ABIL-Immigration-Updates
FOLLOW ABIL
  • U.S. Blog
  • Global Blog
  • ABIL Home
  • ABIL Lawyers
  • News & Articles
  • More Immigration Blogs
    • ABIL Lawyers' Blogs
    • Immigration Blog Aggregator
  • Contact Us

The Other Immigration "Season": Many State J-1 Waiver Programs Will Begin Accepting Applications on October 1

9/28/2012

0 Comments

 
by Sarah Baker, Associate with ABIL member, Bernard Wolfsdorf
Wolfsdorf Connect

Each year, the H-1B “season,” which commences when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) begins accepting H-1B visa petitions on April 1 for an October 1 employment start date, receives significant attention.  However, there is another less publicized, yet vitally important, immigration season that also deserves special mention: the Conrad 30 J-1 waiver program season.

On October 1, following the federal fiscal year, numerous state departments of health will begin accepting applications filed on behalf of foreign medical graduates (FMGs) to waive the J-1 two-year foreign residence requirement.  This requirement attaches to all FMGs who come to the United States in J-1 status to pursue graduate medical education, requiring them to return to their home country for a minimum of two years before applying for certain non-immigrant visas, including the H-1B, or seeking permanent residence in the United States.

Pursuant to the Conrad 30 J-1 waiver program, state health departments and agencies can recommend up to 30 J-1 waivers each fiscal year for FMGs who have agreed to practice medicine in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), mental health HPSAs, Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs), or serve Medical Underserved Populations (MUPs) for 40 hours per week for a minimum of three years in H-1B status.  Some states consider waivers for what are known as “flex slots” for FMGs who will be serving patients from a designated area at a worksite location in a non-designated area.  States are allowed to grant up to 10 flex slots per fiscal year.  If recommended, the waiver is then considered by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and finally, USCIS.

Below are some practical hints for FMGs to consider when evaluating their Conrad 30 J-1 waiver program options:
  • Before preparing and filing a waiver application with a state health department or agency, applicants must obtain a case number from DOS.  The case number application fee is $215.00.
  • Not all states begin accepting J-1 waiver applications on October 1.  Some states, such as Texas, which began accepting applications on September 5 this year, operate on a different application cycle.
  • Some states, such as South Carolina, require site approval, pre-authorization, or a slot pre-assignment before a waiver application can be filed on behalf of an FMG.  FMGs interested in relocating to or remaining in such states are therefore advised to begin the process early to make sure they do not experience a time crunch as they near completion of their training – if DOS does not recommend approval of the waiver within 30 days of the DS-2019’s expiration, the physician will likely be required to leave the country.
  • Many states express a preference for primary care physicians under their Conrad 30 J-1 programs, and will not accept waiver applications for specialist physicians.  For example, California will generally only consider J-1 waiver applications filed for primary care physicians, which are defined as “internist, family practice, pediatrician, psychiatrist, and OB/GYN.”
  • If the state to which you are applying does not accept flex slot applications, check and double-check (or have your attorney verify for you) that the practice site at which you will be working is located in a HPSA, mental health HPSA, MUA, or MUP.
  • While many states do not, some states, such as Ohio and Texas, charge an application fee to process J-1 waiver applications.  Ohio’s application fee is a whopping $3,571.00 and Texas’ is $2,500.00.
  • Not all states consider J-1 waiver applications on a “first-in-first out” basis.  Some states prioritize applications based on the state’s need for particular types of physicians, or based on the particular merits of the application.
  • H-1B petitions based on Conrad 30 J-1 waivers are exempt from the annual H-1B “cap” and allow for the physician to change status within the U.S. rather than applying for the H-1B visa abroad.
For additional information and more practical tips on state Conrad 30 J-1 waiver programs, please view: “Practical Guide to Conrad Waivers: Thirty, … Two, One, Gone!”


0 Comments

Will Immigration Electrify the Presidential Debates?

9/26/2012

0 Comments

 
Angelo Paparelli, ABIL Immediate Past President
Nation of Immigrators
Picture
Immigration has been dubbed the third rail of American politics, along with Social Security, Medicare, gun control, and a variety of other hot-button issues.  To me, it's more like a downed power line snaking low across the ground and electrocuting whomever fails to give it respectful attention. As the eyes of the nation turn to the first Presidential debate this Wednesday, will immigration supercharge the colloquy or -- as in years past -- be wholly ignored or disregarded as annoying static electricity? Will Candidate Romney repeat his offensively tone-deaf line, "I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals"? 

Will President Obama be asked to explain why he waited so long, all along claiming a lack of authority to use his executive power to ameliorate immigration hardships, and then reversed course in the campaign's end-game as a seemingly craven political ploy to curry Latino votes?

No one knows what Jim Lehrer, debate moderator emeritus, will ask in the first debate?  A petition is circulating that implores him to "include immigration reform in the domestic policy debate."

Certainly there are many menu items in the candidates' recent campaign pratfalls, the parties' respective platforms and their Congressional antics that offer delectable interrogatory opportunities, as I suggest in these posts ("The Immigration Week That Was," "The GOP Position: Immigration under Glass," "The Democrats' Immigration Position: Better But Blemished," and "Immigration Buffets and Buffeting in Congress"), and in my recent LXBN interview:

While pundits handicap debate strategies, I offer a few more immigration questions for Mr. Lehrer to pose:
  • Governor Romney, do you think the federal government should tax employers $10,000 for each H-1B worker they sponsor?
  • President Obama, why should the American people believe your recent pledge to tackle immigration reform right away in your second term when you failed to honor the same commitment in your first term?
  • Governor Romney, your immigration advisor, Kris Kobach, has supported laws which reportedly have caused economic harm to states and localities adopting them.  What immigration measures would you adopt to spur their economies?
  • President Obama, your Secretary of Homeland Security has instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to treat LGBT couples as "family relationships" in removal proceedings, and your Justice Department no longer defends the Defense of Marriage Act.  Will you issue a regulation or executive order in your second term that authorizes the approval of same-sex, marriage-based immigrant visa petitions?
  • Governor Romney, the Mexican Government has accepted an American labor union claim that Alabama's anti-immigrant law (HB 56) violates a U.S./Mexico trade agreement.  How will a Romney Administration respond?
  • President Obama, why are 31-year-old and older DREAMers ineligible to file for DACA benefits?
Whatever the outcome of the debates and the November election, maybe all this electrifying talk about immigration is simply the wrong metaphor.  Americans seem far less troubled about immigration, according to a recent report from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press:

Immigration is . . . less of a focus in 2012. In [our] new survey, 41% view the issue of immigration as very important – the lowest of 12 issues tested – compared with 52% in August 2008.
Maybe the best debate questions should therefore be posed to each of them:
  • What specific actions will you take to cattle-prod Congress into enacting comprehensive immigration reform?
  • Why won't you lead us, by solving, once and for all, our immigration challenges?
0 Comments

The Immigration Week That Was

9/23/2012

0 Comments

 
Angelo Paparelli, ABIL Immediate Past President
Nation of Immigrators

Youthful fans of Saturday Night Live may be forgiven for assuming, however mistakenly, that SNL invented satirical television comedy. The patent for this invention probably ought to go instead to other earlier contenders, Jack Paar, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coco or Steve Allen.  While I love these past and present paragons of humor, I'll never forget the laughs my Dad and I shared watching an earlier NBC show, a precursor to SNL, the short-lived political revue, That Was the Week That Was.
TW3, as it was known, an émigré from the BBC, hosted in the U.K. and the U.S. by David Frost, ran here only for two seasons, from 1964 to 1965 -- but a hilarious two years they were. The format for the show was simple:  Take the news of the past week and turn it into song-and-dance sketches reeking with ridicule, irony, satire and scorn.  With ballads by piano-thumping political troubadour, Tom Lehrer, TW3 featured timeless classics like "National Brotherhood Week" (enjoy the audio here, and the lyrics here).

That Was the Week That Was came reverberatingly to mind with the news of the last seven days.

The week began with the airing of a surreptitiously recorded video of presidential candidate Mitt Romney wishing out loud to an audience of wealthy contributors that, if his dad, George, the late Michigan governor, had not been born in Mexico of an American mother and father but instead of "Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this. I mean, I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino." As the week proceeded, his campaign staff had to walk back Romney's claim that he'd never met anti-immigrant lawyer and father of AZ's SB1070, Kris Kobach (according to CNN, "Romney and Kobach have, in fact, met before at campaign events — but not in formal policy meetings”). The week ended with the resolution of a controversy stirred up by Stephen Colbert suggesting that the candidate had applied tanning spray before his appearance on Univision as a pander to its Latino viewers. The truth is that Romney's Ricardo Montalban look, as Univision has confirmed, came at the heavy hand of the network's make-up artist who daubed on too much "MAC Studio Fix powder and foundation." 

President Obama likewise had his turn on the Univision hot seat, admitting (duh!) that his biggest failure was failing to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and splitting hairs with the moderators over whether he had promised or not promised to do so (or merely try) in his first year in office or first term.

