Experienced immigration attorneys for Washington Heights' Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, West African, and all upper Manhattan immigrant communities. Green cards, family immigration, deportation defense, TPS, cancellation of removal, and citizenship.
Washington Heights — Quisqueya Heights — is the heart of New York's Dominican community. Our attorneys understand both the community and the complex immigration issues its families face.
Washington Heights is the center of New York's Dominican-American community — one of the largest Dominican diaspora communities in the world. From the bodegas and restaurants of 181st Street to the cultural organizations and churches throughout the neighborhood, Washington Heights bears the deep imprint of Dominican immigration stretching back to the 1960s. Today, the neighborhood is home to hundreds of thousands of Dominican Americans at every point in the immigration spectrum: from newly arrived immigrants to third-generation U.S. citizens.
Immigration needs in Washington Heights are diverse and urgent. Families are sponsoring parents and siblings still in the Dominican Republic. Long-term undocumented residents face deportation proceedings. LPRs who traveled extensively need to protect their permanent residence before naturalization. Business owners need investor visas. U.S. citizen grandchildren are navigating the system for the first time for elderly grandparents. Our attorneys have the experience to handle every category of Washington Heights immigration case.
Marriage green cards (I-130/I-485), K-1 fiancé visas, parent petitions, and sibling petitions for Washington Heights Dominican families. CR-1/IR-1 consular processing for spouses and parents still in the Dominican Republic. Concurrent EAD and Advance Parole for immediate work authorization. I-751 removal of conditions.
I-485 adjustment of status for Washington Heights residents with current priority dates. Consular processing through the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo for family members in the Dominican Republic. I-601A unlawful presence waivers for those who entered without inspection. Comprehensive I-485 package preparation.
Non-LPR Cancellation of Removal for long-term Washington Heights undocumented residents (10-year rule). Emergency ICE detention response for Washington Heights and Inwood families. BIA appeals for adverse immigration court decisions. Washington Heights is served by 26 Federal Plaza immigration court.
Asylum, TPS, U visa (crime victims), and VAWA (domestic violence) for Washington Heights residents. Washington Heights has significant numbers of long-term residents from countries with TPS designations. Affirmative asylum at the Newark Asylum Office for qualifying Washington Heights residents.
H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, and E-2 investor visas for Washington Heights professionals and their employers. Many Washington Heights residents work in healthcare (NewYork-Presbyterian, Columbia University Medical Center), education, and service industries. Employment-based green cards for qualifying Washington Heights workers.
N-400 naturalization for Washington Heights LPRs. Citizenship test preparation in English and Spanish. USCIS interview at 26 Federal Plaza. Complex naturalization cases including prior criminal records, extended travel to the Dominican Republic, or selective service issues handled by experienced attorneys.
Washington Heights — spanning from approximately 155th Street to Dyckman Street along the Hudson River — is home to one of the largest Dominican communities outside the Dominican Republic itself. The neighborhood is often called 'Quisqueya Heights' or 'Little Santo Domingo' by its residents. Beyond Dominicans, Washington Heights has significant Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, and Ecuadorian communities, along with West African immigrants and a growing Haitian community. Inwood, just north of Washington Heights, shares much of the same immigrant community composition.
U.S. citizens in Washington Heights can sponsor immediate relatives (spouses, parents, minor children) with no annual cap and no preference wait. Adult children and siblings are sponsored in preference categories with multi-year waits. The process: file I-130 with USCIS → after approval, NVC processing → U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo interview → visa issuance → travel to U.S. → green card. For immediate relatives, the Santo Domingo Embassy processes consular cases. We handle the full process from I-130 through Embassy interview preparation for Washington Heights families.
Prior deportation (removal) orders are serious immigration bars, but they are not always permanent. Options may include: I-212 Permission to Reapply after the mandatory bar period; waivers combining I-212 and I-601 for those with qualifying family hardship; motions to reopen the original removal case if it was flawed; or prosecutorial discretion in compelling humanitarian cases. Washington Heights has many longtime residents with old deportation orders who may have been given bad advice in the past and may have options they're not aware of. We conduct full reviews of prior removal cases before advising.
LPRs who travel to the Dominican Republic for extended periods risk abandoning their U.S. permanent residence. Trips of 6-12 months raise questions about abandonment; trips exceeding 1 year require a returning resident visa (SB-1) at the Embassy. To protect LPR status during extended trips, Washington Heights LPRs can file for a re-entry permit (I-131) before departing, which authorizes trips of up to 2 years. We advise Washington Heights Dominican LPRs on protecting their permanent residence before any extended foreign travel.
Washington Heights residents in removal proceedings appear at New York Immigration Court, located at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan (accessible by 4/5/6 trains to Fulton Street or Chambers Street). The court is approximately a 30-minute subway ride from Washington Heights. All hearings — master calendar, individual, and bond — for Washington Heights residents are held there. Our attorneys meet Washington Heights clients at 26 Federal Plaza for every court appearance.
Serving Washington Heights' Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and all upper Manhattan communities. Free consultation by phone, video, or in person. Hablamos Español.