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Immigration Law

US Immigration Matters

Topics related to Immigration Law and the US Government.
By Annie Banerjee

Post Frequency: 1.1/day

Last Entry: March 06, 2017 at 13:26:00

Fingerprinting for Reentry Permits

Posted on July 11, 2008
The USCIS recently introduced the procedure of a fingerprinting check for green card holders who wished to stay out of the US for more than 6 months. There is a presumption that individuals who wishes to stay out of the US for more than 6 months are abandoning their Permanent Residence status...

TN to Green card

Posted on July 09, 2008
TN visa is given to Canadian and Mexican Nationals under the NAFTA treaty. These individuals qualify for and work in jobs specified under a specific Schedule enumerated in the NAFTA Treaty with Canada and Mexico.Unlike H and L visas, TN visa holders could not apply for Permanent Residency, (green card) because this visa was temporary and did not allow for dual intent (ie intent to hold both temporary and permanent visas) in the US...

J-1 Student Internship

Posted on June 23, 2008
The USCIS released final regulations regarding J-1 Student Intern visa. This new visa will allow a student, enrolled in post secondary education, to intern with private or Government sector employers for training. This will provide much needed work experience to foreign students...

VWP Nations Require to sign in before Departure

Posted on June 10, 2008
US has reciprocity with many nations, (Like Europe, Japan and Singapore), whose citizens can travel to the US without a visa. These people visit the US under the Visa Waiver Program. United States Citizens also can travel to these countries without a visa...

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The Politics of Immigration

Posted on June 08, 2008
The issue of Immigration has broad bi partisan support. But at loggerheads are two issues, business immigration and granting status to illegal immigrants. Business immigration laws restrict the number of immigrants that can come in for instance on the H-1B visa (professional visa) and employment based green cards...

DOL audits all PERMS of Mega Immigration Law Firm

Posted on June 03, 2008
The Department of Labor announced yesterday that it will audit every PERM filing by Fragomen, which is the biggest immigration law firm in the US. The DOL charged that some of their lawyers engaged in questionable and illegal practices while advising employers...

The Brighest and the Best

Posted on June 01, 2008
Anti Immigration groups like the Center for Immigration Studies charge that the foreign workers who come in to the United States are not the Brightest and the Best. Dr. Norman Matloff, a Professor of Computer Science, in UC Davis, recently wrote a paper full of fallacies, whose main theme is that Asian students are inferior than American and Western students in Math and Science...

I-140 Portability

Posted on May 30, 2008
You filed your I-485 under the July 2007 Visa Bulletin (VB No. 107). It has been more than 180 days. You cannot stand your employer, and have found a new employer who will continue the process. Can you Port your I-140 under AC21? Below are some pointers to consider before you switch employers: 1...

E-Verify

Posted on May 20, 2008
E Verify is a computer based program designed to ensure that employers are hiring only legal workers. The Employer signs on to a Social Security Computer based program and when new employees are going to be hired, the employer inputs their name and SS # to see whether there is a "match", ie they are indeed legal to work in the US...

The Immigrant Experience

Posted on May 18, 2008
All of us are born into a country which we did not choose. We are brought up in that country. However, when we choose to immigrate into another country, we do so out of our conscious desire. It may be due to economic stability, to be able to feed our families, provide a better life for our family, or to get the fundamental freedom that is not available in our birth country...

Mississippi, the Deep South and Illegal Aliens

Posted on May 16, 2008
In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck Mississippi, the Gulf Coast was devastated. The State had to rebuilt. Illegal Immigrants came in droves, found construction jobs and worked to rebuild the State. Mississippi slowly started regaining its former self back on the backs of this cheap labor...

Treaty Visas

Posted on May 14, 2008
Treaty Visas The US Government signs treaties with various countries for nationals of those countries to come over temporarily. These are strictly non immigrant visas and do not lead to Permanent Residency. They can be filed either with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service in the United States (as an extension or change of status) or with the Consular Posts Note: India does not have any of these treaty benefits...

PERM Centralization

Posted on May 06, 2008
From June 01, 2008, all PERM Applications will be filed in Atlanta. Right now the PERMS from the Western part of the country was filed in Chicago, while the Eastern half had Atlanta.The Centralization will ensure the same standard for all PERMS in the US...

The Perm Game

Posted on April 30, 2008
The Perm process is like a game. The basic proof is that there are no qualified Americans to do the job, and hence we must give permanent residency to the alien so that she can complete the job. To do this, the employer has to "test the market" by advertising and trying to recruit Americans, and if that fails then it proves that there are no qualified applicants in that area to do the job...

How to choose a lawyer

Posted on April 28, 2008
I have been practicing Immigration Law in Houston for the last 11 years, having graduated third highest from South Texas College of Law. I have seen many clients been swindled, abandoned, and left out of status for inadequate representation. So here are my tips on HOW TO CHOOSE A LAWYER...