Another laughable moment came when the White House issued a statement and the State Department a video claiming how much easier than perceived it now is to visit America. Yes, they are right that more consular resources, enhanced customer service training and better queuing at ports of entry, among other measures, will improve the inbound traveler's experience.  But nothing will fundamentally create better first impressions until minimal standards of fairness are established for consular visa interviews and CBP interrogations. Yet another Administration official, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, surprised many with the risible observation that immigration hasn't been much of “a linchpin, red hot issue" in the presidential campaign.  Tell that to the 10 million Hispanic-Americans whose votes may be suppressed this year.

Congress too contributed to the week's fatuous merriment with the "BRAIN-STEM" follies.  Senator Schumer proposed a new BRAINS act which would allow a smart foreigner with family members to enter every time we deport an equivalent number of permanent residents. In the other chamber, House partisans bickered and failed to pass a green-cards-for-STEM-students bill that failed -- as Bill Clinton might say -- over "arithmetic."  Republicans wanted to eliminate 55,000 Diversity-Lottery visas to provide the immigrant-visa currency for the additional Science, Technology, Engineering and Math graduates from U.S. universities who would receive green cards, while the Democrats wanted to add, not subtract, green-card quota numbers for additional STEM graduates.

On the international front, an Italian court affirmed criminal convictions in absentia of 22 Americans (allegedly CIA operatives) by tossing a creamy tiramisu (a confection translated as "lift me up") at a Bush-era immigration policy known as rendition -- the act of removing (airlifting?) individuals from one country and forcibly immigrating them to another where they are likely to be tortured.  In other judicial news, a federal judge in Arizona lifted an injunction on the surviving piece of SB1070, known as the "show me your papers" provision, which many fear will play out as a "driving or walking while Hispanic" basis for arrest and removal.

The week's levity aside, some important and serious things happened as well:
  • 600 city and county government agencies in Georgia reportedly face penalties for failing to comply with the state's mandatory E-Verify enrollment law, an analogue to the Arizona statute upheld last term by the Supreme Court.
  • Reports like this one, entitled "Time to reject false choices and fears about immigration: Basic freedom of movement across borders is fundamental to human dignity," added to the body of work showing that economic prosperity and human rights can be married successfully by revising outdated immigration laws.
  • The pejorative, "illegal immigrant," continued to be lambasted by such courageous DREAMers as Jose Antonio Vargas and others as a grammatically and legally incorrect term meant to demean and demonize a population.
  • Rinku Sen of Colorlines wrote a must-read piece entitled, "Immigrants Are Losing the Policy Fight. But That’s Beside the Point," emphasizing the importance of real-world stories on immigrants and immigration as the best way to win over American hearts and minds.
  • R. Blake Chisam issued a report through the National Foundation for American Policy, "DOL Threatens Personal and Commercial Privacy in Proposal Directed Against Skilled Foreign Nationals" -- ironically, the very same H-1B workers entitled to DOL's statutorily mandated labor protections.
  • Both presidential candidates pledged, if elected, to fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
Thinking back to TW3, I am reminded that the polarization and class warfare we see today likewise existed in '64 and '65, as acerbic songster Tom Lehrer croons in his timeless ditty, "National Brotherhood Week":

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,

And the rich folks hate the poor folks.

All of my folks hate all of your folks,

It's American as apple pie.
0 Comments

STEM Green Card v. Green Card Lottery

9/21/2012

0 Comments

 
by Cyrus D. Mehta, ABIL Lawyer
The Insightful Immigration Blog

There is a raging debate presently in the halls of Congress. Almost all of our elected representatives, no matter whether they are Democrat or Republican, are in favor of providing an easier pathway for foreign students who have graduated with an advanced degree from a US university in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Math) field. In an age of polarization and gridlock in Congress - added by controversy over the expansion of immigration benefits to foreign nationals when unemployment is high - there is amazing bipartisan support for STEM foreign students. Indeed, 150 university presidents and chancellors have also appealed for green cards for STEM graduates.

Still, a Republican sponsored STEM Jobs Act, HR 6429, failed to pass the House on Thursday, September 20, 2012 with a two third majority. It was sponsored by Lamar Smith (R-TX), who otherwise generally favors bills that restrict immigration.   It was rejected 257-158 mainly on party lines that would have provided 55,000 green cards to foreign students graduating in STEM fields. First dibs would have gone to foreign students with doctorates in STEM fields from a US university, and the remaining would have gone to foreign students who have graduated with master’s degrees. These students would still need an employer to sponsor them, and they would need to agree to work for 5 years for that employer. The employer would also need to obtain a labor certification to demonstrate that there are insufficient American workers available for the job.

So why did it fail? The catch was that the STEM Jobs Act would have eliminated the diversity green card lottery, which provides 55,000 green cards for people born in countries with low sending immigration rates to the US. 5,000 of these 55,000 can be deducted for cancellation of removal grantees under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA). The elimination of the green card lottery was opposed mainly by Democrats, and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy, proposed a similar bill, but preserving the green card lottery.

The reason why the STEM Jobs Act needed a 2/3 super majority is because it was being considered while the normal rules were under suspension. The rules are suspended generally for non-controversial bills but this bill was hardly that. It was a clever political ploy by the Republicans to force this bill without consideration of the Lofgren alternative under the normal House rules, which preserved the green card lottery, so that they could go back to their constituents and claim that they did favor an important immigration bill, which the Democrats did not pass.

In my opinion, I like STEM green cards to co-exist with the green card lottery, which provides an option for anyone anywhere in the world to come to American to make it. While most other immigration benefits require a family member or employer as a sponsor, unless you are a rich investor under the EB-5, the green card lottery is not tethered to any sponsor. While it is important for the US to attract STEM students to innovate and pioneer new technologies here, it is equally important to attract others who can also become successful and contribute to the US with their optimism and industry. Today’s halal vendor serving delicious falafel from his street cart, who came through the green card lottery, can tomorrow own a chain of restaurants employing others, and still delighting Americans with a unique ethnic cuisine. We need innovators with STEM degrees as well as folks who can enrich the fabric of America with their cuisine and other endeavors.  Moreover, not all lottery winners are unskilled or uneducated. The green card lottery could also attract educated people and those who have already succeeded in business.

Indeed, the green card lottery is reminiscent of what America used to be without a formal immigration program. Immigrants who came to America through the centuries were like the plucky green card lottery winners of today. They took a chance and came to the shores of America. They were not scientists or the equivalent of STEM graduates of their day. Yet, America’s greatness was built on the hard work and boundless optimism of these ordinary people.

Even though the STEM Jobs Act failed, it shows that there can be bi-partisan consensus. The bill was not perfect, and would not have improved the broken immigration system. For example, unused STEM green cards would not have been re-allocated to the backlogged employment-based or family immigration preferences, where some are waiting endlessly for decades before they can get a green card. Perhaps, in the future, if Republicans do not like the green card lottery, they can settle for an increase in the employment and family-based categories instead as a compromise with the Democrats.    But despite its failure to get passed, at least the STEM Jobs Act is a down payment for future bipartisan efforts on immigration. This effort also shows that immigration can be reformed in increments rather than comprehensively, although the latter would be more desirable in a perfect world.  For example, Senator Schumer (D-NY) has offered his own BRAINS Act, which would similarly grant green cards to 55,000 STEM students and preserve the green card lottery, and he has also invited Lamar Smith back to the negotiating table!
0 Comments

Immigration Buffets and Buffeting in Congress

9/16/2012

0 Comments

 
Angelo Paparelli, ABIL Immediate Past President
Nation of Immigrators
Picture
Congress has spread a table laden with reheated immigration delicacies, while still engaging in the usual posturing, pretend friendships and verbal fisticuffs.  In a spirit of convivial bipartisanship, the House on September 13 passed by a vote of 402-3 legislation the Senate had approved in August, S.3245 ("A bill to extend by 3 years the authorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, the E-Verify Program, the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program, and the Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program"). Presumably, it will land on the President's signing desk before the September 30 sunset of the four programs.

Positioning has also begun in the House over competing Democratic and Republican versions of a STEM jobs act that would give green cards to highly-educated math, engineering, tech and science graduates of U.S. universities. The primary difference in approach is over whether to provide STEM green cards by eliminating the 55,000 Diversity Visa lottery (the GOP proposal). As explained by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), the Democrats want to vote on "a clean STEM increase . . . without doing damage to other parts of our legal immigration system." Given the GOP's House majority, expect the Republican version to be approved soon and sent to the Senate where it will face an uncertain fate.

