About Yunus law
Yunus Law is a full service immigration law practice specializing in family based immigration, business immigration, and deportation defense before the U.S. Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals.
Family Immigration
Ms. Yunus has successfully represented clients in family immigration matters, ranging from green card sponsorship for spouses, parents, siblings, and kids to reinstating petitions previously filed. We have extensive experience in complex family immigration matters, including death of petitioners, Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), Humanitarian Parole, VAWA, I-751s for divorced persons or widows, and more. We have successfully obtained hardship waivers, inadmissibility waivers, and waivers for criminal grounds. Whether you are seeking to bring your loved one to the US permanently, temporarily, or to keep them here safely, we can help.
Business Immigration
Ms. Yunus has obtained approvals for clients seeking E-2 Investor Visas, National Interest Waivers, H1b Visas, L Visas and employment-based U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence ("green card") for foreign nationals ranging from small business employees, student visa holders, and employees of multi-national corporations and educational institutions. Yunus Law’s business immigration practice is a full service experience for clients for both employers and employees. With over 10 years of extensive experience representing clients in starting businesses to seek their own path to a green card through investment, self-petitions (Eb1A and NIW), she believes in empowering immigrants to not have to depend on an employer sponsor. If you do have an employer to sponsor you, she can guide both you and your employer from beginning to green card.
Afia N. Yunus, ESQ
Ms. Yunus has extensive experience with family based immigration applications and petitions to USCIS and the Department of State. She has successfully represented clients in applications for naturalization, adjustment of status, F1 and B change of status requests, and extensions of status in business immigration and family immigration matters. This includes applications for fiancé visas, petitions for spouses, children, and siblings of U.S. citizens, Requests for Humanitarian Reinstatement and Humanitarian Parole, and much more. Ms. Yunus also has a vibrant deportation defense practice successfully getting her clients asylum, TPS, cancellation of removal, and other forms of relief from deportation. She has successfully filed on behalf of her clients Motions to Advance, Cancellation of Removal for LPR and non-LPR clients, and Motions to Terminate removal proceedings.
Ms. Yunus believes in providing a full-service experience to her clients. Once hired, Yunus Law gives full service representation, including preparing and filing the applications, assisting with getting medical records, drafting affidavits for clients, and much more. She ensures all clients get a detailed briefing prior to any USCIS or embassy interview, attends interviews with her clients, drafts business plans, letters of recommendation, and forms business entities for her business immigration clients, assists clients in obtaining social security cards and benefits, and more.
She is admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and Immigration Courts nationwide. She is an active member in good standing of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 2012, the National Association of Muslim Lawyers, and the Muslim Bar Association of New York.
For the past three years, Billy Penn has been highlighting the city's next great stars in law, from prosecutors to litigators to defenders to social justice advocates. Afia was selected by Billy Penn as one of the next great attorneys in Philadelphia. She received the Lawyers of Distinction Award in 2023.
Languages: Urdu, Punjabi, English
Education
Ms. Yunus received her Bachelors degrees in Criminal Justice and Political Science at the University of Illinois. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and received Dean's Honors List distinction every semester. She earned her law degree, Cum Laude, from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2010 with a specialization Certificate in Public Interest Law. At Chicago-Kent, she was awarded the CALI award, Dean's Certificate of Service Award, and was on the Dean's Honor List.
She is admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Northern District of Illinois Federal District Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and Immigration Courts nationwide. Ms. Yunus is fluent in Urdu and Punjabi.
community advocacy
Ms. Yunus is actively involved in her community and is passionate about inter-faith community engagement, increasing diversity, and assisting the immigrant community at large. She regularly provides free education to the community on topics related to immigration and immigrant rights through social media LIVE events on Yunus Law's Instagram page. Afia currently serves on the Board of Directors of the One America Movement and We Belong Here NY and is a member of AILA-NY Diversity and Inclusion and USCIS Liaison Committees and currently Chairs the AILA-Philadelphia USCIS liaison committee. She previously served as South Jersey Leader for Faith in New Jersey, Chair of the AILA-Philadelphia National Day of Action, member of AILA’s National Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, and Member of the Cherry Hill Human Relations Commission. With expertise in the intersection of immigration in the school sector, Afia provides immigration compliance workshops to educational institutions and has spoken on a variety of legal topics throughout the country, including the National AILA conference, the University of Pennsylvania, Cardozo Law School, Minnesota State University, Adelphi University, school districts, and various local religious institutions and has taught several Continuing Legal Education classes to the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. Topics include: Know Your Rights, Being an Undocumented Student, Muslims and the Border in a Post Trump World, Executive Orders and the Travel Ban, When ICE agents are at Your Door, Driving While Undocumented, Immigration Policy and Reform, and much more.
In 2018, she successfully completed a fellowship with the Muslim Power Building Project. That same year, Afia was selected by Billy Penn as one of the next great attorneys in Philadelphia and received an Award of Excellent Leadership by Faith in New Jersey. In 2019, she was nominated for Activist of the Year by Rad Girls Philadelphia. In 2023, she was awarded the Lawyers of Distinction award for Excellence in Immigration Law.
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