Introduction An H-1B work visa is appropriate if two primary conditions are met. First, an employer must be able to demonstrate its need for a qualified worker to fill a specialty occupation. Second, a valid employer-employee relationship must exist throughout the duration of the H-1B visa residency. For a more detailed discussion of the first …
An H-1B visa is an employment visa for professional workers in specialty occupations that have at least a bachelor degree or equivalent. Throughout the H-1B visa’s history, the United States Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been concerned that employers will abuse the H-1B visa by displacing American workers with foreign Responding to H-1B Request …
Responding to H-1B Request for Evidence in the Trump Era Read More »
The January 30, 2018 State of the Union became another chapter in President Trump’s ongoing campaign for America to serve its own needs and its people first. Embodying this ideology, President Trump declared that, “we will follow two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American.” During his first term, those two simple rules have dramatically …
Employers Impacted By Immigration Changes In Trump’s First Year Read More »
(Read more about International Entrepreneur Rule in the earlier article here) On December 1, 2017, in National Venture Capital Association v. Duke the United States District Court of the District of Columbia ruled the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) violated the Administration Procedure Act’s (APA) notice and comment rulemaking requirements when it decided to …
International Entrepreneur Rule Gets a Second Chance Read More »
Employment-based visas that lead to permanent residence in the U.S., or a green card, have several different preference groups with different eligibility requirements. Most of these preference groups require a foreign national to have a full-time job offer in the United States and the filing of a labor certification application with the Department of Labor …
Overview The Department of State distributes 50,000 visas through a lottery system to foreign nationals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. The Diversity Visa (DV) is meant to promote a diverse immigrant population and is not available to foreign nationals from “high admission” countries. A country is considered “high …
Overview The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) receives a substantial portion of its funding through application fees but these fees can be a substantial barrier to certain foreign nationals and permanent residents, or green card holders. The USCIS recognizes the potential hardship and offers a fee waiver for certain application fees if an individual …
The Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) is a small, exclusive program that allows foreign nationals to gain expedited citizenship in exchange for military service. Typically, all of the United States military branches require enlistees to be permanent residents of the United States, green card holders, but the MAVNI program allows certain non-immigrants with …
MAVNI Program – Citizenship Through the Military Read More »
A foreign national applying for a visa, a green card, or other immigration services may encounter delays or be denied if the U.S. immigration services rely on background information that the foreign national did not know existed. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows individuals to request information from federal agencies that may be critical …
The following information has been further updated due to subsequent legal developments. Please also review the updated article Investor Entrepreneur Rule Gets a Second Chance. The Entrepreneur Rule that was set to go into effect on July 17, 2017, has been delayed until March 18, 2018, to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) an …
