I got my passsport stamped at the local INS office today. Rajiv and his team have done a wonderful job ! They answer any questions you might have even after your case is approved ! The entire Green Card process took only 19 months with no RFE issued at any stage as far as paperwork is concerned. I most definitely would recommend Mr.Khanna's office for GC and H1-B cases.
My wife and I received I-485 approval notice and our passports stamped in Charleston, SC on March 6th, 2002. I started the process in Nov 1998 with Rajiv Khanna. I should say that the whole process took a while, but Mr. Khanna helped me to clear every hurdle. One of the good things I liked about Mr. Khanna and staff is that they can be reached very easily through email, and all of them are very prompt in replying too. I found the staff in his office, especially Suman Bhasin, Diane Lombardo and Leila Lehman, very cooperative and knowledgeable. Mr. Khanna and his staff always kept me well informed about the status of the green card process. Rajiv is well abreast of immigration rules and regulations. I highly recommend Rajiv Khanna's service for any immigration matter. I am thankful to Rajiv and his wonderful team.
My GC case was handled very cautiously with keeping my interest on top of everything. I think Law offices of Rajiv Khanna take well proven approach that makes it lowest risk solution.
Hi, I am a 3 + year old Client of Rajiv's law firm all the way from H1 to GC approval. I would like to highly recommend the quality of work all of them do.Initially, when I consulted them for H1, Rajiv told me that "50 - 50 chances" , "you may get it", etc.. etc.. (Since I came as a Student and didn't finish my course work.) Guess what ? Approval was waiting in the mail box. Same thing for G.C. He told me that the processing is taking longer and I may get G.C. and within 2 1/2 years, my GC got approved. I want to appreciate all the great work done by Dorothy, Suman, Leila Lehman and especially, Diane Lombardo for the high quality work. I got 2 RFEs and I doubted whether I would ever get G.C. and to my surprise, I received the G.C. approval. This is not boasting about Rajiv's Law Firm but I felt that I got every Penny out of the Dollar spent. They are a great team. Their Service is fast, prompt, reliable and result oriented. Thanks Rajiv,Suman,Dorothy, Leila and Diane and all of those who are hidden behind the scene.
Rajiv and his team - One of the most dedicated, sincere, helpful teams I have ever seen. They are very co-operative. Whenever I needed any information I could get it from them right away.I would not hesitate even a bit to say if you need any help, you have Rajiv's team. Rajiv, Dianne, Leila, Suman,Lakshmi,etc...ev'one was very good in their service. Thankyou Raji & Team...for the help I received from you all. And Good luck!!
Rajiv and his team are just wonderful. My very special thanks to the team member who worked with me for being courteous and highly professional. It is a pleasure to talk to Rajiv and his team of dedicated staff with my questions and comments. They are ever willing to answer my queries. Thanks also to Charu, Sirisha and others who have helped me to get through this H1-B approval. I have no hesitation to recommend this outstanding team of professionals to anyone who need good immigration attorney.
thank you i appreciate your work!
Thanks to Rajiv and his team for their excellent work. The team is very experienced and knowledgeable. They are prompt in filing all documents with INS in all the stages of processing.Rajiv and his team is very prompt in replying to all my email queries. I strongly recommend Rajiv for your visa processing.
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.
My interview took literally 15 mins. He checked if I was at the same residence, checked if I was working for the same company, went thru my application, asked if I wanted a name change (I said 'no"), asked to see my passport, license, green card, gave me 10 US history questions which I need to write the answers to (got them all correct), asked to write out my name on top of my two photographs and then gave a form that had "Congratulations you have been approved for citizenship...blah blah blah" box checked off. That is it.
It was very good experience working with Rajiv's office for green card processing. I got GC in less than 2 years. I rece ived professional guidance at every stage of the GC process. Following Rajiv's advise, I decided to go for consuler proc essing. Thanks to Liela, it took just 5 months between approval of I140 and interview and I had absolutely no problem at Mumbai consulate.