In episode 19 of The Real Talk, Raquel Ramirez is joined by Elina Santana, an Immigration Attorney and founder of Santana Rodriguez Law, P.A. They discuss Elina's background as a Cuban-American immigrant and her passion for helping others. Raquel and Elina emphasize the importance of understanding what to include, what to avoid, and what additional documents or evidence to submit alongside the forms in order to successfully navigate the immigration process.
Tune in for insightful conversations, expert advice, and powerful stories about family, fiancé, and immigration.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:02:46] Firm's Practice and Clientele.
[00:06:02] Fiance Visas.
[00:10:09] Same-Sex Couples and Immigration.
[00:14:11] Real Couples and Immigration Interviews.
[00:19:18] Immigration and Divorce.
[00:22:45] Affidavit of Support.
[00:25:42] Immigration Family Sponsorship Limitations.
[00:33:04] Investor Visas and Legal Challenges.
[00:36:46] Law Essentials You Should Know.
In this episode, Raquel Ramirez and her guest Elina Santana, emphasize the crucial role of hiring the right professionals when dealing with immigration processes and forms. They highlight the intricate details, criteria, and procedures that individuals must be mindful of, underscoring the need for expert representation. Specifically, they discuss the complexities of asylum, dreamers, temporary protected status, and humanitarian visas, emphasizing that these endeavors should only be attempted with professional assistance.
Furthermore, Raquel and Elina acknowledge the potential pitfalls and challenges that may arise during the immigration process. They provide examples such as missing medical exams or insufficient documentation to demonstrate financial status. In such cases, additional documentation or co-sponsors may be required. However, they acknowledge that unexpected requests or surprises from immigration authorities may still occur.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Raquel Ramirez
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/featured_properties_intl/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/featuredre
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-ramirez/
Elina Santana
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elinamsantana/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elinasantana/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EMSESQ/
WEBSITES:
The Real Talk: https://www.therealtalkpodcast.net/
Featured Properties International: https://msha.ke/featuredre
Raquel Ramirez00:04 - 00:43
Welcome to The Real Talk. I'm Raquel Ramirez, your host and real estate professional here to bring you insightful conversations, expert advice, and powerful stories about what really goes on in life, love, divorce, and real estate. Are you ready? Let's get real. Hello and welcome, Elina Santana. How are you doing today? I'm good. How are you, Raquel? I'm doing very well. I'm actually super excited about our episode today because I know that you are full of information and that you have probably the greatest energy I've ever met in somebody. You're like a serial networker.
Elina Santana00:43 - 00:44
Zero pressure to perform.
Raquel Ramirez00:44 - 01:35
Yeah, no pressure, no pressure, especially after the day that you've had today. So we're good. We're good. All right, so just to let everybody else know who I'm speaking with today, I am welcoming Elina Santana, who is the founder of Santana Rodriguez Law, PA. It's an immigration law firm based in Miami. She focuses her immigration practice on family and marriage based residency, removal defense, complex citizenship and waivers. She earned her Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law and her B.A. from New York University with high honors. Of course, she is a native Spanish speaker and was raised in Miami by a proud Cuban-American immigrant family. I know you have dogs and I know that you also are an incredible member of the NADP. And I'm very proud and happy to have you in our chapter. So without further ado, welcome to the show.
Elina Santana01:35 - 01:39
Thank you. Wow. That was quite the warm welcome. I'll try to live up to all that.
Raquel Ramirez01:41 - 02:14
I'm sure you will. You don't even have to try. So getting right into it. I think I told you immigration is one of those things that I guess for better or worse, I don't know much about because I'm lucky enough to be an American. I was born and raised here. My parents, of course, migrated from Cuba. So I know that there were some real hardships with that. And as you've told me, and I think you mentioned it earlier, that a good percentage of the people who live in Miami Were you born in Miami? I was. I was. I was born and raised here. So I'm technically first generation American.
Elina Santana02:14 - 02:38
You are, yeah. What I set off before we started filming was that about 73% of Miami-Dade County residents are either foreign born or first generation. So similar to you, I was born here in Miami. I think we're special unicorns, though. There's not a lot of people from Miami in Miami because it's a very transitory city. It's very in and out. People are always either coming or going. Very few people stay here for the long term.
Raquel Ramirez02:38 - 02:48
It's true. It's true. It's true. It's a very international city, too. And so I'm curious and I'm going to ask you now to tell me a little bit more about your firm and your practice. But do you only deal with Latin American countries?
