The H-1B Program
U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.
For more information about the H-1B program, see the link to the left under temporary workers for H-1B Specialty Occupations and Fashion Models.
How USCIS Determines if an H-1B Petition is Subject to the FY 2013 Cap
In my offer letter, they have mentioned if they sponsor H1b I need to work with them for 5 years. What happens if I change the company by down the road within these 5 years?
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I got my H-1B denial on 02/20/2020. H1B expired date : 1/31/2020. I-94 expired date: 2/10/2020. H1B extension denial date: 02/20/2020. H1B filed date: 12/07/2019. H1B RFE date: 12/27/2019. H1B RFE replied date: 02/02/2020. How long can I stay ?
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
Can H-1B transfer happen in such case from company B? If yes then if this transfer is approved but previous H1b extension is not approved which is from company B will it impact my status in US? Can I work for company B still? Will there be any chance that I have to go to India and come back with stamped visa ?
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I have been scheduled for my interview next month after cancellation of the first one. I took three trips outside the US, and one last more than 6 months but less than one year. I waited for more than 5years since my last entrance which is June 2013 before applying for citizenship. Should I be worried about my interview since I broke the continuity of residency?
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
My boyfriend is applying for his F1 Visa in July 2020 for fall semester 2020 for his MS in Finance at one of the US universities (deciding on which one right now). This is a question asked well in advanced so we are fully prepared.
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
On 10 March 2020, a Washington DC Federal Court overturned the USCIS highly restrictive
standards applied to the consulting industry. This decision has a major positive impact on the IT
industry.
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer held that the USCIS must not administer justice through random
memoranda and must, if it wishes to change the regulations, do so through a formal process. In
fact, the USCIS seems to have illegally targeted the IT industry (“special treatment”):
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that it will reuse previously submitted biometrics in order to process valid Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, extension requests due to the temporary closure of Application Support Centers (ASC) to the public in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
USCIS has received enough electronic registrations during the initial period to reach the FY 2021 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap). USCIS randomly selected from among the registrations properly submitted. USCIS intends to notify petitioners with selected registrations no later than March 31, 2020, that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it is adopting a measure to assist applicants and petitioners who are responding to requests for evidence (RFEs) and notices of intent to deny (NOIDs) dated between March 1 and May 1, 2020.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that, due to the ongoing COVID-19 National Emergency announced by President Trump on March 13, 2020, USCIS will accept all benefit forms and documents with reproduced original signatures, including the Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, for submissions dated March 21, 2020, and beyond.
Discussion Topics, Thursday, 5 March 2020
FAQ: Denial of a tourist/visitors/B visa 214(b) ||citizenship/naturalization trips of more than six months abroad || Time of stay and definition of a manager/executive employee for L-1A and EB-1C ||Transfer of H-1B while extension is pending ||What to do after an H-1B (or L-1) denial? ||Work duration and damages contracts under H-1B ||I do not have my final degree/diploma certificate/what should I do?
OTHER: Scheduling green card interview in a third country consulate || multiple H-4 extensions simultaneously ||AR-11 change of address filing, etc.,
Discussion Topics, Thursday, 19 March 2020
FAQ: EB-1C - What if my priority date does not become current before my L1A expiry? Should I file an H1B for safety? If I do, will I get moved from EB1 to EB2 ? Should my wife try for H1B ? Is there any maximum number of tries for H1B? If neither me nor my wife manage to get a H1B visa in the next 3 years, is it ok to exit the country and come back when EB1 priority date becomes current ? What visa will I come back with? || Loss of job/laid off during Covid/coronavirus times
OTHER: Moving from a cap exempt H-1B, extension etc. || Apply for an H-1B extension while another MTR is pending || Rejoining old employer after withdrawn I-140 || 60 days grace period for H-1B || Travel during EAD/AP renewal || H-1B transfer or AC21?
Thank you Mr Khanna for providing such a spectacular service in assisiting and making me understand in detail about the issues related to F1 and GC process. Thank you.God bless!!
I had scheduled Citizenship interview at 8:10 A.M. today, i went in around 7:20 A.M. and there were around 10 people before me. I had to wait for 10 mins and my name was called by the IO. The IO took me to his office and told me to raise my right hand and asked me that i am telling all but truth.
