I applied for my waiver in Aug 09 from the US and sent completed DS 3035 to the Waiver Review Div. in St. Louis, MO and Indian Embassy in DC. I returned to India in Sept 09.I have not had any updates since then. I would like to know (1) If I have missed any steps and if that is the reason why my waiver status remains unchanged (2) If I HAVE TO and can still apply for the NORI and obtain my waiver since I already have my case number and barcode (3) If I apply for the NORI from India, where do I send the Statement and Affidavit for attestation? (4)Are there any additional steps for waiver from India?
Contact the Waiver Review branch in USDOS first. Figure out what is going on with your pending case. You cannot apply for more than one type of waiver at the same time.
I have a 4 years Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering and I am working in IT Industry for the last 13 years with documented progressive experience. Do I qualify for EB2 or EB3?
EB2 is possible
I have 3 years bachelors in computer science and 2 years masters in computer science in India..My education evaluation says masters..so is it possible to apply in EB-2?
It is possible, but your lawyers must assess which route is best for you: evaluate the two degrees to be equiv. to a Bach. and use Bach + 5 for EB-2 OR just use the Master's degree (risky).
I am currently on H-1 and interviewing with another company. The interview involved air travel within the US and staying at a hotel. Is anything wrong with my prospective employer reimbursing the air travel and hotel costs and also providing reasonable allowance (for covering food) for the days of my stay? Would receiving a cost reimbursement check from the prospective employer invalidate and/or interfere with my current H1 visa status?
Interesting issue. I do not believe there is any law covering this situation, but in my view out of pocket expense reimbursement including food is acceptable and is not a violation of H-1 status.
Dear Rajiv and Vijay, I would like to thank you and your entire staff for great job plowing through many emails/teleconferences/phone calls and documents. As someone who pays extra attention to detail, it is refreshing to find others working with the same diligence. Without getting into the cobwebs of my case, Mr. Khanna was introduced to a new law that affected my case. Rather than bypassing it, we tackled it head on; it did take additional time for both the lawyers and myself, however the LCA was approved. With such a stressful and time consuming process, Mr. Khanna and his staff, can give their clients not only the knowledge to move forward, but also peace of mind! H1/LCA (now I-140 and I-485)
Received greencard through Eb1-b category in exactly 5 months. Diane did an impressive job in putting together the application packet in a quick and timely manner. Guidance from Rajiv was thorough. Overall, extremely pleased with the customer service of this lawfirm.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna and team. They have been very helpful in my case. A year back I have filed my H1 transfer through this firm and now an extension of stay in US. In both the cases, I am very happy. Specially thanks to Fran who took over my case. I definitely say with strong voice that it would be worth working with Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna. - Praveen
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I had a conference call with Attorney Khanna. I was given very specific and precise information which cleared all my doubts and being a friendly person helps to ease and think during conversation if any questions are raised. Truly speaking, its a dialogue rather than monologue which I have seen from others. I am satisfied and strongly recommand his help whoever wants. Good Luck.
I want to thank Mr. Rajiv Khanna and his team for taking care for my L1B visa application during the summer of 2010. By now (dec 2010) this is all history and I have the visa in my passport. At the time, it was quite a stressfull period with much uncertaincy of the outcome. My Khanna and his team kept faith in a good result and steered the application through rough seas, until the final approval by USCIS. Thanks very much for the professionalism. Theo Borst
WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a revised Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, for individuals with disabilities who are seeking exceptions from the English and civics requirements for naturalization.
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds Haitian nationals that the registration deadline for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is Jan. 18, 2011.
Haitian nationals who have continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2010, and who meet other TPS eligibility requirements, must file their applications for TPS no later than Jan. 18, 2011. The TPS designation for Haiti will remain in effect through July 22, 2011.
I am reporting here comments from and my responses to a member of our community, "Julissa," regarding whether or how she could apply for a green card herself if she has a Master's degree. Do note, if a set of new immigration laws gets passed, all this could change.