Elina Santana02:49 - 03:43
I don't, you know, I deal from people from everywhere. But because I happen to be fluently Spanish speaking, Spanish is my first language because it's what we spoke in my home. It's what I grew up speaking. Yeah. And so even though I was born here, I always say Spanish is my first language, not my second. And as a result of that, I think a lot of people are comfortable speaking with an attorney that speaks their language. And so I tend to attract Spanish speaking clientele more so than I think others. I'd say about 80% or so, maybe even more, maybe closer to 85% now of our clientele is predominantly Spanish speaking. But no, we have a good amount of non-Spanish speakers. We have a good amount of Brazilians, especially here in South Florida. I actually have a pocket of Serbians. I have a good amount of Serbians as well. Interesting. Yeah, we have a Serbian of counsel in the firm, so he tends to attract a lot of them because he speaks their language. And so, you know, we have a mix. I have a good amount of Europeans as well. It's a fun mix.
Raquel Ramirez03:43 - 03:56
It's a fun mix. That's great. That's good. That's good. Now, I know that you deal with family-based visas a lot, and I know that you typically title your presentations Love Across Borders, which I really love when getting to the juicy details.
Elina Santana03:57 - 04:59
Yeah, so our, actually my, our tagline for the office, the line that you'll see at the bottom of my email footer and right splashed across our webpage if you go on it right now, is actually that we help bi-national families who found love across borders live in the U.S. together. And what that basically means is when I say bi-national, I mean not just in the U.S., usually there's one party that's a U.S. citizen or some sort of resident or something. And then the other party from somewhere else. And that's not necessarily just couples. I say families and not couples because we really do deal with parents petitioning for children, children petitioning for parents, siblings petitioning for each other. When I say love, I truly mean love in every sort, not just, you know, marriage and that kind of love. But I do also mean when it comes to like family and the love you have for family as well. And so, yeah, we help a lot of international families reunite, for lack of a better word, or be united and live here as their permanent home. That's nice. Yeah, that's great. A huge amount of what I do. I deal with a lot of people.
Raquel Ramirez04:59 - 05:00
Basically, in a nutshell.
Elina Santana05:00 - 05:52
In a nutshell, yeah. That really breaks down to Like I said, we talk about marriage-based, when I say marriage-based residency, we do mean people who marry someone else and want to give them a green card, you know, actually lawful permanent resident status is the formal name of that. By the way, green cards are green again, and now I can say that because I heard for the longest time they weren't green. Which is weird. Very strange. Well, the original green card was green, but it wasn't green for very long. And it's been like pink or so for many years. It is back to being green, which is very exciting for me. But anyways, a green card, which is the equivalent of residency and eventually citizenship based on that. And that's when we talk about marriage cases. Family cases have a similar track, just different type of evidence that we use as far as parents and kids petitioning for each other and fiance visas, which are one of my favorite subjects. Yes.
Raquel Ramirez05:54 - 05:59
Actually, let's get into that because it's actually a fun topic. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.
Elina Santana05:59 - 08:11
I love talking about fiance visas. So yes, essentially, if you meet someone and you're a citizen, and so you found love across borders, quite literally, you can petition for them. If you're not ready to get married, if you get married, great. You're petitioning for them as a spouse. But if you're not ready to get married, you can do a fiance visa. And that's a process that we file to get them here temporarily as a fiance only. And, you know, I hate to say it, but it's such an antiquated process because it really, I'm serious, because it really was created in a time when the internet wasn't a thing yet. You know, we didn't have this level of communication that we have as a society now. Like I can pick up my cell phone and chat with someone you know, in Australia right now with no issue, assuming they're awake, you know, but, but other than that, you could do this with no problem. Whereas if you think, you know, 40 years ago, um, how did you communicate with someone in Australia? And we're talking about extremely expensive long distance calls. Yeah. Um, and other than that, a lot of letters, right? I mean, it's, it's pretty crazy if you think about how you would, yeah, smoke singles basically. Um, you know, and so this visa was created in a time when this kind of communication was very difficult. And so the idea was that how would you ever marry someone that you didn't really know? you know, you can't just marry someone. Whereas now we have people who get married, and they met on the internet, and they've had this whole internet relationship for years, sometimes. And they know each other better than any of these couples ever did in the past, you know, and they may have never met in person, or they've only met a couple of times in person, you know, we can do the long distance thing now. Back then, you really couldn't, you really couldn't. And so this diesel was created in a time when It was to give them the opportunity to be physically together. And I don't mean sex, I just mean in the same place, right? As a relationship. Physically together to figure out if they could make it work and actually wanted to get married. And so that's what this visa was created for. It gives you 90 days if you get approved, you get 90 days of together time, and then you have to get married within 90 days or you leave. That's the option.
Raquel Ramirez08:11 - 08:14
You either decide... It sounds like a reality TV show.