I travelled from Colorado Springs and it takes about an hour and 15 minutes to reach the Denver USCIS. I reached the USCIS office at 5:50am
WASHINGTON—Today the formal public comment period closes for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers of Inadmissibility for Certain Immediate Relatives rule. The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on April 2, 2012, proposes a new filing process for certain immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens (i.e.
Job requirement says BS in engineering + 5 years of exp. No alternatives mentioned in PERM.
Educational qualifications: Diploma + AMIE + M.Tech
Experience: 7 Years exp. post M.tech from previous employer and 5 years from current employer. Does this can be classified under EB-2 for the above job requirement keeping AMIE degree in view? Would it be any issue during I140 regarding the education?
The AMIE is iffy. In fact I recall an AAO decision that said they will not recognize AMIE, but then a more recent decision was a bit more wishy-washy. Anyhow, I think an EB2 must be tried. The MTech will help.
I work under the EC (Employer-Client) model. I went for visa stamping at Hyderabad, India and my case was put under 221(g) administrative processing. On April 18th, I got an e-mail from Consulate stating that based on the information provided during visa interview my nonimmigrant visa case has been refused and the petition has been returned to USCIS for re-evaluation. The consulate would wait for the judgment from USCIS on weather or not the petition should be reaffirmed. Is there anything I could do to ensure that my case gets reaffirmed and expedite the process from USCIS?
You will need to wait (or start another H-1). The employer will receive from USCIS an intent to revoke. They will then have 30 days to respond. Based upon the response, USCIS will affirm or revoke. This process can easily take 3-6 months.
My mom had applied for my green card in March 2001 and the date became current in Nov 2008 which is when I received a letter asking me to confirm the address and to pay the fee of 400$. But unfortunately I got married in Dec 2008 thus didn’t pay that amount as I wont be eligible to do so. I am in USA right now on E3 visa and my dad has become a citizen, not my mom. My question to you is can I adjust the status to a green card or will I have to wait for my mom to become a citizen.
As far as I know, there is no way to transfer the priority date over from your mom's to your dad's petition. He can, of course, start another case for you.
I am a US citizen and I filed I-130 & I-485 for my mother to gain her permanent resident. She's in the United States as well as my little sister who is under 18. Would my little sister get her status upgrade as well because of her age? Or do I have to file separately for her?
You will have to file separately. Your mother can also file once she gets her green card. But note that your sister will not have any status in USA during the multiple years her green card application would be pending.
Hello, everyone. This is Rajiv S. Khanna for immigration.com, the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
I wanted to talk with you folks about requirements for naturalization for people who get their Green Card based upon employment and then have to stay outside USA for a certain period time. Many of the criteria here are common to people who have obtained their Green Card through any other method such as through marriage or through political asylum. Pretty much, it is the same law. But I want to focus primarily on people who have gotten an employment-based Green Card, because those are the inquires I receive the most and I don’t want to miss anything, because N-470 typically does not apply to people in non-employment situations, except for missionaries. I’ll get to that in a second.
So, first of all, let’s look at the requirements for somebody to get naturalized in USA. What are the normal requirements?
Right here. You must have received your Green Card approval five years ago. Actually, it is a little bit more complicated than that. You can apply 90 days before your 5th year anniversary of Green Card. In case you got your Green Card through marriage, then it is three years, when you are married to a US citizen. After that, you must have stayed in USA for at least 30 months physically. 2 ½ years. Half the time. You should not have visited outside USA for a year or more. If you go outside USA for a year, your Green Card is gone. It’s difficult to get it back. Not impossible, but what you will have to do if you end up staying for a year or more outside USA is, you will have to go to the consulate and convince them that you have not abandoned your US permanent residence, your Green Card, and you can do that by a process called SB-1 (Returning Resident Permit). I’m not going to go into that in too much detail, but just to give you an idea. If you are outside USA for one year or more, for naturalization purposes, you have to start your five years all over again, except in the following two circumstances, I-131 and N-470, which are these. I’ll get to that in a second as well.
So, physical presence of 2 ½ years, no visit outside USA for a year or more, any visit outside USA for six months or more but less than one year, you have to explain. Why were you gone that long? So this is for people who have not filed these special forms called I-131 and N-470. I also want to make a quick note about I-131 and N-470.
What is I-131?
