Visa Lawyer Blog

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Immigration Reform is getting delayed. The legislation, which was expected to be passed within 100 days of the swearing in of President Barack Obama. Immigration reform activists disappointed that the Obama administration has not given immigration top billing, are trying to push the same off the back burner by pressing ahead with lobbying and legislation plans they hope will reinvigorate reform efforts.

The demand for Immigration reform came in the year 2006, when more than a million people nationwide marched in solidarity to fight a bill considered anti-immigrant, since then, two legislation attempts failed. The election of President Barack Obama gave a sigh of relief to Immigration activists, who hoped Mr. Obama would push for immigration reform. Some thought the president would go so far as to put a moratorium on immigration raids. Recently Mr. Obama met with the 30 lawmakers over this issue but the final outcome of the same is yet to come.

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USCIS has reminded all applicants for Adjustment of Status, Asylum, Legalization and Temporary Protected Status to obtain an Advance Parole (AP) document before traveling abroad. AP allows an applicant to re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad.

In order to obtain Advance Parole, individuals must file Form I-131, Application for Travel Document to USCIS. The USCIS cautions individuals planning on traveling abroad to file Form I-131 well in advance of their travel plans (approximately 90 days before) in order to prevent possible conflicts.

We suggest all applicants of I-131 to file it in time to get the AP approval before leaving the U.S., otherwise it could have dire consequences and may result in an individual not being able to re-enter. Therefore, individuals that have a pending I-485 are encouraged to apply for Advance Parole before traveling abroad for easier re-entry if the circumstances of their current status changes.

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Recently I came across a Blog published by a Consular Officer, Calling a Spade a Spade, in it you can find tips and humor about Consular life and dealing with applicants. In this post the officer suggests a list of things which should not be done at the interview window.

“Visa interviewing is generally a lot of fun, when your section is properly staffed and workload is manageable. You chat with interesting people from all walks of life and occasionally make some good contacts and even friends with individuals you may never have met otherwise.

You also interview people who just drive you up a wall for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s a result of a particular behavior. Sometimes it’s a characteristic. Sometimes it’s just the audacity. In no particular order, here are my top visa applicant pet peeves:
1. Women who believe that dressing like a whore betters their chances of obtaining a visa from me, because, you know, I’m just that shallow. This faux pas is usually accompanied by body language designed to, shall we say, maximize exposure. These aren’t rank-ordered, but this might be the one that irritates me the most.

2. Applicants who haven’t showered in days, whose musky stench lingers at my window for a half-hour after the applicant has gone. Sailors and some categories of clergy are by far the most serious offenders. I can’t believe other applicants are all that happy to be sitting in a waiting room with these people, either.

3. Applicants who steadfastly deny wrongdoing, even when shown incontrovertible evidence.

“You’ve never been in U.S.?”
“No, never.”
“Well, here’s an entry record from May 21, 2006 and an exit for September 30, 2008.”
“That must be a mistake.”
“You’ve never been arrested?”
“Never.”
“Well, I have an exact fingerprint match here for an arrest on assault and battery charges in Birmingham, Alabama in 2007.”
“It’s not me.”
“How do your fingerprints show up in Alabama, if you’ve never been in the U.S. and never been arrested?”
“I don’t know, but I swear I’ve never been to the U.S. or arrested.”
I’m just left speechless.

4. Applicants refused tourist visas who then proceed to trash-talk America to prove that they’d never want to live there in a million years. “Why would I want to live there? Your shallow, materialistic, godless culture. Ugh.”
So why visit, chucklehead? I hear Saudi Arabia’s very nice this time of the year.

5. Applicants who fake medical infirmities to play on my sympathy. Medical cases are actually not that difficult to adjudicate, since you’re supposed to put aside the medical issue and first judge whether the applicant overcomes 214(b). Of course, we’re human, and if you’re an empathetic chap like myself, it’s sometimes hard separate the two. But when I refuse a “deaf” applicant and then see him walk away conversing without difficulty with other applicants, it’s a great reminder of why it’s so important to adjudicate these cases properly…..

6. Applicants who begin the interview themselves. That’s right. They come right up to the window and start rambling. Sometimes when we’re not busy, for my own amusement, I’ll just let them keep right on going out of morbid curiosity to see how long it will run. After awhile, I start to wonder whether I’ll actually need to ask any questions.

7. Applicants who share too much personal information. You’re divorced. Okay. That’s really all I need to know. I don’t need to know that impotence was the reason, or he slept with your sister, or she hid from you a second job as a streetwalker. The legal term for that information is, I believe, “immaterial.”

