If somebody becomes an American citizen half a year ago from naturalization, can he or she go to another country, live there and then come back after 10 years?? Will there be any problem maintaining citizenship?
Once a person obtains citizenship, they have it for the rest of their life. In extremely rare instances, people lose their citizenship, but it would typically be when they were found to have engaged in fraud to get their citizenship or were not eligible.

 I entered the U.S. as a K-1 fiancée and married my U.S. citizen fiancé within 90 days, applied for adjustment of status to permanent residence, which was not processed for over two years. However, before the end of the two-year period, we divorced. What can I do?
In the past, the Immigration would deny the application for adjustment of status since the marriage no longer exist. However, (at least in the Ninth Circuit) a person in your situation can still get their Green Card. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals relying on their decision in Freeman vs. Gonzalez,  decided recently that if a marriage to a U.S. citizen was bona fide, the fact that the citizen spouse dies or there is a divorce before the USCIS makes a final decision on the application for adjustment of status does not stop it from being approved. 

I am currently on H-1B Visa and my wife is on H-4 visa. I have heard that she can work in volunteer and non-profit organizations and also that if they file her H-1B she is exempt from the H1B quota. Also she can get paid on the volunteer job?
Actual volunteer work for a charity (which means a job that a US worker would normally not be hired to do) is normally okay on an H-4. You may want to be sure about the actual duties of the position. However, if your wife is going to be paid, the position may not be a true volunteer work. With regard to filing H-1B visa and whether your wife is exempt, not all charities are exempt from the yearly cap. Charities that are exempt have to have close ties with a university or a non-profit research institution. You will need to work with your lawyer on this to be sure that H-1B cap exemption is available.

An approved Form I-130 alone will not let you file for EAD. You must wait until your priority date is current and then file your Green Card application together with your EAD application.

 It is our opinion that the petition no longer exists. This is because there is no green card category for married children of permanent residents and as soon as your wife married, her petition would have become void. If the marriage had taken place after the parent became a US citizen, the petition would have survived. The likely case now is that the I-130 will need to be refiled.

I came to USA in March 1999 on H1B visa. My Green Card labor was filed by my company in August 2001. In 2005 my company filed for 7th year extension of H1B.
Also in 2006 they filed for 8th year extension of H1B. In Aug 2006 I quit my job to pursue Full Time MBA from a US Institute and transferred my visa status to F1. My question is: Can a company file for transfer of my visa from F1 to H1B after my graduation in May 2008 or I have to leave the country for 1 year before I can apply for H1B again, since I have already lived here for over 6 years. Will appreciate your help in answering the above!
The current policy of the CIS is that foreign workers (called aliens) who “are eligible for the 7^th year extension may be granted an extension of stay regardless of whether they are currently in the United States or abroad and regardless of whether they currently hold H-1B status.” The question will be whether you are still eligible. Is your labor certification application still in process? Is it still valid? Has it been withdrawn? Did your previous employer substitute another employee for the position offered you before your departure from the company? The bottom line is that you can still extend beyond the sixth year even if you are in F-1 status provided you are eligible to extend.

Yes, you can travel on your Advanced Parole without going to the consulates to obtain a valid H-1B visa if that is your choice. However, when you travel and reenter on advance parole and you have a valid approved H-1B petition, you can apply for extension of your status as H-1B and the CIS will terminate your parole and admit you in H-1B status. You can also refile and your H-1B status will be reinstated. You must know too that even if you reenter on advance parole and continue your H-1B employment, you will not be considered to have engaged in unauthorized employment.  It is important that you know that if you, as an H-1B holder with a pending green card application, use your EAD to work for another employer, your H-1B status will be affected. You can change employer provided your green card application has been pending for 180 days or more. H-1B workers whose Form I-485 applications have been pending for 180 days or more can change employers if the job position for the new employment is same or similar to the one for which they got a labor certificate. Luckily in your case, the Form I-485 has been pending for six months after your Form I-140 was approved (to change employers, the Form I-485 must be pending for 6 months or more after the Form I-140 is approved.

BY KAVITA CHHIBBER

Last Friday the 26th, I was under the surgeon’s scalpel undergoing surgery.

Three days later, I drag myself out of bed and a friend drives me to the Georgia Diagnostic Classification Prison, a maximum security prison in Jackson GA, about 90 minutes away from Atlanta where close to 1800  male inmates live behind bars, many of them on death row. I’m going to meet Troy Anthony Davis- the man whose case I took up on 3rd September and whose cause I have supported since then with an intensity that has surprised me.

As we turn into the entrance of the prison we pass beautifully landscaped gardens, a lake, a park and beautiful little houses sprinkled along that lush greenery down a long and winding road. It is one of the most peaceful, scenic places you could find. It is also something none of the inmates ever get to see.