There was an interesting question in today's community conference call we host every other Thursday. The link to the question is here: http://forums.immigration.com/showth...onference-Call
PERM filing issue
Here is an excerpt from a press release from USDOL. I have said this many times before, - government investigations are NOT the same as litigation or practicing transactional immigration or corporate law. This is an entirely different area of practice. We as counsel need to know the law, compliance as well as litigation. We must approach all investigations in the spirit of good faith compliance, yet protect our clients from unnecessary liability. The investigators are not only investigators, but in effect also prosecution and judge.
WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas will help USCIS celebrate our nation’s 237th birthday as the agency welcomes more than 7,800 new citizens during more than 100 naturalization ceremonies across the country and overseas from July 1 to July 5.
Statement from Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano:
Immigration Reform 2013 Status
I wanted to give you quick overview of where we are as of today in the immigration reform effort. As you know the comprehensive immigration bill labeled S.744 was passed by Senate, and the voting in the Senate reflected what kind of support there is generally amongst the two parties (Senate and House of Republicans (House)) for this reform effort.
The composition of the Senate is currently 54 Democrats, one Independent and 45 Republicans. A total of 100 Senators. When the bill was voted upon, it was passed 68 to32. All Democrats voted for it, one Independent voted for it, but only 13 Republicans in the Senate voted for the bill. So less than one third (of Republicans voted for passage). This means that Democrats overwhelmingly support the reform, the immigration bill S. 744. But Republicans are not by any means, or in any way shape or form overwhelmingly or even in a majority in favor of the reform as it was proposed.
So, now bill has been passed the Senate. 68 to 32. It’s a good margin, but the problem situation in the House is totally different. The politics of the situation is that the Latino, Hispanic vote is becoming in proportion much larger. It is exponentially expanding. The Republicans leaders rightly believe that they must curry favor or must be considered a friend to the Hispanic industry of immigration. A lot of Republicans also believe that they have no incentive to pass an amnesty bill. One thing I would say that as far as reform of the legal immigration is concerned I don't think we have too much controversy about that. Both parties agreed that certain things need to be done, like we need skilled immigration professional. Special provisions for PhDs, physicians, people who have Master’s degrees, people with STEM degrees. We need all that and some way to remove the backlog, which is horrendous for many countries. For instance, India has nine to ten years of backlog waiting for a Green Card. So there is consensus among both parties on legal immigration. It is the amnesty part, the enforcement and border protection, which are the key areas of disagreement.
If you look on the Republicans composition, only 24 out of 234 House Republicans represent districts that have any appreciable numbers of Hispanic voters, more than 25 percent. So, only 24 out of 234. Where is the incentive for them to pass an immigration bill with amnesty? In fact, many of the Republicans come from districts that actually oppose amnesty. Republican Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) was speaking in Lynchburg, Virginia yesterday and passions were really running high against the amnesty.
So in the House even if Democrats all get together, the problem is how do we move the reform forward. House is controlled by Republicans, 234 to 201. House Speaker, John Boehner (R-OH) has said that he won't bring the Senate bill up for a vote if he does not have the support of a majority of the House Republicans (known as Hastert Rule). He says, I will not even allow this Senate bill to be voted on in the House unless a majority of House Republicans support the bill. And if we look at the cross-section of the voting that occurred in Senate, less than one third of Republicans support. It’s not good sign to get that kind of support.
So, it appears at least at this stage that the Senate bill will have very tough time going through the House as today’s politics stand.
What are the options?
Four obvious options, the fourth option is very unlikely, which is House leadership brings up the the Senate bill up for vote.
There are four options, but again it’s important to understand what happens if there are two separate bills addressing some of the same areas or all of the same areas, and there are controversies among those bills, then it goes into something called “conference”. When we get into conference, the idea is representatives from Senate and the representative from House will meet together and they will iron out their differences. A lot of times if you want to effect the Senate bill, all you have to do is pass something in the House and then it goes into the conference where you can work on one bill or the other, agree, negotiate and then take the negotiated version back to both chambers for voting Senate and House. So, option number one is House passes its own bill or bills. Actually, here we are talking about comprehensive, some kind of comprehensive set of bills, then it goes for conference. Option two, the House passes any bill, it does not have to be comprehensive bill, something that effects or contradicts the Senate version again we go into conference.
