Green Card & Visa News » Visa

U Visa – An important tool for crime victims to obtain legal status

Tushar Mathur — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Many immigrants in the United States are hesitant to approach police and other law enforcement officers when they become crime victims. For people who are in the U.S. without legal status, they try to avoid contacts with police officers for fear that their illegal status may be exposed. Even legal immigrants are sometimes afraid to approach police in the U.S. because of cultural differences and language barriers. Most of them do not know that there exists a special visa designed for victims of certain crimes called the U visa. The purpose of the U visa is to provide eligible victims of crimes with temporary nonimmigrant status so that they may assist law enforcement agencies in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

Congress created the U visa in The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (VTVPA) of 2000 to encourage victims to report crimes and help law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute criminal activities regardless of the victims’ immigration status. Women and children are especially vulnerable to certain crimes such as human trafficking, sexual assault and domestic violence. If a U visa petition is approved, the petitioner receives nonimmigrant status to live and work in the United States for up to four years. Subsequently, qualified recipients may apply to adjust status to become a lawful permanent resident (green card) after three years of continuous presence in the U.S. as a U visa holder. There are other eligibility requirements for a green card as well, including the ongoing duty to cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of the qualifying crime. Additionally, other immediate family members of U visa recipients may also be eligible to live and work in the United States as derivative U visa recipients. These family members include: Unmarried children under the age of 21 of principal U visa recipients; Spouses of principal U visa recipients; Parents of principal U visa recipients under age 21; and Unmarried siblings under 18 years old of principal U visa recipients under age 21.

To apply for a U visa, one must file the USCIS Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status (Form I-918), and submit it to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with all relevant documentation, including Form I-918B, the U visa law enforcement certification. The Form I-918B is a requirement for the U visa and must be certified by a qualified law enforcement agency including a federal, state, local law enforcement agency, prosecutor, judge, or other authority that has the responsibility for the investigation or prosecution of a qualifying crime. Essentially, the law enforcement agency must certify that the petitioner was a victim of a qualifying crime, has specific knowledge and details of crime, has been, is being, or is likely to be helpful to law enforcement in the detection, investigation, or prosecution of the qualifying crime. Qualifying crimes includes qualify for the U visa including murder, robbery, abduction, rape, sexual assault, kidnaping, incest, perjury, prostitution, obstruction of justice, etc.

The U visa is an extremely important incentive for victims of crimes to come forward to testify against the perpetrators. Because of the complexity of U visa petitions, applicants should seek assistance from a legal representative or victim advocate. It is important to know that certification by a law enforcement agency does not guarantee approval of a U visa. The USCIS must determine if other requirements of the U visa are met including whether the applicant has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of the subject criminal activity. However for victims of serious crimes without legal status especially women and children, the U visa may be their only hope to fight back.

September Visa Bulletin: F2A Advances; EB-2 India, China Stagnant

Tushar Mathur — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:44:00 +0000

The September 2011 Visa Bulletin has been released by the State Department. On the employment side, there is not much movement. As the FY2011 is coming to an end, many employment visa beneficiaries were hoping that there would be some nice movements in EB-2 and EB-3 preference categories. However, for September, both Eb-2 China and Eb-2 India remain unchanged at 15 April 2007, although EB-3 and Other Workers have some small movements.

Things are mixed on the family side. F1 is unchanged again for China, India and the Other Countries but advances more than six months and one week respectively for Philippines and Mexico. There are some significant movements in F2A (lawful residents’ spouses and children). F2A has advanced more than four months for China, India, Philippines and the Other Countries to 1 December 2008. F2A Mexico also moves forward to 22 September 2008.

Family	Other Countries	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01MAY04	01MAY04	01MAY04	15MAR93	01NOV96
F2A	01DEC08	01DEC08	01DEC08	22SEP08	01DEC08
F2B	01JUL03	01JUL03	01JUL03	01NOV92	22MAR01
F3	22AUG01	22AUG01	22AUG01	22NOV92	15MAY92
F4	15APR00	15APR00	15APR00	22MAR96	08JUL88

1st: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens (about 23,000 per year).

2A: The 2 “A” preference is for Spouses and Children (under 21 & unmarried) of LPR’s.

2B: The 2 “B” Preference is for Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 or older) of LPR’s.

3rd: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens.(about 23,000 per year)

4th: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens.(about 65,000 per year)

Employment	Other Countries	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
EB1	C	C	C	C	C
EB2	C	15APR07	15APR07	C	C
EB3	22NOV05	15JUL04	08JUL02	22NOV05	22NOV05
Other Workers	01AUG05	22APR03	01JUN02	01AUG05	01AUG05
EB4	C	C	C	C	C
Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
EB5	C	C	C	C	C

1st: Priority Workers (Extraordinary ability aliens, multinational companies executives/managers, outstanding prof./researchers)

2nd: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability.

3rd: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers (Unskilled.)

4th: “Special Immigrants” (Religious & others)

5th: Employment Creation (Investors)

Tips for Improving Your Chances of Getting Cleared by US Customs at an Airport

Tushar Mathur — Sat, 21 May 2011 15:26:00 +0000

1) Be honest, upfront, and polite with the Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agents. They are trained to detect when you are lying so don’t even try, it will only hurt you. Being upfront with the agents is especially in your interest because during the admission process at the border/point of entry they are the only people who can help you. You have no right to an attorney during this time. The CBP agents have a certain amount of discretion and you want to make sure that they will feel inclined to exercise it with you, if necessary, to admit you to the US.

