Visa Lawyer Blog

Recently, the DOS announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Korea regarding the WEST (Work, English Study, Travel) Program. The exchange program, to be launched in 2009, will allow up to 5,000 university students and recent graduates from the to enter the U.S. for a period of 18 months on J-1 exchange visitor visas.

The WEST program is an innovative exchange program that will allow up to 5,000 qualifying university students and recent university graduates from the Republic of Korea to enter the United States for a period of 18 months on J-1 exchange visitor visas that will allow them to study English, participate in internships, and travel independently. Participants will devote at least 450 classroom hours to structured English language training and coursework focusing on American business practices and business procedures, U.S. corporate culture, and general office management issues.

Read more here

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It seems that the current H1B visa shortage is not enough for the anti immigration groups. Critics of the H-1B program have long argued that it has created unfair competition for jobs in America. A recent lawsuit claims that the administration's extension of the time that foreign nationals who graduate from U.S. colleges with science or technology degrees can work on their student visas from one year to 29 months is unfair and illegal. They challenged this in court.But U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg, who is hearing the case in New Jersey, is pushing back.

The student-visa extension is intended to take some of the pressure off of the annual H-1B cap. Demand for H-1B visas greatly exceeds the total of 65,000 visas that are available each year. The plaintiffs argued that increasing the number of job seekers in the same fields as plaintiffs will limit the opportunities open to U.S. tech workers. We will let the court decide.

Read the ComputerWorld article here

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As we are coming close to the elections, with talk of a possible immigration reform, scams targeting immigrants will be on the rise. The latest is from my own city, San Diego. A Chula Vista man who posed as an immigration official, telling people he could quickly process their citizenship papers for a fee, was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison. He got lucky, people like that must be sentenced to longer jail time and be forced to pay back the fees.

If you were a victim of this scam, please let me know.

Read more about this story here

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How many times in the past few months HAVE i been getting calls from clients tired of waiting for their employment authorization cards (EAD)? If I could get a penny for each call, I could retire tomorrow. Seriously, USCIS caused major delays in the processing of such work permits, and by doing so caused hardship to all the pending immigrants wishing to start working.

Pursuant to 8 CFR § 274a.13, USCIS must adjudicate EAD applications within 90 days from the date of USCIS receipt of the application.

The CIS Ombudsman has been receiving numerous inquiries from customers about EAD applications pending more than 90 days. Click on this link and see what the USCIS can offer to make things right. I can only hope it will help.

Continue reading "San Diego Immigration Lawyer - How to solve EAD card delays?" »

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Jim Harper reports on the latest new Bills from Congress. A new stupid new bill introduced this week. H.R. 6975 would require aliens to attest that they will not advocate installing a Sharia law system in the United States as a condition of their admission to our country. What can we expect next, attesting to not having met any Muslims in the past 10 years of your life?

Read the article here

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As the political debates between both candidates heat up, so does the vision on the core issues. A recent excellent article by Prof. Wayne A. Cornelius, touches on a very important point relating to the immigration debate. The McCain-Palin campaign has embarked on an effort to court Latino voters by trashing Barack Obama's record on immigration reform.

Prof. Cornelius points out:

Beginning with his speeches to La Raza and other Latino groups last summer, McCain has also been trying to diminish Obama's role in the crafting of comprehensive immigration reform. That's another serious distortion of the record. Obama largely drafted the crucial Title III (work-site enforcement) section of the 2006 bill, which was the foundation for the same component of the 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill.

As someone who has studied the twists and turns of immigration reform for nearly four decades, there is no question in my mind about which presidential candidate in 2008 is most strongly committed to immigration reform, and which is most likely to deliver on it during his first term.

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Posted In: San Diego Immigration Law

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Enforcement, Enforcement and more Enforcement is the message from the Government. Special agents executed federal criminal search warrants here yesterday at two area Chinese restaurants and two homes linked to the businesses' owners as part of an ongoing ICE investigation into possible hiring and alien harboring violations.

The restaurants targeted during the operation were the King's Buffet in Vacaville, Calif., and the
Empire Buffet in Vallejo, Calif. A second outlet of the Empire Buffet in San Pablo, Calif., is also under scrutiny in the probe, but it was not searched yesterday. In addition to executing four search warrants, agents conducted a consensual search at a fifth location, a home in Hercules, Calif.Besides gathering evidence related to the criminal case, ICE agents arrested 21 illegal alien workers on administrative immigration violations who were encountered at the search locations.

