he ran for California Governor in a special recall election winning handily, and was re-elected in 2006 where he remains Governor to this day. Along the way during these three successful careers, Arnold put himself through college via correspondence, learned English, and entered into many successful business relationships making himself a millionaire by age 30, long before his Hollywood career.

Since the Ellis Island years, the immigration laws have changed, and it is much harder to immigrate to America today than it was in the days of the famous Ellis Island immigrants mentioned in this story. Whether you live in Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County, or any of their surrounding areas in California, you may be interested in becoming a permanent resident, or becoming one of its citizens. You may also be outside the United States and in a place where you know someone who has had a difficult time immigrating to the United States, becoming a permanent resident, or a citizen. If you or your acquaintances do not understand our immigration laws, you should probably seek legal counsel. Contact us at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration attorney in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law.

America is known as the land of opportunity. Arnold Schwarzeneggar new that fact about America and seized his opportunity. Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know who wants to be a legal resident in the United States will get the opportunity to immigrate just like Arnold Schwarzeneggar. So, seize the opportunity and contact us today!

Throughout its history, millions of immigrants have landed at America’s shores. Their practical contributions are still felt in every field of endeavor including agriculture, industry, and the service trades, but within the great immigrant migration to America there also came gutsy and talented individualists, artists, and dreamers.

Many of these exceptional talents have gone on to win worldly renown, and their names have lived on in history. Ellis Island’s Famous Immigrants tells the story of some of the best known of these legendary characters and records their actual immigration experience at Ellis Island. Celebrities featured within Ellis Island’s records include such entrepreneurs as Max Factor, Charles Atlas, and Etorre Boiardi; painters Arshile Gorky and Joseph Stella; authors Isaac Asimov and Ludwig Bemelmans; spiritual figures Father Flanagan and Krishnamurti; Hollywood actors Claudette Colbert, Rudolph Valentino, and Bob Hope; sports figures Knute Rockne and Johnny Weissmuller; and Supreme Court jurist Felix Frankfurter.

Probably the most famous immigrant to land in the city of Houston, Texas is Hakeem Olajuwon, born in Nigeria in 1963. Some consider him to be the most famous continental African to have played in any sport in America. He came to America to play basketball for Guy Lewis at the University of Houston where he led the Cougars to three NCAA final four appearances and won the NCAA Tournament Player of the Year award.

In 1984, the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association drafted Olajuwon, and he developed into one of the dominant big men in the league. Nicknamed “The Dream,” given to him because he referred to the footwork and moves he acquired as a young soccer player as the Dream Shake, he used the moves to confound his defenders while playing post.

Olajuwon led the Rockets to the NBA championship in 1994 and 1995, and was voted the league’s most valuable player for the 1993-94 season. During the 1990s, sportswriters and fans considered him one of the NBA’s best centers. Olajuwon retired in 2002 after signing with the Toronto Raptors the previous year. Olajuwon still lives in Houston today where he he has had great success in the real estate market and runs a basketball camp for big men. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. “The Dream” became an American citizen in 1993.

The United States no longer processes immigrants through Ellis Island. The immigration laws have changed through the years, and it is much harder to immigrate to America today than it was in the days of the famous Ellis Island immigrants mentioned in this story.

Whether you live in Houston, Texas, its surrounding area, or outside the United States, you may be interested in immigrating to America, becoming a permanent resident, or becoming one of its citizens. You may also be in a place where you know someone who has had a difficult time immigrating to the United States, becoming a permanent resident, or a citizen.

If you or your acquaintances do not understand our immigration laws, you should probably seek legal counsel. Even if you already live here and just want to become a permanent resident or citizen, or have a relative that wants to become a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, contact us at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration lawyer in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law.

Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know who wants to be a legal resident in the United States will be like Hakeem Olajuwon.

Most scientists believe that human beings first came to America over the Bering Straits about 20,000 years ago. These were the ancestors of the many Native American cultures, which would people the landscape for thousands of years. Around the year 1000, a small number of Vikings would arrive. Five-hundred years later, the great European migration would begin. Crossing the Atlantic meant two to three months of seasickness, overcrowding, limited food rations, and disease, but the lure of available land and the hope for political and religious freedoms kept the Europeans coming. People from Europe and all around the World are still coming today in order to seek out the “Land of the Free.”

The United States of America has embraced and welcomed immigration since its beginning including the likes of Arthur Murray, born Moses Teichmann, who immigrated through Ellis Island to the United States from Hungary in 1912.

Murray grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan where he tried his hand at learning architecture before entering Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Georgia. While at Tech, Murray taught ballroom dancing at the Georgian Terrace Hotel. In 1920, he organized the world’s first radio dance. A band on the Georgia Tech campus played “Ramblin Wreck from Georgia Tech” and other songs, which were broadcast to a group of about 150 dancers situated atop the roof of the Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta.

Murray’s first dance studio of his own was located in Atlanta, and local radio broadcasts of his dance instruction boosted his business prospects. Eventually, he sold dance lessons through mail order and franchised his studios turning his business into a multi-million dollar industry. Throughout his career, teaching his dance methods to famous people like Eleanor Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and millions of Americans through his mail order and dance studios, Murray came a long way from a shy young immigrant who took up dance just to meet the girls. Murray died of pneumonia in 1991 in Honolulu at the age of 96.

Between 1880 and 1930 over 27 million people entered the United States, but after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, American attitudes toward immigration began to shift. Nationalism and suspicion of foreigners were on the rise, and immigrants’ loyalties were often called into question. Through the early 1920s, a series of laws was passed to limit the flow of immigrants. Today, Ellis Island no longer processes people who want to immigrate to the United States, but the millions of immigrants who were processed through the Island still had their influence on America. Arthur Murray has had a lasting influence in not only places like Atlanta, Georgia, but he has had a lasting influence on all of America.

Today’s immigration laws, like in the 1920s, are still designed to limit the flow of immigrants into the United States. They are much more complicated than they were in those early days of America, but there are still many ways a foreigner can immigrate to the United States, become a permanent resident, or become a citizen. Maybe you have had or know someone who has had a difficult time immigrating to the United States, becoming a permanent resident, or a citizen. If you don’t understand our immigration laws, you want to learn how to immigrate, or you have a relative that wants to immigrate to the United States, you need legal counsel. Even if you already live here and just want to become a permanent resident or citizen, or have a relative that wants to become a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, contact us right now at www.immigrationlawstation.com, and we will help you find an immigration lawyer in your area who will answer any legal questions you may have about immigration law.

Who knows, maybe you, your relative, or someone you know that wants to be a legal resident in the United States will be the next Arthur Murray.