The EB-5 visa program requires an investment of capital of at least one million U.S. dollars (except for certain target investment areas). Cash investment is perhaps the most direct way to meet the capital requirement. However, the regulations also allow other forms of capital investment including equipment, inventory, other tangible property and cash equivalents. Further, debts secured by assets owned by the investor entrepreneur also qualifies as capital as long as the investor is personally and primarily liable and that the assets of the new commercial enterprise are not used to secure any of the debts. Such a broad definition of capital makes it easier for investors to inject capital into their businesses. For instance, a restaurant owner may have a portion of the capital invested in equipment and cooking appliances; a pharmaceutical company may partially satisfy the capital requirement by investing in laboratory equipments and facilities; and a manufacturer or distributor of goods could meet the capital equipment through the purchase of inventory and other assets. All assets are valued at fair market value in United States dollars.

Another important requirement of capital is that it must come from lawful sources. Assets obtained through unlawful or criminal means cannot be used to meet the capital investment requirement. To prove the lawfulness of sources of capital, an investor must provide documentary evidence including: (1) Foreign business registration records, (2) Corporate, partnership (or any other business entity), and personal tax returns including income, franchise, property (whether real, personal, or intangible) filed within five years in or outside the United States by or on behalf of the immigrant investor; (3) Evidence identifying any other sources of capital; or, (4) Certified copies of any judgments or evidence of all pending governmental civil or criminal actions, and any private civil actions involving monetary judgments against the immigrant investor from any court in or outside the United States within the past fifteen years. Unfortunately, many investors are able to come up with the capital for investment but are not able to provide evidence to prove that the capital comes from lawful sources.

Finally, it is important to note that although an investor must commit to invest one million U.S. dollars in the enterprise, there is no requirement that the full amount must be invested when an EB-5 visa application is filed. An investor can use documents to show that she is in the process of investing the capital, perhaps in different stages depending on the needs of the business enterprise.

The H-2A and H-2B programs allow US employers to bring foreign workers to the US in order to fill temporary agricultural jobs and temporary non-agricultural jobs. USCIS generally may only approve H-2A and H-2B petitions for nationals of countries that are designated as eligible to participate in the programs. USCIS may also approve H-2A and H-2B petitions for nationals of countries not on the list if it is determined to be in the interest of the US; this is taken on a case by case basis.

In addition to the 53 countries currently on the list, the following five countries were added for 2012: Haiti, Iceland, Montenegro, Spain and Switzerland.

Effective 18 January 2012, nationals of the following 58 countries are eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B programs: Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Nauru, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Samoa, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Vanuatu.

Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United States of America. Please visit our USA page for more information: http://globalvisasupport.com/usa.html

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was a law passed by U.S. Congress in 1994 to allocate resources to investigate and prosecute cases of violence against women.  In the immigration context, victims of violence may also file self-petitions to obtain legal status.  In 1997, to ensure uniform and
expeditious treatment of all self-petitions filed by battered spouses and children, the former INS implemented a centralized filing procedure by having all VAWA self-petitions adjudicated at the VSC.  The reason was that the VSC adjudications officers  assigned to review VAWA petitions had received
specialized domestic violence training and have developed expertise in adjudicating these petitions.

After a self-petition is approved, the USCIS has the authority to revoke the petition based on reliable new evidence.  Again to ensure that petitions were revoked in a consistent and efficient manner, the former INS issued a policy memo in 2002 to designate the VSC as the sole office that had the authority to
issue notices of intent to revoke Form I-130.  This policy has not been consistently followed by the local offices.  Consequently, a new memo was issued by the USCIS in December to address this issue again.  In order to revoke a self-petition filed by abused spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens or
lawful permanet residents,  the following guidelines must be followed:

(1)Request for Review of an Approved VAWA-based Form I-360: If an officer in the field intends to revoke an approved petition based on new information that was not available to the VSC at the time of the approval of a VAWA self-petition, the officer must write a memorandum to his or her Supervisory Immigration Service Officer (SISO) explaining why the VAWA self-petition should be reviewed
for possible revocation. The memorandum must state what the new information is and how USCIS obtained it.

