This six-week training will explore the process of gaining permanent residence through a family relationship. We will cover which individuals are eligible based on family relationships, and how each step of the process works. Throughout the course, participants will review both the law and procedure for immigrating through a family relationship, including examination and critique of sample application forms. Topics covered will include: immediate relatives and the preference system, retention of priority dates, the Child Status Protection Act, immigrating through marriages, the affidavit of support, adjustment of status and consular processing. The course starts on February 22nd with access to the e-learning course website and week one assignment. Once you receive your user name and password, you may participate in a variety of activities for self-directed learning, including reading assignments, exercises, and quizzes.  The course will be interactive, with opportunities for online discussion among students, and between the students and the instructors.  The course also includes six live webinars conducted on consecutive Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern starting on Wednesday, March 1.   Each webinar is recorded and posted on the course website after the webinar is conducted.  Although we encourage participants to attend the live webinars each week, you will be able to listen to and view a recording of any webinar you are unable to attend whenever you choose to do so. The instructors for this course are CLINIC attorneys Ilissa Mira and Kristina Karpinski.  For questions about the course content, please contact Kristina Karpinski at kkarpinski@cliniclegal.org.

About this Course:
This is an introduction to family-based immigration for the practitioner who already has some exposure to immigration law fundamentals. Basic familiarity with (a) immigration law vocabulary; (b) the ways in which an immigrant may gain legal status; and (c) the concepts of inadmissibility and deportability, is assumed. Course participants will receive a course completion certificate if they (a) attend or view recordings of the weekly course webinar and (b) complete the required course activity for the week. You have up to two weeks after the last live webinar in the course to meet these requirements. 

Registration:
For more information and to register, click here. The training is for the staff of Catholic Charities and other community-based organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status, and attorneys and legal staff of private law offices.  If you are registering as staff of a community-based organization, you must email a copy of your IRS 501(c)(3) letter designating your agency as a nonprofit entity to Jon Braswell at jcbraswell@cliniclegal.org. Your registration will be confirmed upon receipt of this letter. If you are an attorney, please include your state bar number. Payment is by credit card only. Please be sure to register under the correct category and for the correct training. All registration changes or cancellations are subject to an administrative charge of $70.00.  Please note that CLINIC can only issue refunds for an e-learning course until one week prior to the first day of the training. Please provide the full name and a working email address for each individual taking this course.  We will communicate with each registrant via email only, so it is very important that we have the correct name and email address for each registrant listed on the registration form.