A fork appears and the instructions tell you to turn left and drive towards the prison. The velvety green grass, awash with rays of the setting sun, fades from view and we approach the gray concrete building. We park and as I begin walking towards the entrance doors, I’m surprised to see a police woman, with kind eyes, welcome me with the warmest smile. And then I hear someone calling my name.

I turn around to see Martina Correia, Troy Davis’s tall, elegant and lovely sister, holding her 8 month old niece, as her son Antone and her mom Virginia, get out of their car along with a friend to head inside.

The place is guarded like a ..well like a prison! Enter through door number I and you are welcomed by metal detectors. I’m only allowed to take my ID, and some one dollar bills and quarters for the vending machines. They do not let me even take the little transparent Ziploc bag, I have the money in. One more door and we hand our IDs, collect a token that we must return to get our ID back.

We walk through yet another door to get our hands stamped with a number to indicate we are visitors and not inmates. Then we walk along a tunnel like corridor which Martina tells me is underground. That means none of the inmates get to see daylight. She says in winter they have to put humidifiers along the corridors, or the dampness spills through. There are several photos with inspirational phrases hanging on the walls in the corridor, but not too many inmates see that wall either unless they are being released.

 We pass an elevator for the handicapped which seldom works according to Martina. A couple of days ago they had to literally carry two relatives up the flight of stairs that leads to the waiting area where you first get seated before you can meet the inmate you’ve come to visit.

But first you have to put your hand under a machine so it can read the stamp and record your arrival as visitor. You have to put it through the machine again on your way out as well.

 There are already many people in the waiting area to see Troy Davis when I arrive with the family. This visit today, the 29th of September was supposedly his farewell visit, in case the US Supreme Court turns down his appeal for a new trial when they returned to session. The Supreme Court decides it won’t give its verdict this Monday. It could be this Wednesday or later.

 We were all unsure whether the visitation would happen now that Troy has a reprieve. The prison decides to let it happen, since there are some people who have flown in from out of town to meet Troy-a Professor from Washington DC, an award winning documentary film maker, several other loving friends.

 Troy is waiting in a narrow cell like waiting room, with a heavy locked door being guarded by two tall and burly guards. At any given time only 5 people can meet with him. Martina’s family is very generous and as soon as they go in to greet him, Martina is out in a few minutes asking me to go in and meet him.

 Troy Davis is dressed in a white shirt and white pants, and he has sneakers on his feet-and not the flip flops they give prisoners about to be executed. He gets up when he sees me and the first thing that strikes me as he gives me a big warm hug, is that I’m looking into the gentlest, kindest face, with honey brown eyes that are full of genuine warmth, intelligence and a smile that is still very childlike and innocent. It’s a strong gut feel but in that moment I know that supporting Troy Davis’s case was the right thing to have done.

 I believe that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. And when I look into someone’s eyes they tell me instantly what this person is all about. There is nothing shifty eyed about Troy Davis. He looks at you straight in the eye when he talks. He is utterly calm, and serenity emanates from him.

 I have had a lengthy conversation with him on the 21st on the phone about so many different things, but one of the things I had asked him was whether he had been afraid, or worried when he came within 23 and a half hours of being executed last July.  He had responded, “I think I didn’t know what faith really was until last year. I asked the lord to take away all my fears and my worries and carry me through this and give me the strength I need to endure this. The day before my scheduled execution I don’t remember exactly what had happened but I wasn’t worried about anything. It was as if the thought of being executed 24 hours later never crossed my mind that day. I was having fun as though it was just a regular day in my life. God had erased all those fears and it was not until a couple of months later when someone asked me how did it feel, in those 24 hours before they had scheduled to kill you and I stopped to think about it. It dawned on me that yes you are right; I actually came 23 and half hours before death. I thought about it a little bit more and I think all I can say is that I finally found out what faith is.”

That night I had asked him if he still had the same faith as he sat talking to me barely 2 days to go before his supposed execution on the 23rd,  a year later. He had said without a moment’s hesitation-“ Yes”.

Tonight as we sit face to face, I asked him to recall the moments of the 23rd  of September when he came within 90 minutes of being executed.

Troy says he was totally at peace just like the last time. Usually he needs blood pressure medicine because he has had a tendency to high blood pressure, but that morning when the nurse checked she got a perfect reading.  “When she said I had the perfect reading,” recalled Troy, “I pointed upwards and said because of that. And she didn’t quite get it as she stared up at the ceiling vacantly. I said, it’s because God is carrying my burdens.”

