I. If you are questioned by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), you have these rights:

A Priority Worker Visa can be any one of 3 subgroups that provide 28.6% (about 40,000) immigrant visas per year and where no labor certification is required.

1. Right to know the reason for being questioned or detained;

2. Right to remain silent;

3. Right to an attorney at your own expense;

4. Right to refuse a search of your home unless the ICE official has a search warrant; and

5. Right to request release from custody on bond or personal recognizance. Some exceptions are: certain aggravated felons, an individual deemed a danger to the community, and/or an individual deemed a flight risk.

II. If you are in the custody of the ICE and your immigration status is questioned, the ICE may ask you to sign a voluntary departure statement and waive your right to a hearing. You may be eligible to request a deportation or removal hearing before an Immigration Judge.

1. Administrative Voluntary Departure – when you agree to leave the United States voluntarily without a hearing.

2. Deportation or Removal Proceedings – hearings to determine your right to remain in the United States. You may wish to request a hearing:

1. If you can adjust your status to a permanent resident;

2. If you are eligible for cancellation of removal proceedings;

3. If you have been denied but are eligible for voluntary departure; or

4. If you want to request political asylum in the United States.

3. Right to an Attorney – You have the right to be represented by an attorney at your own expense at the deportation or removal hearing. If you request a hearing, you must await the date of the hearing while you remain in the custody of the ICE unless you are released on personal recognizance or bond.

4. Right of Appeal – If an Immigration Judge orders that you be deported, you have a right to appeal that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and thereafter to a federal court. You also have the right to remain in the United States while your appeal is pending.


III. SEVERAL FORMS OF RELIEF FROM DEPORTATION OR REMOVAL ARE: 1. Adjustment of status to permanent resident – While under an order of deportation or removal, a person who is eligible may apply for this relief.

2. Cancellation of Removal (Suspension of deportation) – If granted, this relief will waive the order of deportation. The minimum prerequisites for applying for suspension of deportation are:

1. Continuous residence in the United States for 10 years.

2. Good moral character for 7 years (or 10 years as above); and

3. “Exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a person’s spouse, parent, or child who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

3. Asylum – Must normally apply for this during the first year after entry into the United States.

4. Voluntary Departure – Must be requested before or during the deportation hearing. The general prerequisites are:

1. Good moral character for at least 5 years prior to the date of application; and

2. The financial means to depart the United States.

If your voluntary departure request is granted, an Immigration Judge will allow you a certain period of time in which you must depart from the United States. Failure to leave within the specified time automatically reinstates the order of deportation. However, a request for extension of the date of voluntary departure may be submitted to the USCIS District Director.

NOTE: It is always better to avoid formal deportation or removal when possible, because it will bar your legal re-entry into the United States for up to 5 years or more, unless you are able to obtain prior special permission from the U.S. Attorney General. Illegal re-entry may subject you to a felony criminal prosecution.