Posts Tagged ‘Green Card’

Microsoft stresses importance of US H-1B visa for IT companies

April 16th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

This week, as employers began filing petitions for the popular US H-1B work visas, Microsoft stressed the importance of the visa in keeping America’s IT companies competitive.

“While the vast majority of our US workforce is comprised of US workers, the individuals we employ in H-1B status -educated at some of the best universities in the US and around the world – are crucial to our business,” said Brad Smith, general counsel & executive vice president, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft.

Current immigration law allows for a total of 85,000 new H-1B visas to be made available each government fiscal year.

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DOS Confirms China-Mainland Born and India EB-2 Visa Retrogression as of March 23, 2012

April 5th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Visa Control at the State Department, has confirmed that, effective March 23, 2012, no further EB-2 visas will be authorized for China-mainland born and India applicants with priority dates of August 15, 2007, or later. Visa applicants processing in April at consulates abroad will still receive visas, as those numbers were allocated before the cut-off date was established. Mr. Oppenheim understands that USCIS will continue to accept applications for adjustment of status for aliens with priority dates prior to the date established in the April 2012 Visa Bulletin.

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Major Retrogression Predicted for Employment Second Preference (EB-2) India and China

March 24th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

In a Chicago conference with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) held on March 16, 2012, the Chief of  State Department’s Visa Control and Reporting unit, Mr. Charles Oppenheim, stated that the EB-2 India and China visa category will likely retrogress in the May or June 2012 Visa Bulletin.  The extent of retrogression will be quite drastic, reverting the EB-2 cutoff date back to approximately August 2007 from the April cutoff date of May 1, 2010. 

Reasons for Retrogression:  The recent rapid advancement in EB-2 cutoff dates was to use up all available visa numbers for the fiscal year.  To that end, the State Department has generously advanced the cutoff days during the past six months from July 15, 2007 (October 2011 Visa Bulletin) to May 1, 2010 (April 2012 Visa Bulletin).  As expected,  the advancement has allowed thousands of adjustment applications and immigrant visa petitions to be filed during the past few months, resulting in rapid exhaustion of visa numbers for the fiscal year.  Consequently, the State Department must exercise restrain now in the allocation of visa numbers through retrogression.  In fact, Mr.

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EB-5 Investor Visa: Sources of Capital

March 7th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act sets aside 7.1% worldwide visa numbers to qualified immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. for the purpose of engaging in a new commercial enterprise. The applicant must either have invested or is in the process of actively investing capital not less than U.S. $1,000,000 in the enterprise. This is commonly known as the EB-5 investor visa. Other categories of immigrant visa are usually oversubscribed for countries such as China and India. For instances, many family-based petitions, including those filed by U.S. citizens, are currently backlogged. The EB-2 and EB-3 employment visa categories are similarly oversubscribed.

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When is a Lawful Permanent Resident considered seeking admission to the United States?

October 23rd, 2011 Tushar Mathur

The United States immigration laws confer certain rights and privileges to a person who has been granted Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status by the government.  These individuals, commonly known as green card holders, are authorized to work and live in the United States indefinitely.  Legal residents are also allowed to return to the United States after international travel.  Nonresidents, on the other hand, are considered applicants for admission and must establish that they are admissible to the United States in order to enter.

Sec.

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EB-2 India and China Advanced to November 1, 2007 in November Visa Bulletin

October 5th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

Good news for Indian and Chinese EB-2 green card applicants:  the cut-off dates advanced 2 1/2 months to November 1, 2007 in November's visa bulletin just released by the State Department.


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LA Asylum Fraud and Asylum Reform

September 19th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

Recently, an immigration consulting business in Los Angeles was charged by the authorities with immigration benefit fraud and failing to disclose their role as preparers on hundreds of asylum applications.  This story may not be news for people who are familiar with immigration news.  It is just another immigration fraud case, one may say.  However, it offers some insights into the political asylum application process in the U.S.

The U.S. as a country of immigrants and freedom has always embraced the idea of providing protection for those who need it.  It has incorporated the definition of “refugee” from the United Nations Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in the domestic law.  Simply put, a refugee is a person outside her country or last place of residence who is unable or unwilling to return to that country or place because of persecution or a well-founded fear or persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group of political opinion.

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VAWA self-petitions can be filed by the victim between the ages of 21 and 25

September 8th, 2011 Tushar Mathur

The USCIS has issued a policy memo dated September 6, 2011, to allow victims of abuse to file their self green card petitions even though they are over the age of 21 if it is filed before the age of 25.  The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA 2005) amended section 204(a)(1)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow continued eligibility for certain individuals to file a VAWA self-petition after the age of 21, if the abuse was at least one central reason for the filing delay. 


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