7 Reasons You Should File for Your Citizenship

With the United States and political candidates anti-immigration instances, many more people are actually applying for their citizenship this year. According to the Los Angeles Times article only in California, there are around 2.2 million people eligible to file for their citizenship or naturalization. From our experience most who are not filing for citizen is either because they do not have the means to pay for the high N-400 (Naturalization) fees  or they do not want to lose their country's of birth citizenship. For example many Indians prefer to stay on a green…Read More Breaking News

Calling on the Government to consider Judicial Economy on the Court Cases for UNNJ students.

Many of the UNNJ students have been issued an Notice of Intent to Appear (NTA) which obviously will put a burden not only on the students but also on the immigration court systems. According to an article from the organization American Immigration Council - Immigration Court Backlog Shows No Sign of Shrinking, the immigration courts are over-loaded with work and many of the cases which are being referred to the court are non-serious criminals cases.  Since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),  is mostly not charging students of very serious charges, we call…Read More Breaking News

L1A New Memo – Matter of Z-A-, Inc., Adopted Decision 2016-02 (AAO Apr. 14, 2016)

Matter of Z-A-, Inc. In a policy memorandum issued April 14 (this month) by the USCIS regarding the Matter of Z-A-, Inc. case, the USCIS directs all USCIS employees to follow the policy guidance established under the case as it relates to defining “managerial capacity.” The case deals with whether USCIS must consider evidence from a petitioner regarding personnel employed overseas [by another related entity] within the organization who perform tasks for the petitioning entity. The case states that an adjudicating officer must assess all relevant evidence in the record concerning the beneficiary’s…Read More Breaking News

Fiscal Year 2017 H-1B Cap Premium Processing to Begin May 12

On May 12, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting premium processing, including petitions seeking an exemption for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher. USCIS first announced in a news release that it would temporarily adjust its premium processing practice due to the historic premium processing receipt levels, combined with the possibility that the H-1B cap will be met in the first 5 business days of the filing season. USCIS provides premium processing service for certain employment-based petitions and guarantees a 15-calendar-day…Read More Breaking News

7 Things to know about the Immigration Court – UNNJ Updates.

Since many people are not familiar with how the immigration courts operate, we have tried to explain at least few things how the court works especially for those at UNNJ who might have to deal with the courts. 1. Department of Justice Immigration Courts are under the Department of Justice (DOJ) not the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This means that if you have received a Notice to Appear, you are no longer really under the jurisdiction of the DHS although Immigration Customs Enforcement will still be conducting their investigations. The government will actually be…Read More Breaking News

Should UNNJ students contact their respective countries’ Embassies or Consulates?

April 20 2016 - We are 15 days in the UNNJ issues, and many people are getting desperate and do not know what other options are afforded to them. Some students have suggested that they should reach out to their respective countries' embassies or consulates for help. This video addresses this approach. Note that we are just giving a suggestion here, there is no guarantee that any country's government will actually help in this matter but since the students are still citizens of their own countries, they should be able to ask for…Read More Breaking News

Prudential Revocation is causing fear to Travel

Recently we posted a video on prudential revocation of visas for those who have a DUI and DWI and traveling back to the United States.  This law is becoming a major nightmare for those who want to travel abroad. We wanted to elaborate more on this rule. The Prudential Revocation rule has been there for a while, however in 2016, the State Department amended the Foreign Affairs Manual to read the following: 9 FAM 403.11-5(B) (U) Prudential Revocations (CT:VISA-50; 02-22-2016) a. (U) Although consular officers generally may revoke a visa only if the alien is ineligible under INA…Read More Breaking News

UNNJ Students – Is it possible to move to Canada?

April 19, 2016 - Due to the fact that many students are now eager to leave the US, we have been contacted by many for possibilities in Canada. Unfortunately the Shah Peerally Law Group PC does not handle Canadian immigration. However,  the law firm Joomratty Law Corp, has been nice to offer assistance. In case, you want to move to Canada, please feel free to contact them. This is a message from the President, M. Joomratty. "Given the sad turn of events at University of Northern New Jersey – UNNJ, our law firm has…Read More Breaking News

Difficulties of trying to re-enter the United States after UNNJ

Many of the ex-students of UNNJ who have left are asking whether they will be able to come back. The question is very difficult to answer unless there is an analysis of the specific situation in which the UNNJ students were in while “attending” the school. First of all for those who are found to have defrauded or presented fraudulent documents to any government officials including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State and other government entities, they might find themselves in a situation of willful misrepresentation or fraud. See article…Read More Breaking News

Employment-Based Fourth Preference (EB-4) Visa Limits Reached for Special Immigrants From El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras

April 15 2016 - The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for May 2016 reflects a final action date  of January 1, 2010, for EB-4 visas for special immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This means that starting in May, applicants from these countries who filed Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant on or after January 1, 2010, will not be able to obtain an immigrant visa or adjust status until new visas become available. These three countries have reached their EB-4 visa limits as congressionally mandated for fiscal year…Read More Breaking News

UNNJ students – what are the chances of a reinstatement?

  • Posted on April 17, 2016
  • /Under CPT
April 16th 2016 - Reinstatement is one of the options being proposed by the termination letter from the DHS. While this option is being "offered" or proposed the question is whether it is a good idea to actually go for a reinstatement. From our experience a reinstatement is usually hard to obtain because one of the elements of the case is that the foreign student has to actually prove that he/she is not at fault. Unfortunately it might be a big hurdle to explain that one was not aware of the rules on…Read More Breaking News

Can the press help the UNNJ students?

We are calling on the press to hear the stories of the UNNJ students.  We have been receiving hundreds of calls in the past week. As we hear the story of the students and their versions of situation, it seems that there are a lot of flaws in this operation. Entrapment is the word that comes to mind - in Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540, 548 (1992). “Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person’s mind the disposition to commit a criminal act, and then induce…Read More Breaking News

Universal English Center Corporation – SEVIS access terminated!

This notice was posted on ICE's website on April 13, 2016: Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified schools are subject to a review of their certification at any time based on federal regulation. On April 12, 2016, SEVP informed officials at Universal English Center Corporation (UEC) that the school's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) access will be terminated as of May 13, 2016. As of April 12, UEC will no longer be able to issue any new Forms I-20, "Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status," and will retain SEVIS access…Read More Breaking News

10 Lessons to be learned from UNNJ (University of Northern New Jersey) and TVU (Tri Valley University) Sagas!

  • Posted on April 14, 2016
  • /Under CPT
UNNJ has hit many almost by surprise after the TVU saga. Unfortunately unlike TVU where the culprit was directly the school, here the culprits are hard to define. Are they the brokers or consultants? Or are they just the government which tried to trap the brokers? The question might never be answered unless the press or foreign governments questions the United States – why did this happen? Nonetheless the UNNJ saga is now going t to affect the decision of thousands of students who hope to study in the United States. The biggest…Read More Breaking News

USCIS Publishes New Edition of Form N-400, Application for Naturalization

On April 13, 2016, USCIS revised Form N-400, Application for Naturalization. The revised version is available at uscis.gov/n-400. You may continue to use the 9/13/13 edition of the form until August 9, 2016. USCIS will reject and return previous versions of Form N-400 submitted on or after August 10, 2016. Eligibility Requirements The eligibility requirements for naturalization have not changed. For information on how to complete the form, and where eligibility you can call us at 510 742 5887. Changes You Will See on the Revised Form USCIS posted the draft form on…Read More Breaking News