Articles Posted in Immigrant Visas

A new bill — introduced by Senators John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat; Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican; and Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat — aims to give two-year visas to foreign entrepreneurs if they secure at least $100,000 in financing from qualified investors. After two years, the start-up must have at least five employees and $500,000.

The new legislation provides visas to the following groups under certain conditions:

1. Entrepreneurs living outside the U.S.—if a U.S. investor agrees to financially sponsor their entrepreneurial venture with a minimum investment of $100,000. Two years later, the startup must have created five new American jobs and either have raised over $500,000 in financing or be generating more than $500,000 in yearly revenue.

Here is the latest from the American Immigration Lawyers Association on the Visa Waiver Denials issue.

Following reports from AILA chapter USCIS liaisons that a favorable resolution on the question of adjustment eligibility for Visa Waiver Program (VWP) admittees has been reached, AILA Liaision has confirmed that USCIS HQ has instructed the field that USCIS retains jurisdiction to adjust an alien who was admitted under the VWP, whether or not the adjustment application was filed during the alien’s 90-day period of admission. Follow our Blog for more info.

This recent update comes in a time when the San Diego filed office continues to deny applications of Visa Waiver overstays. I expect the new policy to be implemented in San Diego soon as well.

Mr. Skokos is, by all accounts, an accomplished security consultant. But the Department of Homeland Security doubts he is at the very pinnacle of his profession, so accomplished the world over that Mr. Skokos, a Canadian citizen who lives in Las Vegas, merits a special visa to live permanently in the United States. Nobody disputes that Nikolaos Skokos is adept at what he does, which is keeping unruly crowds away from Celine Dion, the super star singer.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which normally sits in San Francisco but held a special session in Phoenix. After hearing arguments in the Skokos case, a three-judge panel took the issue under advisement.

There are numerous ways foreigners can petition to live in the United States, including random visa lotteries and asylum applications citing a risk of grave harm back home. Mr. Skokos is seeking to stay through a relatively small program that allows “aliens of extraordinary ability” — whether they are scientists, artists, athletes or even security consultants — to become permanent residents.

The Department of State, Office of Visa Services, advises the public of a notable increase in fraudulent emails and letters sent to Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program (Visa Lottery) applicants. The scammers behind these fraudulent emails and letters are posing as the U.S. government in an attempt to extract payment from DV applicants. While the DV lottery is a genuine U.S. government program, it is important to know enough about the DV lottery to protect oneself from fraud.

Please note: (1) the DOS does not charge any fees for participation in the lottery program and (2) they also do not advise “winners” (those selected to apply for legal permanent residence) by email. Notification is made by letter only. A genuine notification carries the personal data of the applicant. It does not include blanket requests for basic personal information. Fraudulent notifications sometimes ask for such information.

The DV lottery has an application procedure for participants. If one has not submitted this application through the DOS WebSite, within the established timeframes, one cannot be selected. The DOS does not select individuals at random for this benefit. Fraudulent winner notifications are sometimes received by individuals who have not even applied for the DV lottery.

This may not be a big issue but worth reporting. Some of our clients have received information from USCIS that interview appointments are scheduled at the National Benefits Center (NBC). If you receive an I-797 Interview Appointment Notice, e-mail, or update from Case Status Online indicating that an interview is at NBC, please contact the NCSC at 1-800-375-5283 , or contact your local office, to request the correct USCIS location of the interview.

NBC is located in Lee’s Summit, MO, and is not open to the general public. Interviews are not conducted at NBC. An interview will be held at the local office that has jurisdiction over the case.

In Marriage-Based Green Card interviews, which are conducted in USCIS District and Field Offices only, Adjudications Officers set out to determine whether the applicant’s marriage to a U.S. Citizen is a legitimate one. A legitimate marriage is a marriage that was not entered into for the purpose of evading immigration law. USCIS is required to focus on whether, at the time the marriage was entered into, the bride and groom intended to establish a life together.

Here is an interesting update for our marriage cases readers. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the creation of a new employment authorization document (EAD) which also serves as an advance parole (AP) travel permit.

The new card will be available for persons who concurrently file an I-765 application for an EAD and an I-131 application for an AP with their I-485 adjustment of status application in the final stage of the permanent residence process.

The card will be valid for either one or two years, depending on whether the applicant’s immigrant visa preference category is retrogressed. The card will look identical to the current EAD but will have an annotation that states “Serves as I-512 Advance Parole.” Notably, if an applicant only applies for an EAD or an AP, USCIS will issue the legacy version of the EAD or AP. The new card will continue to be a valid List A document for I-9 purposes.

The Department of State released the new visa bulletin for March 2011 (http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5337.html) on February 11, 2011.

Employment Based Visa Bulletin for the month of March 2011:

The EB-1 category is current for both Chinese and Indian nationals. In the EB-2 category, the cut-off dates moved forward 7 days for Chinese nationals (from July 1, 2006 to July 8, 2006), and still remained unchanged for Indian nationals (May 8, 2006). In the EB-3 category, the cut-off dates moved forward from January 1, 2004 to January 22, 2004 for Chinese nationals and moved forward from February 22, 2002 to March 15, 2002 for Indian nationals.

Here is an important update for our readers. Many applicants are reporting sever delays with I-130 applications for Immediate Relative cases.

In November 2010, USCIS transferred approximately 36,000 Immediate Relative petitions from

the California Service Center to the Texas Service Center. They anticipated that this redistribution

The following is new information regarding the ability to schedule a waiver appointment for an immigrant visa in Mexico. The information from the Consulate in Ciudad Juarez States:

Please be advised that as of January 10, 2011, the procedure to request a waiver appointment has changed. Applicants can make the appointment through the following website http://mexico.usvisa-info.com. They will need to log onto the website using their Passport Number, Date of Birth and Nationality. When prompted to select a Trip Purpose, they will need to choose “Immigrant IV Waiver” to schedule the appointment.

Alternatively, Applicants can schedule their waiver appointment by contacting the Visa Information Service at any of the numbers provided in the following link: http://www.usvisa-info.com/en-MX/selfservice/us_service_options.

The EB5 immigrant investor visa has quickly become one of the most positive and popular visa programs and path to a Green Card Visa the United States has ever conceived. Since its creation as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, the visa has risen from obscurity to become a darling of pro-immigration discourse.

This is an update about Indirect Job Creation. These are the jobs held by persons who work outside the newly established commercial enterprise. For example, indirect jobs include employees of the producers of materials, equipment, and services that are used by the commercial enterprise.

According to the update presented below, USCIS interprets the law to require that a regional center focus its EB-5 capital investment activities on a single, contiguous area within the geographic jurisdiction requested by the regional center. USCIS agree that the law does not further mandate that all indirect job creation attributable to a regional center take place within that jurisdiction. USCIS will ensure that its policy reflects this understanding of the law.