Immigration QA

Much discussed H1B lottery pre-registration process announced. It was expected. Today the USCIS officially announced that, starting next H1B season, not this H1B season, there will be a pre-selection sign up instead of the traditional post-April 1 application submission lottery.  In addition, it announced a major shift in how Masters Degree candidates are selected, by giving priority to masters cap applications after the lottery’s conducted, as opposed to  selecting them in their own lottery process. Mathematically, this is tantamount to giving an approval edge to applications with masters degree candidates. Here is our prior discussion on the pros and cons of this pre-selection process:  Pros and Cons of H1B Pre-Registration Here is the announcement:  H1B Pre-Selection Proces Announcement . Also, here's the hit song from Kim Wilde in honor of H1B Pre-selection's final arrival:

I'd rather chat on the phone for a few minutes--AT NO CHARGE--than charge money for generic advice. Have you even seen Monty Python's The Holy Grail? No? Go to Netflix and watch it, and then come back to this post. Back already? Great!  So recall the scene where King Arthur must answer three meaningless questions to cross the Bridge of Death. What if King Arther was given the privilege of paying the bridge keeper $360 for the the privilege of telling him his favorite color? Well, that's what some immigration consultations can feel like.  Believe it or not, they can feel like it for the attorney too. Recently, I did a one-hour, paid consultation for a recently-married couple considering a marriage green card. I would not do it again.  Believing that one hour would cover simple issues and "review forms," I encountered process questions that intersected with complicated questions about the noncitizen's current status, and ability to...

Today the USCIS finally announced a much anticipated rule regarding next year's H1B visa (specialty occupation worker) application process.  At the moment, a computer-aided lottery is required to simply choose which applications may go forward for simple consideration.  This is because the law requires an annual cap on new H1B visas to be issued every year, about 65,000.  Recently, American companies have submitted about 3 to 4 times that number for their potential foreign employees, resulting in some sort of system to pick which applications to even consider.   H1B applications are complicated, requiring multiple steps to even assemble an application to submit to the government.  Also, the fees are quite high, several thousand dollars for small companies and even more for the larger ones.  For a basic run down on the H1B visa, read my previous run down:  H1B Visas Explained . This is an immigration application. So then why go through al...

It’s hard to sift through the rhetoric on both sides regarding the Mexican caravan. With good reason, there’s a lot of exaggerations and mistruths on both sides of the immigration issue. I have to admit, the politicization has kept me from commenting on the the caravan till now. Now that the election hubbub is over, however, I’d like you to read a direct account from my immigration colleague and law school classmate, who recently spent time with caravan members in Mexico. She’s has provided a fairly clinical account of she did and saw. For big picture consideration, at the end is a link to a recent Time magazine article, tracing back some of the current problem to the Obama administration. At the end of this post are incredible photos that Charlene took of the caravan. Whatever one’s opinion about what should happen when these folks arrive at the US border, I myself feel an emotional pull to the humanity that can, on an impromptu level, organize such a movement, literally and figur...

Today I toured the Minneapolis Passport Agency, along with a group of immigration attorneys from the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Immigration section. It was a wonderful tour and I did not think I would learn as much as I did about obtaining a U.S. passport. It was interesting to see the internal workings of the passport application, approval, denial, and creation processes, as well as some of the new initiatives being planned. Just to be clear, the passport agency is for U.S. passports only, for U.S. citizens and soon to be citizens.  Passport agencies are divisions of the United States Department of State,  which is America’s primary foreign policy representative and runs U.S. embassies around the world.   There is a U.S. Embassy in every country of the world except North Korea and Iran. Of course, my very first question was: why can’t you get passport photos at a U.S. Passport Agency?? Well it turns out that our tour guide, the customer service manager and 26...

The EB5 green card program allows investment in America. What Does It Take to Get An EB5 Visa? Why the interest in an "EB5," or (Employment-Based 5) category of green card, or Legal Permanent Resident, in the United States? The short answer is: Speed.   The EB5 category is the fastest method of a noncitizen to become a Legal Permanent Resident in the United States.  As with all methods of immigration, however, there's a tradeoff.  The speed of permanent entry is offset by a high standard of eligibility, and more importantly a high expense.  But those that can afford a sizable investment into U.S. business, hiring employees, OR local government projects along with high legal fees may consider this mutually beneficial approach.  But beware, the documentation required rivals an SEC audit.  In short, the EB5 is a "strings attached" process of mutually beneficial immigration to America. The applicant must invest in a new, expanding, or troubl...

Recently I was asked the following question: I'm considering accepting a "Stay of Adjudication" plea, in  a pending criminal sexual conduct case.   I also have a pending asylum application.  I need to know, would accepting this still type of plea make me removable as far as the DHS is concerned? Should I just risk trial then if my worst fear is deportation? SHORT ANSWER:   A "stay of adjudication" represents a full conviction for immigration purposes.  So if you plead guilty, with "stay of adjudication," to a criminal charge, you'll have to see if that criminal charge itself impacts immigration.  In your case, you would still be deportable with a Stay of Adjudication to criminal sexual conduct.  If it was a Stay of Adjud to disorderly conduct, then you would probably be fine.  A noncitizen should ALWAYS have an experienced immigration attorney help or represent them in a criminal charge!  There are just too many ...