Dear Rajiv, Pooja, Suman, Savita, Vijay, Fedlina and All, Let me thank you all for such and excellent work done by all of you for my Labor Certification. I am really very impressed by good work of Law office. L.C. filed on 12/06/00, L.C. approved. 04/30/01. When State Department of Labor, Maryland asked for the few questions about my LC, Rajiv himself called me and assured. He is very humble and nice person. He is having full command not only to Immigration Law, but also to softwares. Though profession he is a Lawyer, but he does Designing and coding for his own 4GL/5GL programs. Thank you very much Rajiv. Raman
I checked the AVM message at Vermont and heard that our I485 petition for adjustment of status was approved. I have been associated with Mr. Rajiv Khanna, Charu Bhagat, Suman Bhasin, Leila Lehman and Diane Lombardo off and on since that time. Mr. Khanna practices his law in a principled manner and I have never been given any false assurances by him. He is not one of those fly by night lawyers who promise the moon and then dont deliver. He has always given me advise without reservations. He is also a shrewd lawyer and if your case has even the slighest merit, he will get it to your favor. Well thanks to him my family and I are permanent residents.
Dear Rajiv & Team, Thanking every one at Law offices of Rajiv S akhanna for getting my GC in record time, showing excellent thru the process. Thank you for taking a great interest in my case and I have no doubt every client of yours get this same great service. Feel lucky to have you as my atty. Thanking you and wishing good luck for others going thru the process. Ramana
Thanks to concerted efforts of law firm, I got my GC in 1.5 years. The remarkable thing about the people working at this law firm is that they always return your calls ( especially Ms Lehman). They take utmost care with the paperwork and they have been so prompt in paper-filing too. I opted for Consular Processing and it was a piece of cake. They did not ask any questions at all.
My wife H4 was expired and we realized about it one year after it has been expired. This has happened because my previous employer filed just my H1 and they never filed H4 for my wife. After realizing the situation my current employer filed through our company lawyer and H4 was denied. I have been looking around for another lawyer, who had success in handling this kind of case. I didn't find one single lawyer who can assure me of fixing my wife visa or who had success in the past. I sent an e.mail to Rajiv and surprisingly I got call from him the very next day and he told me about the success they had in the previous cases. We filed for my wife H4 along with my 7th year extension. Miraculously her H4 was approved by CIS. This has just happened definitely because of the excellent background work done by Rajiv and his team. The timely response from Rajiv,Jitesh,Ursula,Anna & Seth is extremely impressive. I recommend anybody to deal your immigration issue with Rajiv and his team. These guys are just awesome. Overall I am very happy that we chose Rajiv firm.
Excellent services. Got approved without any ref or other problems.
Good experience.
I have contacted you in the month of June, 05 regarding my F1-H1 Issue. My H1-B visa was approved by the American Consulate in Mumbai with out any problems and I am in the US right now. I would like to genuinely thank you for all your help and advise and I am glad that I took your services as I tried a number of lawyers before you and everyone gave me conflicting advises. I am writing to you my whole experience in detail so that you can put this in forum as other people may get help from this.
Thanks to Rajiv and his professional, friendly staff for their phenomenal work on our Green card case. We just got our cards. Rajiv was meticulous, comprehensive, and incredibly skillful in preparing the case. Over the last three years, we had some really nerve wracking moments, but Rajiv’s prompt response to our concerns had been a beacon of hope and comfort. We never had to wait more than a few hours for his response to our emails. This promptness meant a lot to us. We are very happy that we chose Rajiv as our attorney, and we recommend his firm highly to anyone seeking immigration benefits. Once gain a heartfelt thanks to Rajiv, and his staff.
Very professionally done! Mr. Khanna took personal interest and answered e-mails/questions promptly. He has made yet another permanent client!!! His staff was also very patient. His fees is very competitive and there are no fees for 'providing information' on the phone, a practice of many immigration lawyers.
