This change comes from the recognition of the importance of tourism to the U.S. from major worldwide markets.  Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you need assistance with any visa petition.

This change will merge government services and conserve resources given the low demand for immigrant visas in Portugal. Please note, the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon and the U.S. Consulate General in Ponta Delgada will continue to process nonimmigrant visas for business, tourism, education and other purposes.  Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you need assistance with any visa petition.

The Department of State has formalized the policy which allows the issuance of a year-long B-2 visitor visa to an unmarried, cohabiting domestic partner of a nonimmigrant foreign national.  This policy also extends to any foreign national in the nonimmigrant’s household who is ineligible for a derivative visa.

Foreign nationals who present a valid B-2 visa upon entry should be admitted for at least six months.  The Department of State instructs consular offices to advise these individuals to ask for the full one year stay when applying for admission.  Domestic partners should be prepared to provide evidence of their relationship (joint bills, lease, etc.) to the admitting officer.  Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you, your partner or household member need assistance with a B-2 visa petition.

However, in some cases, if you have been admitted to the United States under most visa classifications and you take a short trip (30 days or less) to Canada or Mexico, you may retain your I-94.  This way, when you resume your visit to the United States, you are readmitted for the balance of the time remaining on your I-94.These visitors who retain their I-94 upon departure can, in some situations, be readmitted on the same nonimmigrant visa and have it automatically revalidated, even if expired. They may also be revalidated in a different nonimmigrant classification than shown on an expired or valid visa if a change of status occurred while the individual was in the United States.

 This revalidation is only available after an absence of 30 days or less, and travel is limited to certain destinations (mostly Canada, Mexico, and adjacent islands other than Cuba).  Note that nationals of Syria, Iran, Sudan and Cuba do not qualify for automatic visa revalidation.

There are times when a labor certification or petition cannot be filed at least 365 days prior to the end of the 6-year period.  For these situations, it is worthwhile to investigate if the beneficiary has made trips outside of the U.S. during his or her H-1B period.  If so, the beneficiary may be able to ‘recapture’ that time. By recapturing unused H-1B validity time, the beneficiary can extend the end date of the H-1B maximum period and thus enable the beneficiary to qualify for Section 106(a).

When recapturing unused H-1B time, exact dates of entry and exit must be provided with proof, such as entry/exit stamps at the airport, airplane boarding passes, frequent flier statements, and/or credit card charges as evidence of travel abroad.  Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you or your employer have questions about the above or need assistance with an H-1B petition.

RFE’s are used by USCIS adjudicators to obtain more information in lieu of making an immediate decision on a visa petition and can result in months of delays for applications, thereby causing American companies to consider moving more work out of the USA to avoid difficulties with the U.S. immigration system.

Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you or your employer need assistance with any visa petition.

Since there has been no change in the law or regulations regarding these visa categories, this uptick in denial rates has prompted questions about evident changes to the internal policies of USCIS.

Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you or your employer need assistance with any visa petition.

Congress allots a certain number of immigrant visas each year for various categories and countries.  Foreign nationals in the EB-2 category from India and China typically wait several years for a green card “number” to become available to them as there is a backlog with these applications.  The wait is based on an applicant’s “priority date” which he/she obtains when the first step of the green card process is filed.  Until that date is current on the Visa Bulletin (published monthly), the individual cannot submit (and the officers cannot adjudicate) the final paperwork for a green card.

In the January 2012 Visa Bulletin, the applications being reviewed for Chinese and Indian nationals in the EB-2 category have priority dates of January 1, 2009 and earlier.  In the February 2012 Visa Bulletin, the priority date will jump to January 1, 2010 and earlier, cutting off a full year of waiting.  This is great news for individuals with priority dates between January 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010 as they can now submit their final paperwork for a green card.

Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you need assistance with a green card application or have any questions about the above.

Under the current rules, an undocumented individual who is eligible for green card status must leave the country to apply and process the paperwork.  However, once he/she leaves, the person triggers a 3-year or 10-year bar to the U.S. if he/she was unlawfully present in the U.S. for more than 180 days.  The processing times abroad for waivers and applications can range from months to years and keep families separated.

If the proposed rule becomes final, undocumented foreign nationals who would trigger a bar upon leaving will be allowed to apply for the waiver from within the U.S. and remain with their families until it is time to process the green card application abroad.  Note that applicants would still be required to depart from the U.S. before receiving final approval on their green card application, however the wait abroad will be much shorter.

The government believes that this new rule would encourage applicants to come forward and create a faster and safer means for processing applications.  As it stands, many individuals remain under the radar and never apply for status so they do not get separated from their loved ones.

Stay tuned for future posts on this important change to the law.

An immigrant visa is typically obtained after a family member or employer has sponsored a foreign national for permanent status in the U.S.  This is the second step following approval of an immigrant petition in the U.S.

Applicants currently in the process of obtaining an immigrant visa in Chennai may contact ChennaiIVU@state.gov for clarification on their status.