Picture
Meanwhile, Congressional hearings, already convened or soon to be held, serve as mediagenic stages for Republicans to take swipes at the President and his Homeland Security Department.  Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, held a Sept. 12 hearing with a pre-ordained conclusion obvious from its title, "The Obama Administration's Abuse of Power" -- which included DACA among its other "abuses." On September 20, Rep. Peter King, Republican of New York, will debut "An Assessment of the Department and a Roadmap for its Future," a drill-down of a July 25 hearing ("Understanding the Homeland Threat Landscape"). After next week, Congress will likely go dark until after the November election as each party campaigns for hegemony in the executive and legislative branches.  A lame duck session will likely follow. Perhaps then winners and losers will at last put country before party on immigration and a host of other issues. Maybe legislators whose careers are ending through a loss at the ballot box or retirement -- with nothing to lose -- will grow spines. Perhaps the losing side will become more pliant as demographic changes cause them to wake up and smell a new brand of java.  It's happened before with such major lame-duck legislation as the Immigration Act of 1990, which passed on November 29, 1990.

Almost anything is better than stalemate, as I've suggested before:

If there is to be an immigration meal, it must be piecemeal. If immigration supporters cannot have a multi-course feast at a single sitdown dinner, then tapas eaten seriatim will more than satisfy the hungry reformers' appetites.
The challenge will be to avoid modestly beneficial compromises that add to complexity and include something bad for everyone, and instead forge good deals that foster our bedrock immigration values of family unity, economic prosperity, and refuge for the persecuted.
Picture
If Mitt Romney wins, perhaps the best we can hope for is a Nixon-to-China moment on immigration reform, with the scales tipped in favor of employment-based visas and heavier-than-Obama enforcement (if that's even possible).  More immigration hope and change can be foreseen if President Obama carries the day, and the Dems maintain control of the Senate while making gains in the House. Perhaps anti-filibuster reforms early in the new Congressional term (as explained procedurally here and here) will be the secret door to comprehensive immigration reform.

Wonks, stakeholders and, of course, citizens:  Stay tuned.


0 Comments

After the October 2012 Visa Bulletin, A Decade Long Wait Under the Family Fourth Preference is a Piece of Cake

9/14/2012

0 Comments

 
by Cyrus D. Mehta, ABIL Lawyer and Gary Endelman
The Insightful Immigration Blog

I write this blog with some sarcasm. The family fourth preference (F-4), which allows US citizens to sponsor their siblings for a green card, is horrendously backlogged. It takes over 10 years for a brother or sister of a US citizen to obtain a green card. If the sibling was born in the Philippines, the wait could well be over 25 years. So, why is it a piece of cake?

After the State Department released its Visa Bulletin for October 2012,   the F-4 at least for the worldwide category appears to be more advantageous in terms of waiting time than say the employment-based third preference (EB-3) for India, which is applicable to jobs that require bachelor’s degrees or at least two years of training or experience. The EB-3 for India is so backlogged that it could take a US employer 70 years before the Indian worker it sponsors gets a green card.

What was also disappointing with the October 2012 Visa Bulletin was that the employment-based second preference (EB-2), after being unavailable all summer, emerged in October with a cutoff date of September 1, 2004. This means that employers who filed labor certifications on behalf of foreign national workers with advanced degrees on or before September 1, 2004, can apply for their green cards today.  This does not bode too well because in April 2012 the cutoff date for the India EB-2 was May 1, 2010.  It should have emerged in October at the same cut off level, not back at September 1, 2004. Perhaps, the reason for this giant leap back in time is because many in the EB-3 with priority dates going back to 2004 and earlier are upgrading into the EB-2.  Noted immigration attorney Carl Shusterman has quite correctly called the October 2012 Visa Bulletin a disaster.

But jokes aside, the F-4 is actually a good hedge against the broken legal immigration system in the United States. If you have a brother or sister with kids who are 6 or 7 today, file the I-130 petition and then forget about it. Treat it like a long term stock in a new startup that will increase in value in the years to come.  By the time the green card comes through for your sibling, his or her kids would be 17 and 18, old enough to start college in the US as green card holders rather than  on an F-1 student visa. Note that spouses and children can derivatively get their green cards with the principal beneficiary.  If these kids were born in India, think of the benefit this would give them after they graduate from college and get a coveted job in the US – and let’s hope by then that the US economy would have turned around through some breakthrough technology that would result in an abundance of jobs!  Assuming that the EB-3 was as backlogged in 2023 as it is today, because Congress continued to remain in permanent gridlock, those kids would have to wait about 70 years to get their green card under the EB-3. Instead, the F-4 that you filed with a great deal of foresight today would benefit your nephews and nieces by the time they come of age and are ready to pursue their hopes and dreams in the USA.

What if the kids are no longer children by the time your sibling gets the green card under the F-4? What if they have already turned 21 or more as a child is one who is under 21 under the Immigration and Nationality Act? These are all good and relevant concerns. Fortunately, some of these kids may be able to freeze their age under the Child Status Protection Act. If the child is 23 years old at the time the date on the I-130 petition becomes current, then under INA § 203(h)(1) it is possible to subtract from that age the time that the I-130 petition took to get approved from the time it was filed. For example, if the USCIS took two and a half years to approve the I-130 petition from the date it was filed, then you can subtract 2.5 years from the child’s age, and if the age is reduced so that it falls below 21, then the child can still immigrate with the parent. Thus, it is actually to your advantage if the I-130 petition takes a long time to get approved as that much more time can then get subtracted from the age of a child who may have turned over 21 on the date of visa availability. Fortunately, the processing time at the Vermont Service Center for an F-4 today is just short of 2 years. Processing times will be longer if the USCIS issues a request for more evidence before approving the I-130 petition.  So don’t get too anxious if the I-130 under the F-4 does not get approved so quickly. This time will prove to be precious to reduce the age of a child who is over 21 a decade or more from today, when the visa becomes available under the F-4.

If we had a better immigration system, I would not waste time extolling the so called virtues of the F-4. But when so many preference categories have gone out of whack – 70 years for the India EB-3 and the EB-2 seems to also be going the same way– then we must grasp at straws and the F-4 is certainly one until Congress is able to bring sensible reforms to our immigration system.
0 Comments

Opposition to Corruption as a Political Opinion Supporting a Grant of Asylum: Ruqiang Yu v. Holder and its Predecessors

9/10/2012

1 Comment

 
by David Isaacson, Associate with ABIL member, Cyrus D. Mehta
The Insightful Immigration Blog

On September 7, 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a precedential opinion in Ruqiang Yu v. Holder, No. 11-2546-ag, reaffirming that opposition to corruption may under some circumstances qualify as a political opinion upon which a grant of asylum can be based under U.S. immigration law.  According to Ruqiang Yu, this may be the case even if an asylum applicant has failed to prove that similar corruption exists elsewhere in his or her native country beyond the specific context in which he or she opposed it.

Ruqiang Yu was initially denied asylum by an Immigration Judge (IJ) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) despite their acceptance of his testimony that he had been mistreated after opposing corruption at the state-owned factory where he worked in China.  As the Court described the facts:
The IJ found that Yu credibly testified that, while an employee and a team leader at a state-run airplane factory in Shanghai, his employer corruptly refused to pay the wages of workers on his team and that, when Yu’s efforts to aid the workers and to bring the corruption to the attention of government officials was discovered, he was jailed and later fired.
Ruqiang Yu, slip op. at 2.  Despite these findings, the BIA “concluded that Yu failed to establish that his actions ‘constitute[d] a political challenge directed against a governing institution’ since he was objecting to ‘aberrational’ corruption by individuals.”  Id. at 5.  “Yu’s actions, the BIA reasoned, were “a personal dispute against his individual employers for misusing funds he believed should have gone toward the unpaid wages of the laborers on whose behalf he sought to intervene.”  Id.

The BIA and the IJ in Ruqiang Yu appear to have acknowledged that under Second Circuit case law, “opposition to government corruption may constitute a political opinion, and retaliation against someone for expressing that opinion may amount to political persecution.”  Castro v. Holder, 597 F.3d 93, 100 (2d Cir. 2010).  As the Second Circuit had said in case law to which it appears that the BIA was referring in its decision when it set out the criteria that Mr. Yu purportedly had not met:
In considering whether opposition to corruption constitutes a political opinion, “[t]he important questions ... are whether the applicant’s actions were ‘directed toward a governing institution, or only against individuals whose corruption was aberrational,’ ” and “whether the persecutor was attempting to suppress a challenge to the governing institution, as opposed to isolated, aberrational acts of greed or malfeasance.”
Castro, 597 F.3d at 101 (quoting Yueqing Zhang v. Gonzales, 426 F.3d 540, 548 (2d Cir. 2005), and Mamouzian v. Ashcroft, 390 F.3d 1129,1135 (9th Cir. 2004)).