Troy says he had prayed on that day that the US Supreme Court protects him. When the Georgia Supreme Court said they couldn’t do a thing, it didn’t faze him. “I had already forgotten about the Georgia judicial system. It really didn’t bother me.” I start laughing when Troy says very tongue in cheek that they took away his shaving razor that day. “I was like- what do you guys think-that I’m gonna do? Kill myself- a few hours before my supposed execution? I had 19 years to do that. I’m the wrong man if you think that may happen!’ He was taken to see the gurney where he was to be  strapped and executed. He walked in and all he saw were butterflies floating around in a surreal way. Troy had earlier shared stories of some personal miracles that he had seen in his life-but the greatest one was to occur that day a few hours later.

The family came to visit. No one talked about death and dying. The conversation was about his birthday on 9th October, fun and laughter, until the last 30 minutes which Martina tells me were the fastest on the planet to whizz by. Troy says after they left, he was later taken to record his final statement. “I mentioned to each loved one what I liked most about them and gave instructions on how to continue. I asked that they pray for the MacPhail family that they find peace and understanding because they too have suffered all these years. That  they find the real killer.I did not say I will miss you. I said I will see you soon. As the statement was done, I looked up at the TV which had its back towards me and it was turned around, so I could see the screen-and I saw my face staring at me and the news that the US Supreme Court had stayed the execution.” Troy called his sister from the prison to tell her the good news while she was  outside with family and Rev Al Sharpton, the famous civil rights leader.

Rev Sharpton had come to visit Troy on the 20th-and that was the first time Troy Davis saw grass in 19 years. He was taken from a different door-and was so enraptured he forgot everything and walked on it, touched it and the guards let him. He talks about the feeling being euphoric, without a trace of self pity. And I think to myself-when was the last time, I looked at grass that way. How in the maddening hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we forget to really  live, to love, and give thanks for so many of God’s creations, and God’s blessings.

I look at the guards who are letting us in and out of the meeting cell. They stand there poker faced, but when you talk to them, you see a kindness, and a warmth that permeates through their seemingly hard exteriors. I’m told most of them have a lot of admiration and love for Troy, who is respectfully addressed as Mr. Davis. I see the warmth with which Martina is received by the police woman ushering us in.

I think of the former Indian Police chief Kiran Bedi who introduced meditation in one of the most notorious prisons in India and saw the inmates transform into loving, productive human beings. I hear from Troy how here, they try to break every one’s spirit before executing them. I hear about death row inmates from San Quentin calling Martina and praying for her brother. Yes those killers and sinners we have condemned to die whenever that happens. They cry when they hear Martina’s mother talk to them lovingly-many who have lost their own mothers, or have mothers who don’t visit them any more.

Martina wishes the MacPhail family had been allowed to interact with hers. She wishes they had come to know who Troy Davis really is. But that exclusiveness, spills out beyond the incarceration of Troy Davis. How often do we travel to the same destination and yet try not to make eye contact with our fellow passengers. How often have we all sat apathetic and passive, watching something bad happen to someone else, and not done a thing? We only react when it happens to us.

No one is born a killer, or a criminal from his mother’s womb. Circumstances make us act in certain ways. Most crimes are crimes of passion, so is an eye for an eye the answer for changing this world-of transforming humanity?

I know today I’m firmly against the death penalty. I wasn’t 3 weeks ago. I am a better human being today than I was 3 and half weeks ago-the Troy Davis case has been the catalyst that has changed not just the way I look at the death penalty, but the way I look at injustice, at crime and criminals and the way I look at life and fellow beings.

Troy's life and how he has lived it so far in spite of these badly lit, closed spaces, untouched by sunlight or any positive life or energy force, has taught me a lesson on how faith and forgiveness can really set you free from fear and self doubt. That the mind is a tremendously powerful thing, and makes you boundless and free from boundaries- and  that faith can really move mountains.

And it took a death row inmate to teach me that godliness, and purity of soul can be found in the oddest of places…

BY MARTINA CORREIA

Troy Anthony Davis is Prayer fully closer to his walk to Freedom!

September 25, 2008

My name is Martina Correia and I am on death row, because that is where, my brother lives. I am not convicted of murder- my only crime is of loving my brother Troy.

People congratulate me on being a wonderful sister and champion for my brother and they sometimes question why, and my answer is simply, “If you really knew Troy and could sit down with him for 30 minutes, you would know. Troy is the type of brother who makes your life so much richer, so much fuller, and so much easier and because he is on death row, awaiting execution, it also makes my life so much sadder.

Last year as many of you know, Troy came within 23 hours of execution, this past week he came within 90 minutes. It has been such a rollercoaster ride for my family, my siblings, my mother, my son and especially Troy. A ride I pray none of you ever experience, the last 48 hour visits, the saying goodbye, the charge you give the family for the future and the tears and fears of the pending state murder. 