Elina Santana08:14 - 10:36
It is! It's called 90 Day Fiance. Oh my God, is that what it is? Yeah, I mean, it became a reality TV show on TLC. But um, but yes, that's exactly what the 90 day fiance visa is, gives you 90 days to figure it out. And at the end of 90 days, either party can choose this isn't for us, you know, at which point the immigrant goes back home, you know, or you choose, we're going to give this a go and you decide to get married and you move forward with a green card application. But it's a great little like, bridge visa to live together. Now, Realistically, in today's day and age, it's not the same, right? You do kind of know each other by the time you get over here. We've had a lot of long distance communication. It's not as before where we're, you know, I we send for a wife, you know, like back in the day, you know, that's on a ship. She comes on a ship with, you know, a big the frickin what's it called? That suitcase thing. It's not even a suitcase, a trunk, a trunk. You know, you picture like Titanic style. Right. And that that is what it was, though. That is at one point. Sure. That's what this visa was created for, for people who needed the 90 days to give it a go. And even the concept that it would only take 90 days is antiquated in and of itself. But that's what it is. So yes, if you want to watch some really interesting TV, I absolutely adore 90 Day Fiance on TLC. It is a train wreck of a reality TV show. But you will definitely laugh if nothing else. And it essentially has made a reality TV show out of this concept. And it follows couples for 90 days and see how their their lives shake out. And it's fun if nothing else, but but it's fascinating. This day and age, frankly, lots of couples still use it. Although, to be frank with you, for me now, I actually see it used by our same-sex couples more than anyone else. Oh, interesting. Yeah, because same-sex marriage is still illegal in many, many parts of the world. And so the ease of, I'll just come visit you, we'll get married, and I'll petition for you as my spouse, doesn't exist in a lot of countries for same-sex couples. And so we see them a lot in countries where it's still illegal to get married if you're of the same sex because this is the only way to get you here so we can get married here. So yeah, very utilized by the same-sex couples these days.
Raquel Ramirez10:36 - 10:47
Okay, so let's assume somebody comes over, they spend their 90 days, they both agree they want to move forward with this relationship. Their next step would be to apply for a green card. How long does it take?
Elina Santana10:47 - 10:48
Oh, isn't that a loaded question?
Raquel Ramirez10:48 - 10:53
Is there a lawyerly answer to this? Yes, the answer is it depends.
Elina Santana10:55 - 11:19
That is always the lawyer answer. No, the truth is it varies widely. I wish I could tell you there's a number, but it varies widely. And the reason is that there are nationally published statistics, like you could go look them up right now on immigration's website, but they are just averages. And there's a lot of human factors here that make it so that some of them are much quicker than that average. And some of them are much slower than that average. Yeah.
Raquel Ramirez11:20 - 11:25
So a lot of it depends on the country they're coming from and it depends on all kinds of things.
Elina Santana11:25 - 12:09
It's there's so many requirements you have to meet. And so we'll get a lot of what's called request for evidence if something is deficient or, you know, like your medical exam, you didn't get one of your vaccines and that'll get delayed. We got to go get that vaccine you missed or. or you didn't have the right kind of paperwork to show your financial status and they'll ask for more paperwork or co-sponsors, what we call it, when we ask for a second person, we'll sign on to that ability to pay. There's so many things that could go sideways, you know? So my job really is to try to file things in the most, not just complete way possible, but trying to preempt the usual problems to try to make it go as fast as we can. But sometimes no matter how much we try, they still surprise us with something they wanna see.
Raquel Ramirez12:10 - 12:16
Yeah. And I'm assuming it also depends on the person itself and how quickly they're able to turn that information over to you. Oh, 100%.
Elina Santana12:16 - 13:19
Yeah, 100%. That part I can't control at all. That was on my clients. Yeah. Once all the paperwork is good to go and it's sent and it's pending and they finished doing all the basic checks, oftentimes they'll get set for an interview, especially if it's a couple, like it's not a parent to child or something like that. We tend to waive a lot of the interviews But with the marriage cases, a lot will get an interview. Not always. These days, not always. Under the Biden administration, they've started to waive some of the marriage interviews, which is interesting and good. Makes things move a little faster sometimes. Yeah, but for a lot of the cases, we'll get an interview. And that's more of what people think of when they see in the movies, like, yes, the question pays today. Yeah. Like what side of the bed do you sleep on? You know, that kind of stuff. That's what the interview is more about. The interview is they've looked at the paperwork. Everything looks good on paper. So do I believe you? Are you real? Are you a real couple? Am I actually buying this? And that's that's all the interview is truly about. Generally, generally.
Raquel Ramirez13:19 - 13:24
You know, that reminds me, did you ever see that movie with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds?
Elina Santana13:24 - 13:27
Did you ever see the bloopers at the end? Propose something?
