USCIS Invitation to Syria TPS Teleconference and FY2012 H1-B Season
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent this bulletin at 03/27/2012 06:07 PM EDT
Dear Stakeholder,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent this bulletin at 03/27/2012 06:07 PM EDT
Dear Stakeholder,
The Department has posted new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs.
To view FAQ please check the attachment.
The Chicago National Processing Center has announced that it will be expanding its E-Mail Notification Program to all H-2A stakeholders who elect to participate in the program. In addition, all H-2A employers who elect to participate in the program will no longer receive hard copy notifications of the following actions: Notice of Deficiency, Notice of Acceptance, Denials, Withdrawals, Extensions, and Redeterminations.
NOTE: Certifications and partial certifications will continue to be issued to H-2A stakeholders via electronic transmission and by hard copy.
Eligible Syrian nationals in the United States may begin the application process
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18907-18914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-7569]
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 61 / Thursday, March 29, 2012 / Rules
and Regulations
[[Page 18907]]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
22 CFR Parts 22 and 42
[Public Notice 7835]
RIN 1400-AD06
Effective April 13, 2012, the Department of State will adjust visa processing fees. The fees for most nonimmigrant visa applications and Border Crossing Cards will increase, while all immigrant visa processing fees will decrease.
Our offices will be closed for Christmas break from December 24, 2019 through January 1, 2020. The offices will reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2020. If you are a client, in case of an urgent matter, please leave a message at (202 )909-1110, ext. 1001. Our team members will also regularly check their own emails and messages. If you need to speak with someone urgently please leave a message and you will hear back from them.
Happy Holidays to all of you from our team!
The current prediction that the priority dates for employment based green card applications are likely to retrogress again has brought a lot of speculation and questions from our clients and our community. Let me clarify some of the questions and concerns.
Q. What happens if my priority date ('PD') retrogresses while my I-485 is still pending?
I got my I-140 approved in about 6 months under EB1 category. I am very impressed with the sincere and efficient services provided by Mr. Rajiv Khanna and Ms. Diane Lombardo. Thanks a lot
Many Many Thanks to Aruna & Subha...for all the earnest replies & Support for our 100's and 1000's of queries !!!!
Greatly appreciate your help!!
I got my PERM certified. Excellent job , Richa & Mohana. Thank you very much for your prompt responses, quick call backs, and providing me very helpful information throughout the PERM process
I would like to thank Mr. Vijay Durgam and Ms. Pramita for the effort they put in to get my labor approved. Great work !
What would you expect for what you pay? Quality? Thats right. If you want quality of work, I would say Rajiv Khanna's law office is the right place.
You wont believe it until you experience or meet a person who experienced.
Special Thanks to Mr.Khanna, Richa and Mohana. Richa and Mohana, you have done a great job. I saw dedication and sincerity in your work.
These people are incredibly great.
Thank you again.
I am pleased with the outcome of my PERM application. Thanks to Vijay Durgam
Good job by my manager Vijay Durgam and Pramita. They were always prompt in getting back to me with answers/comments. They worked diligently in getting all the documentation done in the rightway and helped my case.
Thank you very much Vijay and Pramita.
My sincere thanks for all the wonderful work that you all did and "five star" quality service you provided.My labor is cleard from BPC; Special thanks to Amrita, Now I look forwrad for my
GC to get done; Thanks again
I'm writing to inform your firm of a successful 7th year H1 petition approval. My 7th year H1 was perhaps a little tricky because my H1 expired on the 365th day of LC pendency. However, the team at the NIV section was able to recover vacation days and also advised me on responding to an RFE on my case. I attribute the successful outcome of the petition on the sound advice and experience of your team. Overall, my experience with your firm has been very positive. Responses to even the simplest of queries are always professional and timely. Thanks for your efforts (Ursula, Anna)
I got my PERM approval. Excellent Job! Richa,Mohana Thanks for the that.
Hi Richa and Mohana,
Thanks for your help. My labor got approved in a month.
Appreciate your work.
I would like to thank the labor Certification team for my case: Richa, Mohana and Lakshmi for their timely help and support. My labor got approved on April 7th 2006 and thank you all for this great news. I appreciate your team work and help at all the times.
Just wanted to add, the day Mohana gave me this news, just an hour ago I recommended this website as 'Attorney for H1/GC' to someone. I am so Glad that I picked you as my attorney.
Thanks once again!!!
I have a delayed birth registration certificate issued by municipal authority with place of birth: hospital name, city. My passport just got the city name as place of birth. Do I need to submit secondary evidence when I file I-485 because of delayed registration?
In many countries especially India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, it can happen that the birth occurred much earlier but the registration of the birth was done much later. Remember it was not the law that you have to register every birth, it was a voluntary action. So if a child was born in 1980 or 1970 you registered the birth in 2015 because that’s when you needed to get the green card. Now those are not acceptable registration. What you should do in those cases is get a letter from the municipal corporation, or local government, that says before this was registered there was no other registration. Like a non-availability before the registration. Along with that get two affidavits, from your parents or other people, who were alive when you were born, that will take care of it.