Before the Second Circuit’s decision in Ruqiang Yu, but after the Second Circuit’s decisions in Castro and Yueqing Zhang, the BIA had also recognized in a published opinion that “in some circumstances, opposition to state corruption may provide evidence of an alien’s political opinion or give a persecutor reason to impute such beliefs to an alien.”  Matter of N-M-, 25 I&N Dec. 526Matter of N-M-, 25 I&N Dec. 526, 528 (BIA 2011).  In Matter of N-M-, the BIA cited the Second Circuit’s Zhang decision, but found that at least with regard to asylum applications subject to the REAL ID Act because they were filed after May 11, 2005, more than retaliation for opposing acts of corruption linked in some way to a political system was required:
Since the passage of the REAL ID Act, a showing of retaliatory harm for exposing acts of corruption, coupled with evidence that the corruption is in some way linked to a political system, would appear insufficient to demonstrate that a victim’s anticorruption beliefs are “one central reason” for retaliation against him. Instead, an alien must persuade the trier of fact not just that the alleged persecutor was motivated in some measure by the alien’s actual or imputed political belief, but that the protected trait was “one central reason” for the persecution.
Matter of N-M-, 25 I&N Dec. at 532.

The BIA in Matter of N-M- described three factors that an IJ could use to determine whether actual or imputed political opinion was a central reason for retaliation against one who had expressed an anticorruption belief.  The first is “whether and to what extent the alien engaged in activities that could be perceived as expressions of anticorruption beliefs”   such as whether the “alien denounced corruption in public or at work, published articles criticizing governmental corruption, or organized fellow victims of government extortion against this behavior.”  Matter of N-M-, 25 I&N Dec. at 532.  The second factor is “any direct or circumstantial evidence that the alleged persecutor was motivated by the alien’s perceived or actual anticorruption beliefs,” such as “statements indicating that the persecutor viewed the alien as a political threat or subversive and was motivated as such.”  Id.  The third factor described by BIA in Matter of N-M-, citing the Second Circuit’s decision in Castro, looks to whether corruption was pervasive in an asylum applicant’s country:
An Immigration Judge should also consider evidence regarding the pervasiveness of government corruption, as well as whether there are direct ties between the corrupt elements and higher level officials. Where the alien threatens to expose the corrupt acts of rogue officials acting without the support of the governing regime, it seems less likely that the act would be perceived as politically motivated or politically threatening. However, if corruption is entrenched in the ruling party, a challenge to the corrupt practices of this party may be more likely to represent a challenge to the political position of the ruling party, and not just the financial standing or reputation of a small group of corrupt officials. See Castro v. Holder, 597 F.3d 93, 104 (2d Cir. 2010) . . . .  Whether the governing regime, and not just the corrupt individuals, retaliates against an alien for expressing anticorruption beliefs is relevant to this inquiry.
Matter of N-M-, 25 I&N Dec. at 533.

The Second Circuit in Ruqiang Yu concluded that the BIA had applied an erroneous legal standard in determining whether the corruption opposed by an asylum applicant was “aberrational” for purposes of the test that the Second Circuit itself had set out in Yuequing Zhang and Castro.  As the Second Circuit reminded the BIA: “Because the form and nature of political opposition can vary widely, the assessment of when opposition to corruption becomes an expression of a political opinion involves a context-specific, case-by-case determination.”  Ruqiang Yu, slip op. at 7.  For several reasons, the Second Circuit did not find the BIA to have performed such a determination properly in Yu’s case:
First, we note that the BIA’s factual conclusion that Yu opposed “aberrational” corruption is not supported by the record. Conduct is “aberrational” if it is “a deviation or departure from what is normal, usual, or expected” or something that is “abnormal, diverging from the norm.” Oxford English Dictionary (June 2012, online ed.) (defining “aberration”). Yu’s application indicated that “quite a few . . . workers in other groups did not get paid for a few months,” and that he personally escorted ten of them to confront factory officials. These facts indicate that the non-payment of wages was apparently recurring, not aberrational.

Second, the appropriate inquiry does not focus simply on the number of corrupt acts, but on an assessment of the overall climate and context in which the opposition takes place. Where opposition to corruption transcends self-protection and represents a challenge to state-sanctioned modes of official behavior, a petitioner may be eligible for asylum. . . .

The fact that the protests organized by Yu challenged corruption at a single workplace does not render the corruption categorically aberrational without regard to the nature of Yu’s conduct.  In several ways, Yu’s conduct is typical of political protest (and may have been perceived as such by the authorities). Thus, the record indicates that Yu had no personal, financial motive to oppose the corruption, undertook to vindicate the rights of numerous other persons as against an institution of the state (a state-owned factory), and suffered retaliation by an organ of the state – the police.
Id. at 7-8.

The single-workplace issue, the Second Circuit noted, was “sharply presented” because Yu had “failed to present . . . evidence of more broad-based corruption at state-owned factories in his native land.”  Id. at 8 n.2.  Nonetheless, the IJ and BIA erred by not “assess[ing] Yu’s claim in its full factual context” to determine whether Yu’s activities were “a challenge to the legitimacy of the government’s entrenched modes of conduct”, or whether the authorities had imputed a political opinion to him (which could be a basis for an asylum claim even if he did not hold such an opinion).  Id. at 8-10.

One should not lose sight even after Ruqiang Yu of the importance of submitting evidence of systemic, country-wide corruption in an asylum applicant’s home country, if possible.  This author recently represented a client whose application for asylum was granted by the New York Asylum Office based on past persecution and a fear of future persecution relating to his opposition to corruption at a Russian state-owned enterprise (and who has agreed that this limited information about his case can be made public).  In that case, we submitted voluminous evidence of widespread corruption in Russia.  We would do the same today: even within the Second Circuit and even after Ruqiang Yu, it is still highly advisable if at all possible to submit such background evidence regarding the prevalence of corruption in the country of feared persecution, because it will assist greatly in showing that the applicant’s claim relates to “a challenge to the governing institution” under Yueqing Zhang and Castro.  Outside the Second Circuit, evidence of pervasive corruption throughout the country of feared persecution is even more important, under the BIA’s reasoning in Matter of N-M-.

However, Ruqiang Yu teaches that at least within the Second Circuit (and perhaps elsewhere if the BIA or other Courts of Appeals accept the Second Circuit’s reasoning), some claims of asylum based on opposition to corruption may be viable even if evidence regarding country-wide corruption is for some reason unavailable.  In cases where reliable background evidence regarding the corruption in a particular country or region simply cannot be obtained despite vigorous efforts, applicants and attorneys need not despair.
1 Comment

The Democrats' Immigration Position: Better But Blemished

9/9/2012

0 Comments

 
Angelo Paparelli, ABIL Immediate Past President
Nation of Immigrators

The Democratic Convention in Charlotte ended last week. The media has now turned to measuring and marveling at President Obama's post-convention bounce despite weak Labor Department data revealing persistent joblessness.

The inevitable comparisons of the two parties' convention performances give the edge to the Democrats' oratory, production values, crowd enthusiasm and diversity.  On immigration policy, the Dems offered more substantive messaging, while the GOP stressed photogenic speakers with ancestral memories of arrivals long ago. 

An historic moment occurred with a convention address in Charlotte by an undocumented immigrant, Benita Veliz, class valedictorian and DREAMer extraordinaire, whose brief remarks Dan Stein of the anti-immigration hate group, FAIR, predictably assailed as “nothing more than a celebration of lawlessness.”
Commentators contrasted Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Julian Castro (“To Mr. Rubio, Hispanics are refugees from foreign oppression, who want government to let them alone. . . . In contrast, . . . Mr. Castro . . . sees government as an essential enabler of ethnic assimilation and success”). And insiders, perhaps unwittingly, assured full employment for dentists by their vigorous teeth-gnashing over the irreconcilable differences between the parties on immigration policy. The only item of apparent common ground is the issuance of quick green cards for STEM graduates. (See Immigration Impact's platform analysis here, and AILA's take on the same topic here [AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 12090541, membership required].)

Given the parties' chasmic differences, is comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) still a bridge to nowhere?  Perhaps not. A convention segment last week on POTUS (Politics of the United States), the satellite radio station, entitled "Hispanic Voices," offered a plausible route to CIR:

  • Latino voters turn out in large numbers;
  • Obama is reelected, but one Congressional chamber remains under GOP control; 
  • Some Republicans -- at last seeing a desolate future because the demographic tide has washed away so much of their base -- want the contentious issue of immigration behind them; 
  • Obama offers the GOP a choice of legislative compromise or more executive orders on immigration that whittle down the undocumented population by creating administrative avenues for relief; 
  • This time a deal is struck.
Central to the success of this prediction is heavy Latino turnout, something to be swallowed with a sizable chunk of salt. Many of his supporters are still smarting from the broken campaign promise to address CIR in his first year as President, as well as his Guinness-record reputation as Deporter-in-Chief. Others perhaps view jobs and the economy as more important than immigration. Still others fear that Obama may cave on CIR as he reportedly did in 2007 when casting an "Aye" vote on a killer amendment to limit the guest-worker program to five years, a move that derailed the Kennedy-Kyl CIR compromise, or question Democratic resolve to pursue immigration reforms that fundamentally help people or merely curry favor and votes.

Even if Latinos flock to the polls, and the "Hispanic-Voices" scenario begins to materialize, CIR will be no cakewalk.  

