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!

I was recently asked what I'd like non-immigration attorneys to know about the practice of immigration law. The first thing that came to mind is it's complexity.  This is not to say other areas of law are not incredibly complex, but a flavor of what a typical immigration lawyer encounters may be enlightening for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. In a landmark decision expanding rights of noncitizens regarding proper immigration advice before a guilty plea, the U.S. Supreme Court specifically stated, “Immigration law can be complex, and it is a legal specialty of its own.” Padilla v Kentuck y (2010).  The court was right to underscore this, and it’s understandable how many can overlook just how complex immigration law is. For example, different “legal statuses” exist for noncitizens depending on their purpose of entry. There are temporary entries ranging from visitor or student, to refugee and myriad of narrowly defined occupations.  Then there is Legal Permanent Residency, o...

BREAKING: President Trump has just signed an executive order suspending all new, out of country, H1B visas (tech workers and some doctors), as well as H2B visas (seasonal agricultural workers), L visas (intracompany transfers, mainly tech), and J visas (doctors and hospitality/exchange students). At the moment it expires at the end of 2020, but will certainly go to court as with the prior refugee and “Muslim” bans. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspending-entry-aliens-present-risk-u-s-labor-market-following-coronavirus-outbreak/

How many violations in this post can you guess? It seems the immigration scammers become bolder every day. Today I came across this little gem posting for indentured servitude amongst the foreign student population. And why not?  As I said before in previous posts about IT consultant abuse , there are no prevailing wage requirements for foreign student trainees like there is for H1B visa workers. However, this erstwhile recruiter forgot the U.S. has another area of law that governs fair labor for everyone. For fun, how many violations in this post can you guess? So, in the spirit of Jeopardy and honoring Alex Trebeck, here are the "questions": 1) What is a maximum age requirement? 2) What is hiring someone from a specific immigration category? 3) What is inducement into prohibited work arrangements? 4) What is the requirement of work authorization before a job offer? For verification of these violations and more, you can visit the   USCIS expla...

The recent USCIS memo explaining unlawful presence rules in the context of F1 student status has reverberated through the legal community It has also posed many questions.  I posit here that the memo is aimed primarily at curbing Day 1 abuses. Attorneys across the country are reporting their clients are receiving RFEs investigating past maintenance of F1 status, including past enrollment of OPT, CPT and Day 1 CPT in particular.   Maintaining valid status is a requirement of changing to a new status such as work and most categories of permanent residence.  The H1B petitions submitted by Chaudhary Law Office are not in premium processing and thus early in the application process, so we have not gotten any RFEs  as yet.  We expect that we will and anticipate similar requests for proof of status during our clients’ student days. But, the increase in RFEs, plus the new unlawful presence memo, point to one thing: If you are not enrolled in CPT properly, for EXAMP...

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...

Foreign students should carefully follow the rules for early program withdrawal, and understand implications. If you are a student on an F-1 visa, there is no penalty to withdraw from your program of study, as long a certain requirements are met. A designated school official (DSO) has the authority to permit "authorized early withdrawals" to a foreign student's F visa status in extenuating circumstances. This includes a temporary absence or withdrawal from school due to a family emergency, personal matter or another circumstance that calls for the student to leave the United States prior to their program’s completion.  If an F student is granted authorized early withdrawal, or a permitted temporary absence from their course of study, they are permitted a 15-day grace period to depart the United States. F students who are granted an authorized early withdrawal, but do not depart the country within the 15-day grace period, are in violation of their student vis...

Recently I answered the following question: "I am planning to come to the U.S for my Masters in Electrical Engineering.  But, based on the political climate surrounding STEM OPT and CPT, possible revocation by Trump, and general negative mood toward foreign students, should I still come? I do have other options (Canada and Germany)." Answer: Immigration, like politics, moves in cycles. There are myths as well.   Actually, it was Obama who cracked down on H1B’s, and abruptly removed some school accreditations leaving many innocent students stranded without options. Despite many negative actions, Trump has actually discussed merit-based immigration, which bodes well for the skilled and educated.  The point is:  Who knows!  OPT aside, you’ll have a masters from a U.S. school that will serve you long into the future. Plus you are electrical engineering and there’s always a need and desperate need now.  This is still the greatest land of oppor...

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. 

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...