Raquel Ramirez13:27 - 13:44
Proposal? The proposal? The proposal, I think it's called. I don't know if it's a bloopers, a blooper section or not, at the end, towards the end of the movie, where they're, they show snippets of their, of the questions they're asked in the, you know, immigration interview process. And they're just so funny about it. I, that always sticks in my mind as that part of the process.
Elina Santana13:44 - 13:47
Oh no, I need to go watch this. I don't remember the bloopers at the end.
Raquel Ramirez13:48 - 13:52
It's the funniest segment of the entire movie. I'm telling you.
Elina Santana13:52 - 15:15
That's so funny. You know, you and I network a lot. And I used to be a member of BNI. Well, I'm a member now, but I used to be a member in another chapter. And I always wanted for my presentation, for anyone who's listening and doesn't know, BNI is a networking organization. And you give a 10 minute presentation when you're a member about what you do and how you can help and etc. I always wanted to do a presentation for 10 minutes where I had a real, I took another member and like secretly had reached out to their spouse and then like brought them in and see if they can make their answers match, like test them on the spot in my presentation. I always wanted to do this. Right. Like, like the, like the, what was it? The dating game? No, I don't remember what it was called, but the newlyweds show, the newlyweds, whatever it was anyways. Um, and yeah, yeah. Like they hold up the card with the answer. And I say this because I, I tell, I tell people all the time, you know, people are always like, oh, you don't need a lawyer in this. We're a real couple. I don't need a lawyer. I'm a real couple. And I'm like, listen, okay, let me tell you, okay, the real couples are the worst at this because you do not walk around thinking, what kind of toothpaste does my wife use? Or, you know, like what color are our curtains in our bathroom? Or is there a fan on the ceiling in my bedroom? Like you don't walk around paying attention to these things. You just don't. And so my real couples, you know, they're like, we're real. I don't need a lawyer. Like they're the worst at these tests. They're terrible.
Raquel Ramirez15:15 - 15:25
They're absolutely terrible. I'm sure if I asked my significant other what color or what brand of toothpaste we're currently using, he might get that wrong. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it.
Elina Santana15:25 - 15:53
That's a hard one. But if you start asking questions that are like, Where did you go on your first date? That is my favorite question to ask because it's almost guaranteed that an immigration officer will ask you this because they want to know how you met and all that. Okay. I mean, it's almost like nine out of 10 who do not remember, but I mean, they might remember parts of the first day, but like they won't remember where it was or what time of day it was, or, and I mean, you don't need to know all the details, but you need to have some vague sense of, you know,
Raquel Ramirez15:55 - 15:58
It was in this country. Yeah, exactly.
Elina Santana15:58 - 16:18
I'm positive it was in the United States. But, and I actually, I asked my husband the other day if he remembered, and he remembered most of the details, but couldn't for the life of him, remember the name of the restaurant that we went to. So you guys would fail. Yeah, we would fail. Yeah. Although, you know, I, I feel like I pay more attention to these things than he does.
Raquel Ramirez16:18 - 16:21
Oh, for sure. There's also that. I'm that same person.
Elina Santana16:21 - 17:10
I'm the detailed person. But no, you know, there's also trick questions, like that you don't even realize are trick questions. Like they'll, they may ask like, what color are your bed sheets? And so I have to train people to answer. For example, in my home, we have three sets of bedsheets and they're all different colors. OK, so it just depends which ones my cleaning lady put on the bed that day, to be honest with you. OK, that week. Right. Like I have no idea. Yeah. You ask me right now. Yeah. I do not know what color my bedsheets are right now. I have no idea. I can tell you one of three options. And so you have to teach. When I prepare people for interviews, I very much have to explain to them It doesn't matter what the answer is. It just matters that you're consistent with your spouse. So if they ask you, what color are your bedsheets? And my answer is, I don't know, because we have three sets of bedsheets. I mean, your husband better say the same thing.
Raquel Ramirez17:10 - 17:17
And that's really- Well, I think today is blue, but last week was this color because we really have three sets of bedsheets. So it really varies. There you go. Right. Yeah.
Elina Santana17:17 - 17:46
And that's what matters. That's hilarious. But you'd be surprised. You'd be surprised. No one. I mean, birthdays. I've seen so many people fight. Let me tell you, I love when a real couple fights at an immigration interview because there's nothing more real than that. Yeah. Yeah. Like, why you don't know my birthday? When did you marry your wife? I think it was in 2000. I don't know.
Raquel Ramirez17:46 - 18:00
Yeah. Yeah. I like it. That's how that goes. All right. So let's say we get past that. They get The green card issue. How long does the green card or your green card status rather, how long does that last?