My brother has been on death watch, isolated from his peers for weeks with a small television that provides him  two “hard to see”,  stations, a small radio and an occasional phone call to family and friends. It seems the more celebrity  and media support the Troy  Davis case garners the more he is punished by the prison. They constantly change the rules to discourage his spirit, yet he remains prayerful and in good spirits as if he were in a secret sacred place where God is with him.

 For example prisoners under death watch can call their friends and family as often as they would like. For Troy there is a special phone that is monitored. Instead of usually costing $5.50 per 15 minute call, the charge to our family and friends is almost $9.00 a minute with no explanation from the prison. For Troy most of his numbers to family and friends are being restricted or blocked. Then the rules changed again and in the last 48 hours they told Troy he could only use the phone twice a day for 15 minutes and that included attorney calls. The last 24 hours they took his witnesses to execution off his list saying they can be taken off at the discretion of the Department of Corrections, including the Clergy of his choice.  They have also threatened me that if I let the media or anyone other than family talk to Troy on the phone he will have no phone privileges at all. It is like physiological torture and they are angry because it has not penetrated his spirit, no his faith.  Through all of this and Troy remains unwavering, with no anger, still prayerful, still hopeful, still thankful.  

As I sit here on my bed, exhausted yet full of joy and uncertainty, feeling the effects of 7 ½ years of constant chemotherapy, I am reflecting on the day of September 23, 2008, as we entered the grounds of the Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, where I wanted to cry but I could not, I wanted to yell but I could not, I wanted to leave but I could not.

Then I watched the expression on my son’s face- for the first time in his 14 years of visiting death row, he witnessed, more than 100 SWAT, Tactical Squad officers, corrections officers with dozens of dogs, shot guns in hand, all because the state of Georgia wants to kill his Uncle Troy. I have only seen such police force on television from the civil rights era. My first thought was be polite, follow directions and make sure we are safe. My second thought was how powerful this case has become and that  they fear Troy being kept alive will shake the judicial system and expose the truth and my final thought was full of worry as to how they must be treating my brother inside those prison walls.  As we enter the prison where the handicap elevator has not worked for almost a year, we have to practically carry two relatives up two flights of stairs. In visitation they allowed 5 people in at a time, we are all mindful of the clock. I am standing conducting the visits, praying no one asks me, “How are you doing, can I get you anything,”   then scanning the room looking away from any friend or relative that may be about to cry.

Well  visitation is over and we are rushed out at 3pm on the dot. I take my mom and family to the New Hope, a place where death row family members are embraced. I get into my car to head back to the prison to meet Rev. Al Sharpton - we enter the prison grounds to see an overwhelmingly large number of police-then there is the media waiting to pounce on us. Guards come over to slip in a shout out to Rev. Sharpton and then  we enter a roped off area meant for supporters for Troy.

 A complete stranger or so I thought, a small Caucasian women from Texas who has heard about Troy’s case,  asks “Are you Martina?” I replied, “Yes.” Then I realized it was a lady that sent me an email, that no matter what she has to do, she just wanted to be there for Troy. Meanwhile the press is running to capture our voices as a bus load of supporters are also entering the area.

Then  we learn about  the stay of execution from one of the attorneys.   We are so happy, excited, prayerful and now hopeful.  Troy’s last prayer began with a prayer for the McPhail family, and then our family and the people who have lied against him, after which he asked God to spare his life. 

As of now-the state is so ready to kill Troy they have already set up the time for his final visits- 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday and requested a new list for his final visitors.

This is a letter of thanks to all the activists, clergy, lawmakers, lay people and those who believe in human rights and human dignity. On behalf of my family, myself and most importantly my brother Troy we say thank you, but we know the fight is not over and we pray the United States Supreme Court votes to take Troy’s case, which will surely have national ramifications in protecting the Innocent in respect to the appellate process. My heart is filled with so many emotions as I see human kindness flourish on behalf of Troy and because of Troy. I cannot express the blessing you all have become to my family and to my brother Troy, who receives so many letters. He is overwhelmed and elated.

I guess you are all wondering why I am telling you this in a thank you letter. Well the fight we face is still so very real and your work is therefore needed even more, your voices to tell Troy’s story, your passion to fight for his liberation, your determination to understand that the case of Troy Anthony Davis is not an anti-death penalty movement. The case of Troy Anthony Davis is about Innocence, justice and challenging a government system in Georgia that is hateful, spiteful and defiant. When they cannot defeat us they attack Troy, and he is willing to face the attacks if we are willing to continue the fight!

Martina Correia