On Thursday around 7:15AM, when I was two blocks away from immigration office in Atlanta for my Naturalization interview, I had a car accident. A black Suburban hit my car and ran away, my car spun out about 5 times, air bags were deployed, but thanks God I didn't suffer any physical damage. My Interview had been scheduled for 8:20AM
I filed my N400 on 25 oct 2011 when completed 4years 9 months of my Legal residency. FP was done on 14 Nov2011. Naturalization interview was on 21 Dec 2011 at San Jose . The officer was extremely nice and cordial. I had an issue of 182 days in one trip and total 846 days away from USA, total 6trips. As advised by Rajiv, I enclosed a letter with N400 about visiting India to see my aged mother yearly who passed away this year and explained the over stay due to my younger brother daughter's marriage as Host after my father's death.
Release Date: June 28, 2012
For Immediate Release
DHS Office of Public Affairs; Contact: 202-282-8010
DOJ Office of Public Affairs; Contact: 202-514-2007
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is moving from a paper-based model to a secure, online environment. On May 22, we launched the foundational release of our new system, named the USCIS Electronic Immigration System (USCIS ELIS).
USCIS ELIS is a streamlined online account-based system that enhances customer service and the quality of our processes by enabling USCIS to access all relevant information about a customer. These improvements result in more complete, accurate and timely responses to customer requests.
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
July 2, 2012
Special Advisor for Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs is visiting Guatemala from July 1-3 as part of a Congressional Delegation led by Senator Mary Landrieu. The delegation, which includes officials from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is meeting with Guatemalan officials to discuss progress in resolving the remaining intercountry adoption transition cases.
On June 25, 2012, Acting Ombudsman Debra Rogers submitted the 2012 Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman's Annual Report to Congress.
In her opening message, Acting Ombudsman Rogers writes:
Posted by Alejandro Mayorkas, Director, U.S.
On July 1, 2012, Montenegro became a party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). However, the Department of State (DOS) has determined that Montenegro does not yet have a fully functional Convention process in place. DOS consular officers are unable to certify that adoption decrees or custody orders obtained in Montenegro for a child habitually resident in Montenegro have been issued in compliance with the Hague Adoption Convention. Without this certification, U.S.
On June 22, 2012, USCIS hosted a public engagement featuring two economists who work on the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program. Following that engagement, some stakeholders sought clarification as to certain points raised by the economists. USCIS is now pleased to provide clarification as to two of the primary questions raised.
EB-5 Projects Involving Hotel or Resort Development
I can truly say Mr. Khanna is the best immigration lawyer. Our office has worked with Mr. Khanna and his team for years. They are always available to answer any questions and very helpful with the amount of information and assistance they provide. Thanks to Rajiv, Art, Anna and Judi we have a 100% approval rate so far.
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
July 3, 2012
Mexico City, June 29, 2012 – Following President Obama’s efforts to promote travel and tourism as important contributions to job creation and economic growth, the U.S. Embassy is pleased to announce that beginning July 1, 2012, an expanded visa renewal program will allow many more Mexican citizens and residents to renew their nonimmigrant visas without a follow-on interview at the Embassy or a U.S. Consulate.
Substantial transcription:
7th July 2012 at 05:16 PM
9.59 Minutes
What do we do when our visa gets denied under section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act? Basically, this means that if the consulate doesn’t believe you are going to come back, they deny the visa, saying that you have an immigrant intent which you have not been able to rebut. So the idea is whenever somebody goes for a visa stamping, they actually are presumed to have immigrant intent unless they prove otherwise. Of all the visas A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H all the way to V, some visas are immune to this problem.
What are the visas that are immune?
H-1 as well as H-4, L-1 as well as L-2, and O-1 and O-1 derivative visas are immune by law almost. H and L are clearly immune by law and O by implication. With these visas, if you have a green card going, the consulate is not going to deny your visa for that reason.