Naturalization in an Election Year

Posted on April 23, 2008
Naturalization (ie making permanent residents citizens, and thereby voters) is always a big issue with politicians in an election year. Last July USCIS received about 1.4 million applications for naturalization, because starting August 01, 2007 the fee went up from about $400/- to $695/- Obviously the processing of all these applications would take time, and Mr...

Visa Numbers

Posted on April 18, 2008
Every country has a set amount of immigrant visas (green cards) that they get per year. (The DHS year starts on Oct 01). Thus a visa number must be available at the time when you get your green card. Naturally countries with huge populations (like India and China for Employment based, and Mexico for Family based) use up their visa numbers quickly and thus the people born from those countries have to wait longer...

H-1B lottery done

Posted on April 16, 2008
The USCIS has finished conducting the H-1B lottery for both the 20,000 and the 65,000 cases.They have also "wait listed" certain cases, ie if the any chosen case is withdrawn or denied, these wait listed cases will fill their place. These cases will be held at the CIS office for now...

CAP and Name Check issues

Posted on April 10, 2008
H-1B capThe CIS issued a preliminary report today that nearly 163000 H-1Bs have been filed for the ordinary cap, and 31200 for Master's Degree Candidates. The CIS will do the lottery of the Master's Degree Cap next week. The 11200 advanced Degree Holders not selected by that lottery will be put into the general lottery for the 65,000 people...

US Master's Cap

Posted on April 09, 2008
The announcement by CIS yesterday that they have exceeded the 20,000 US Master's Degree holders for new H-1Bs was probably a big blow to many of us, because this is the first year that this has happened. Last year numbers were available until late April...

H-1B Cap

Posted on April 07, 2008
Hopefully the last petitions have reached the Vermont and California Service Centers by now. Stay tuned for more on the lottery in this blog. I'll post them here as soon as they become available.I cannot help but reflect on the CAP. In a year where the dreaded R word is echoed through out USA, when unemployment is at a record 5 year high, more H-1B s are being filed in 2008 than it was in 2007...

H-1B Lottery

Posted on March 19, 2008
In the CIS' interim rule, multiple related or unrelated employers can file legitimate H-1Bs for the same beneficiary.In other words, a single beneficiary CAN file with multiple different Employers, as long as all the jobs are legitimate.But the same employer CANNOT file more than one petition for the same employee, even if they are for different positions...

March Madness Revisited

Posted on March 13, 2008
Once again another year approaches when more than 150,000 applicants vie for the 65,000/- H-1B visa quotas per year. Once again, us immigration lawyers are scrambling to get petitions ready to be fedexed to the Vermont and California Service Centers on March 31, so that they reach on April 01...

Birthright Citizenship-NYT and John McCain

Posted on February 29, 2008
The NY Times seems determined to place a Democratic President in 08 is desperately trying to discredit the Republican front runner Sen. John McCain. Right on the heels of their accusation that Sen. McCain had an improper relationship with a female lobbyist 8 years ago, comes a new assertion that Sen McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone and therefore may not be a "natural born Citizen" of the US...

L-1A to Permanent Residency

Posted on February 27, 2008
This list is for small business owners who are on L-1A managerial capacity and wants to convert to the Permanent Residency by filing the I-140 under � 203(b)(1)(c) without filing the labor certification. The burden of proof is heightened in order to classify the alien as a ?manager? or Executive? and not merely perform day to day activities...

Latest on FBI Name Check Issue

Posted on February 07, 2008
Good News! According to a memo by Michael Aytes, Associate Director of Domestic Operations at CIS, a case otherwise approvable but which is pending FBI name check for more than 180 days, will be send to production of card. In other words, if your case has been adjudicated and is waiting the FBI name check for more than 180 days, you will receive the green card...

Its the Economy Stupid

Posted on January 25, 2008
The new year brought with it our hold over from last year, the subprime crisis, the weakening USD, and of course the fear of recession. If the US economy declines however, whether its a recession or not, jobs inside the US vanish. Our manufacturing jobs have already been outsources, so are our IT related jobs...

Birthright Citizenship

Posted on December 14, 2007
The Congressional Research Service has just published a paper on birthright citizenship. Many members of the congress want to restrict birthright citizenship, which was present in the US, ever since it was formed. What changed is the skin color of the children of non citizens being born here...

FBI Name Check Delays to End

Posted on November 30, 2007
According to an article published in Immigration Daily (HTTP://WWW.ILW.COM/IMMIGDAILY/DIGEST/2007,1130.SHTM) FBI name check delays will be ending soon.When immigrants apply for benefits like Citizenship and Permanent Residency, their names are sent by CIS to the FBI...

Diwali Greetings

Posted on November 09, 2007
Today is the Hindu festival of Diwali, and I heartily wish everyone a very happy Diwali. In India we celebrated it with light and fireworks. When I first immigrated here in the 80s, few people had heard of Diwali. The day came and went, without so much as a faint sound of firecracker echoing from distant India...

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