Articles Posted in Nonimmigrant Visas

When you are traveling to the United States for the first time you are likely to have questions and concerns about what happens when you arrive at the Port-of-Entry?

A foreign national traveling to the United States will arrive initially at a U.S. “Port-of-Entry” (POE). The POE can be an airport, a land border crossing, or a seaport. Passing through a Port-of-Entry generally means that you are seeking permission from an Immigration Inspector, an official of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to enter the U.S. for a specific reason, purpose and duration, which are generally always predefined.

We have posted below a recent CBP Muster on the Basic Elements of a Thorough Primary Inspection for the benefit of our readers.

The Department of State (DOS) has launched the anticipated new version of the Form DS-160 Nonimmigrant Visa Application.

The form’s new version clarifies, in no uncertain terms, that the applicant – and no one else – must electronically sign and submit the DS-160 form. As part of a newly formatted opening page, the DS-160 advises applicants to:

“be aware that under U.S. law you must electronically sign and submit your own application unless you qualify for an exception. This means that you (the applicant) must check the ‘Sign Application’ button, even if someone else helped you fill the application out.”

The Work & Travel Program is part of the J-1 visa category of the U.S. government’s Exchange Visitor program.

If you are a university student from outside the United States and are not a U.S. citizen, you may experience life in the U.S. as a temporary employee and tourist by participating in a Work & Travel Program during your four-month college vacation period.

How? Your first step is to obtain a J-1 visa, which is the U.S. government’s exchange visitor visa program designed to promote cross-cultural exchange between the US and other countries. To qualify for this J-1 visa, you must be a full-time university student or be within six months of graduation.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (Act) provides for the admission of different classes of nonimmigrants who are foreign nationals seeking temporary admission to the United States. The purpose of the nonimmigrant’s intended stay in the United States determines his or her proper nonimmigrant classification. Some classifications permit the nonimmigrant’s spouse and qualifying children to accompany the nonimmigrant to the United States or to join the nonimmigrant here. To qualify, a child must be unmarried and under the age of 21.

F-1 nonimmigrants, as defined in section 101(a)(15)(F) of the Act, are foreign students coming to the United States to pursue a full course of academic study in SEVP-approved schools. An F-2 nonimmigrant is a foreign national who is the spouse or qualifying child of an F-1 student.

M-1 nonimmigrants, as defined in section 101(a)(15)(M) of the Act, are foreign nationals pursuing a full course of study at an SEVP-approved vocational or other recognized nonacademic institution (other than in language training programs) in the United States. An M-2 nonimmigrant is a foreign national who is the spouse or qualifying child of an M-1 student.

This was long overdue but here are the latest on the Tri Valley story. A federal grand jury here has indicted the president of a Pleasanton, Calif., university on 33-criminal counts, charging her with an array of violations, including visa fraud, money laundering and alien harboring, as a result of a two-year investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Tri-Valley University President Susan Xiao-Ping Su, 41, who also served as the school’s chief executive officer, is accused of engaging in a two-year scheme to defraud the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by submitting phony documents in support of Tri-Valley University’s applications to admit foreign nationals on student visas. The indictment further alleges that after obtaining such approvals, Su fraudulently issued visa-related documents to student aliens in exchange for “tuition and fees.”

Su was taken into custody Monday morning at her Pleasanton, Calif., home by HSI special agents. She made her initial appearance here in federal court shortly after her arrest.

The Department of State (DOS) has issued a regulation that broadens the authority of consular officers to revoke a visa at any time subsequent to issuance of the visa, including when the individual is already in the U.S. Additionally, the regulation allows consular officers and designated officials within DOS to revoke a visa provisionally while considering a final visa revocation.

This rule is effective April 27, 2011. DOS did not issue the regulation through notice and comment rulemaking on the basis that it involves a foreign affairs function of the United States and, therefore, is exempt from those procedures.

Pursuant to section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), DOS may determine that a visa should be revoked when information reveals that the applicant was originally, or has since become, ineligible or may be ineligible to possess a U.S. visa. In testimony before Congress in 2004, DOS stated that it had revoked 1,250 visas since September 11, 2001, based on information suggesting possible terrorist activities or links. Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have put pressure on DOS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve their policies regarding visa revocations.

In general, any person holding a B1 or B1/B2 visa may be eligible to perform H-1B work in the United States as long as they fulfill the following criteria:

-Hold the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree

– Plan to perform H-1B-caliber work or training

A recent new Bill S. 823 would permit aliens who lawfully enter the United States on valid visas as nonimmigrant elementary and secondary school students to attend public schools in the United States for longer than 1 year if such aliens reimburse the local educational agency that administers the school for the full, unsubsidized per capita cost of providing education at such school for the period of the alien’s attendance.

Under current laws, there are limitations and requirements related to foreign (F-1) students attending public secondary/high schools (grades nine through twelve), under U.S. law. Student F-1 visas cannot be issued to persons seeking to enter the United States in order to attend a public primary/elementary school or a publicly funded adult education program.

Dependents of a nonimmigrant visa holder of any type, including F-1, are not prohibited from attendance at either a public primary school, an adult education program, or another public educational institution, as appropriate.

Birth Tourism is a hot topic right now. How do I know? Reporters keep calling me asking about this topic with great interest.

The latest story was covered by the daily. The Daily is new type of media exclusively created for the ipad and provides cutting edge news with amazing content delivery. You have to try it to appreciate.

The latest story that I was part of is about Mothers coming to America to give birth. Millions of foreign tourists visit the United States every year, and a growing number return home with a brand new U.S. citizen in tow. Every year millions of foreign tourists visit the United States, and a growing number return home, after having given birth to a new baby.

U nonimmigrant derivatives may apply to extend status with the VSC when the status was initially granted for less than the three years required for adjustment of status under INA §245(m).

Although the regulations at 8 CFR §214.14(g)(2) contemplate extensions of U derivative status in cases where the derivative is outside the United States and is unable to enter in a timely manner due to consular processing delays, the regulations are silent about extensions of status for U derivatives in other situations.

USCIS has clarified that extensions of status are also warranted where the derivative’s U nonimmigrant adjudication was delayed, resulting in an initial grant of status for less than three years. Because adjustment of status under INA §245(m) requires that the applicant have U status for at least three years, this resulted in some derivatives being ineligible to adjust. The policy memorandum clarifies that VSC can consider delays other than those related to consular processing as a basis for extending U derivative status.