Visa Lawyer Blog

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Under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), victims of domestic violence and cruelty have an alternative to waiting for their abusive spouse or parent to submit the paperwork for a green card on their behalf. They can submit a “self-petition,” using Form I-360, issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), creating special routes to immigration status for certain battered noncitizens. Among the basic requirements for eligibility, a battered noncitizen must be the spouse or child of an abusive U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Through a self-petitioning process, the battered spouse/child may apply for immigration status without the knowledge or involvement of the abuser. Derivative status is available to certain children and parents of the principal immigrant.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein will head to the floor today with other Democratic women Senators to push for renewal of the Clinton-era Violence Against Women Act. It is part of a coordinated Democratic push for the women’s vote, which Democrats see as in play following the Rush Limbaugh fiasco, the GOP primary’s focus on contraception and claims, disputed by the Mitt Romney campaign, that the Republican frontrunner said he would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.

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Recently, the Washington Post published the story about a man accused of practicing law without a license. His story represents a serious issue that is faced in immigration law, namely how so many individuals are taken advantage of by “notarios” and others who advise on legal services without a license to practice law.

Luiz Ramirez, a paralegal in the Washington, D.C. area, dispensed free legal advice on a thrice-weekly radio show on WURA (920 AM) and pushed for the Dream Act in Spanish-language dailies. A Univision segment featured his work helping two women who said they had been forced to become sex slaves. Over the past year or so, the publicity brought him awards and helped send hundreds of clients to his McLean-based legal services firm. Lawyers say the carefully honed image hid one of the most sophisticated and lucrative legal shams they have seen in the Washington area aimed at the very people for whom he purported to advocate: Latino immigrants.

Ramirez is facing felony ­charges for allegedly telling clients that he was a lawyer, even though he is not licensed to practice law in the area. People who sought his help accuse him of taking thousands of dollars in fees for legal work he never performed. The case highlights a concern in the Washington area, where tens of thousands of recent immigrants, who are often vulnerable because of language and other barriers, rely on a relatively small number of professional services providers that market to them.

Ramirez insists that he never practiced law, stating that “My contract is very clear: I’m a paralegal…To make a complaint, these people will say I’m an attorney. . . . We did our work. We did what they requested.”
Some cash-strapped clients allege Ramirez failed to fill out visa paperwork or to represent them in bond matters and say they are now facing deportation. Others say they pulled together thousands of dollars to pay him for help in legal cases but got nothing in return.

Ramirez, an Oakton resident, is charged with five felony counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. The charges involve four clients in Fairfax County. Ramirez is scheduled to appear in court June 15.

He also faces a civil suit brought by another client in Fairfax and a handful of Virginia State Bar complaints. And a client filed a claim against him in the D.C. courts last year.

“Ramirez is one of the better marketers out there,” said Manuel Leiva, former president of the Hispanic Bar Association of Virginia and one of the lawyers who brought Ramirez’s case to authorities. “The reason people fell for this is because he had such a slick operation.” On the home page, Ramirez stands before an image of a waving American flag and offers a personal message, calling immigrants “those brave ones” with “the hope of freedom.” He concludes with a direct appeal: “Let’s give them a chance.”
One such story regarding the work he has done comes from Reyna Ordonez-Viera. Ordonez-Viera, who lives in the District and works as a janitor, said she turned to Ramirez after her husband was charged in a drug case last year.

Speaking Spanish, she said Ramirez led her to believe that he was a lawyer and assured her “everything would be fine.” She said she paid Ramirez to represent her husband, borrowing the $2,200 fee from a co-worker.

At the first hearing, Ordonez-Viera said, Ramirez introduced himself as a friend to her husband’s public defender and offered no legal assistance. Ordonez-Viera said that she demanded her money back and that Ramirez gave her a $600 check, which she said bounced. Ordonez-Viera filed a complaint in D.C. Superior Court and went back to Ramirez for a refund. When she confronted him on an elevator at his office, then in the District, she said he stopped the elevator and threatened to call police and tell them she was a drug trafficker.

“Nobody should believe him,” said Ordonez-Viera, whose husband is behind bars. Her complaint against Ramirez was dismissed because court papers could not be served to him, according to court records.

Ramirez disputes Ordonez­-Viera’s account, saying that he never told her he was a lawyer and that she was a client of a lawyer he previously worked for as a paralegal. He denies threatening her and said her money was eventually refunded.

Others said Ramirez had done good work for them. Diogenes Bustamante, a plumber from Alexandria, said Ramirez helped his wife’s mother get a visa to visit the United States and assisted family members with the green card process. “He did a great job for my family,” Bustamante said.

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A recent USCIS Q&As, updated on March 12, 2012, provide information on establishing an H-1B employer-employee relationship. New questions include information on end-client documentation and establishing an employer-employee relationship in the consulting or staffing company context.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a memorandum ( dated January 8, 2010 that had great significance for the IT consulting industry. This memo specified how USCIS personnel should determine the existence of the required employer-employee relationship when adjudicating H1B petitions. The memo, issued by Associate Director of Service Center Operations, Donald Neufeld, provided guidance regarding the type of evidence that sufficiently confirms the existence of an employer-employee relationship between an H1B-petitioning employer and the beneficiary when the employee’s work is performed off site.

The update from today added the following clarifications:

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As we reported previously on this blog, on February 9, 2012, legislators introduced H.R. 3992 which would allow otherwise eligible Israeli nationals to receive E–2 nonimmigrant visas if similarly situated United States nationals are eligible for similar nonimmigrant status in Israel. We have provided below a copy of the Bill. At this time this is not Law yet, and the Bill will need to go through several stages if and when it will become effective.

