Immigration QA

"Grace" is Minnesota's official state photograph. I was State Senator in 2002 when we officially voted for Minnesota's official "state photograph." A more prolific image originating from Minnesota than "Grace," I'm not aware of.  My colleague and friend, Rep. Loren Solberg , was the natural author of the bill since Loren lived in Bovey, Minnesota where the photograph was taken.  I think Loren also liked it because he bears resemblance to Charles Winden, the guy in the photo (Loren and I ribbed each other from time to time).  Read more about the history of Grace here. Speaking of grace, lately I've received a rash of calls from noncitizens who find themselves similarly situated to Mr. Wilden, praying for providential intervention in a recent job loss.  Primarily H1B visa holders, these folks have been laid off and are uncertain about their legal status and how to proceed with potential new employment in the United States.  The influx is prom...

Squeeze / skwēz/:    a state of forcing oneself or being forced into a small or restricted space. The government has started the squeeze on OPT.  It looks like 3rd party staffing as well as remote work situations for OPT trainees are either completely out, or, restricted enough to eliminate practical benefit to IT staffing "companies" using foreign IT students.   Now, this may not be too much of a disruption for entities following the spirit of OPT as a training program.  After all, it is called OP- T , not OP- W , because it is for training experience and not intended to serve as a back-door work program.  But some entities will see a major roadblock in the way they've been doing business, and it seems USCIS is concerned most with these companies in its  January 24, 2018 Update .  The IT staffing "consultancies," especially the one guy LLC who collects billable hours by passing Java and Sharepoint resumes, through his apartment...

You Do Have Choices In Your Immigration Destiny Last year the USCIS announced new scrutiny for third party IT consultancies.  As part of the priority given to combating fraud in employment-based immigration programs, USCIS issued a policy targeting site visits in certain sectors that commonly receive H1B visas and have shown more than average propensities for fraud and abuse.  These included circumstances where an employer's basic business information could not easily verified, employers with a high ratio of H1B workers, and--the topic of this post--employers who send their H1B workers off-site to work for another company (i.e. "IT consultants"). See the announcement here:  USCIS: Combating Fraud And Abuse in the H-1B Visa Program . So then, almost a year later, what have been the results?  The answer is at the moment is hard to tell.  Today, the USCIS recycled their year-old announcement on Twitter, without amendment let alone report, on the succes...

Recently I received the following question:    "I am on F1 status, and I'm doing my masters. Recently, I checked that my I94 was expired. I have 4 years of my visa left." Answer:   As an F-1 student your original I-94 should have been marked "D/S" with no expiration date. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) either made a mistake or had concerns about your entry and wanted to review your status at a certain time. Discuss your specific situation with your DSO, including whether you should go to the CPB at your airport to correct the I-94, or whether simply departing and returning with a new I-94 would cure the problem. In addition to your visa you also need a current I-20 which the DSO provides.