Visa Lawyer Blog

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Last week I attended the EB5 Investor Visa conference for Immigration Lawyers held in San Antonio Texas. Top lawyers from across the nation gathered to discuss the latest developments and updates in this exciting area of law. In the next few weeks, we will share some info obtained on this Blog in a series of articles.

EB5 Investors come from select few countries, mainly China, Iran, Korea, Brazil and Russia. In this article we will cover specific issues relating to Russian Investors. The following article is based on an AILA report by Mr. Kenneth White.

What is EB5 Investor Visa?

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With the recent announcement that Illegal immigrants can now apply for state-financed scholarships and aid at state universities after Gov. Jerry Brown announced that he had signed the second half of a legislative package focused on such students, we wanted to share some facts on such students.

This is a guest article by Carol Brown from onlinecollege.org

Families immigrate to the United States constantly, and many of them bring children along with them. Immigrant adults with dubious legal status have it bad enough, but their kids face even more difficulty, unable to achieve their dreams in a country they consider home. About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools every year, and their presence is not insignificant. Although they are guaranteed a public school education through grade 12, their future in college is much less certain. From federal Financial Aid restrictions to reduced opportunities, students with undocumented status face a lower quality of education and future careers than their legal classmates. Read on, and we’ll explore several important facts about their experiences in the United States.

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We all have been reading about The Obama administration changing the federal immigration enforcement strategy, in ways that reduce the threat of deportation for millions of illegal immigrants.

The changes focus enforcement on immigrants who have committed serious crimes, an effort to unclog immigration courts and detention centers. A record backlog of deportation cases has forced immigrants to wait an average 459 days for their hearings. But recent statistics paint a slightly different picture.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said today his agency deported nearly 400,000 individuals during the fiscal year that ended in September, the largest number of removals in the agency’s history.

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As lawyers specializing in the H2B visa process, we wanted to share the following update. The Department of Labor (DOL) is now issuing two prevailing wage determinations (PWD) for H-2B cases. Since last week we have received new PWDs with the following message attached:

On January 19, 2011, the Department published a Final Rule that revised the methodology by which the Department calculates prevailing wages under the H-2B program. On August 1, 2011 the Department amended that rule to make wage rates established under this new methodology effective for wages paid to H–2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with an H–2B labor certification for all work performed on or after September 30, 2011. However, on September 28, 2011, the Department announced in the Federal Register a 60-day postponement of the effective date of the Wage Final Rule to November 30, 2011. This delay will permit the various courts involved in litigation relating to the Wage Final Rule to determine the appropriate venue to resolve all claims and to allow the Department to avoid the possibility of administering the H-2B program under potentially conflicting court orders.

As a result of the pending court actions and the delay imposed by the Department, you are now receiving two Prevailing Wage Determinations; attached please find the second of two. The wage listed on this Form ETA 9141 is for work performed until November 29, 2011. The National Prevailing Wage Center has already issued to you an ETA Form 9141 that is based upon the Wage Final Rule, which will, by virtue of that delay in the effective date, apply to work that is to be performed on or after November 30, 2011, unless a new effective date is established in connection with the pending court actions.

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The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Alabama cannot prosecute illegal immigrants for not carrying registration documents with them at all times or require schools to check the immigration status of all students.

But the court said Alabama, among other things, can require police officers to verify the immigration status of anyone they lawfully stop if they suspect they are in the country illegally. Illegal immigrants will also be prohibited from obtaining a license to drive, get a vehicle or open a business.

Alabama’s law, passed by the legislature this summer, would allow state and local officials to check the immigration status of public school students and to detain suspected undocumented immigrants without bond. It would make it a crime for immigrants who lack proper documents to conduct business with the state for things such as driver’s licenses.

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On Sunday, October 9th, 2011 Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1236, the Employment Acceleration Act authored by Assemblymember Paul Fong (D-Cupertino). The bill ensures that it prohibits the state, cities or counties from requiring employers to use E-Verify, an electronic employment verification system that uses employees’ social security numbers to determine work eligibility. Exceptions are made, however, for city or county workers, or if E-verify is a requirement for particular employers under federal or as a condition for employers receiving federal funds.

While supporters of mandatory E-Verify claim the system will magically open up millions of jobs to American workers, reports find that the program would actually cost California’s small businesses (which make up 99% of employers in the state) more than $312 million per year and potentially put 90,000 U.S. citizen and legal state workers out of a job. Nationally, mandatory E-Verify would cost small businesses $2.6 billion a year, according to Bloomberg News Service, and cost federal contractors $10 billion to implement. According to Assemblyman Paul Fong, AB 1236’s sponsor:

“This bill protects our California workers and businesses. The mandated use of E-Verify would impose a major financial burden on businesses, especially small businesses. In addition, businesses will suffer from delayed hiring and the cost of mistaken identities. In this tough economy, we need to help businesses and grow and provide jobs, not set up barriers that cost jobs.”

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An asylum seeker is a person who has fled their own country and applies to the government of another country for protection as a refugee.

According to the United Nations Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugee Convention), a refugee is a person who is outside their own country and is unable or unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their:

* race

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Illegal immigrants can now apply for state-financed scholarships and aid at state universities after Gov. Jerry Brown announced last Saturday that he had signed the second half of a legislative package focused on such students.

The bill is the second half of the California Dream Act. Mr. Brown signed the first half of the package back in July, which approved private scholarships and loans for students who are illegal immigrants.

Under current law, illegal immigrant students who have graduated from a California high school and can prove they are on the path to legalize their immigration status can pay resident tuition rates. The bill would allow these students to also apply for state aid.

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Since he arrived in this country two decades ago, Chef Jose Andres has been a tireless advocate for Spanish cuisine. His D.C.-based restaurants helped popularize tapas, the small plates that typify Spanish food. He is also a model and inspiration to many aspiring Chef immigrants looking to move to the US and start their restaurants.

Although many Hospitality workers wait months or even years for permission to live and work in the US legally, a small but growing number have found a legal path that is relatively simple and fast: come with money to buy a businesses here. As the Hospitality business is booming in the US, more and more Hospitality professionals in Europe are coming to the US and starting their own businesses via the E2 visa investment.

This is also known as the nonimmigrant investor visa. It is a temporary category that is granted in two-year to five year increments with no limits on the number of extensions.

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In the past several months we have received numerous lengthy Requests for Evidence regarding L1B visa cases. We are not alone, many lawyers across the country report similar requests in L1B cases.

The L1B visa is designed for individuals from foreign countries who plan to come to the United States to work. These individuals possess specialized knowledge, skills and experience regarding the procedures, systems, services or products of a firm, corporation, company or other entity. The area of specialized knowledge for the individual includes highly developed technical expertise or professional knowledge. It also relates to a person’s private, exclusive understanding relating to a company’s products, services, methods of production, organizational make up, marketing strategies or other information that’s connected to the successful functioning of the entity in the United States.

Immigration attorneys continue to be concerned about USCIS’s L-1B adjudications and the failure to apply current binding USCIS guidance to these adjudications. Instead, adjudicators are relying on pre IMMACT 90 case law, as well as adjudicatory standards enunciated in a line of non-precedent AAO decisions.

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