It’s the same form you used for filing for Advanced Parole when you are in need of Advanced Parole during your Adjustment of Status. It’s also the same form used for protecting your Green Card through a process called Reentry Permit. So you use your 1-131 to apply for a Reentry Permit, which is typically given for two years at one go, and you can get that extended, depending on the circumstances. Basically, the I-131 tells the government, “Look. I am not abandoning my permanent residence. I am just going outside temporarily.” Once you file the I-131, things change for naturalization purposes.
Did you stay outside USA for one year continuously?
If you did, ordinarily, if you had not filed I-131, you would have to start five years all over again, if you have not lost your Green Card. You could have even lost your Green Card. But, if you had filed your I-131, you don’t lose your Green Card, and you also get a respite of one year. When you come back, you have to establish your US residence for four years and one day instead of five years and apply after you have accumulated physical presence in USA for 2 ½ years. It gives you one year off from those five years. That’s an added advantage of I-131. It protects your Green Card as much as humanly possible. There’s more to it. I would always advise you to talk with a lawyer before you take any steps of going outside USA for an extended period of time. It also shortens the time of five years that you would have to otherwise accumulate for naturalization.
Did you stay outside USA for one year continuously after I-131?
If the answer is no, then these same requirements that apply to normal people will apply to you. Physical presence of 30 months, no visit outside USA for a year or more, six months or more will have to be explained.
Then comes N-470.
N-470 is one of those tricky strange forms. It’s applicable to a certain group of people. I would strongly encourage you to read up on the instructions on N-470. They’re pretty informative.
The way this works is, if you’re going to work for a US company abroad and, again, I am talking about employment context. There are other reasons N-470 can be filed. Read the instructions. What N-470 does is it allows you to stay outside USA for a year or more and not have a break that will restart your five years all over again. Let me explain. Let’s say I file I-131 and N-470. I do it together. Usually, in most cases, we do both forms together. When you file I-131 and N-470 together, let’s say you stayed outside USA for 1 ½ years. Normally, when you come back, you have to start that five-year period all over again, because you were outside USA for one year or, in case of I-131, you have to start the four year, one day period all over again. But N-470 says, “We forgive your stay outside USA for one year or more for naturalization purposes. We don’t forgive your requirement of 30 months of physical presence.” But it stops the discontinuity that would normally restart the five-year clock or the four year, one day clock after having stayed outside USA for one year. It is a clock-stopping device. It is a very good device. One problem though. N-470 has one strange requirement. You must have at least one year anywhere during your stay in USA as a Green Card holder where you did not travel outside USA for even for one day. Makes no sense to me. I don’t know why it is there, but it’s there. Go figure, but keep that in mind.
I hope this has been informative. I had told one of our posters. Somebody had posted a comment on immigration.com wanting to know more about this. And I told him that I’ll record something, but I’ve had some technical issues. They’re working on our website developing some new material that will make it easier for us to post our videos. I hope to be doing this a lot more, and I’ll continue to do so.
Thank you for being here. I hope to speak with you very soon.
All Readers, I quote from my latest msg. to Mr. Rajiv Khanna's office. Please make yourself more aware on your issues by visiting his web-site (and positively contributing to it) and get advice from his office for your particular needs. All cases are NOT the same. Quote Dear Mr Khanna I barely get time to go to your web-site, though I know it is an ocean of information for all those awaiting their immigration process at some stage or the other. Today I happened to spend an hour there and learnt that your Office had done me good!! I live in an area which lacks Indian neighbors and in my Office too, I am the only Indian working in my whole division! Therefore, there is seldom any interaction with people who are at a similar stage as me in the Immigration process. When my I-140 was filed, your Legal Assistant Nimia Aranibar informed me of the CP option. Though I might have surprised her with my lack of knowledge on this process, she explained the process to me and answered my doubts. And she did as I opted for. No suggestions or implications or other discussion. She was very professional in giving me the information and in answering my questions on the issue. She even understood my concerns with the CP process and offered to clarify my doubts and suggested the recourse to this choice if I needed a recourse at a later date. After reading the chat-site on your web-site, I now realise that the lady was giving me good information at the right time. There are so many people on the web who feel have been un-informed of this process. I, on the contrary, have got the right information from your office and am very happy about this. Thank you and best regards Prateek Rishi Nimia, reading in copy, thank you very much for the time taken to explain me the two processes.