Visa Lawyer Blog

I wanted to wish a wonderful New Year wishes to all our readers and friends. May the coming year bring all the best to you all. See you next year. Jacob

USCIS published a notice announcing the revision of its Direct Mail Program so that certain filings of Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, will now be filed at a designated lockbox facility instead of a USCIS Service Center. During the first 30 days after this notice takes affect, USCIS will forward…

Due to the economic downturn, I get many emails from current H1B visa holders that are interested in starting their own companies. They are either worried about loosing the current H1B job or are in the process of being laid off. It can be really difficult for start up and…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule on December 19, 2008 that will subject U.S. permanent residents (“green card” holders) to the US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) travel screening requirements. The program, which started January 5, 2004, requires the fingerprinting and photographing of…

Today is Christmas Eve, I wanted to wish all the best for those who celebrate. I wanted to reference an excellent article by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in Washington. His comments were featured today at the La Prensa San Diego…

The following information was reported to me and I wanted to share with you for your information. Beginning January 20, 2009, all non-immigrant visa applicants, regardless of visa class, with an appointment at the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico will be required to use the DS-160 electronic NIV…

Have you listed to the recent ads at the end of every show on NPR, brought to you by DHS. Sure sounds like a partnership between public radio and the goverment. NPR spokeswoman Anna Christopher says they are not endorsing E-verify, the new verification program for employers to verify the…

I am in the process of reviewing the proposed changes to the H2B Visa program. Upon initial review, there are good and bad news. Here is a brief summary of the Changes, stay tuned more to come. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has submitted to the…

We have been reporting about the changes to the H2A Visa program in the past few weeks. One of the issues discussed is limiting the participation in the program to certain countries only. Under the final rule, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will only approve petitions for H-2A nonimmigrant…

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…