Visa Lawyer Blog

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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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The recent steps taken by Obama Administration to zero in on employers with I-9 gross violation, I would like to suggest the employers few measures which I’ve gleaned from assisting employers survive such audits over the years:
– Employers has to make sure that each new hire completes Section 1 of the I-9 form on the first day of employment to avoid paying fines in case the employee’s information is incomplete.

– Need to complete Section 2 of the form by the employee’s third day of employment. Employee can show from the list of documents mentioned at the back of the form List A document/ List B document., and one from List C (Employment Authorization) document. Do not request specific documents or additional documents.

– I-9 forms to be kept separate from employee personnel files.

– Advising employees who check the box in Section 1 to update the I-9 well in advance of the termination of their work permits.

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On July 9, the Senate, by a vote of 84 to 6, passed a DHS funding bill which includes a variety of immigration enforcement and benefits measures. The measure now goes to a House-Senate Conference Committee which must reconcile this bill with a funding measure previously passed by the House of Representatives which contains none of the immigration amendments added by the Senate.

Immigration Provisions: The Senate also adopted two amendments. The first would eliminate the “widow’s penalty”. This would allow foreign-born widows and orphans to remain eligible for permanent residence even when the U.S. citizen spouse/parent dies before they achieve such status. The second would extend the “Conrad 30” J waiver program for physicians and the religious worker program for non-ministers until September 30, 2012. Currently, both programs are due to expire on September 30, 2009.

The Senate bill includes an amendment by Senator Patrick Leahy which would make the EB-5 Regional Center Investor program permanent. Currently, the program is due to expire on September 30, 2009.

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