Visa Lawyer Blog

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US economy is finally coming out of recession and one of the worst financial crisis since the economy meltdown. This was declared recently by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of Federal Reserve. Bernanke added that situation is improving in rest of the world too including US.

Bernanke stressed that despite much progress in stabilizing financial markets and trying to bust through credit clogs, consumers and businesses are still having trouble getting loans. The situation is not back to normal, he said. Restoring the free flow of credit is a critical component to a lasting recovery.

“Although we have avoided the worst, difficult challenges still lie ahead,” Bernanke told the gathering. “We must work together to build on the gains already made to secure a sustained economic recovery.” The remark made by Fed chief’s is crucial as it two years after the financial crisis broke out and about one year after it showed its effect across US.

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The immigration system mirrors the economy, now we know it. H1B visas are still available with more than 15,000 are up for grabs. The numbers are pretty much unchanged since late May.

As of August 14, 2009, approximately 45,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn. We will keep you posted with any changes in this area.

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According to a recent Newsweek article, Immigrants irrespective of their legal status are actually good for the job market, and boost the economy.

Lou Dobbs, take note: immigrants are good for our economy. The most skilled create jobs in technology and engineering, says Duke professor Vivek Wadhwa, who estimates that in 2005 immigrant-founded engineering and tech companies employed 450,000 people and generated $52 billion in sales. But even the least skilled more than repay their costs in schools and health care. Two highly respected Australian economists, Maureen Rimmer and Peter Dixon, studied the issue for the libertarian Cato Institute. “The net impact on U.S. households from tighter border enforcement is unambiguously negative,” they found, because even low-skilled immigrants expand the economic pie and create jobs farther up the ladder. Cato’s Dan Griswold says the study shows a $250 billion difference between the most and least restrictive immigration policies.

Read more here

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From time to time we like to share stories about cases that were resolved successfully. We do this to educate our clients, and bring hope to many others in the same situation.

This is a story about an American guy that fell in love with a girl from Ukraine. The problem was that the girl from Ukraine entered the US illegally. As a result, even marriage to the US citizen guy, could help her to stay. Absurd, but true. So the only way for the spouse to become legal one day, way to depart the US and face the US Embassy abroad, by seeking a waiver.

An Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Form 601) becomes necessary when a visa applicant has been determined to be “inadmissible” based on one more visa ineligibilities.

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Recently AILA shared some information about special immigrant religious workers. USCIS reminds special immigrant religious workers, who have a pending or approved Form I-360, to file their Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status,(Form I-485), on or before Aug. 31, 2009. Special immigrant religious workers who wish to file a Form I-360 petition with an I-485 application should also file on or before Aug. 31, 2009.

USCIS is issuing this reminder because the U.S. Department of State recently published its September 2009 Visa Bulletin, stating that visas for the employment based fourth preference category, which includes special immigrant religious workers, will become unavailable effective Sept. 1, 2009. As a result, USCIS will reject Form I-485 applications submitted on or after Sept. 1, 2009, because an immigrant visa will not be immediately available, as required by INA 245(a).

USCIS will only accept properly filed Form I-485 applications based on pending or approved Form I-360 petitions seeking the special immigrant religious worker classification of either minister (SD-1) or non-minister (SR-1) or I-485 applications filed concurrently with I-360 petitions seeking SD-1 or SR-1 classification through Aug. 31, 2009.

Special immigrant religious ministers, who are not subject to the Sept. 30, 2009 sunset date, and who do not file on or before Aug. 31, 2009, must wait until visas for fourth preference special immigrant religious workers become available before they can apply to adjust status.

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The H1B visa program is unlikely to reach its cap of 65,000 before the start of the 2010 fiscal with nearly 20,000 vacancies amid the economic downturn. This has happened for the first time in several years that the demand for the visas, which is mostly availed by Indian professionals, has slowed down.

Also due to a large number of rejections of H-1B petitions, this figure of 20,000 vacancies has remained almost the same for the past two months. Past figures indicate that Indian IT professionals have been a major beneficiary of H1B visas. An additional 20,000 H1B can also be issued to those foreign professionals, who have masters or higher degree from the U.S. Though the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received 20,000 petitions, it continues to accept applications in this category.

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The Center for Trade Policy Studies, published a recent report about the economics of a possible Immigration reform.

By the latest estimates, 8.3 million workers in the United States are illegal immigrants. Proposed policy responses range from more restrictive border and workplace enforcement to legalization of workers who are already here and the admission of new workers through a temporary visa program. Policy choices made by Congress and the president could have a major economic impact on the welfare of U.S. households. This study uses the U.S. Applied General Equilibrium model that has been developed for the U.S. International Trade Commission and other U.S. government agencies to estimate the welfare impact of seven different scenarios, which include increased enforcement at the border and in the workplace, and several different legalization options, including a visa program that allows more low-skilled workers to enter the U.S. workforce legally.

Read the report here…

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As the prospects for Immigration reform are becoming more of a reality, so does the debate about illegal Immigration is more real than ever. A story just came in from CNN an Arizona man caught leaving water bottles in the desert for illegal immigrants has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service and a year of probation.

Walt Staton, a member of the group No More Deaths, left full water bottles in December in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge for the illegal immigrants who routinely pass through the 18,000-acre refuge. Read more here

As the Immigration debate heats up this summer, expect more stories like this one.

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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is transitioning to a fully web-based nonimmigrant visa form. This form, DS-160, eventually will replace the forms currently used to apply for nonimmigrant visas at the U.S. consulates. The new form is currently being used at twelve consular posts around the world. The new form is being implemented gradually. It is used at the following consulates: Australia (Melbourne, Perth, Sydney); Bermuda (Hamilton); Canada (Montreal, Vancouver); Hong Kong; Ireland (Dublin); Libya (Tripoli); Mexico (Ciudad Juarez, Hermosillo, Matamoros, Monterrey, Nogales, and Nuevo Laredo), and Montenegro (Podgorica). The new form will be available worldwide by the end of the 2009 calendar year. The expansion is currently limited, in part, due to server capacity.

The applicant will know on how to save the application and how to file as a family group. The DOS intends to add access to information in advance of the interview. This includes checking existing data bases, including the Petition Information Management Service, Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, and fraud-detection systems.

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New proposed Immigration Legislation which is currently pending in the United States Senate may cause India-based IT companies to step up their operations in Mexico. The bill, by Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley, would impose a new limit on the proportion of foreign workers who would be allowed to work in the United States under the H1B and L-1 visa programs. The proposed legislation said says for 50-50 rule, which means no more than half of a firm’s U.S.-based employees could be H1B or L-1 beneficiaries. This measure may create uncertainty in Indian IT firms, because their U.S. operations typically have a very high percentage of foreign employees, often far exceeding the proposed 50 percent limits.

Indian IT companies may need to expand their presence in Mexico, because Mexican employees could be sent to the United States under TN visas, available only to Mexican and Canadian nationals, pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexican employees whose education, work experience, and job category qualify them for TN visas, would be able to work in the United States without counting against the Indian company’s 50 percent cap on employees with H1B and L-1 visas.

The TN category is special category created under NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) for qualifying professionals who are nationals of Canada or Mexico. Aliens qualified to enter the U.S. under this category may work for a company located in the U.S. for a temporary period. Moreover, they may also work for a Canadian or Mexican company in the U.S. when those companies are engaged in projects with U.S. based companies. The initial time limit for a TN professional to work in the U.S. is one year. However, this period may be renewed indefinitely, at year to year increments.

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