It’s time to check the pulse of Hasta La Visa, Baby fans by answering listener questions. In addition to revisiting episodes centering on The Sopranos, The White Lotus, Friends, Austin Powers, and The Karate Kid, Shai and Roderick share their insights regarding a variety of visa categories. Plus, do cats and dogs need visas to get to the U.S.?

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Show Notes

Welcome to this episode of Hasta La Visa, Baby – a podcast that takes a deep dive into US immigration law and its relation to fictitious characters in television and film!  Host Shai Dyan is an immigration attorney with Gibney Anthony & Flaherty, and he is based in Los Angeles, CA.  He is joined for this episode – as for all other episodes! – by his New York-based friend and colleague, Gibney Anthony & Flaherty immigration attorney Roderick Potts. Together, Shai and Roderick demystify immigration law by focusing each episode on a particular work featuring a foreign national living in the US.  They discuss the show or movie, zeroing in on this character to speculate on his/her visa status and possible problems associated with living in the US, and to summarize a hypothetical law consultation with the character.  The only rule?  Each episode assumes the character lives in a modern-day US!

For their first episode of 2022, Shai and Roderick answer questions from listeners in this special mailbag episode! To begin, Carl from Brooklyn wonders about the immigration rules regarding bringing pets into the U.S. from overseas. As mentioned in a previous episode, Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers trilogy brought his beloved cat Mr. Bigglesworth. Pet migration is actually not regulated by immigration services, but rather by the CDC. Pets are required to be healthy and dogs to be vaccinated against rabies before arriving in the U.S., but there are not really any other restrictions.

Next, Tina from New Jersey wonders if Paolo from Friends could have kept his green card if he married Rachel, but divorced her later. If he could prove the marriage was legitimate at the time it was entered into, his green card should be safe. Then, Suzanne from Chicago wonders: After somebody with a visa passes away, does anyone have to notify the U.S immigration authorities?

As per Shai’s knowledge, the regulations for this are unclear, though it would be courteous of the person’s former employer to let them know. Adina from Vancouver asks if Furio from The Sopranos could have changed his status after his H-3 training program ended. If he had found other employment and a company to sponsor him, Roderick explains, he probably could have changed his status.

Shai and Roderick then identify the one thing they would most like to change about U.S. immigration law given the chance. In short, they both want more equality in the system. Chad from Kentucky asks our hosts to share a few of their well rounded hobbies outside f immigration law and movies. For the last question of this mailbag episode, Jenny from Omaha wonders which character previously discussed on the show Shai and Roderick would most like to hang out with.

As the episode wraps up, Shai and Roderick again urge listeners to contact them or submit questions for a future mailbag episode at hastalavisa@gibney.com. Finally, they ask which character from James Bond listeners would most like to hear discussed in the next episode!

Links:

Learn more about Shai Dayan, Roderick Potts, and Gibney Anthony & Flaherty, LLP.
Connect with us or submit your questions at hastalavisa@gibney.com.
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