New York lawyer’s tips to Irish wanting at American visa solutions
Manrique Legislation is dependent in New York and has solid connections with the Irish community.
IrishCentral chats to law firm Samuel Manrique about his journey to functioning with the Irish group in Pearl River and Woodlawn, his enthusiasm for supporting immigrants, and describes what different visa options are available.
Convey to us a bit about on your own and what led you down the route of legislation?
I was born in New York Metropolis. My dad was an immigrant from Cuba and my mother isn’t technically an immigrant, but she is from Puerto Rico. In numerous means she experienced the immigrant experience as effectively, given that the cultures are so distinctive between there and the mainland US.
My mother and dad ran an insurance coverage enterprise in East Harlem. My mother and father embraced the hustle, they did it all, sooner or later having in the actual estate recreation. I went to higher education and earned a diploma in history. Throughout and after college or university, I ran the spouse and children serious estate enterprise, with hopes of heading to law university. Eventually I obtained married, had a relatives and imagined the dream would in no way come about. I ventured into numerous organizations. I ran a lodge in NYC, opened a Brazilian jiu jitsu faculty and schooling enterprise.
One particular working day, immediately after a individual setback, I sat in my residence office environment and saw an old Law School Admission Exam book beneath an outdated history participant. I consider it was the Holy Spirit guiding me that day. I just acquired up and commenced. I bought all my papers all set and submitted my applications. I was acknowledged and within a handful of months I went from observing an previous LSAT ebook to full blown law college student at Tempo Legislation in White Plains NY. I took to legislation college, acing exams and sooner or later finishing 4th in my very first calendar year segment. I was invited to be part of the law evaluation but declined as my concentration was opening my personal firm as quickly as I graduated. Just like my dad and mom, I enjoy the hustle.
As soon as I passed the bar, I went following it. Immigration had a specific area in my heart. Not just because of my mom and dad but mainly because we generally helped immigrants at the office. We served translate files, and browse kinds for people all the time. The tenants at the house we owned were all immigrants and numerous of them arrived to me with their problems even then.
I teamed up with one more recent regulation university grad who was originally from Woodlawn. She worked at an immigration organization 10 decades prior to law faculty and knew her stuff. Her spouse was from Ireland and she also served him enter the region.
Credit: Manrique Law
Your place of work is in Pearl River, a properly identified Irish hub, and as you say you also work with the Irish neighborhood in Woodlawn. What kind of situations would you see arrive by the doors of your office environment?
In addition to immigration, my business also does a ton of relatives regulation and criminal do the job. Several of our shoppers came to us because they were being acquiring severe difficulties. A lot of had gotten married to an American citizen and were being getting marital problems. Verbal abuse, monetary abuse, domestic violence.
In many cases they experienced from a spouse who threatened to not go by way of with their immigration method. For lots of of these folks, we would assist them get what is named a VAWA, this stands for the Violence In opposition to Women’s act. It’s a legislation that was signed in 1994 to secure girls but currently I get just as many male consumers who qualify for it. In many cases immigrants truly feel trapped in their marriages. They experience like they do not have management in an abusive marriage and the actuality is, they have some wonderful options.
Other visas we see a great deal are T visas. These are trafficking visas. When we consider of human trafficking we assume sexual intercourse trafficking and sweatshops but it doesn’t have to be an extraordinary to qualify for a T. Many occasions men and women doing work design or in dining places are victims of trafficking. I have noticed nannies and other domestic workers be victims of trafficking as properly.
U visas are yet another large portion of what we do. These visas are for folks who have been the sufferer of a criminal offense in the US. Sadly, like any huge town, New York City does have crime, the silver lining for immigrant victims of crimes however, is that it could be a fast observe to a inexperienced card if they are not scared to report.
For someone living in Eire and dreaming of shifting over to the US or an employer wanting to recruit talented workers, how can Manrique Legislation assist them?
We can help men and women from Eire in a amount of strategies. If they approach to marry a US citizen we can assist them with a K1 fiancé visa or inexperienced card process just after they are married. We can assistance people today trying to find to begin a small business in the US if they fulfill certain qualifications.
For those who have specific expertise and ability in the arts or sciences, there is usually the O visa. We’ve had individuals in our workplace from painters and other artists and even had a properly regarded Irish dancer strategy us when he was wanting to move to New York!
Credit score: Manrique Legislation
What has been the emphasize of your vocation or your greatest accomplishment to day?
My greatest accomplishment in the immigration environment has to be when we assisted an Afghan refugee enter the US. This was a pro bono situation as well for apparent reasons. We turned a aspect of record that working day. I bear in mind currently being on the telephone acquiring minute by minute reviews as Kabul fell. Zak was 7 miles from the airport touring with his loved ones. The relief we felt when he received to the airport was unreal.
You can obtain out additional about Manrique Regulation by examining out their web site or calling them on (929) 223-4204 these days for a Cost-free session.