Elina Santana18:00 - 18:43
Also depends. So your green card, there's two options here. So one is if you are doing this through marriage, specifically through marriage, and you've been married less than two years, okay, those two things have to be true, then you will be granted a conditional green card for two years. And at the end of the two years, you have to reprove that marriage and go through another process to get your permanent green card. That's how that works. If you're not doing it through marriage, or if you are doing it through marriage, but you've already surpassed your two year anniversary as a married couple, you will get a permanent green card, which lasts 10 years. And that's a permanent green card. So it's a huge difference. It's a huge difference.
Raquel Ramirez18:44 - 18:51
Yeah, that is that is I'm assuming they do it because they want to make sure that that marriage is long lasting and there is a purpose to that marriage as opposed to.
Elina Santana18:51 - 19:32
Yeah, it's really just making sure it's not fraud, you know, and frankly, at the end of two years to what we do, remove the conditions on your green card, which is legally what it's called at that two year mark when we apply again, when we do that process to remove those conditions, It doesn't matter if you've actually gotten divorced at that point. Um, you can do it on your own, but really what they're after is making sure that the marriage was real while it lasted. And that's really what they care about. Immigration realizes that 50% of marriages don't work out, you know? Yeah. Um, that's a stick we're very familiar with. Yeah. And, and they're okay with that. They just care that it was real while it lasted. And so that's, that's really what we're out to prove.
Raquel Ramirez19:32 - 19:49
That's good. So now that you brought up the topic of divorce, let's jump into that real quick. Let us assume then that they do get a divorce. I'm assuming that the divorcee, if the divorcee is not a U.S. citizen, they have to undergo now a whole new process to ensure they're able to stay. Otherwise, they have to go back home.
Elina Santana19:50 - 20:51
Yeah, so if they're still in that conditional time period that we were talking about, they have to undergo the condition, the removal of conditions, which is what it's called by themselves. Again, they still have to prove the marriage was real, even if they're no longer with their spouse. If they've already been granted a permanent green card, they don't have to do anything. You're a permanent green card holder. Once you're a permanent green card holder, You know, no, they don't revoke it because you get divorced. It's yours, you know, and you can apply for citizenship after some years, but you don't have to. There are people that live 40, 50, 60 years with their green card and decide they never want to be a U.S. citizen. And that's OK, too. You know, they just need to keep renewing it. They just have to keep renewing it. It's good for 10 years. At 10 years, you renew it. It's a pretty straightforward process to renew it. Absent any what we call inadmissibilities, which is, you know, any other problemitas, as I say in Spanish, that you get yourself into, like criminal record or failure to pay tax return or failure to pay child support or, you know, like Richard Nixon said, pay your taxes or you'll get in a lot of trouble. It's famous for that line. And so
Raquel Ramirez20:55 - 21:23
All right, so let me throw another scenario at you. Let's assume this couple is married. They are coming from, I don't know, a Central South American country, let's say. They were married there. One of them migrated. They got their, I don't know, let's say they do have some form of status here in the U.S. and they happen to get a divorce in the middle of the process of them claiming their spouse. Does that process cease to exist or
Elina Santana21:24 - 22:30
Yes, unfortunately, yes. If they haven't actually achieved status and they divorced, the process is over. You have to achieve the status before the divorce. Now, if you're both on the same page and you're willing to hold off on that divorce a little bit, I have had couples that have remained married, although no longer together. And we will tell you the truth. Again, immigration only cares that it was real while it lasted. So I have actually had couples who are in the process of divorce go to their interview and say, we are not together. But we're legally married, but we are not together. And, you know, we were together many years or I care about her. She's the mother of my children, you know, whatever it is. And we have finished the green card process for people in that scenario. Because it was real, right? Because it was real and we were able to prove it. Obviously, it's a slightly higher burden because it's suspicious to them. So we got to really be able to talk it out and explain. But it is understandable and we've had it granted. The divorce itself actually legally terminates the relationship. And that's why it's a big no-no to actually get approved on the initial green card, on the initial green card.
Raquel Ramirez22:30 - 22:34
Interesting. Yeah. Very interesting.
Elina Santana22:34 - 22:43
All right. It can be messy, right? It can be messy because there's also affidavit of support to think about. So we haven't talked about it, but if you want, we can touch on that.
Raquel Ramirez22:43 - 22:45
Yeah, let's do it.
Elina Santana22:45 - 23:38
So part of the petitioning process requires the U.S. citizen petitioner or resident, whoever it is, to sign what we call an affidavit of support. Then an acetate of support is a contract that you are signing you or you are signing with your spouse, your future spouse or your current spouse and the US government. It's not just a contract with him or her, but also with the U.S. government. And so what you are promising is not necessarily that you will give them cash, but that they will not become a public charge. And essentially that means, yeah, yes. And so essentially that means you're not going to go get food stamps. You're not going to go write up a federal government med bill, you know. Essentially, the government's not going to have to take care of you. You're pledging that you are bringing this person here And thus you are pledging your finances to care for them in the event that, you know, something happens.
