Immigration

Here we have the latest news within the immigration. Read breaking news on immigration updated and analysis at Shah Peerally Law Group

The E3 Visa for Australians

The non-immigrant E3 Visa was created by the REAL ID Act of 2005 : It is the “Reciprocal Visas for Nationals of Australia.”   There are 10,500 E-3 visas allotted annually to qualified individuals. Though the E-3 Visa is classified in the same category as E-1 (treaty trader) and E-2 (treaty investor) visas, E-3 visas share some similarities with H-1B Visas (workers in a specialty occupation). Therefore, the E-3 Visa can be understood as a slight hybrid between the two categories, and the E-3 visa has unique traits such as: An E-3 candidate…Read More Breaking News

Immigration Relief for Those Affected by Severe Earthquakes

USCIS offers immigration relief measures for people affected by natural disasters, such as the severe earthquakes that recently occurred in Ecuador, Japan and Burma. These measures may be available upon request: * Change or extension of nonimmigrant status if you are currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after your authorized period of admission has expired; * Re-parole, if you were previously granted parole by USCIS; * Expedited processing of requests for advance parole documents; * Expedited adjudication of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe…Read More Breaking News

Guide to Law Enforcement on U and T Visas

The U visa is actually an important visa for many, as such the Department of Homeland Security has created a guide for law enforcement on U visas. We have essentially attached the guide to our series on U visas. U and T Visa Law Enforcement Resource Guide The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides this guidance to federal, state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement officers. This public guidance primarily concerns law enforcement certifications for U nonimmigrant status, also known as U visas. The U visa is an immigration benefit that can be…Read More Breaking News

H1B Visa Alternatives – What can someone do if not selected in the H1B lottery?

  • Posted on April 23, 2016
  • /Under H1B
April 23 2016 - As you all know USCIS has received approximately 250,000 for the 2017 H1B Cap, many are now worried and looking for other options or alternatives to the H1B visas.  The truth is that H1B is the most sought out visa in the industry. However there might be other solutions for you depending on your situation.  This is why it is good to have a good lawyer assess the case for you. The video below covers some but only some of the alternatives to the H1B visa.  You can call…Read More Breaking News

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

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

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

H1B lottery Acceptance Emails for Masters Cap and Premium have started.

April 12 2016 - It seems from some cases which were filed under Masters Cap and on premium, emails are being sent to confirm that the candidate applicant has made it through the H1B lottery. Note that making it through the lottery or random selection, does not guarantee an approval.  At this point in time only premium emails are being received. Those who did not file under premium will have to wait for a physical receipt to know whether they made it through the H1B 2017 cap or not. Our office will inform our clients…Read More Breaking News