Articles Posted in Nonimmigrant Visas

Despite that fact that the law is written broadly enough that most foreigners from the developing world could be refused for a visitor’s visa as “intending immigrants,” non-immigrant visa issuance rates are still shockingly high. In 2007, 74 percent of the more than five million foreign nationals who applied for visitor’s visas were approved. This figure is particularly startling when one considers that citizens from the world’s most prosperous countries — including most of Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand — do not need visitor’s visas to enter the United States. Two-thirds of Mexican applicants were issued visitor’s (B1/B2) visas (or border crossing cards), four-fifths of Chinese applicants were issued visas, 88 percent of Russians were granted visas, and more than half of Haitian and Dominican applicants were successful.

Still, More than a decade after the federal government strengthened travel requirements after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, foreign visitors say getting a temporary visa remains a daunting and sometimes insurmountable hurdle.

The tourism industry hopes to change that with a campaign to persuade Congress to overhaul the State Department’s tourist visa application process.

A new report out today says more than 700,000 foreign students came to the U.S. to study last year. That’s a record high for U.S. colleges and universities. Why the influx? It has a lot to do with state budgets.

The F1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa for international students who are qualified to attend a full course of study at colleges, universities, conservatories, academic high schools (subject to strict regulations) and institutions with language-training programs in the U.S.

Guess who sent the most students to the US in 2011 – China.

Recently, many employers have been receiving Requests for Evidence (RFEs) on their petitions for L-1B Specialized Knowledge nonimmigrant worker visa. The L-1B visa is filed by a company who wants to transfer someone with specialized knowledge of the company or product of the company to their U.S. branch to help with its operations. Because of so many RFEs sent to employers on their L-1B petitions, the United States Citizen and Immigration Services held a stakeholder meeting to address the issues related to L-1B filings. In particular, many attorneys for employers raised the issue concerning the factors in determining Specialized Knowledge. At our law firm, we received an RFE for our own L-1B case that raised many of the same issues other attorneys have faced in their filings. This article will address those issues and how we overcame them in our case.

The main issue being the L-1B visa is the specialized knowledge requirement. Specialized knowledge means special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures (8 C.F.R. 214.2(l)(1)(ii)(D and (E)). From this definition of specialized knowledge, the application of it has varied greatly in many cases. First, what constitutes special knowledge seems to be confused with the standard of the O-1 visa requirements. The O-1 visa requires the individual to hold extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics where “extraordinary ability” means sustaining national or international acclaim. This standard confuses the meaning of someone simply having an advanced level of knowledge or expertise within their organization’s processes and procedures.

In answering how our client’s employee held the specialized knowledge for the position he was being transferred to, we had to go back through the description of the position held in the foreign company and the position going to be held in the U.S. After going through those descriptions, we responded to each duty in both positions to show how the specialized knowledge of the employee was required for both positions. We further confirmed that knowledge through use of many letters of reference from higher up executives and other individuals who recognized the employee’s importance within the organization.

There has been some indication that specialized knowledge is different from proprietary knowledge and should not be confused. Some attorneys reminded USCIS that the L-1B nonimmigrant classification did not require the individual to be extraordinary, and that specialized knowledge need not be proprietary. It has pointed out that specialized knowledge is a special knowledge of the product or processes of a company. It was also stated that specialized knowledge need not to be narrowly held by a select few individuals within a company. These concerns were raised in our own case wherein it was requested to show how the employee held proprietary knowledge of the company’s product. Although there is nothing in the definition of the L-1B visa that says proprietary knowledge is required to show specialized knowledge, nevertheless, by providing other documentation to show how the employee was directly involved in the development of the company’s product, it was indisputable that he held specialized knowledge within the company.

Another issue raised was that skilled individuals required to keep the company competitive in the field were becoming difficult to bring over with RFEs in these cases. In cases where the knowledge relates to the industry rather than a particular company or it is not unique to the company, but rather enhances a company’s competitiveness, the importance of the individual’s skilled work cannot be understated. It was noted that in certain industries such as the software industry, the information is not unique to the company in that there are other individuals who have knowledge of the software as well. All of these considerations make it clear that a specialized knowledge individual is the one whose knowledge makes the company more competitive in its field. This RFE was also asked for in our case and easily responded to through statements from the senior executives of the company attesting to how the employee’s use in the U.S. will make the company more competitive.