Raquel Ramirez23:38 - 23:41
And this is fully financially responsible for that.
Elina Santana23:41 - 24:38
You do not fully, but there it's up to 125% of the poverty guidelines, um, which is somewhere in the 30 thousands, you know, a year, give or take, which is a lot of money. Um, and it's, it's a really big deal because this obligation does not terminate with divorce. And so what a lot of people don't realize is that even if you get divorced, you cannot contract out of this. You're still on the hook for your ex. So long as they are a green card holder, up until the day they either become a US citizen, die, get deported for something other or something else completely different. Or if they work 40 quarters, which is the equivalent of 10 years working and paying taxes. Wow. It's a huge burden. That is a big responsibility. Yeah, it's a huge responsibility and people don't realize it. And so in divorce proceedings, this is used a lot in alimony arguments. We see this a lot in court used for alimony arguments. Sure. Sure. Yeah.
Raquel Ramirez24:38 - 25:28
I can see that as a bargaining chip. Of course. Of course. Yeah. That is, that is a huge responsibility, a big burden to bear. Um, yeah. And the criteria is very limited. Wow. It's pretty crazy. Tell me a little bit about, cause I know when we talk about love and family, like you said, we're not limited to just the couples and I know actually, and I'll sidebar real quick. I ran into a family the other day and she was telling me, she says, you know, I wanted to petition for, I think it was my uncle or a cousin. And I said, you know, I'm not an immigration attorney. I just, I don't know if that's possible. I know that the law allows you to petition for a parent, a son or daughter or a spouse, but I don't know outside of those relationships, how far reaching, you know, the law allows you to, you know, so tell us a little bit about that and who you can claim. Sure.
Elina Santana25:28 - 25:59
So there's actually four categories. You can obviously spouse, which we've talked about. is one of them. The other three are you can petition for your parents, you can petition for your children, and you can petition for siblings. That is the last category. Siblings. You cannot petition for uncle, aunt, cousin, grandparent, none of those things. Now you can... Immediate family. Immediate family, yeah. And even siblings, you know, You can petition for siblings, but the wait list is huge.
Raquel Ramirez25:59 - 26:01
Yes, I remember you sharing that with us.
Elina Santana26:01 - 27:01
It's over 20 years for most countries. Yeah, it's over 20 years for most countries. And I say for most countries because there's actually a special list for Mexico, China, the Philippines, and one more. I'm blanking right now on what the fourth one is. Anyways, there are four countries that have a special list. because there are so many people trying to come in from those countries that the backlog is even bigger. Yeah, but it's about, it's just over 20 years for almost everyone. And it's absurd. And if we, I don't talk to, I try to stay away from politics, but if I bring up politics for a moment, it's actually one of the few things that people on both sides of the aisle have agreed on over the years is getting rid of the sibling category. Yeah, so in a lot of negotiations, when we've tried to pass immigration reform as a country in the last 20, 30 years, we haven't succeeded, as most people know. So living in an antiquated system we are.
Raquel Ramirez27:01 - 27:04
We just got our green cards back.
Elina Santana27:04 - 28:55
Yeah. But one of the categories that have been talked about a lot in the course of negotiations over the many years that have been passed are getting rid of the sibling category. And it's one of the few things that has been offered up as a potential chopping block, um, to kind of increase the speed of some of the other categories that are deemed more immediate. Um, and so I, I, yeah. And so I always tell people the list is 20 years, but if you have a sibling and they would like to someday come here, it's not that expensive to file a petition for them. It really isn't. It's pretty cheap actually. And you should do it because in 20 years, if you changed your mind, all you really wasted was 500 bucks, you know, it's $535, the filing fee. And that's totally worth at least being on the wait list, you know, um, that's how I feel about it. But so you never know. So those are the only categories, you know, and then you get into the ugly term, chain migration, which I'm not a fan of, but you hear that a lot in the news and you hear it in politics. And I bring it up because this is when we talk about petitioning for grandparents, uncles, and cousins and all that. And you ask, well, you just told me, Elina, you can't do that. So how is it that people do it? And the answer is essentially I can petition for my parents. And once my parent gets their green card, that parent can petition for their sibling. Or their parent or their sibling or whoever. And once that person gets status, that person can petition for their child. And lo and behold, we have a cousin who's entered legally. But it's, it's taken 40 years. I mean, I want to be perfectly frank. You know, I want, you know, I want to be clear. Yes, you can do that. But we're talking about, you know, it's gonna take 10 years, 20 years. Each one of these branches are a whole other set of timetables, you know.
