U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services today announced it is updating its Policy Manual to align
with the Department of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) precedent
decision in Matter of Zhang.
Decided in June 2019, the BIA held in this decision that false claims of U.S.
citizenship do not need to be knowingly made to make an alien deportable under
the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The Policy Manual also
applies the BIA’s decision to the false claim to U.S. citizenship ground of
inadmissibility, as it is virtually identical to the ground of
deportability.
Under the law, an alien is
inadmissible or deportable if the alien falsely represents him or herself to be
a citizen of the United States for any purpose or benefit under immigration law
or under other federal or state law. The only exception Congress provided to
the false claim to U.S. citizenship ground of inadmissibility requires that
each parent of the alien is or was a U.S. citizen, the alien permanently
resided in the United States before the age of 16, and the alien reasonably
believed he or she was a U.S. citizen when claiming to be one.
Aliens applying for refugee status
and for adjustment of status based on refugee or asylee status, as well as
legalization applicants, may be eligible to apply for a waiver of this ground
of inadmissibility. This ground of inadmissibility does not apply to special
immigrant juveniles seeking adjustment of status, or to registry applicants.
Matter
of Zhang clarified
that it is not necessary for the government to show intent when it comes to
false representations to U.S. citizenship. This guidance aligns with that
decision and addresses inadmissibility for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship for any purpose or benefit under the INA or
any other federal or state law, provided that the alien made the false claim on
or after Sept. 30, 1996.
For more information contact us at http://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/
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