This intensive two-day training will offer workshops for both new and experienced practitioners on a variety of family-based immigration law topics including relief available for victims of domestic violence and other crimes.  Participants will have the opportunity to choose from sessions focusing on the fundamentals of the family based process and sessions dealing with more complex family issues geared toward more experienced advocates.  Day One will feature Question and Answer Sessions with USCIS Vermont Service Center so bring your inquiries on relative petitions, fiancé (e) petitions, joint petitions to remove conditional status and waivers, VAWA self-petitions and petitions for U status. Day Two of the training will feature a mock adjustment of status interview with USCIS adjudicators from the Manchester Field Office.  Additional topics covered will include :Immigrating Through A Spouse: Strategies and Roadblocks;  How To Calculate CSPA Eligibility; Impact of Life Events on Status as a Beneficiary or Derivative Beneficiary; Special Issues in Adjustment of Status; What You Didn't Know About Completing an I-864; and Waiver Updates and Extreme Hardship.  Please see the training agenda for a complete list of workshops and general sessions. A highlight of the training is an optional tour of the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, NH on July  21st and a question and answer session with NVC staff. This is a unique opportunity to ask NVC representatives questions related to the DS-260 online immigrant visa application; documentation submission; termination of registration for a visa; issues related to provisional waivers; and any other issue or concern you have on consular processing   Space for the NVC visit is limited so please register early.  You must register separately for the tour. There will also be an optional 2 hour session on Monday July 18th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on Introduction to Family-Based Immigration for new practitioners.  This session will provide an overview of the family immigration process including which family members qualify as immediate relatives and what that designation means; which family members are in the "preference categories" that are subject to annual quotas and how to read the State Department Visa Bulletin. The training will be presented by CLINIC attorneys Susan Schreiber, Charles Wheeler and Kristina Karpinski.  Representatives from the USCIS Vermont Service Center and USCIS Manchester Field Office will also participate. 

Registration:
Register 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 fax a copy of you IRS 501(c)(3) letter designating your agency as a nonprofit entity to CLINIC at 301-565-4824 to the attention of Jon Braswell. 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. The deadline for registration is July 14th  or sooner if registration is filled. For registration information contact Jon Cochrane-Braswell at jcbraswell@cliniclegal.org. For training content information contact Kristina Karpinski at kkarpinski@cliniclegal.org.