Immigration law determines whether a person is an alien, the rights, duties, and obligations associated with being an alien in the United States, and how aliens gain residence or citizenship within the United States. It also provides the means by which certain aliens can become legally naturalized citizens with full rights of citizenship. Immigration law serves as a gatekeeper for the border of the nation, determining who may enter, how long they may stay, and when they must leave. Immigration lawyers represent persons seeking temporary and permanent residency (green cards) status in the U.S., those interested in obtaining U.S. citizenship through a process called naturalization, and clients facing deportation and removal. Immigration attorneys may also represent businesses seeking to secure temporary visa status for foreign employees.
Alpharetta is a city in north Fulton County, Georgia, United States. It is one of the most affluent communities in the state. According to a 2008 estimate, Alpharetta's population is 49,903. Selected for its location next to a spring, Alpharetta began as a campground, originally known as New Prospect Camp Ground until late 1858. Officially chartered on December 11 of that year, Alpharetta (supposedly Greek for "first town") served as the county seat of Milton County until the end of 1931 when Milton was merged with Fulton County to avoid bankruptcy during the Great Depression. Despite Alpharetta's poor start, and it being one of the more distal, large suburbs in metro Atlanta, Alpharetta now features several mid-rise buildings, which are home to many high-tech companies including Hewlett-Packard, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, RedPrairie, Radiant Systems, Infor, Lucent, Nortel, IBM, Sun Microsystems, AT&T, Siemens, McKesson Corporation, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, Alltel, E-Trade, Hansgrohe, General Electric, and LexisNexis. In 2009, Forbes ranked Alpharetta as the number 1 "reloville" in the United States.