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Since he arrived in this country two decades ago, Chef Jose Andres has been a tireless advocate for Spanish cuisine. His D.C.-based restaurants helped popularize tapas, the small plates that typify Spanish food. He is also a model and inspiration to many aspiring Chef immigrants looking to move to the US and start their restaurants.

Although many Hospitality workers wait months or even years for permission to live and work in the US legally, a small but growing number have found a legal path that is relatively simple and fast: come with money to buy a businesses here. As the Hospitality business is booming in the US, more and more Hospitality professionals in Europe are coming to the US and starting their own businesses via the E2 visa investment.

This is also known as the nonimmigrant investor visa. It is a temporary category that is granted in two-year to five year increments with no limits on the number of extensions.

When you are traveling to the United States for the first time you are likely to have questions and concerns about what happens when you arrive at the Port-of-Entry?

A foreign national traveling to the United States will arrive initially at a U.S. “Port-of-Entry” (POE). The POE can be an airport, a land border crossing, or a seaport. Passing through a Port-of-Entry generally means that you are seeking permission from an Immigration Inspector, an official of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to enter the U.S. for a specific reason, purpose and duration, which are generally always predefined.

We have posted below a recent CBP Muster on the Basic Elements of a Thorough Primary Inspection for the benefit of our readers.

The Department of State (DOS) has launched the anticipated new version of the Form DS-160 Nonimmigrant Visa Application.

The form’s new version clarifies, in no uncertain terms, that the applicant – and no one else – must electronically sign and submit the DS-160 form. As part of a newly formatted opening page, the DS-160 advises applicants to:

“be aware that under U.S. law you must electronically sign and submit your own application unless you qualify for an exception. This means that you (the applicant) must check the ‘Sign Application’ button, even if someone else helped you fill the application out.”

The Work & Travel Program is part of the J-1 visa category of the U.S. government’s Exchange Visitor program.

If you are a university student from outside the United States and are not a U.S. citizen, you may experience life in the U.S. as a temporary employee and tourist by participating in a Work & Travel Program during your four-month college vacation period.

How? Your first step is to obtain a J-1 visa, which is the U.S. government’s exchange visitor visa program designed to promote cross-cultural exchange between the US and other countries. To qualify for this J-1 visa, you must be a full-time university student or be within six months of graduation.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (Act) provides for the admission of different classes of nonimmigrants who are foreign nationals seeking temporary admission to the United States. The purpose of the nonimmigrant’s intended stay in the United States determines his or her proper nonimmigrant classification. Some classifications permit the nonimmigrant’s spouse and qualifying children to accompany the nonimmigrant to the United States or to join the nonimmigrant here. To qualify, a child must be unmarried and under the age of 21.

F-1 nonimmigrants, as defined in section 101(a)(15)(F) of the Act, are foreign students coming to the United States to pursue a full course of academic study in SEVP-approved schools. An F-2 nonimmigrant is a foreign national who is the spouse or qualifying child of an F-1 student.

M-1 nonimmigrants, as defined in section 101(a)(15)(M) of the Act, are foreign nationals pursuing a full course of study at an SEVP-approved vocational or other recognized nonacademic institution (other than in language training programs) in the United States. An M-2 nonimmigrant is a foreign national who is the spouse or qualifying child of an M-1 student.

This was long overdue but here are the latest on the Tri Valley story. A federal grand jury here has indicted the president of a Pleasanton, Calif., university on 33-criminal counts, charging her with an array of violations, including visa fraud, money laundering and alien harboring, as a result of a two-year investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Tri-Valley University President Susan Xiao-Ping Su, 41, who also served as the school’s chief executive officer, is accused of engaging in a two-year scheme to defraud the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by submitting phony documents in support of Tri-Valley University’s applications to admit foreign nationals on student visas. The indictment further alleges that after obtaining such approvals, Su fraudulently issued visa-related documents to student aliens in exchange for “tuition and fees.”

Su was taken into custody Monday morning at her Pleasanton, Calif., home by HSI special agents. She made her initial appearance here in federal court shortly after her arrest.