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The USCIS California Service Center is in the process of identifying all pending Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications in the EB-5 category based on the pilot program, and all non-Minister Religious Worker I-485s. All applicants with pending AOS application and for a non-minister Religious Worker in the EB-5 category can bring this to the notice of California Service Center.

Please let us know if you have such application pending before CSC.

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After several years of investigations and further scrutiny, the R1 visa is back in the Premium Processing category under certain strict conditions. Only those petitioners who have successfully passed an on-site inspection are eligible to use Premium Processing Service.

Premium Processing Service is only available for R-1 nonimmigrant religious worker petitions at

this time. Such requests are made by religious organizations by filing the Form I-129, Petition for

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The analysis of census data from both the U.S. and Mexican governments, being released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center, highlights the impact of the economic downturn on Mexican immigrants, many of whom enter the United States illegally. The study found that immigrants arriving from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March 2008 to March 2009, down nearly 60 percent from the previous year. As a result, the annual inflow of immigrants is now 175,000, having steadily decreased from a peak of 653,000 in 2005, before the bursting of the housing bubble dried up construction and other low-wage jobs.

The total population of Mexican-born immigrants in the U.S. also edged lower in the past year, from 11.6 million to 11.5 million, according to the study by Pew, an independent research group. Up to 85 percent of immigrants are believed to be in the country illegally.

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We all know that Asylum is a tough relief to get and one must fit a very strict set of legal standards. Mostly political or related cases. But now the Obama Administration opened the door to a new policy. The government has opened the way for foreign women who are victims of severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the United States. The action reverses a Bush administration stance in a protracted and passionate legal battle over the possibilities for battered women to become refugees.

In addition to meeting other strict conditions for asylum, abused women will need to show that they are treated by their abuser as subordinates and little better than property, according to an immigration court filing by the administration, and that domestic abuse is widely tolerated in their country. They must show that they could not find protection from institutions at home or by moving to another place within their own country. We welcome the new policy and will update you of developments in this area.

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U.S. Department of State’s visa bulletin brought some relief for some EB-2 applicants. The cutoff date for India and China moved forward to October 1, 2003 which had recently retrogressed to January 1, 2000. No explanation was provided for the change to October 1, 2003.

Summary of August 2009’ visa bulletin:

EB-1: This category is current for all countries of chargeability.

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U.S. Department of Labor has implemented a new integrated online system – known as the iCert Portal – through which employers can submit applications for permanent labor certification, labor condition applications (LCAs) and other applications for immigration-related DOL programs. In addition, the agency will introduce new editions of Form ETA-9089, the PERM labor certification application, and have already introduced Form ETA-9035, the labor condition application. iCert has already replaced the method of LCA filing for H-1B. The new iCert system begins to accept LCAs as of July 1, 2009. Employer and attorneys as the case may be, can still use the old LCA account but cannot submit new LCA. New LCA has to be filed from iCert.

Following are the new changes which has taken place:
– The new LCA requires writing the SOC (ONET/OES) code and the occupation title for the job.

– The new LCA has a section for basis for the visa classification supported by the application. There are the following categories:
a. New employment;
b. Continuation of previously approved employment without change with the same employer;
c. Change in previously approved employment;
d. New concurrent employment;
e. Change of employer;
f. Amended petition.

– One has to indicate the total number of H-1B/H-1B1 non-immigrant workers.

– The new LCA also requires, in the employer information section, to indicate the Trade name/doing business as (DBA), if applicable, the old LCA does not have this requirement.

– In the new LCA, one is required to write NAICS code.

– There is a new section in the new LCA – Employer point of contact information, which requires to indicate the following: full contact’s name; contact’s job; contact’s address; contact’s telephone number; contact’s e-mail address.

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From time to time we publish posts by guest writers, this article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of court reporter school online at her blog Court Reporter Schools. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com

Obtaining a visa to enter another country is not often an easy job. It involves a great deal of work and numerous formalities before you can are legally allowed to enter the foreign nation. Very often, lawyers who have experience and who are specialized in the visa applications process are able to help you with your visa, especially if you need one to be able to work in a new country or stay there for a while before you decide on your future options. A visa lawyer can help you by:

• Taking care of the paperwork and research: A company that is looking to hire employees from overseas will have to get them special visas that allow them to work for a certain period in their homeland. This means that all applicants and their credentials will have to be screened in order to protect national security and ensure that terrorists and other anti-social elements are not using this visa to enter the country illegally.

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