Another interesting option and normally this would not be a really good option but here may be worth considering. I doubt it, but I am not a political pundit just a lawyer. House can actually vote on the Senate bill without the House Speaker’s support. If 218 house members vote for a discharge petition, which means we don’t care what the Speaker says, we are going to vote on this bill anyway. That means House Democrats need 17 votes from Republicans to get a discharge petition and vote on the Senate bill.
So, what are the four options again:
1. Comprehensive bill by House;
2. Any bill by House;
3. Discharge petition; and
4. House leadership brings up the Senate bill to vote which is unlikely.
Let us talk about a comprehensive bill. House had its own “Gang of Eight” people working on a comprehensive immigration bill. Their focus was a lot more on enforcement, on border security, etc. But then one of the Congressman, Raul Labrador (R-ID), quit. The now “Gang of Seven” still might produce a comprehensive House bill. If such a bill is produced, we will get into conference, negotiate and then finally vote on the negotiated bill. So number one is Comprehensive bill.
Number two is any bill. As I mentioned Rep. Goodlatte from Virginia, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has produced a series of immigration related bills. House Democrats do not like it because it’s a piecemeal approach and there are all kinds of very extreme positions taken by Bob Goodlatte that House Democrats feel are inimical or enemies of immigration reform. But one of the ways, this series of bills, could be just a device to force matters into conference. If any of these bills pass in the Republican controlled House, then we will all get into conference anyway, where we can negotiate based upon the Senate version of the bill and make changes to it and then go back with the compromise. So the passage of a series of extreme bills could be a way to force matter into conference.
Option three is a discharge petition. Discharge petition normally its considered to be very bad form. If a Republican votes for a discharge petition it’s disloyal, it’s considered to be bad form. But here, Speaker Boehner himself and many other leaders, who are perhaps more in tune with the needs of the time, have said that they want immigration reform. But it looks like there is very strong opposition from certain elements within the Republican Party, which is basically muting some of these more moderate or more aware. I would not call them moderate but more aware members of the Republican Party. So normally a Republican will not vote for a discharge petition, but here who knows. Maybe this is the choice.
The key date to watch is 10th July. On 10th July there will be conference, the House Republican conference, and they meet in the basement of the Capitol to decide how they want to move forward. So that's when we will hear about the final strategy. Once again, right now we don’t know which way House is going to go, but on 10th July we should have better idea of the direction.
I live in Bulgaria and I have a Master's Degree in Veterinary Medicine. My question is can I get a EB-2 visa if I work as a veterinary assistant in the USA ?
You can qualify for EB2 only if two conditions are met:
1. Your degree is equivalent to a U.S. advanced degree (a credentials evaluation service needs to assess that under proper standards); and
2. The job requires an advanced degree or equivalent experience.
1. Certification of Decisions to the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO)
Purpose
This policy memorandum (PM) and accompanying revisions to the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) guide officers on the proper use of the decision
certification mechanism described in 8CFR 103.4. This PM revises Subchapters 3.5, 10.7, 10.8, 10.14 and 10.18 of the AFM ;AFM Update AD13 -08.
Scope
Unless specifically exempted herein, this PM applies to and binds all U.S.Citizenship and Immigration Services(USCIS)employees
I want to thank Mr. Rajiv Khanna and Richa Narang my case manager for helping with my PERM application. Mr Rajiv Khanna and his team are very professional, detail oriented and up to date. My PERM was audited in 2009 and Richa Narang made sure that all the documentation was completed and the details were answered promptly. Mr Rajiv Khanna provided excellent guidance in obtaining required letters to answer the Audit notification. My PERM was certified last week, This is such a great relief because I am in my 6th yr of H1-B. I look forward to work with this great team for the next steps. I would recommend Mr Rajiv Khanna and his team to everyone.