Upon introduction, bills are assigned a number. At the beginning of each biennial session. Separately, the Senate and the House debate the bill, offer amendments and cast votes. If the bill is defeated in either the Senate or the House, the bill dies.

Sometimes, the House and the Senate pass the same bill, but with different amendments. In these cases, the bill goes to a conference committee made up of members of Congress. The conference committee works out differences between the two versions of the bill.

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Administrative site visits of U.S. employers in connection with H-1B petitions are becoming increasingly common as USCIS is trying to preserve the integrity of H-1B program in response to the USCIS H-1B Benefit Fraud Analysis report of September 2008. This article is presented by Attorney Ekaterina Powell from our office.

Administrative site visits are conducted as part of USCIS anti-fraud initiative. The main goal of a site visit is to verify the beneficiary’s H-1B employment with the petitioning entity. Employers are not provided any notice in advance of the site visit, which may be a problem for unprepared employers who do not know what to expect and how to prepare for the site visit.

In the recently released California Service Center Stakeholder Engagement Meeting on November 8, 2011, CSC points out that, in connection with an administrative site visit, petitioners should be prepared to answer any questions related to the terms and conditions of H-1B employment.

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The Department of Labor has announced a New H-2A Ombudsman Program to help with several issues faced by employers looking to hire agricultural workers or agricultural workers facing issues with their respective employers. As part of the Department’s continuing commitment to strengthening the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has established an Ombudsman Program whose primary purpose is to facilitate the fair and equitable resolution of concerns that arise within the H-2A Program community, by conducting independent and impartial inquiries into issues related to the administration of the program. The H-2A Ombudsman Program will also identify areas where agricultural employers and worker advocate organizations have concerns in dealing with the OFLC and propose internal recommendations designed to continuously improve the quality of services provided by the OFLC. There is no fee for using the H-2A Ombudsman Program.

By establishing the H-2A Ombudsman Program, OFLC is addressing several issues. Some of these issues include the following:

– You are facing an emergency or hardship caused by a mistake, error, or delay by the Chicago National Processing Center in processing your H-2A application.

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We have received so many emails of support since the ESPN story about Ayded Reyes came out last week. Obtaining a fast and timely termination of her deportation was our main goal here at the office, and we did it.

We need the Dream Act, and cases like Ayded’s should bring us closer to that goal. By not approving the DREAM Act, politicians are turning their backs on the future of the nation and denying the opportunity of thousands of talented young people to transform their communities.

The bi-partisan bill was originally introduced in Congress in 2001. A subsequent version was passed by the House of Representatives in December 2010, but in the Senate the legislation failed passage short of five votes.

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Two months before the Supreme Court hears arguments over Arizona’s controversial new immigration law, another courtroom battle will take center stage, this time over Alabama’s immigration crackdown.

On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, will hear arguments over whether a state can pass tough new measures to crack down on illegal immigrants, a power typically reserved for the federal government.

The Alabama law, which took effect in September, requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they detain and suspect of being in the country illegally. Other parts of the law make it a felony for illegal immigrants to apply for or renew drivers’ licenses, identification cards or license plates.

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Our nation has always attracted individuals with great drive and entrepreneurial spirit. To continue being a great global leader, we must continue to attract and retain the next generation of immigrant entrepreneurs who will start new businesses and create new jobs here in America. Taking action on this front, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) kicked off its Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) initiative last week with a stakeholder summit in Silicon Valley. The host location was fitting, as NASA Ames Research Center Director Simon Worden pointed out, since NASA programs have historically benefited from breakthroughs by foreign-born scientists and engineers.

The stakeholder summit began with a special naturalization ceremony for over 20 people hailing from 13 countries who took the oath of citizenship. In addition, five extraordinarily successful entrepreneurs and investors received the Outstanding American by Choice recognition, and shared their own personal stories of coming to America: Christopher Che, President and CEO of the Che International Group; Ping Fu, President and CEO of Geomagic; Michael Moritz, Partner at Sequoia Capital; Shervin Pishevar, Managing Director of Menlo Ventures; and Vivek Wadhwa, the academic, researcher, writer, and entrepreneur.

In his Washington Post column, Mr. Wadhwa shared what this special recognition meant to him:

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Recently, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provided guidance on the period of time for which a nonimmigrant alien domestic partner may be admitted to the United States in visitor status when presenting a valid B-2 visa. This guidance does not apply to a visitor applying for admission under the Visa Waiver Program, which limits admission to a period of 90 days.

The Department of State (DOS) Visitor Visa Policy is to authorize issuance of a B-2 visitor visa to the unmarried, cohabitating partner of a nonimmigrant alien coming temporarily to the U.S. for work or studies. The DOS amended the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) in 2001 to formalize this long-standing policy. This policy extends to virtually any alien who is a member of the household of another alien in long-term nonimmigrant status but is not eligible for a derivative visa as a spouse or a child. In addition, even if a spouse or a child qualifies for a derivative visa, such as an L-2, H-4, etc., they may instead apply for a B2 visa. The spouse or child does not need to demonstrate that it is impossible to apply for a derivative visa, as it is simply inconvenient to do so.

Within the CBP Inspector’s Field Manual, there is a list of situations that support the use of a B-2 visitor category visa. One such item on the list is dependent domestic partners for whom the B-2 visitor category is appropriate. A nonimmigrant alien presenting a valid B-2 visa when applying for admission should be admitted for no less than six months, provided e or she is otherwise admissible and has a passport valid for the required period of time. A visitor accompanying another alien in long-term nonimmigrant status, however, may desire a longer period of admission. An alien presenting a valid B-2 visa may be admitted for up to one year.

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