Democratic versions of CIR have favored more exacting worker protections in the H-1B and L-1 categories and more frequent audits of employers than the business community may be willing to tolerate. The allocation of visa quotas for H-1B jobs and family-versus-business green cards -- with family unity getting the lion's share over employment-based slots -- may create fissures in the CIR coalition.  There remains contention over the Draconian 1996 smack-downs of due-process protections for immigrants, a bone of T-Rex proportions in an era where even the protection of abused immigrant women is the sticking point in the current fight over renewing the Violence Against Women Act. And almost no one is talking about sweeping changes that would make the system more user-friendly, rational and simple -- a task that would require a kind of robust country-first statesmanship that, alas, has been AWOL for many years.

Maybe the parties can start building compromises on the business-immigration side, with solid assurances that other key elements of CIR will get their due as negotiations succeed on the low-hanging fruit; or maybe not.  

Until November's outcome reshakes the political Etch-A-Sketch, the future foretells more DREAMers like Benita Veliz stirring our hearts with DACA-spawned inspiration while immigration opponents remain intransigent and hateful like the GOP's Steve King of Iowa who still claims to have complimented immigrants by comparing them to dogs.

0 Comments

The GOP Position: Immigration Under Glass

9/3/2012

0 Comments

 
Angelo Paparelli, ABIL Immediate Past President
Nation of Immigrators

Labor Day, the quaintly traditional start of the Presidential election season, arrived this year with the memory still fresh of self-mortification Republican style -- the projection of Second Amendment rights squarely into their collective feet.

Rather than enjoying a customary post-convention bump in the polls, GOP candidate Mitt Romney received "easily the worst rating given to any of the last eight convention acceptance speeches." In a different kind of bump, a bio-pic many thought tended to humanize the candidate was bumped on broadcast TV by a frizzle-haired Clint Eastwood (apparently trying to reprise his role in the 1969 film musical, Paint Your Wagon), who has moved from talking to trees to ad libbing with a chair.
The convention, however, was not without its own lyrical high note.  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, clearly repudiated the hate- and fear-filled immigration plank in the Republican platform (which, with double-bordered emphasis, urged self-deportation and ruled out any remedy for the unauthorized in our midst). In its place, she delivered a heartfelt tribute to the truest form of American exceptionalism, our tradition as a welcoming nation:
But the American ideal is indeed endangered today. There is no country, no not even a rising China, that can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves if we fail to accomplish the tasks before us here at home.

More than at any other time in history — the ability to mobilize the creativity and ambition of human beings forms the foundation of greatness. We have always done that better than any country in the world. People have come here from all over because they believed in our creed — of opportunity and limitless horizons. They have come from the world’s most impoverished nations to make five dollars not fifty cents — and they have come from the world’s advanced societies as engineers and scientists to help fuel the knowledge based revolution in the Silicon Valley of California; the research triangle of North Carolina; in Austin, Texas; along Route 128 in Massachusetts – and across our country.

We must continue to welcome the world’s most ambitious people to be a part of us. In that way we stay perpetually young and optimistic and determined. We need immigration laws that protect our borders; meet our economic needs; and yet show that we are a compassionate people.
It's not that other convention speakers ignored immigration. Many waxed rhapsodic about their immigrant forebears who endured every form of privation so that their children might have a chance at freedom and prosperity in America.  As Sen. Mark Rubio offered, his father -- a Cuban émigré -- worked the bar at the back of the room so that his son "one day . . . could stand behind a podium in the front of a room."

Perhaps even more moving were the refugee sagas of George Romney, Mitt's father, and his father-in-law, both of whom fled revolution in Mexico for safety, succor and eventual success in America, as tearfully re-told by George's grandson, Craig. Other Republican speakers -- Nikki Haley, Mia Love, John Thune -- also regaled the crowd with their immigrant ancestors' sentimental journeys to America.  

While Marathon Man Paul Ryan's whopper of a speech did not touch on immigration, it could well have encompassed the subject in these stirring words:
Our different faiths [Ryan's Catholicism and Romney's Mormonism] come together in the same moral creed. We believe that in every life there is goodness; for every person, there is hope. Each one of us was made for a reason, bearing the image and likeness of the Lord of Life.

We have responsibilities, one to another – we do not each face the world alone. And the greatest of all responsibilities, is that of the strong to protect the weak. The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.
Apparently, however, given Ryan's decidedly anti-immigrant stance, for every undocumented person, hope begins only after self-deportation.  The GOP’s muddled message on immigration is not the way to win the Presidency or capture control of Congress.  

Republicans seemingly prefer their immigration under glass, viewed from the hermetically sealed distance of generations long extinct, observed through the prism of anodyne nostalgia.  With this profoundly dumb policy (read: insensate or, demographically speaking, just plain stupid, as you prefer), will they wake up after Election Day to consider their shared fate with the party's long extinct mascot -- no, not the Mastodon, but rather the Dodo Bird?
0 Comments
    Picture

    TO SUBSCRIBE

    Click the RSS Feed below

    RSS Feed

    ABIL

    The Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL) provides global reach and personal touch. We all value great legal ability and provide high standards of care and concern.