We represent numerous hospitality employers, we keep warning employers to comply with Immigration rules, if in doubt seek professional advice. We anticipate further enforcement, especially in this industry.

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In the few weeks before the October bulletin was issued, readers and clients were speculating that the EB3 category will become current in October. We now know this is not true, yet there are some positive changes in this bulletin. Section D addresses Mexican F-2A visa availability and Section E addresses October Employment cut-off dates, which are earlier than those which applied during FY-2008. Little forward movement is expected in EB priority dates until the backlog of old priority dates can be determined. We will keep you posted.

Click here for the most recent bulletin

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The Wall Street Journal reports today about a subject that often gets less exposure on the 2008 campaign trail: Immigration. What is interesting about this speech is that Obama finally talked about Immigration reform directly. This is interesting as the issue of comprehensive immigration reform seem to have lost momentum. He said:

“This election is about the 12 million people living in the shadows, the communities taking immigration enforcement into their own hand. They are counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling our airwaves, and rise above the fear, and rise above the demagoguery, and finally enact comprehensive immigration reform.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for a president who won’t walk away from comprehensive immigration reform when it becomes politically unpopular

As we are moving closer to the election, the candidates must realize that Immigration is right up there with the economy and the war in Iraq. Did you get this Palin?

Read more here

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The recent raids on employers all across the country, and mostly the fate of illegal workers and their families caught in between, got us all talking about illegal immigration. A recent posting on NPR caught my attention as well.

Gloria Hillard reported on "The New Sanctuary Movement", a faith based coalition offering aid and at times sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Activists on both sides of the immigration debate including an anti-immigration organization called, "Save Our State", have been drawn to a small of church north of Los Angeles where an illegal immigrant facing deportation has been sheltered for more than a year.

Read the full NPR report here, I have a feeling this debate will get more emotional in the next few months.

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From time to time we feature guest writers on this Blog. This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of the criminal justice schools. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com.

Every year, thousands of children are being adopted from other countries by citizens of the USA. The law of the land allows married couples and single individuals who are above the age of 25 and who can prove that they are able to support a child (through the home study) to adopt children from foreign nations. When you bring back your child to the United States, he/she needs a visa to be allowed into the country.

The Consular Office of the Department of State allocates a visa after conducting an I-604 investigation which verifies that the child you’re going to adopt is an orphan (as defined by the laws that govern US adoption) and that he/she does not suffer from a medical condition that you do not know about. Once the investigation is done, there are two kinds of visas that are offered for internationally adopted children:

• The IR-3 Visa: The Immediate Relative category 3 visa is given to children who are adopted by couples or individuals who have seen and interacted with the children before the adoption and if the adoption is completed according to the laws of the country the child belongs to. These children are made citizens of the United States as soon as they arrive on US soil. Parents do not have to register for citizenship and the necessary documents are sent to the child within 45 days of their arrival in the United States. While there is no need to perform a re-adoption process in the USA according to federal laws, some states do require that you carry out the procedure again on US soil.

Continue reading "International Adoptions and the Visas you Need" »

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Why do we have such a major immigrant visa backlog? According to the Immigration policy center each year, the Department of Homeland Security fails to issue all of the “green cards” allocated for that year. Under current law, the visa numbers do not “roll over” to the next year and the unused visas are lost. Unused or lost visa numbers result in longer delays for US citizens or legal residents to reunite with a close family member or in a delay for a US business to get a needed worker.

H.R. 5882 is a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by House Immigration Subcommittee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). This modest piece of legislation would simply permit the “recapture” or use of visas that have gone unused in past years due to bureaucratic delays. The visas would be issued to qualified family-based or employment-based legal immigrants.

Read more here

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Several months ago, I consulted with a prospect that got the round around from the LA passport office. They kept sending her application back because her birth certificate was not good enough for them. I thought it was an isolated matter, but today the Washington Post reported on the problem nationwide.

It seems that the State Department is denying passports to people born in southern Texas near the border with Mexico if they were delivered by midwives, citing a history of birth certificate forgeries there for Mexican-born children dating to the 1960s, according to U.S. officials.