Raquel Ramirez28:57 - 29:12
That's crazy. Now with the wait list, does that mean, let's say for the sibling category, right? If we say that the year, the wait list is about 20 years, does that mean it could take less than 20 years or it's, it's hands down, you got to wait two decades before this?
Elina Santana29:12 - 29:55
No, I say about 20 years because it fluctuates constantly. So what happens is these lists, it's called the visa bulletin. If anyone ever wants to Google it, the visa bulletin is published every month. It comes out on the 15th of the month, every month. So they're about to publish November in a couple days. And it tells you where they're by. And it literally will give you a date. Like it'll say November 5th, 2001. And that is the application that they are by. And every month they will tell you where they're by. And some months that list doesn't move. Some months it moves six months. It just depends on how many applications were filed in that moment in time. Um, 20 years ago.
Raquel Ramirez29:55 - 30:04
And so, so it inducing to be on that website, like almost on the daily, 100% once a month is all you can check it really, but it doesn't change in between.
Elina Santana30:04 - 30:33
But, but that's what that list is. And, uh, it's kind of crazy. So when I say about 20 years, it's really a ballpark, you know, over the years, there have been changes that have made the list increase substantially, you know, I mean, move substantially. There have been years where the list doesn't move at all. Um, it's, it's really hard to live that way, but it's a very, very loose approximation as a result. Um, so, and that's all you got. That's all you can. All I can do is speculate, you know?
Raquel Ramirez30:33 - 30:49
Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm going to ask you just a very simple real estate related question, which is, does it matter? Does it affect the process at all? If the person who lives here, who is petitioning for someone, if they own property in the U S um, you're talking about a U S citizen or a U S citizen.
Elina Santana30:49 - 32:18
Yeah. Not really. It is an asset, right? So it is considered an asset for the Affidavit of Support. We talked about the Affidavit of Support earlier, and you're pledging your finances. That doesn't only mean your income. You can use your assets, and that could be real estate and other property as well. So it affects there, but otherwise doesn't. And then if we're talking about non-citizens, the immigrant, right, who's coming in, owning property, generally not an issue. As a matter of fact, we have a ton of our B1, B2 visa holders, which is our tourist, who like to come in and buy property, especially here in South Florida. We have a ton of foreigners that like to have their condo on the beach or, you know, they have investment properties, and that's perfectly fine as a tourist. That's perfectly fine as a temporary visitor. You don't need to be a citizen or a resident and all of that. And it's good for our economy, frankly. We're happy to receive it here in South Florida. There are some, we should mention there's a recent law that passed. I'm not super familiar with all the details because I don't do investor visas, but there are some restrictions that have recently passed for specifically Chinese individuals and Cubans and Venezuelans and a couple of other countries are friends you know, our friendly company. Yeah, yeah. About where they can buy, how close it can be to things like airports and things like that. Yeah. So there are some restrictions now that have recently been put in place by the state of Florida.
Raquel Ramirez32:18 - 32:21
I know they're ironing out some details there still.
Elina Santana32:21 - 32:34
Yes. And I know that there are already a good amount of legal challenges as well. So we'll see if that stays on the books for much longer. I don't know. You know, everything these days has to be litigated before we say, oh yeah, this is the law.
Raquel Ramirez32:36 - 32:38
So basically, only time will tell.
Elina Santana32:38 - 33:30
Yeah, time will tell if that's actually going to be the truth long term or not. We should mention that. But otherwise, there's really not a restriction and it's generally welcome. As a matter of fact, as I'm as you mentioned, I don't really I do a lot of the family and marriage based stuff. and removal defense, which you mentioned in my bio, I don't do a lot of the business immigration side of things or the investor side of things. But I will speak to that for a moment if you'll allow me. Lots, there's lots of people who have investor visas and the US is generally very welcoming of people who want to invest money in our economy. We have dedicated visas specifically for that. So this law that's just passed in Florida is quite interesting. I don't, I'm not sure it'll hold up. I don't think it's going to hold up to all the legal challenges that it's currently facing, but that's, now that's political speculation. So that's Polina Zantana's opinion, not law.