    Archives

    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    Categories

    All
    104(c)
    106(a)
    106(b)
    10-year Bar
    1252(a)(2)(D)
    12-Step Groups
    1967 Optional Protocol
    1 Year H-1B Extension
    2011 Immigration Awards
    2012 Elections
    2012 Immigration Awards
    2012 Immigration Year In Review
    2012 Nation Of Immigrators Awards
    2013
    2013; HB-87
    2013 In Immigration
    2014 Immigration Highlights
    2017
    204(j) Portability
    20 CFR § 656.12(b)
    20 CFR 656.17(f)
    212(a)(9)
    212(f) Of Immigration And Nationality Act
    212(i) Waiver
    212(k) Waiver
    245(i)
    274B
    287(g)
    3 And 10 Year Bars
    3 And 10 Year Bars.
    3d Printing Technology
    3 Year H-1B Extension
    458
    5 C.F.R. § 2635.402
    5th Circuit
    5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A)
    5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(E)
    60 Day Grace Period
    79 Federal Register 79
    8 C.F.R. § 1003.10(b)
    8 USC § 1324b
    8 Usc 1621
    90 Day Misrepresentation
    9/11
    A-1 Diplomatic Visa
    AAO
    AB 103
    Ab 1159
    Ab 263
    AB 450
    ABA Model Rule 1.14
    ABA Model Rule 1.2(c)
    ABA Model Rule 1.2(d)
    ABA Model Rule 1.7(b)
    ABA Model Rule 3.3
    Abandonment
    Abolition Of 90 Day EAD Rule
    AC21
    AC 21
    Ac 21 + Status + H-1B
    Accountability
    ACLU
    Acus
    Additional Recruitment Steps
    Adjudicators
    "Adjustment Of Status"
    Adjustment Of Status
    Adjustment Of Status Portability
    Adjustment Portability
    "Administrative Appeals Office"
    Administrative Appeals Office
    Administrative Closure
    Administrative Conference Of The United States
    Administrative Fixes
    Administrative Law Judge
    Administrative Procedure Act
    Administrative Procedures Act
    Administrative Reform
    Administrative Review
    Administrative Review Board
    Admissibility
    Admissibility Review Office
    Admission
    Admissions
    Admitting To A Crime
    Adopted Decision
    Adoption
    Advance Parole
    Advertisement
    Advertisements
    Affidavit Of Support
    Affluent Foreigners
    Affordable Care Act
    Affording Congress An Opportunity To Address Family Separation
    AFL-CIO
    Agency Updates
    Aggravated Felon
    Aging Population
    AG Sessions
    Ahmed V. Gonzales
    AICTE
    Aila
    Airport Screenings
    Akayed Ullah
    Alabama Anti-Immigrant Law
    Alberto Gonzales
    ALCA
    Alejandro Mayorkas
    Alerts
    Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa
    Alien
    Aliens
    Ali Mayorkas
    Alj
    All-India Council For Technical Education
    Ameircan Competitiveness In The 21st Century Act
    Amended H-1B Petition
    Amendment
    America
    America And Immigration
    America First
    America In Decline
    American Academy Of Religion V. Napolitano
    American Citizenship
    American Competitiveness In 21st Century Act
    American Council On International Personnel
    American Exceptionalism
    American Football
    American History
    American Immigration Lawyers Association
    American Kaleidoscope
    American Role
    Angelo A. Paparelli
    Ann Coulter
    Anonymity
    Anthony Kennedy
    Antidiscrimination
    Anti-immigrant
    Anti-immigration
    Anti-Immigration Legislation
    Anti-Immigration Movements
    Anti-Immigration Rhetoric
    Anti-Trump Protestors
    Ap
    APA
    APA Violation
    Appeals Administrative Office
    Appeasement
    Appellate Bodies
    Appellate Law
    Ap Stylebook
    Arbitrary Quotas
    Arden Leave
    Area Of Intended Employment
    Arizona
    Arizona Dream Act Coalition V. Brewer
    Arizona V. United States
    Arizona V. USA
    Aro
    Arpaio V. Obama
    Arrabally
    ART
    Artificial Reproductive Technology
    Assembly Bill 103
    Assembly Bill 263
    Assembly Bill 450
    Assisted Reproductive Technology
    Associated Press
    Asylum
    Asylum Claims
    ATLANTA
    ATLANTA IMMIGRATION LAWYER AT KUCK IMMIGRATION PARTNERS
    At Risk Investment
    Attorney Advertising
    Attorney Business Account
    Attorney Fees
    Attorney General
    Attorney General Javier Becerra
    Attorney General Jeff Sessions
    Attorney General Self-referral
    Attorney General Sessions
    Attorneys
    Attorney's Role
    Attorney Trust Account
    Attrition
    Audit
    Audits
    Auer V. Robbins
    August 18 Policy
    Australia
    Automatic Conversion Provision
    Automatic Extension EAD
    Avvo
    Avvo Legal Services
    Aziz V. Trump
    B-1
    B-1 In Lieu Of H-1B
    B-1 Visa
    B-1 Visas
    B-2
    B-2 Bridge
    Backlog
    Backlogged Countries
    Backlogs
    BAHA
    BALCA
    Bally Gaming
    Ban On Travellers
    Barack Obama
    Barring Entry To Protestors
    Bautista V. Attorney General
    Beltway Visa
    Beneficiary Pays Fees
    Benefit
    Benefits Of H-1B Visa
    Benefit The US Economy
    Best Practices
    Bilateral Investment Treaties
    Binational
    Biographies
    Biography
    Birthright Citizenship
    Blog Series
    Bloomberg
    Blueseed
    Bokhari V. Holder
    Bona Fide Marriage
    Bona Fide Termination
    Border Crossings
    Border Patrol
    Border Security
    Boston Marathon
    Boston Marathon Bombings
    Bradley
    Bradley V. Attorney General
    Brain Drain
    Brain Pickings
    Brains Act
    Brand X
    Brand X.
    Brazil
    Brazil Quality Stones Inc V. Chertoff
    Brent Renison
    Brexit
    Bridges V. Wixon
    Bridge The Gap
    British Riots
    Broader Definition Of Affiliation
    Broken Promises
    Brooklyn Law Incubator Policy Clinic
    Bseoima
    Bullying Words
    Business Necessity
    Business Visitors
    Business Visitor Visas
    Buy American Hire American
    California Attorney General Javier Becerra
    California Immigrant Worker Protection Act
    "California Immigration Law"
    California Immigration Law
    "California Immigration Laws"
    California Immigration Laws
    California’s Community Oriented Policing Services
    California Service Center
    Camo Technologies
    Canada Point Assessment
    Canadian Council For Refugees
    Cancellation Of Removal
    Candor To The Tribunal
    Candor To Tribunal
    Capitalist Ideals
    Careen Shannon
    Career Progression
    Carrp
    Case Completion Quotas
    CATA V. Solis
    Cato Institute
    Cato Institute Report
    CBP
    Ccg Metamedia
    Certification Of Questions Of State Law
    Cesar Chavez
    Chaidez V. United States
    Chaidez V. U.S.
    Chain Migration
    Chamber Of Commerce V. Whiting
    Change In Worksite
    Change Of Status
    Charles Garcia
    Charles Hossein Zenderoudi
    Charles Kuck
    Chemical Weapons
    Chennai
    Chevron
    Chevron Deference
    Child
    Children
    Child Status Protection Act
    Chile
    China
    Chinese Investors
    CHIP
    Chip Rogers
    Chobani
    Chris Crane
    Chuck Grassley
    Chuck Schumer
    Cimt
    Cir
    Cis
    Cis Ombudsman Second Annual Conference
    Citizenship
    Citizenship And Nationality
    Citizenship Application
    Citizenship Status
    Citizenship Status Discrimination
    Citizens United
    Ciudad Juarez
    Civil Disobedience
    Civil Gideon
    Civil Rights
    Civil Rights To All In New York
    Civil Surgeon
    CIWPA
    Client Site
    Client With Diminished Capacity
    Columbia
    Columbus Day
    Comment
    Common Law Definition Of Parent
    Communicable Disease
    Commuting Distance
    Companies Hosting Skilled Nonimmigrant Workers
    Compelling Circumstances EAD
    Competence
    Competitive Salary
    Comprehensive Immigratin Reform
    "comprehensive Immigration Reform"
    Comprehensive Immigration Reform
    Comprehensive Immigration Reform + Tyranny Of Priority Dates
    Computer Programmer
    Concurrent Cap Subject And Cap Exempt Employment
    Confidentiality
    Conflicts Of Interest
    Conflicts Of Law
    Congress
    Congressman Darrell Issa
    Congressman Gutierrez
    "Congress On Immigration"
    Congress On Immigration
    Conrad 30
    Conservatives; GOP
    Consolidated Appropriations Act Of 2016
    Conspiracy
    Constitutional Law
    Constitutional Requirement To Be President
    Constitution And The Presidency
    Construction Workers
    Constructive Knowledge
    Consular Absolutism
    Consular Nonreviewability
    Consular Non-reviewability Doctrine
    Consular Officer; Comprehensive Immigration Reform; Grounds Of Exclusion
    "Consular Officers"
    Consular Officers
    Consular Processing
    Consular Report Of Birth Abroad
    Consulting
    Consummation
    Continuous Residence
    Controlled Application Review And Resolution Program
    Controlled Substance
    Controlled Substances
    Corporate Counsel
    Corporations Are Not People
    Corporations Are People
    Court Ruling
    Courts On Immigration Law
    Covered Employer
    Crane V. Napolitano
    Creative Classes
    Credible Testimony
    Crime Against Humanity
    Crime Involving Moral Turpitude
    Crime Rate
    Crimes Against Humanity
    Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude
    Crime Without Punishment
    Criminal Alien
    Criminal Conduct
    Criminalize
    Criminal Liability
    Criminals
    Cross Chargeability
    CSPA
    Cuban Adjustment Act
    Culturally Unique
