Registration for the 2020 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2020) is now officially open and available! For Fiscal Year 2020, (Oct. 1, 2019 – Sept. 30, 2020) 50,000 DV Green Cards will be made available to those selected! The submission period began on October 3rd and runs only to November 6th. We’ve listed the regions and countries below that are eligible to take part…

Dear Readers: It is truly amazing to be on the U.S. Immigration Roller Coaster these days! We have never before experienced the level of upheaval that has transpired in only 18 months since President Trump took office! It is truly volcanic! The week began with a great piece by Noah Smith in Bloomberg titled, “Watch What Happens When You Push…

Keeping up with U.S. immigration news has certainly become a significant challenge lately since there is so much happening each and every day! As if May and June were not tumultuous months…it just keeps going – like a runaway train! Where should I begin? Well, here it goes: THE FEAR FACTOR I just read a very disturbing story that ICE…

Pakistani national (dentist by background) currently in the US on a B-2 visitor visa applied for a change of status to F-1 student to attend a dental hygiene school (and has recently received an acceptance to the Boston University Dental School) which was refused by USCIS. She is now considering applying for an F-1 visa at the US Consulate in…

L-1 Executive/Manager Transfer Visa E-2 Investor Visa 1 year start-up visa 5 year visa Management required Develop the business Must stay in the U.S Flexible presence in the U.S No investment treaty required Investment treaty necessary Direct path to Green Card No direct path to Green Card Maximum 7 years Renewable indefinitely Spouse and dependents can accompany Spouse and dependents…

Currently, when USCIS receives a petition which is incomplete or does not adequately prove that the foreign national satisfies their visa petition requirements, USCIS would send a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). Starting September 11th, 2018, USCIS will no longer require visa petition evaluators to send RFE’s and NOID’s to foreign nationals before denying…

In the wake of a multimillion dollar kickback scandal between Jay Peak Resorts and immigration attorneys, the Vermont EB-5 Regional Center, the government office overseeing Jay Peak EB-5 projects, has been closed down. Jay Peak paid over 100 immigration attorneys $25,000 per each EB-5 investor brought into the Vermont Center. USCIS determined that the Vermont Center made multiple material misrepresentations…

In a significant setback to the Trump Administration, a bid was recently lost to persuade a federal court to enable long-term detention of migrant families. The federal court in Los Angeles countered nearly every argument posed by the Justice Department, stating there was no basis to amend a longstanding consent decree requiring children to be released to licensed care programs…

Norma Borgono, a 63-year-old secretary immigrant from Peru received a letter from the U.S. government indicating that The Department of Justice was suing to “denaturalize” her as part of Trump Administration’s initiatives to revoke citizenship from individuals who committed offenses before becoming citizens. A Miami resident for 28 years, Borgono is being targeted for her minor involvement in a $24…

In the quest for the USCIS to make it difficult for any foreign-born individuals to come to America, the latest effort is a June 28, 2018, policy memorandum on the updated guidance on Notices to Appear (NTAs). The policy and its implications will particularly affect foreign-born professionals. An NTA is a charging document issued by the Department of Homeland Security…