Useful Information on Immigration
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2011 cap on April 1, 2010. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS takes possession of a properly filed petition with the correct fee; not the date that the petition is postmarked. … Read more
USCIS recently announced revised filing instructions and addresses for filing several forms, including Form I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization), and I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status). To download most recent forms, please visit www.uscis.gov.
If a Permanent Resident is out of U.S. continuously for more than one year, DHS takes the position that residency has been abandoned. The criteria in determining whether a LPR abandons his residency include purpose of departure, existence of fixed termination date for visit abroad, and objective intention to return to U.S. as place of … Read more
Foreign physicians who received medical training in J-1 program must either return to their country or obtain a waiver before they can apply for an immigration visa, or change to almost any other nonimmigrant status. A J-1 waiver can be granted when the physician commits to practice medicine in an underserved area of the United … Read more
The EB-5 Immigrant Investors Program is recently extended to September 30, 2012. The statutory requiments of the EB-5 visa are burdensom. Approximately only about 1,000 people a year have immigrated in this category — just one-tenth of the visa available. For the regular program, the enterprise must (1) be one in which the person has … Read more
B-1 visa is for the visitor who has an unabandoned foreign residence, intends to visit only temporarily and intends to engage only in permitted business activities. B-1 business visitor may be admitted for the purpose of enaging in business but not for the purpose of local employment or labor for hire. in distinguishing, the determination … Read more
On 10/28/2009, President Obama signed into law which extends the non-minister religious worker, the “Conrad 30”, the EB-5 visa (investor visa) and the E-Verify program through September 30, 2012. The law also includes statutory authority for USCIS to complete processing of permanent residence applications for surviving spouses and other relatives of immigration sponsors who die … Read more
Some decisions and cases support that a corporation even if it is owned and operated by a single person may hire that same individual in an H-1B capacity. This is based on the concept that the corporation is a separate legal entity fron its owner. However, self-sponsored H-1Bs are subject to careful review. The parties … Read more
USCIS issed guidance on requesting deferred action for surviving spouse of U.S. citizens who died before the second anniversary of their marriage. Surviving spouses qualify for this temporary program if they were married to, but not legally separated from their U.S. citizen spouse at the time of that spouse’s death; did not remary; and are … Read more
Certain firearm offenses will result in deportation. INA Section 237(a)(2)(C) states that “any alien who at any time after admission is convicted under law of purchasing, selling, offering for sale, exchanging, using, owning, possessing, or carrying, or of attempting or conspiring to purchase, sell, offer for sale, exchange, use, own, possess, or carry, any weapon, … Read more