Visa Lawyer Blog

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In the spirit of the holidays, wanted to share this great post by Eleanor Pelta from AILA

A client of mine is in a real quandary. The client has a major project with an urgent deliverable that requires a key employee to travel to the U.S. urgently. Because the company has a crack operations staff, they were on this issue early on, and we filed an L-1B petition months before the travel was necessary. However, current processing times being what they are, we had to upgrade the case to Premium Processing recently in order to have any chance of obtaining an approval before the start date. Notwithstanding our extensive documentation, we recently received a massive Request for Evidence and I must confess, our office has been struggling with a response. In the interest of getting something in on a timely basis, the client has authorized me to share details about the petition with the AILA membership for the purpose of tapping into the collective brilliance of the immigration bar to put together a winning response. Here are select portions of the RFE. Any comments or suggestions are most welcome.

Petitioner: Clausiseverywhere.com

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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.

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As many readers may know for I-129 that is used for H, L and O Petition has been revised. On December 20, 2010, USCIS informed stakeholders that it will accept previous editions of Form I-129 that are postmarked on or before December 22, 2010. Petitions postmarked on or after December 23, 2010, must include the new Form-129 with a November 23, 2010, revision date or else they will be rejected. This contradicts earlier guidance stating that the last day USCIS could accept previous editions of the form was December 22, 2010.

We hope that this update clarifies some of the confusion regarding the last date the old form can still be used.

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On Saturday morning, the Senate failed to advance the DREAM Act (H.R. 5281) on a vote of 55-41. Sixty votes were needed to move the bill forward procedurally and stop any filibuster. With that loss, the fight for the DREAM Act is over, at least for this Congress. Below is a summary of Greg Chen’s report of this vote.

The vote tally in support of DREAM included three Republicans who crossed the aisle to join 50 Democrats and 2 Independents. Those three Rs were: Richard Lugar (IN) and Robert Bennett (UT) who had come out in support long ago and Lisa Murkowski (AK) who started signaling this week that she would vote “yes”. With their yes votes, DREAM maintained its status as a bi-partisan bill dating back nine years to when it was first introduced with seven Republican co-sponsors. Today, long-time DREAM champion Orrin Hatch (R-UT) failed even to show for the bill he originally sponsored in August 2001.

Unfortunately the gain of three Republicans today was not enough to make up the difference. Combined there are 58 Democrats and Independents in the Senate, and there are 42 Republicans. If all the Ds and Is voted in favor, only two Rs would have been needed to reach 60. But today 5 Democrats voted against DREAM: Baucus (MT); Hagan (NC); Nelson (NE); Pryor (AR); and Tester (MT). And one Democrat, newly elected Joe Manchin (WV) failed to show. To win on “cloture” 60 votes were needed no matter how many actually voted. Thus, a no-show counted as a “no” vote.

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Update from AILA: Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Reid filed cloture on the DREAM Act (H.R. 5281) setting the bill up for the critical cloture vote in the Senate expected for Saturday, December 18. The Senate will need 60 votes for the DREAM Act to move forward.

This is the vote we’ve all been waiting for. With only days left in the lame duck session of Congress, there won’t be another chance. You must continue making calls and sending emails to all Senators to urge them to vote “yes” on DREAM when the Senate brings it up for a vote.

All congressional offices should be contacted, but if you live in these states, we REALLY need your support because one of your Senators is a SWING VOTE on DREAM!

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Kuwait’s Labour Ministry has submitted three proposals to the government to help put an end to the controversial sponsorship system.

The proposals are based on studies and recommendations prepared by the ministry, the Arab Labour Organisation and the International Labour Organisation, a source from the ministry has said.

“The ministry took into consideration the specifics of the Kuwaiti labour market as well as the recommendations of international organisations on labour and human rights,” the unnamed source told Kuwaiti daily Al Anbaa on Thursday.

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Great news to report today about private Bills. A private bill is one providing benefits to specified individuals (including corporate bodies). Individuals sometimes request relief through private law when administrative or legal remedies are exhausted, but Congress seems more often to view private legislation as appropriate in cases for which no other remedy is available, and when its enactment would, in a broad sense, afford equity.

From 1817 through 1971, most Congresses enacted hundreds of private laws, but since then the number has declined sharply, as Congress has expanded agency discretion to deal with many of the situations that tended to give rise to private bills. Private provisions also are occasionally included in public legislation.

The private immigration bills passed by the House on today — they had already been passed by the Senate — are the first to be approved in more than five years. The measures now go to President Barack Obama for his signature.

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Client just called and asked for a change of status from B2 visitor to F1 student. I said, great we can help, but when does your status expire. He said, no worries I am good for 10 years!!! Been here for 4 only.

I said: No you are not, the I-94 (little white card in the passport) is what controls your status, this only good for 6 months max. I heard a loud sound of falling and silence. For those who are in the U.S. temporarily as nonimmigrants, the most important date to track is perhaps the expiration date of their I-94 arrival / departure cards. The I-94 is a small card that is usually stapled into one’s passport. It is obtained in one of two ways. It can be issued by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the port of entry upon arrival in the United States. It can also be issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) when one is granted an extension or change of nonimmigrant status from within the United States.

The I-94 card reflects how long one is permitted to stay in the United States, provided s/he complies with the terms of her/his status. Occasionally, the CBP or USCIS will issue an I-94 card with an erroneous date (either issuing an approval for a longer period than is permitted by law or granting an individual less time than appropriate.) In either case, one should immediately obtain competent legal advice on the proper steps to correct the error.

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New York Mayor Bloomberg said on Friday that the economy is suffering because of Washington’s failure to change restrictive policies, he said, and talented entrepreneurs were taking their ideas to other countries that are only too happy to host them. He was right on the ball with his statements.

“If we keep the best and the brightest out of this country, all the next big things will happen outside this country,” the mayor said during a speech at the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr. Bloomberg has been making the economic argument for immigration reform for months, and his pitch clearly resonated Friday at the annual meeting of the Partnership for New York City, a leading business group. He has created a national task force of mayors and chief executives — many of whom were in the room — to call for a path to legalization for the millions of illegal immigrants who are already in the United States, and for a loosening of green card and visa restrictions to allow for more educated and highly skilled immigrants to move here.

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