Raquel Ramirez33:32 - 35:12
Yeah, I know on the real estate side, a lot of people are still just circling around, you know, with the new contract state and whether or not they can even present that. Because I personally don't work with foreign nationals. I work with domestic families. They do a lot of divorce and estate sales and things like that. But I've heard from my colleagues that it's difficult to tread because they don't know. How do you ask a family if they're migrating from China? There are special protected classes or things that we can and cannot say. And so it's very difficult if you don't have already a longstanding relationship with this person or this family, how do you get to the bottom of that and make sure that they sign the proper documentation to prevent or be in line, at least with the law? So there is still a lot to go around. That's why I said they're ironing out still a lot of details with that. And I think it'll be some time before we discover whether or not that's going to hold fast. Yeah, agreed. We'll see. We'll see. Elina, thank you so much. You're always so insightful. For those of you who don't know her, her name again is Elina Santana. She owns her own practice, family and family immigration, Love Across Borders. I have sat through a number of her presentations and I'm always blown away by the amount of information she provides. She's always very clear and quite funny, to be honest. When she talks about all this. Yeah. And it's fascinating to me because there's just so much to go on and so little that some of us, you know, no, because we don't have those immigration needs, but a lot of people struggle a lot. And there are so many details and criteria and processes that you absolutely need to be mindful of that and make sure you hire the right people to represent you.
Elina Santana35:12 - 35:57
We didn't even talk about all the removal defense stuff. When we get into the world of asylum and dreamers and temporary protected status and humanitarian visas, man, these are not do-it-yourself endeavors. I'm just saying. I can't imagine. Do-it-yourself. Well, you know, like people DIY everything these days. I'm like, this is not like... Yeah, you'll YouTube it or Google it. You don't want to Google your future, guys. You really don't. You know, and people are like, oh, it's just a form. I'm like, listen, the form is the easy part. It's knowing what to say on the form, what not to say on the form, what to send with the form. Like that's what I get paid for, you know, not filling out the form.
Raquel Ramirez35:57 - 36:05
That's right. That's right. That to me would be just such a scary proposition. I could never, I could never not hire somebody to help me with that. Yeah.
Elina Santana36:05 - 36:06
Yeah.
Raquel Ramirez36:06 - 36:13
Thank you so much for joining me. I so appreciate it. I hope to have you back soon and we can talk about some of those other topics we weren't able to cover today. I love it. I'm in.
Elina Santana36:13 - 36:14
I love it. I love it.
Raquel Ramirez36:14 - 36:22
And by the way, just before we end, I want to make sure that you get your shot out. I know that you started a podcast yourself. I'm not sure if it's launched yet.
Elina Santana36:22 - 38:47
I did. It actually should be launching in that well, it should be launching in the next two or three weeks. Okay, good. Yeah, so so hopefully soon you'll all be able to listen. You can go follow us on social media. We already have our account set up, but we haven't launched our first episode yet. It is a co-hosted podcast with my friend Leslie Marenko. Leslie is a trust and estates attorney. But that's not what the podcast is about. Our podcast is called Lost Shit You Should Know. So And it's literally about the law shit you need to know. It's kind of the law and legal spin on pop culture and current events. So it's lots of fun. It's a little irreverent and very tongue in cheek. And as the name gives away, we crit quite a lot on it. It's truly spending a little bit of time with Leslie and I and whoever our guest is that week, we usually have an expert come on and talk about some aspect of some legal event of some pop culture events that are going on usually give the legal spin of that. So, for example, our criminal defense attorney was talking about, you know, Trump's indictment and all that jazz. And our family law attorney was talking about divorces that are out there recently. She was talking about, you know, we talked about Johnny Depp. We talked about Jonas, the Jonas brother who's divorcing Santa Star. It's real name. I can't remember right now, but, you know, Game of Thrones. You know, so we've had some really, really fun conversations. We talked about who's the one that's got child support issues now. Anyways, we talked about Kevin Costner and we were talking about Kevin Costner and his child support issues. Man, super fun trademark attorney talking about, you know, the Jack Daniels case and Andy Warhol. So really kind of stuff that everyone knows is going on, but you don't really think about the legal aspect of it. And so trying to to make that more understandable for the public. And so it's a really fun and irreverent and a little bit of Spanglish. And yeah, yeah. And it's fun. So I hope thank you for the shout out. I hope everyone follows us at lawship. You should know is the name of the podcast, lawship podcast or what most of our handles are on social media. And I apologize for cursing consistently, but that's the name of our show. I honestly can't wait to tune in. Don't forget to let us know when you launch. I'm very excited. I'm very excited. So if you think I'm too much, wait till you meet my co-host.
Raquel Ramirez38:47 - 38:54
I love Leslie. Leslie is very, very funny. And I can only imagine the two of you on a podcast that just be, oh, that's going to be great.
Elina Santana38:54 - 38:57
We're a little out of control. We're a little out of control.
Raquel Ramirez38:57 - 39:25
Awesome. Thanks again, Elina. I look forward to tuning into your podcast. Thanks again for joining me and I will see you soon. Thank you. See you soon. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Real Talk. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't already done so, be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you found value in today's show, we'd appreciate it if you would help others discover this podcast. Until next time.