2) Make sure you bring detailed documents with you to present to the CBP. This means more than simply your visa. Most importantly, non-immigrant visitors need to show reasonable ties and equities to and in their home country. This means you need to have documentation showing employment, family, and social ties to a residence abroad, and adequate financing arrangements to carry out the purpose of your visit.

If you are traveling to the US for an employer, make sure you have a letter from the employer detailing the purpose of your visit and the activities you will engage in during the visit. Remember, the burden is on you to prove that you are not inadmissible to the US. (No criminal convictions, prior immigration law violations, etc.) In general, this means you need to show that you have proper documentation and the requisite intent for the type of visa for which you applied. Common sense applies here. For example, if you are coming to the US for a three-day conference on a B-1 visa but your return ticket isn’t until 90 days later, you can expect that this will raise a red flag for CBP.

3) Make sure that you have a good phone number for the employer sponsoring you or the employer’s immigration attorney, or, if visiting family or friends, then the family meeting you, or your own immigration attorney. It’s best to have both a regular phone number and cell number for one or more of these people. CBP may call them to help answer questions that the agents have about your situation. Having the phone number of someone who is knowledgeable about your situation and available can make the difference between having to withdraw your application for admission and fly back to your country of origin the same day or being admitted to the US.

4) If you are offered the choice to voluntarily withdraw your application for admission because CBP does not believe you are telling the truth or you do not have proper documentation and they are unable to contact anyone that can clarify your situation (and you do not have a credible fear of returning to your own country or an asylum claim), it is always preferable to accept this offer rather than force CBP to use the alternative, which is expedited removal.

If you have committed visa fraud, and/or made misrepresentations starting back with the US consulate in your home country–this does not apply to asylum cases–then you can expect that CBP will order an expedited removal. This means you will be returned to your home country (or country of last embarkation) with no hearing and a permanent bar from returning to the US. (If CBP issues an expedited removal order for simply lack of documentation, there is only a five-year bar to returning.) In most cases, you will be put on the next flight back, using your return ticket if possible. The air carrier is liable to the US government to return anyone who is inadmissible, so most likely you will be sent back on the same carrier, or a code share partner. And, even though the carrier must fly you back, it will certainly look to you to pay the cost of the ticket.

An important note about the expedited removal power: an expedited removal order under INA 212(a)(6)(C) is for fraud and misrepresentation, and results in a LIFETIME bar from re-entry to the US. An expedited removal order issued under INA 212(a)(7) is for lack of documentation and results in a 5 year bar to re-entry. Not surprisingly, it is much harder to get a waiver to return to the US if you were removed under the (a)(6) ground than (a)(7).

The bottom line is that the best way to improve your chances of getting cleared by US Customs at the airport is to make sure you are traveling on the correct visa, bring copies of the appropriate documentation with you, bring phone numbers for contacts in the US who are available to speak to CBP to address any problems that may arise, and, above all, be honest!

If you have any concerns about you or a family member traveling to the US, consider consulting with an immigration attorney that is knowledgeable about CBP procedures. Advance planning can go a long way to improve the chances of CBP clearing you or your family member and admitting them to the US.

Also, frequent international travelers—non-citizens and US citizens alike—should apply for the CBP’s Global Entry program, which allows you to enter the US using automated kiosks at the airport.

Help for Students on F1 Visa in US

Tushar Mathur — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:28:43 +0000

Getting an admission to one of the schools in the United States and then getting the visa approved basis that to get in to the United States on an F1 visa is really the easy part. It’s to be noted that the F1 visa is not a sponsored program, as in the case of the J1 visa. Thus the visitor has to bear all the related expenses himself during his stay in the United States. Thankfully the United States government is considerate about this and to help the students during the stay they are allowed to work for limited number of hours.

Thus a lot of the students choose to take up driving as a profession during this period. As this profession fetches them more money than any other job that they would be eligible for. Though every state has a different set of rules and procedures related to the issuance of the driving license but the basics are as follows.

There are 2 steps for the same.

Pass the written test.
Pass the road test.

The procedure to get the Drivers license is.

Go to the DMV office with a prior appointment for a prompt service.
Now submit the fee along with the completed form for the test.
A thumb print would also be required from you.
Have your picture clicked.
You would be required to provide your SSN and proof of your date of birth, along with your passport.
Now you are good to appear for the written test.

The written test – A fee of $12 is required for the same, and you would be able to attempt thrice basis the amount. Normally there are 36 questions related to traffic laws and signs and its essential you have atleast 31 correct answers to pass the test. Once this is passed, then you need to appear for the eye test. Upon successful completion of the same, you would be eligible to be issued the temporary driving permit. You can use the same to practice driving.

The road test – It’s the practical part of the tests and is the most important part. In this part you would be tested for your carefulness and your ability to drive safely on the streets. It’s not going to take long but is a 100 marks test in which the minimum passing score would be 70%. In this one also you would be given three chances to pass the test in case you flunk in the 1^st attempt.