Blogs – Usimmigrationadvisior

By Zeenat Phophalia The United States Citizenship & Immigration Services announced on January 23 that it is extending the validity of Permanent Resident Cards (Green Cards) for 48 months beyond the card’s expiration date.  This applies to those individuals who have a properly filed and pending Form I-751 (Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence) or Form I-829 (Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status). This extension change applied on January 11 for Form I-829 and took effect on ...
Read More

Just before breaking for the holidays, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act. Buried within this gigantic bill was a provision to add Portugal as an E2 country and a clause stipulating that anyone who acquires citizenship through a financial investment must be domiciled in that country for three years before they can apply for an E2 visa.  We recently held a series of webinars on this topic, scroll down to view the recording. Does the change to the law impact me? ...
Read More

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a proposed rule in the federal register that seeks to increase fees for certain immigration benefit requests which includes H-1B visas, L-1 visas and EB-5 visas.  At this stage the fee revision is only a proposal and will go through a period of public consultation through March 6, 2023.  Given the length of the review process, the proposed fee rule will not be applicable for at least several months. USCIS’s ...
Read More

On December 23, 2022, the US Department of State extended the in-person interview waiver for certain non-immigrant visa categories by another year, i.e., through December 31, 2023.  Consular officers will be authorized to continue to waive in-person interviews on a case-by-case basis for certain first-time and/or renewing applicants.  Under this new policy, the following applicants will continue to remain eligible for an interview waiver through December 31, 2023: Individual petition-based H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q applicants who ...
Read More

By Zeenat Phophalia, Immigration Attorney, D&A Effective December 12, 2022, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will grant an automatic extension of the validity of Permanent Resident Cards (green cards) for lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have applied for naturalization by properly filing Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, on or after this date. Green card holders who file the N-400 may receive a 24-month extension regardless of filing the Form I-90 – application for green card renewal. The Form N-400 ...
Read More

UPDATE: CONGRESS HAS NOW PASSED THIS BILL. IT WAS FOLDED INTO THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT (NDAA) AND PASSED THE HOUSE AND SENATE ON DECEMBER 16. IF YOU ARE SEEKING AN E2 VISA VIA CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT, PLEASE CONTACT US TO DISCUSS YOUR OPTIONS. The US House of Representatives has passed the Advancing Mutual Interests and Growing Our Success (AMIGOS) Act, which could have repercussions for those seeking an E2 Visa via Grenada or Turkey. While the AMIGOS Act is ...
Read More

By Zeenat Phophalia Immigration Attorney, D&A Several thousands of Americans live and work outside the United States and have children in different countries. This, however does not mean that such children born outside of America to either both or one American parent would be deprived of US citizenship. While it’s common knowledge that anyone born in the US is automatically a US citizen by virtue of birth, there is much less familiarity with citizenship laws that may apply to children born abroad ...
Read More

We are happy to share that we have successfully assisted a Norwegian national with his E-2 visa application. The client acquired an existing company which is a developer, manufacturer, marketer, distributer, and online retailer of organic skincare products. The E2 business The Company offers its skincare products to markets across the globe, including the U.S., Europe, Mexico, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. ISUN Skincare’s product line consists of both professional products sold to business-to-business (B2B) clients and retail products for sale ...
Read More

By Zeenat Phophalia Immigration Attorney, D&A In a move that sent shockwaves, Twitter laid off half of its workforce on Friday, November 4, according to a Reuter’s report.  Hundreds of these employees who are in H-1B, L-1 or O-1 status would be put on a deadline to get another job or leave the country.  As reported by Forbes, an estimated 8% of Twitter’s employees are on an H-1B visa, based on a National Foundation for American Policy analysis of U.S ...
Read More

Immigration Attorney Zeenat Phophalia delves into which staff members are eligible for the L-1A Visa and what constitutes a personnel manager and a function manager. The L-1 visa classification for intracompany transferees comes in two categories: L-1A (managers and executives) and L-1B (special knowledge workers).  The L-1A allows a foreign company to transfer managers and executives to its related U.S. parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch office.  An L-1A manager is generally someone who supervises and manages professional, managerial or supervisory ...
Read More

The US embassy in India has announced that it is releasing 100,000 new appointments for H visa and L visa applicants. The move will go some way towards clearing the backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The US embassy in New Delhi and the five satellite consulates suffered long closures that have caused delays to visa processing. This is a particular problem in a country that tops the list for a number of different US visas categories. Over the past ...
Read More

The clients of our firm have been granted a number of different visa approvals over the past week, with the feeling that the Covid pandemic is increasingly behind us. Here are some examples: E2 Visa for Singapore National Setting Up Advisory Firm in California We are happy to share that we have secured an approval for another E2 Treaty Investor Visa applicant from Singapore. The applicant will operate as an advisory firm in California. The Company will raise money from ...
Read More

Our firm is celebrating the approval of three L1 visas this past week. The clients are from as far and wide as India and Canada, and the business sectors range from IT to construction. Read more below. The L1 Visa permits the intracompany transfer of qualifying employees from the overseas branch to the US branch of a related company. You can either move staff to an existing office in the US or establish a new one (a New Office L1) ...
Read More

We are happy to share that have obtained another L1A visa petition approval. This time it is for a Nigerian telecommunications executive. The US company, which is an affiliate of a Nigerian company, offers a range of telecommunication services, including installation and maintenance of telecom equipment related to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), code-division multiple access (CDMA), and WiMAX (wireless broadband communication standards). It will provide custom, comprehensive in-building solutions for wireless networks. It will engineer and install ...
Read More

We are delighted to share that we have secured an approval of an EB-1A petition for a Research Scientist and R&D Leader of Extraordinary Ability from India. The EB-1A Visa is an employment-based Green Card (US Permanent Residency) for people who can demonstrate extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics. Applicants are scored against a list of ten criteria and must meet at least three of them. Read the criteria here. The Petitioner is a R&D Director ...
Read More