H-3 Trainee: Are Trainees good for you and your business?

Religious Worker Visas: Make Sure You Know What You can and can't do

H-1B CAP CASES

STUDENT VISAS TO H-1B VISAS AND H-1B FILINGS

Student Visas to H-1B visas:

OPT (Optional Practical Training) transferring to H-1B, CAP H-1B, CAP exemption, STEM visas, Employers filing or sponsoring while on OPT (Optional Practical Training), 

H-1B Filings:

Cap Gap, EAD and working during Cap Gap, Fees paid by employers and employees, Requirements for H-1B, Education and Experience requirements, Employer or Company requirements, Prevailing Wage, LCA issues

PRACTICAL TRAINING FOR STEM STUDENTS: AN IMPORTANT STEP FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS.

All foreign students gaining a degree from U.S academic institution might get eligible for Optional Practical Training called OPT. Students obtaining Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Degrees are eligible for STEM OPT. USCIS, on October 6th, 2013, issued a policy memorandum about OPT for students enrolled in STEM Program.

 

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the eligibility requirements for a 17-month extension for Post-Completion OPT for F-1 students enrolled in STEM degree programs. The memorandum states that F-1 students engaging in post-completion OPT are eligible for a 17-month STEM extension even if they have not yet completed the thesis requirement (or equivalent) for their STEM degree.

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): Many Pray it is Here to Stay.

It is time to clear-up misconceptions about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). It is not true that individuals must be under 31 to be eligible for DACA. Any individual born after June 15, 1981 is within-and shall remain within-DACA's age requirements. Only individuals who were 31 years old or older on June 15, 2012 are ineligible for DACA.

The age requirements apply to initial applications as well as renewals. One of the only things we do know about renewals is that no one will age out. Thus, there currently are individuals in their early thirties who are eligible for DACA, and assuming the program continues on, over time, greater numbers of DACA recipients will be over 31.  

However, like a great deal of information in the immigration law arena, some articles and mistakenly claim that people over 30 or 31 don't qualify-this gets the age ceiling wrong and also implies that individuals can age out of eligibility.

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Is my marriage a "valid marriage" for U.S. immigration purposes?

The validity of a marriage under the U.S. immigration laws frequently determines whether a foreign national may be able to obtain a family-based immigrant or nonimmigrant visa, legalize unlawful status, or file waiver of inadmissibility or deportability. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the basic body of U.S. immigration laws, does not define the term "marriage". Although INA defines the term "spouse", it limits the definition to what may be excluded as unconsummated proxy marriage. Through the definition of the term "spouse" it can be inferred that a marriage, in order to be valid for immigration purposes, must be celebrated in the presence of both parties unless consummated. Although the INA does not specifically define the terms "marriage" and "spouse," it does now lays down the threshold requirement for the validity of marriage -- marriage be valid where celebrated.

Although the INA does not either define "marriage" or lay down a framework for analyzing marriages valid for U.S. immigration purpose, the same can be gleaned through the interpretation of the case law. This framework has been consistently applied by the U.S. Attorneys General, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), immigration officials, and most federal courts to determine the validity of marriage under the INA. The same framework has been laid down in the Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual. The framework for analyzing the validity of any marriage for U.S. immigration purposes consists of the following three components: (1) Laws of the place where the marriage took place or was celebrated; (2) Laws of the State of residence or proposed State of residence in the United States; and (3) bona fides of the marriage for immigration purposes. The marriage to be valid under the U.S. immigration laws needs to satisfy all three components.

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"VISA OVERSTAYS" HAS REAL MEANING IN WORLD OF IMMIGRATION.

Policymakers are calling for a solution to address those who have "overstayed their visas." However, the label of "visa overstays" is widely misused and misunderstood. The reality is that identifying visa overstays is an ambiguous, difficult task, a fact often overlooked in these debates.

Family members visiting their relatives, tourists and business travelers, and students frequently overstay their visas. Additionally, military spouses regularly enter and overstay their visas in order to adjust status, often due to well-meaning but erroneous advice.

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