Secondary evidence becomes acceptable only when you can’t get non-availability from the municipal corporation and that’s a much more complicated area. I think you should get the non-availability.
I am holding a Canadian student visa, now is my second year in Canada. I was issued a B-1/B-2 visa last year. Then I was charged of Theft under $5000 this June, and the charge goes withdrawn-diversion in July. When I went to US Embassy for visa renewal this October, the officer asked my about the charge, and I answered honestly that I did it on purpose and I really regret my behavior. He rejected my class B visa, gave me a pink paper, which says the denial is under Section 214(b), which says that alien doesn't show strong ties with home country. After I carefully searched online resources, I found that my admission of the offence will make me inadmissible to enter US, as a moral turpitude. But the officer didn't say that I need waiver to enter US.
1. So my question is:
does this mean that their denial is not based on the Crime of Moral Turpitude, but I really didn't show strong ties? Or they just don't reject me explicitly with the real reason? I will marry a Canadian citizen next year so it would be a strong tie then. Or do you suggest me to apply for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility like I-106 whatsoever?
2. Another question is:
I got an offer of a big well-known US company for summer internship, and I need to apply for J1 Visa. How will the charge affect me J-1 application?
First of all, not every crime leads to serious consequences in USA. There are two kinds of crimes. Misdemeanours which are small crimes, punishment is typically less than a year and the other felonies where the punishment is a year or more, those are more serious crimes. In immigration law we look if the crime is of moral turpitude or not. If a crime is not of moral turpitude, I believe it has absolutely no consequences, unless it is a drug offence. Moral turpitude simply means that you are doing something, which reflects on your poor moral character.
The next step: is it misdemeanour or felony. If it is a felony, we almost certainly have a problem. It could lead to deportation, non-admission, and then you will need a waiver of some kind. Waivers are usually available for green card only for family based reasons. You cannot get a waiver just because you want to come to USA. So in an employment based case, and you have a felony conviction for moral turpitude crime you will not be able to come to USA.
Remember the rules are different for deportation, what is called removal and admission. So when you try to enter you could be subject to different laws, sometimes you think you are in USA and I am safe, because your lawyer told you are not going to be deported, but when you come back they won’t let you in and now you have to go back, the reason is the rules for admission are different. This is a very complex area of the law.
Question: What if I am convicted of misdemeanour involving moral turpitude?
First, how many misdemeanour convictions do you have. If you have multiple convictions, then that itself is ground for deportation removal as well as no admission. But if you have only one offence, a misdemeanour, and the actual punishment imposed was less than six months you are covered by something called petty offence exception. Which says we forgive you entirely as long as it was just a single misdemeanour.
The rules under immigration law and the rules under criminal law for conviction are very different. Sometimes you have a criminal defence counsel. He will tell you this is not a conviction. It may not be a conviction under criminal law but is a conviction under immigration law. Any kind of plea bargain you set up with the government where you are admitting directly that you committed the crime would be considered in all probability to be a conviction. So be careful when you discuss this with your immigration lawyer as well as criminal counsel.
Question: What is 212(d)(3) waiver?
Say if you got the kind of conviction where you cannot come back we can let you in on a temporary basis for a non-immigrant visa. 212(d)(3) applies only to non-immigrant visa and the situation has been a little uncertain, especially for Canadians. I think there is a certain timeframe where you can get it or for one visit you can get it.
Question: I am holding a Canadian student visa, now is my second year in Canada. I was issued a B-1/B-2 visa last year. Then I was charged of Theft under $5000 this June, and the charge goes withdrawn-diversion in July.
Normally diversion means some kind of a plea bargaining has been made.
Question: When I went to US Embassy for visa renewal this October, the officer asked my about the charge, and I answered honestly that I did it on purpose and I really regret my behaviour. He rejected my class B visa, gave me a pink paper, which says the denial is under Section 214(b), which says that alien doesn't show strong ties with home country. After I carefully searched online resources, I found that my admission of the offence will make me inadmissible to enter US, as a moral turpitude. But the officer didn't say that I need waiver to enter US. So does this mean that their denial is not based on the Crime of Moral Turpitude, but I really didn't show strong ties?
That is correct because they denied it based upon their inability to verify that you will come back.
Question: I will marry a Canadian citizen next year so it would be a strong tie then. Or do you suggest me to apply for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility like I-106 whatsoever?
Definitely that will make it a much stronger tie and you can try again. You might be covered by a petty offence exception.
Question: I got an offer of a big well-known US company for summer internship, and I need to apply for J1 Visa. How will the charge affect me J-1 application?
If you are covered by petty offence exception, then even J-1 is not affected but the 214(b) denial, affects your J-1. If you had a 214(b) denial, it will bar your entry for J-1, F-1, B-1, B-2. It will not bar your entry for H-1 or L-1. I suspect the officer realised you were covered by petty offence exception.
I recently started my GC application with Mr. Khanna and his team. What I found most remarkable was the timely responsiveness and expertise of Mr. Khanna and his team. They were quickly able to address our issues and provide valuable insights based on their vast experience in the immigration area. Thanks once again for all your efforts. Truly appreciate it.