The civil liberties group is seeking class-action status on behalf of tens of thousands of Mexican Americans of all ages delivered by midwives in border states, alleging violations of constitutional due process and equal protection guarantees.

Read more here, please contact us of you were discriminated by the government is similar case.

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Immigration law is important and that is all that we cover most of the time. But our immigrant readers, may be facing other legal challenges from time to time. So we rely on our lawyer friends from across the country, to provide guest articles and reports. This week we are proud to feature Attorney Sergei Lemberg's Lemon Law expertise.

That new car smell is the best. The feeling of driving around in a new ride is sensational. But what happens when the experience sours and your new car starts smelling like a lemon? California’s lemon law gives you the right to take action – and turn your lemon into lemonade. Sergei Lemberg, an attorney specializing in lemon law, offers an overview of our lemon law, and tips to make sure you can take advantage of your California lemon law rights.

According to Sergei, California Lemon Law is one of the most comprehensive in the country, and covers new and leased vehicles bought for personal, family or household use. It also covers business vehicles under 10,000 pounds, providing that owner or business has no more than five vehicles registered in the state). In addition, the chassis, chassis cab, and propulsion parts of a motor home are covered, as are dealer-owned vehicles, demonstrators, and used vehicles sold with a manufacturer’s new car warranty. Motorcycles and used cars have some protections under the Song-Beverly Warranty Act, which is also includes the state’s Lemon Law.

Continue reading "California Lemon Law: What You Need to Know" »

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Most of our readers are aware that any adjustment of status in a family based petition can not be approved if the relationship is no longer viable. Yet there are certain exceptions from time to time. On August 12, 2008, in Choin v. Mukasey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to consider Ms. Choin’s Form I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status based upon marriage, even though she was no longer married to her U.S.-citizen husband.

The Court found an exception to this for spouses who enter the U.S. on the K-1 fiancé/e visa. This interpretation is limited to a K-1 fiancé/e of a U.S. citizen. There is a specific section of law that addresses the adjustment of status of K-1s and it is the wording of that section that led to the conclusion reached by the Court.

Continue reading "San Diego Immigration Lawyer - Marriage Based I-485 Approval Even after Divorce " »

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USCIS finally catch up with Technology. It is now possible to receive alerts to your mobile phone about USCIS Field Office closings. USCIS is posting the alerts using Twitter, an application that limits messages to 140 characters. Click here for more info

Stay tuned for Facebook and MySpace pages!!!

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As lawyers specializing in the 601 Hardship Waivers, we report many more approval from our clients. From Manila to Ciudad Juarez our law firm is fighting the Government and winning!!!

Here is a quick update from the field. Warren Janssen, Officer-in-Charge at the USCIS Ciudad Juarez office, has advised that the immigrant visa waiver appointment system has resumed operation effective September 4, 2008, and that the first available appointments are on November 12, 2008.

On, September 3, 2008, Warren Janssen, CIS overseas officer in charge at Cd Juarez, advised that currently there are no immigrant visa waiver appointments available due to a system address change for the new consulate. The private contractor has to go through several hoops and training before more can be available in the system. Applicants should avoid calling and spending money trying to book an appointment until further notice. As you can from the post above now the system is back up.

If you are preparing for a waiver case, please wait for 3 days after your denial to make the waiver appointment. Be sure to have all the documents in hand before calling.

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Recently, USCIS, released a memo on inadmissibility due to HIV infection in light of the President's signing of H.R. 5501.

On July 30, 2008, the President signed into law the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, Public Law No.1 10-293. Scction 305 of P.L. 110-293 amends sec. 212(a)(I)(A)(i) of the Act. so that HHS is no longer required to designate HIV infection as a "communicable disease" of public health significance. HHS has not amended 42 CFR 34.2(b) to remove HIV infection from the list of diseases that qualify as a communicable disease of public health significance. Until HHS does amend 42 CFR 34.2(b). someone with HIV infection, as diagnosed by the civil surgeon or panel physician, remains inadmissible under 212(a)( 1)(A)(i) of the Act.

Until further notice, aliens who are applying for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status and who are found to have an HIV infection are still required to file Form 1-60 I, Application for Waiver of Grounds of inadmissibility. Such waivers are extremely complicated, so make sure to consult an experienced attorney.

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Posted In: Deportation & Removal

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