On the other hand, there are notorious visas that are very susceptible to this problem:
B-1, B-2, F-1 as well as F-2 (which are for students), and J-1 as well as J-2 are susceptible. A lot of physicians on J-1’s have had a visa denial on 214(b).
TN visa holders strictly not going for visa stamping but can be stopped at the border if their green card has been filed. So bear in mind that when TN holders apply for a green card, they should be careful about this particular factor.
The biggest problem with 214(b) is it is extremely difficult to fight it. I have recently taken a case in which an F visa was denied on 214(b), and I think we have a fighting chance because the visa applicant has come to the U.S. many times and she has left within her time permitted. So she’s been a frequent traveler on a B visa. Her F visa denial is extremely unjustified, in my opinion.
Let me just very quickly go through the visa alphabets.
A visa (diplomats) will have no problem. They have no issues of a green card being denied.
B visa will have a problem.
C, D, and E visas will usually not have a problem.
The only thing you have to establish for E-3, especially for Australians (E-3 is kind of equivalent of H-1), is that you do have an intention to come back but not to the same degree. In other words, if you have a home in Australia, the degree of proof is not very high so it is very easy to meet that degree of proof.
G visa is ok.
H visa is ok.
By the way, H-2B visas can have a major problem with immigrant intent. These are people who are coming to U.S. for to perform skilled labor.
I, which is international journalists/media representatives, may or may not be ok.
J visa will definitely be a problem.
K -1 and K-3 are no problem because they are fiancés or spouses of U.S. citizens and are obviously meant to go into green card.
L visa is no problem.
M, which is folks who are doing vocational training, can have this problem.
P visa (performers, athletes, etc.) can have a problem but usually won’t.
Q visa (exchange visitors) can have a problem.
R visa usually won’t.
S, T, and U visas won’t usually have a problem because they are done within the USA and are usually either victims of crime or people who are assisting in criminal investigations.
So what do you do if you get a 214(b) denial?
Normally there isn’t much we can do but, if you have been to USA before or else there is something unique in your case, we can ask the consulate to reconsider and if they are not willing and able, then we can ask the visa office in Washington, D.C. to intervene. You can also contact your family or employer in the U.S. to contact the local Congressmen to seek their intervention. This typically is not helpful but you can try. If anybody from the bar or a lawyer tells you he or she can fix it, be mindful because they may not be able to. Especially be careful when you talk with lawyers in your own country. This makes me very nervous because we have had some cases where local lawyers in other countries did some strange stuff. They had some hook ups with consulates and ultimately got caught.
The biggest problem is with fraud or misrepresentation. If you make a misrepresentation in attempting to get any immigration benefit, you can be barred from entering USA forever.
Going back to 214(b) denials, you can ask the consulate to reconsider. Reapply if you have a case that begs for a special consideration, like you’ve been to the U.S. many times. For example, one of my friends asked me that, if his girlfriend is refused a B visa, is it okay to bring the lady in on a K-1 (fiancé visa)? My take is do not use the fiancé visa in lieu of B-1 or B-2 visa, because if you do not have the intention to get married, the government can consider it to be fraud. So make sure you want to get married within 90 days after they enter the U.S.
One more point -- there is a legal fiction created in U.S. immigration law about ties to your home country that says you can overcome 214(b) denial if you have ties to your home country. That in my mind is a legal fiction. To demonstrate ties is very difficult. Of course, if you have family in your home country, that’s a good example of ties but to say you have property, but property can be sold, so I don’t think that’s really ties. Having business is also not really a tie as a business can be sold. Hence demonstrating ties to your home country is usually a difficult thing to do.
This issue has come up several times recently. Feel free to ask me specific questions on the website, in a forum, or on a community conference call.
Rajiv Khanna and his office associates helped in all aspects of my green card applications and made it as smooth as possible. They are very well talented and experienced to handle any kind of case. My special thanks to Rajiv, Suman Leila, and Diane who very always there to help and answer all the questions at any time.