(2) Supervisory Review and Return to VSC: If, upon review of an officer’s memorandum of explanation, the SISO concurs in the officer’s assessment, the SISO must sign the memorandum and forward it, with the file in question, to the VSC to the attention of the VAWA unit.

(3) VSC VAWA Supervisor Review:  A VSC VAWA unit supervisor will review the memorandum of explanation and the relating file and make a recommendation either to start revocation proceedings or to reaffirm approval of the self-petition. If the VSC supervisor decides not to revoke the petition, he or she  must write a memorandum explaining why the self-petition was not revoked. This memorandum
will be returned to the field with the file. The VSC is expected to complete its review process on an expedited basis.

(4) Use of Information:  DHS employees are prohibited by law from making an adverse determination of admissibility or deportability of an alien using information provided solely by an abusive spouse, an abuse parent, or a member of the same household if the spouse or parent of the alien consented to or
acquiesced in such battery or cruelty.  Any adverse information received by USCIS from a self-petitioner’s U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent, or from relatives of that spouse or parent, must be independently corroborated by an unrelated source before USCIS may rely on that information.  DHS employees are also prohibited from using or disclosing to others of any
information that relates to VAWA self-petitioner except for official business.

There are five different categories of those eligible for employment-based visas with the code E1 (Employee First Preference) taking precedence over the other codes; namely E2, E3, E4 and E5. Those who have extraordinary skill in different industries i.e. arts, sciences, business can be considered for this category. Additionally, professors or researchers, and/or those who are currently being employed in the branch or subsidiary of a US employer may be eligible under E1.

However, there is a clause in immigration laws of the United States whereby they reserve the right to waiver or deem ineligible certain categories of applicants. If you had previously suffered from or are currently suffering from any communicable disease, have a history of violent behavior of mental illness, are a terrorist or have terror affiliations, have previously committed violent acts, then you would not be eligible for a green card.

The Immigration Department of the United States also visas for foreign religious workers; of which there are two different visas. Religious workers include those who have been given the right by their denomination to preside over religious worship. Only those who have taken life-long vows and have been ordained into the denomination are covered under the definition of religious workers. Examples are monks and nuns.

Religious workers who are filing petitions to migrate to the United States have to fulfill an important condition – they should at least have been a member of that particular denomination for at least two years prior to the application, and who have been working for the past two years in a professional capacity. The applicant should fill up form I-130 after which if the application has been approved, he will be notified of the next step in the immigration process.

There is a rule from the Department of Homeland Security that requires the sponsoring employers to file a petition for all the Aliens for whom R-1 non-immigrant status is sought. To comply with the same now the consular officers are required to ensure that, the said applicants have obtained an I-129 petition form from the Department of Home land security, prior to the issuance of the visa. The said rule has been in force from the 6^th of October 2009.

In case there is a further requirement of a clarification about this rule you might feel free to get in touch with the Legislation & Regulations division of the Visa Service’s. The contact person would be Lauren Prosnik. Phone # (202) 663-2951.

Now the question is what is this rule been promulgated for? The answer to that is, on the 26^th of Nov 08, the department of homeland security announced the requirement for the sponsoring employers to file a petition for all the Aliens for whom R-1 non-immigrant status is sought. Also as per the same law the period of the validity of the visa is not supposed to exceed the period as mentioned in the petition. As a result of that, an R-1 non-immigrant visa would now require the applicant to be established as a beneficiary of an approved petition. The implementation of this petition requirement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been, for the purpose of authenticating and determining the petitions from the religious organizations for the religious workers. This would also help to ensure that such religious workers are admitted into the United States on the request of a religious organization and that is exactly where the workers work.

Miscellaneous regulatory findings:

As per the Administrative procedure act there is a regulation that involves the foreign affairs function of the US therefore according to the 5 USC 553(a)(1) is not subjected to the procedures of rule making as set by 5 USC 553.

As per the Executive orders 12866, the new rule has been reviewed by the department of State to ensure its consistency with the regulatory philosophy and the principals set by the Executive orders 12866. They have also determined that the cost of maintaining this rule is justified according to the benefits that are to be derived out of it.

As per the paper work reduction act does not impose the requirements of information collection, as per the provisions of the paper work reduction act 44 USC chapter 35.