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International  students can breathe a sigh of relief. The USCIS has lost another case against its attempts to assault legal immigration.  A federal court has held that its attempts to create artificial, three year or ten bars from reentry by students into the USA are illegal.

Please visit my LinkedIn article posted this morning for a brief explanation on this issue:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/...?trk=prof-post 

I am currently on H-1. I have a series of questions for you. This topic should be of interest to many people in the community. Could you please address these:
1. Can I start my own business while on H-1?
2. Can I be employed in my own business on my company's H-1?
3. Does it help to have partners from USA?
4. Can I get green card through a company I own?
5. What if my business is in Europe, but I work on it from USA? Is that legal?
6. Can I start business when I get my EAD on 485?

Following is a list of questions recently asked by a USCIS investigator of an H-1B employee working at a client site. If you are a member of our compliance group of employers, attend the free conference call scheduled for employers only on 7th July 2011. Membership in the group is by invitation only.

1. What is your name?
2. Can see your ID card?
3. How long you are in US?
4. Have you been visited your home country?
5. Who are you currently employed with?
6. How long have you been with your employer?
7. What is your job title?
8. What are your wages?

What kind of problems can employment-based nonimmigrants (H-1, L-1, E-1, E-2, E-3, TN) face during reentry?

I think this question is most relevant for H-1 holders, but other employment-based nonimmigrants may also note the general principles here.

Quite a few of our community members have asked me about the basic laws governing adoptions. One of my colleagues has prepared brief write up for you.

H.R. 6080 has been passed and is expected to be signed by the President today, 13 August 2010. This Bill raises The H-1B and L-1 application filing fees (fraud prevention and detection) by $2,000 for companies with 50 or more employees in USA if more than 50% of the employees are on H/L status. The fees are to be effective upon enactment (when the President signs and USCIS can implement) and will end on September 30, 2014.

The Bill states:

Some questions from the community:

I have been on H-4 for almost 3 yrs now, and starting my MS in Spring 09 (on H4 status itself). But now I want to change to F-1 for personal reasons. I have the following doubts. request your clarification:

a. If I want to get my F-1 stamped from India, do I need to submit I-539 form also to the ISO of my school ?

No. An I-539 is used if you want to change status within USA.

b. How long should I be on F-1 before when I will be eligible to apply for OPT and work using the same?

USCIS' Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) office has recently explained the three types of site visits that are currently being conducted:

1. Risk Assessment Program fraud study (RANDOM VISITS). This is a joint study by USCIS and ICE applicable to both family-based and employment-based cases. Cases are chosen for randomly for review and site visits  usually after a case is approved. The purpose of this study is to build a profile of the types of cases where fraud is most prevalent.

Here is a question from a community member:

I encourage you to sign a petition I have drafted at the request of our community urging the Obama Administration to reinstate reissuance of nonimmigrant visas (including work visas like H-1, student visas like F-1, and family visas) within the USA, a practice that was discontinued in 2004. If the petition receives 100,000 on-line signatures by February 23, the Administration will review it, send it to the appropriate policy experts in the administration, and issue an official response. Signing the petition takes only a few minutes.