    Curricular Practical Training
    Customs And Border Protection
    Cutcherry
    Cut Off Dates
    Cyrus Cylinder
    Cyrus Mehta V. Tucker Carlson
    Cyrus Vance
    DACA
    DACA 2012
    DACA Driver's Licenses
    Daca Obama Deferred Action Immigration Reform9e741343b2
    Dan Kowalski
    DAPA
    Data Privacy
    David Foster Wallace
    Dead Us Citizen Petitioners
    Debate Questions
    December 2015 Visa Bulletin
    Declinist
    Deconflction
    Defense Of Marriage Act
    Deference
    Deferred Action
    Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals
    Deferred Action For Parent Accountability Program
    Deferred Action For Parents
    Definition
    Definition Of Employment
    Delays
    Delta Information Systems V. USCIS
    Democrat
    Democratic Party
    Democrats
    "Democrats On Immigration"
    Democrats On Immigration
    Denial Of Immigration Benefit Application
    De Niz Robles V. Lynch
    "Department Of Homeland Security"
    Department Of Homeland Security
    Department Of Justice
    "Department Of Labor"
    Department Of Labor
    "Department Of State"
    Department Of State
    Depends On Experience
    Deportation
    Deportation President
    Deporter In Chief
    Deporterinchief84df2adda9
    Deporting Us Citizen Child Or Children
    Derivatives
    Detainers
    Deter
    De Tocqueville
    Dhanasar
    DHS
    Dhs New Rule On Hardship
    Dhs Office Of Inspector General
    Dhs Office Of Inspector General Report On Effects Of Adjudication Procedures And Policies On Fraud
    Dick Durbin
    Dickinson V. Zurko
    Dillingham Commission
    Diminished Capacity
    Din V. Kerry
    Director Mayorkas
    Discouraging Future Immigrant Crime Victims
    Discrepancies
    Discretion In Immigration Policy
    Discrimination
    Disney
    Disruption
    Disruption Of Continuity Of Residence
    Distinction
    Diversity Immigrants
    Diversity Visa Lottery
    DOL
    DOL Investigation
    DOL Prevailing Wage Guidance
    Doma
    Donald Trump
    Dream9
    "DREAM Act"
    Dream Act
    Dream Dream Actd977e910f6
    Dreamers
    Drivers License
    Driver's Licenses
    Drones
    Drop The Iword57cb7ffa6e
    Drug Cartels
    Drugs
    D/S
    Dsk
    Dual Citizenship
    Dual Dates
    Dual Intent Rule
    Dual Nationality
    Due Process
    Due Process Violation
    Duration Of Status
    Dusty Feet Court
    Duty Of Confidentiality
    Dv Lottery
    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
    E-2
    EAD
    Early Adjustment Of Status Application
    Early Voting
    EB-1
    EB-2
    EB-3
    EB-3 India
    EB-3 To EB-2
    EB-5
    Eb-5
    EB-5 China Retrogression
    EB-5 Green Card
    EB-5 Independent Fiduciary
    EB-5 Insurance
    EB-5 Investor Visas
    EB-5 Letter Of Credit
    EB-5 Letters Of Credit
    EB-5 Policy Memorandum
    "EB-5 Program"
    EB-5 Program
    "EB-5 Regional Center"
    EB-5 Regional Center
    EB-5 Regional Centers
    "EB-5 Visa"
    EB-5 Visa
    EB-5 Waiting Line
    EB Backlogs
    Ebola
    Economic Policy Institute
    EDGE
    Edward Snowden
    Edwards V. California
    EEOC V. Arabian American Oil Co.
    Efstathiadis V. Holder
    Egregore
    El Badwari V. USA
    E L Doctorow35aebd6002
    Election 2012
    Elections
    Electronic I-9
    Eligible Immigration Statuses
    El Salvador
    Emma Willard School
    Employability
    Employed At Institution Of Higher Education
    Employee
    Employee Complaint
    Employee's Benefit
    Employer Business Expense
    Employer-Employee Relationship
    Employer-employee Relationship
    Employer-Employee Relationship For H-1B Visas
    Employer Sanctions
    Employment Authorization
    Employment Authorization Document
    Employment Based Document
    Employment-based Fifth Preference EB-5
    Employment-based First Preference EB-1
    Employment Based Immigration
    Employment-based Immigration
    Employment-Based Immigration
    Employment-based Preferences
    Employment-based Second Preference EB-2
    Employment-based Third Preference EB-3
    "Employment-Creation Immigrant Visas"
    Employment-Creation Immigrant Visas
    Employment Eligibility Verification
    Employment Training Administration
    Encourage Global Corporate Activities
    Enforcement
    Enforcement/USICE
    Entrepreneur
    Entrepreneurial Immigrants
    Entrepreneur Parole Rule
    Entrepreneur Pathways
    Entrepreneur Pathways Portal
    Entrepreneurs
    Entrepreneurs In Residence
    Entrepreneurs In Residence Initiative
    Entry Level Position
    Entry Level Wage
    Eoir
    Epithets
    Essential Function
    Esta
    Establishment Clause
    Esther Olavarria
    Eta
    Eta 9035
    ETA 9089
    ETA Form 9089
    Et Al. V. Her Majesty The Queen
    Ethical Considerations
    Ethics
    Ethics For Immigration Lawyers
    Everfyb99de80646
    E-Verify
    Everify Lock5c940d7f14
    E Visa
    E Visas For Entrepreneurs
    "Executive Action"
    Executive Action
    "executive Authority"
    Executive Authority
    Executive Branch
    Executive Office For Immigration Review
    "executive Order"
    Executive Order
    "Executive Orders"
    Executive Orders
    Executive Power
    Exempt Employee
    Exempt Investment Advisers
    Expanded DACA
    Expanded Definition Of Public Charge
    Expedited Removal
    Expert Immigration Attorney On The Case
    Expert Opinion
    Expert Opinions
    Experts
    Expiration
    Extended DACA
    Extension Of Status
    Extraordinary Ability
    Extraordinary Ability Aliens
    Extraordinary Achievement
    Extraterritoriality Of Immigration Law
    Extreme Hardship
    Extreme Vetting
    F
    F-1
    F-1 Visa
    Fair
    Fair Criminal Trial
    Fairness
    Fairness For High Skilled Immigrants Act
    False Stereotyping
    FAM
    Familybased Preferences9c4ff7f5f7
    Family First Preference
    Family Fourth Preference
    Family Immigration
    Family Offices
    Family Second Preference 2A And 2B
    Family Unity
    Fareed Zakaria
    Farm Workers
    Faustian Bargain
    FDNS
    Fdns Site Visit
    FDNS Site Visits
    Federal Immigration Court
    Federal Immigration Unions
    Federal Judge John A. Mendez
    Federal Judge John Mendez
    Federal Judge Mendez
    Federal Law
    Federal Preemption
    Fed. Reg. Vol. 80 No. 251
    Fee Splitting
    Fiance Visa
    Fifth Circuit
    Filibuster
    Filibuster Reform
    Filing Date
    Final Acceptance Date
    Final Action Date
    Final Guidance
    Final High Skilled Worker Rule
    Final Merits Determination
    First Amendment
    Flat Fees
    Flat Organizations
    Fleuti Doctrine
    Flores V. USCIS
    Fogo De Chao V. DHS
    Forced Migration
    Foreign Affairs Manual
    Foreign Chefs
    Foreign Cooks
    Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
    Foreign Employment Law
    Foreign Entrepreneur
    Foreign Language
    Foreign Law
    Foreign Migration Agent
    Foreign National Entrepreneurs
    Foreign Policy
    Foreign Specialty Chefs
    Foreign Specialty Cooks
    Foreign Students
    Foreign Support Personnel
    Foreign Trade
    Form 2555
    Form-i130
    Form I130862b02b70d
    Form I13169350c78aa
    Form I-485
    Form I601a86f76fbc24
    Form I-601A Waiver
    Form I765wsa6c10c7761
    Form-i800
    Form I821d14be16bf36
    Form I-864
    "Form I-9"
    Form I91b22a1589f
    Form I9242eea98cb70
    Form I942333509f53
    Form I94w5e6bfb52b7
    Form I-983
    Form I-983 Training Plan
    Form-i9-compliance
    Form I9 Employmenteligibility Verification7ddbfbc6b4
    Form-n400
    Fourth Amendment
    Fragomen On Immigration
    Fraud
    Fraud Detection And National Security
    Fraud Detection & National Security (FDNS)
    Fred 26 Imports
    Free Trade
    Function Manager
    Fusion
    Future Flows
    Future Immigration
    Future Of Preemption
    Future Position
    Fy14 H1b Visa Capcf6496c9e4
    Fy2014 H1b Filingsae2c14d3f1
    FY 2015
    FY 2018 H-1B Cap
    Gang Of 8
    Gang Of Eight
    Gang Violence
    Gender Bias
    Genocide
    Georgia
    Georgia Legislature
    Georgia Legislature Antiimmigration Legislation Everify8d746ab340
    Georgia Legislature; Immigration; Anti-Immigration Legislation; Immigration Reform
    Georgia Legistlature
    Georgia Restaurants
    Gideon V Wainwrightba979e7bac
    Giovanni Peri
    Gladysz V. Donovan
    Global Cities
    Global Detroit
    Global Entrepreneur In Residence
    Globalization
    Global Michigan
    Global Mobility
    Global Sourcing
    Global Trade
    Godot
    Golick
    Gonzales-Marquez V. Holder
    Good Faith
    Good Moral Character
    Good Old Days
    GOP
    "GOP On Immigration"
    Gop On Immigration
    Government Data Collection
    Government Employee Discipline
    Governor Brewer
    Grassley-Durbin Bill
    Greencard
    Green Card
    Green Card Lottery
    Green Cards
    Green Card Stories
    Grounds Of Inadmissibility
    Growing Up
    Guest Columns
    Guest Workers
    H-1B
    H-1b
    H-1B1 Visas
    H1b And L1 Visa Provisions984af42aac
    H-1B Auction
    H-1B Cap
    H-1B Cap Exempt Employer
    H-1B Cap Exemption
    H1b Cap H1b Visas Increased Visa Numbers1210555f7b
    H-1B Denial
    H-1B Denials
    H-1B Dependent Employer
    H-1B Entrerpreneur
    H-1B Extensions
    H-1B FY 2018 Cap
    H1b H1b Fraud Grassley Foia Training Memo Fdns Vibe Csce504cf6c27
