Immigration QA

  My translation service friends have been in my mind lately. Not sure why, maybe because a recent case required both an Arabic and French document translation.  From time to time I enjoy a chuckle from a funny interpreting experience some years ago. The matter involved an urgent need for spoken Gujarati, and no professional service was immediately available. I asked a local aide society if they could find someone who spoke Gujarati, and they heartily agreed.  When the interpreter arrived he spoke beautiful Gujarati with my client. Small problem: he couldn’t speak a word of English back to me!  Basic lesson: make sure your interpreter is fluent in BOTH languages! Lol!

UPDATE06/17/2020:  BREAKING: US government denial of COVID relief to noncitizen students has been blocked by a judge. Check with your DSO! In a letter to colleges last April, the Education Department advised colleges to only give relief funds to students who typically qualify for federal financial aid, excluding international students and beneficiaries of DACA. The letter was not binding at the time. In May, the California community college system filed a lawsuit against the DOE alleging that DeVos exceeded her authority in barring colleges to give aid to whom they please. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted an injunction blocking the Department of Education from enforcing their CARES Act guidance on June 17, 2020. The proposed rule will be up for public comment for 30-days until July 17. During this time period, anyone from the public can file a comment on regulations.gov for the agency to consider. Once the rule is finalized, it will be binding on co...

Noncitizen name changes can complicate or benefit.  I recently got the following question from a family law attorney: QUESTION:  Can a Minnesota court order the name change of a non-citizen? Client has a H4 visa, and my understanding is that means they are a lawful temporary resident.  So my thinking is they satisfy the residency requirement of Minn. Stat. 259, having lived here in Minnesota for more than 6 months.  I'm wondering if there is any prohibition to such a name change, or compelling reason not to change their name? ANSWER:  There is no prohibition on the name change for noncitizens, for the statutory reason cited.  Perhaps there are a couple additional issues worth noting: First, the recordkeeping must be meticulous because the individual will be asked about the name change in future immigration applications. There should be proof that it was done in the proper manner. I recommend multiple certified copies so that the i...

Recent I was asked the following question: I work full-time as a software developer in H1b status.   Now a local college has asked me if I can join as an adjunct teacher and teach a computer science class for only 4 hours a week.  It is a government college and is willing to apply H1B.  Can I work/teach part-time in that college?   Is premium processing available? ANSWER:  Yes, this should work.  You can have what is called a concurrent H1B visa, i.e. more than H-1B at the same time.  You just need to make sure that the second H1B application clearly indicates that it is a concurrent H1B petition and not a change of employer or replacing your current employment in any way.   Also,  you must continue to abide by all the terms of your original H1B.  Premium processing for the teaching job is indeed possible, but prevailing wage determination's and LCA's take time.   As such, you may consider using a private servic...

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...

I recently answered the following question: "I had applied for my EAD in October, but yesterday received an update from USCIS on the website as Request For Initial Evidence Mailed. What could be the reason for this? And after responding, how much more time can it take for approval?"    ANSWER :    Pardon the corny humor, but RFE's can be "Naughty By Nature" (hey you know me). Sometimes they are issued just to give new USCIS employee experience! So it's important not to panic. It's first good to know what evidence it won't request. Whether or not you have secured the appropriate type of OPT employment will not yet be questioned. This is because securing an OPT job, or offer for job, is not required when submitting an initial application. As such, the RFE will likely focus on basic eligibility, such as questions about your education institution or whether you have enrolled in sufficient schooling. Timing is also an issue a...