Immigration Law

What Are The Different Types Of U.S. Visas?

There are essentially two main categories of U.S. visas: non-immigrant visas and immigrant visas.   Non-immigrant visas are for temporary visits, such as for tourism, business/work, or educational purposes. Immigrant visas are for people intending to actually immigrate to the United States. What are the most common non-immigrant visas? The most common non-immigrant visas are the following: B-1 (Business Visitor) B-2 (Pleasure Visitor/ Tourist Visa) F Visa (Student Visa) H-1B (Visa for specialty occupations in fields requiring highly specialized knowledge) J Visa (Exchange…

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What Are The Benefits Of Getting A Green Card?

A Green card is a commonly used name for a Permanent Resident Card, formerly called an Alien Registration Card. The green card serves as proof that its holder, a lawful permanent resident (LPR), has been officially granted immigration benefits. When can Green Card holders apply for U.S. Citizenship? A lawful permanent resident can then apply for U.S. Citizenship or Naturalization after 5 years of residency. This period is shortened to 3 years if the individual is married to…

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Fake Marriage License Alone Not A Bar To Visa

A federal immigration appeals office determined last Thursday that immigrants seeking visas who file false documents relating to fake or nonexistent marriages cannot be denied by that factor alone.  This marks a significant policy shift at the Administrative Appeals Office of USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), that many have called precedential.  In particular, it ruled that if an immigrant is able to successfully prove that he or she did not enter or attempt or conspire…

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Immigrant Children Without Lawyers More Likely To Be Deported

According to an analysis of federal data by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which represents a forum for comprehensive, independent, and non-partisan tracking of information relating to immigration court cases, children without lawyers are more likely to be expelled from the country than children with legal representation.  Strikingly, the clearinghouse found that children with attorney representation were six times more likely to be able to stay in the United States than children without lawyers. …

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U.s. Army Expands Immigrant Recruit Program

The U.S. Army has expanded a program that encourages immigrants with certain language and medical skills to enlist by offering them a fast track to United States Citizenship. The Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest, known as MANVI, will double to 3,000 enlistments in the fiscal year ending September 30, and to 5,000 in fiscal 2016. The program is currently capped at 1,500 immigrants, according to Fox News Latino and the Wall Street Journal.  Typically,…

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Instagram Co-founder Had Work Visa Problem

Instagram almost lost one of its cofounders and one of the technical masterminds behind the ever-popular photo-sharing application because of trouble and delays in procuring a work visa.  According to Krieger, a native of Brazil who came to the United States to study at Stanford University on a student visa, Instagram almost didn’t happen, and the U.S.’s "convoluted immigration system would have been to blame." After graduating from Stanford, he procured a job at Meebo, and…

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Nigerian Immigrant Accepted To All Eight Ivy League Schools

Harold Ekeh, a high school senior in New York, was born in Nigeria and came to the United States when he was eight years old. He wrote his main college essay about the struggle to adjust to a new country and highlighted how he frequently questioned his parents about why they moved from Africa. Despite his struggles to acculturate after immigrating, Ekeh was recently accepted to all eight of the Ivy League Schools in the United…

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Many Iconic “American” Brands Were Founded By Immigrants

As United States lawmakers argue about the economic effects of immigration on the country, they might well consider that many of America's most profitable companies were started by immigrants. Noteworthy is the fact that many recognizable and "American" brands were founded by foreign born individuals or children of immigrants. These include some of the most iconic and profitable companies such as: Tesla Motors, Google, Yahoo, Intel, eBay, Pfizer, Radio Shack, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, Kohl's, Honeywell, AT&T,…

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New Deal Approved For Abused Immigrant Children To Remain In Us

Last Friday, a California federal judge approved a deal between the federal government and a class of abused immigrant children, in which the immigrants will have a path to United States residency under the “special immigrant juvenile program and the applications of those who aged out of the program will be re-opened. The suit, filed on behalf of four immigrant children who had been abused and made dependents of state courts, challenged certain United States Department…

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April 2015 Visa Bulletin Update

The Visa Bulletin is a monthly publication put out by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, that is a part of the United States Department of State. The main purpose of this bulletin is to provide an updated waiting list (also known as Priority Date) for immigrants that are subject to the quota system. Immigrants to the United States are essentially classified under two categories: 1. those that need a waiting list, such as those seeking admission…

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