    H-1B Lottery
    H-1B Lottery Illegal
    H-1B Portability
    H-1B Premium Processing
    H-1B Reform
    H1b Skilled Worker Dependent Employer7361d653a8
    H-1B Spouse
    H-1B Visa
    H-1B Visa Cap
    H-1B Visa Denials
    H-1B Visa Extension By Spouse
    H-1B Visa For Entrepreneurs
    "H-1B Visas"
    H-1B Visas
    H1b Visasfb0ea78c4c
    H1b Visas For Entrepreneurs And Owners3399e25691
    H-1B Wage
    H-1B Worksite
    H2b Visas79f843cb2c
    H-4
    H-4 And Work Authorization
    H56
    Hack
    Hague-adoption-convention
    Haiti
    Halt Act
    Hamilton Project
    Hana V Gonzales75adc25254
    Happy-lawyers
    Happy New Year
    Hardship Waivers
    Harry Reid
    Haruki Murakami
    Hateful Rhetoric Against Immigrants
    Hate Speech
    Hb 87
    HCL America
    Head Of State
    Healthamerica
    Helen Chavez
    Herman Cain
    Higher Wages
    High Skilled Worker Rule
    Hillary Clinton
    Hinojosa V. Horn
    Hispanic Immigrants
    Historic Exercise Of Discretion
    "homeland Security"
    Homeland Security
    Home Office
    Homosexual
    Honduras
    Hot Questions
    House Gop
    House On Immigration Reform
    Hr 3012
    Hr 3012c279c52631
    HR 4038
    Hr 4970
    Humane-treatment
    Humanitarian Parole
    Humetis
    Hurricane Sandy
    Hybrid
    I130-petition
    I130 Petition2b14f0b880
    I-140 EAD Rule
    I-140 Petition
    I-485 Supplement J
    I5268d5986011e
    I-539
    I601a46afd40326
    I601 Waiversa737e3d6da
    I-9
    I9-compliance
    I9 Compliance725c781af2
    I9 Compliance Checklist3909ef569e
    I9-errors
    I9-fines
    I9 Paperwork Violations24d1cb2cb9
    Ibrahim El- Salahi
    ICE
    ICE Arrests
    ICE Detainers
    ICE Notice Of Inspection
    ICE Notice Of Suspect Documents
    Ice Union
    Identity Theft
    IIRIRA
    Illegal
    Illegal Alien
    Illegal Aliens
    Illegal Conduct
    Illegal Immigrant
    Illegal Immigration
    Illegal Immigration; Immigration Reform; ESTA; Visas
    Illegals
    Immi Awards
    Immigrant
    Immigrant Achievement
    Immigrant Detention
    Immigrant Investor
    Immigrant Investor Program
    "Immigrant Investors"
    Immigrant Investors
    Immigrant Investor Visa
    Immigrant Rape Victims
    Immigrant Rights
    Immigrants
    Immigrant Visas
    Immigrant Worker Protection Act
    Immigration
    Immigration Abandonment
    Immigration Accountability
    Immigration Accountability Executive Actions
    Immigration Act Of 1990
    Immigration Adjudications
    Immigration Agencies
    Immigration Agency
    Immigration Agency Expertise
    Immigration-and-demography
    Immigration And Identity Theft
    Immigration And Nationality Act
    Immigration And Privacy
    Immigration And Terrorism
    Immigration And The Arts
    IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY
    Immigration Attorneys
    Immigration Auction
    Immigration Awards
    Immigration Benefits
    Immigration Bureaucracy
    Immigration Bureaucrats
    Immigration Cases
    Immigration Chain Of Command
    Immigration-compliance
    Immigration Court Backlog
    Immigration Courts
    Immigration Data Collection
    Immigration Decentralization
    Immigration Devolution
    Immigration Discretion
    Immigration Discrimination
    Immigration Enforcement
    Immigration Entrepreneurship
    Immigration Fantasies
    Immigration Forgiveness
    Immigration Forms
    Immigration Gamesmanship
    Immigration Gender Bias
    Immigration Inconsistency
    Immigration In Film
    Immigration Innovation Act Of 2015
    Immigration Inspections
    Immigration Inspectors
    Immigration Instructions
    Immigration Insubordination
    Immigration Interviews
    Immigration Intrigue
    Immigration Judges
    Immigration Judge Tabaddor
    Immigration Justice
    Immigration Justice System
    Immigration Language
    Immigration Law
    Immigration Law Absurdity
    Immigration Law Careers
    "Immigration Law Complexity"
    Immigration Law Complexity
    Immigration Law Extraterritoriality
    Immigration Law Humor
    Immigration Law Practice
    IMMIGRATION LAWYER
    Immigration Lawyer Atlanta Immigration Lawyer Immigration Reform Belief Believing704942b6fd
    Immigration Lawyers
    Immigration Legal Representation
    Immigration Legal Services
    Immigration Legal Services Delivery
    Immigration Lessons
    Immigration Memes
    Immigration Officers
    Immigration Officials
    Immigration On Tv
    Immigration Policies
    Immigration Policy
    Immigration Politics
    Immigration Portfolio Management
    Immigration Power
    Immigration Practice
    Immigration Profiling
    Immigration Protectionism
    Immigration Quotas
    "immigration Reform"
    Immigration Reform
    Immigration Reform Act Services
    Immigration Regulations
    Immigration Reporters
    Immigration Reporting
    Immigration Simplicity
    Immigration Status
    Immigration Terminology
    Immigration Themes
    Immigration Transition Team
    Immigration Transparency
    Immigration Truths
    Immigration Untruths
    Immigration Writing
    "Immigration Year In Review"
    Immigration Year In Review
    Immis
    Imperfect Immigration Past
    Impermissible Fee Splitting
    Improper Payments
    Imputed Intent
    INA 203(d)
    INA 203(h)(3)
    INA 204(j)
    INA 208(a)(2)(A)
    INA 212(f)
    INA 214(i)(1)
    INA 217(b)(12)
    INA § 240(b)(4)(B)
    INA 244(f)(4)
    INA 245(a)
    INA 245(k)
    INA 274(a)(1)(A)(iv)
    INA 274A(h)(3)
    INA § 274B
    INA 275
    INA § 301(g)
    Inadmissibility
    Ina Section 101a350fbc5520b3
    Ina Section 203d40da1fbde2
    Ina Section 204l15b30a9fb6
    INA Section 212(a)(2)(G)
    INA Section 301(g)
    INA Section 322
    Inc.
    Inclusive Speech
    INc. V. DHS
    Inc. V. USCIS
    Independent Contractor
    Independent Fiduciary
    India
    India And China
    India Inc.
    India IT
    Indian Citizens
    Indian IT Firms Or Companies
    Indian Prime Minister
    Indian Supreme Court
    Individualized Determinations
    Individual Shared Responsibility Provision
    Indonesian Christians
    Indophobia
    Ineffective-assistance-of-counsel
    Infected
    Infosys
    Infosys Immigration Settlement
    Infosys Settlement
    Infosys Visa Rules
    Inherent Skill
    Inhouse Counsel51701e4a40
    Innovation
    Insightful Immigration Blog
    Intending Immigrant
    Interior Immigration Enforcement
    International Criminal Court
    International Entrepreneur Parole
    International Entrepreneurs
    International Union Of Bricklayers And Allied Craftsmen V. Meese
    Internet Marriages
    Internment
    Interview
    Intracompany Transferee Visas
    Investigations
    Investment
    Investors
    Investor Visa
    Iran
    Iraq
    Iraqis
    Irca
    IRS
    Irs Form 2555
    Irs Publication 519
    I-Squared Act
    Italian Immigrants
    IT Consulting
    It Consulting Companies
    IWPA
    J1 Waiver3fd1477d5d
    J1 Waivers6f3dd388e8
    Jaen V. Sessions
    James McHenry
    Jan Brewer
    J And M Nonimmigrants
    Janet Napolitano
    Japanese American Internment
    Jared Kushner
    Javier Becerra
    Jeff Sessions
    Job Advertisements
    Job Creation
    Job Flexibility
    Job Portability
    Job Shops
    Joe Arpaio
    John A. Mendez
    John Doe Et Al. V. Canada
    John Mccain
    John Roberts
    Johnson V. United States
    John Yoo
    Joint-representation
    Jordan V. DeGeorge
    Jose Ines Garcia Zarate
    Josh Mckoon
    Journalism And Immigration
    Judge Hanen
    Judicial Deference
    Judicial Review
    Julia Preston
    July 1
    July 2007 Visa Bulletin
    Jus Soli
    Justice
    Justice Brandeis
    Justice Department
    Justice For Immigrants
    Justice Sotomayor Dissenting Opinion
    K-1 Visa
    K3 Visa37acf4a9cf
    Kansas
    Kate Steinle
    Kauffman Foundation
    Kazarian
    Kazarian V. USCIS
    Kellogg Language
    Kellogg Magic Language
    Kenneth Palinkas
    Kerry V. Din
    Khaled V Holder982a962865
    King V. Burwell
    Kleindienst V. Mandel
    Known Or Suspected Terrorist
    Know Nothing
    Kobach
    Korematsu V. United States
    Kovacs-v-united-states
    Kris Kobach
    Kris Koback
    Kst
    Kurupati V. USCIS
    L-1
    L-1A
    L-1A Visa
    L1a Visas537fc94d3f
    L-1B
    "L-1B Visa"
    L-1B Visa
    L1b Visaffc1d0a913
    "L-1B Visas"
    L1b Visas705e041a79
    L-1 Visa
    L1 Visa8e59dfe5b4
    L-1 Visa For Entrepreneurs
    L1-visa-intracompany-transferee-visa-intracompany-transfer-l1a
    L1 Visas291f967a4b
    Laboratories Of Democracy
    Labor Certification
    Labor Certification And Balca
    Labor Condition Application
    Labor Condition Applications
    "Labor Department"
    Labor Department
    Labor Market Testing
    Labor Shortages
    Labor Unions
    Lack Of Experience
    Lamar Smith
    Lameduck Congress2bd365b0dc
    Laos
    Lateef V Holder04525394c8
    Latino
    Law
    Lawfully Present
    Lawful Permanent Resident
    Lawful Permanent Resident Status
    Lawful Rejection
    Lawrence Fuchs
    Lawrence H Fuchs8538bb8495
    Lawsuit Against Daca
    Lawsuit Against Immigration Executive Actions
    Lawyers
    Lawyers Arguing
    Lawyers Debating
    Lawyer-suicide
    Layoffs
    LCA
    LCA Audit
    LCA/Labor Condition Application
    Leave Of Absence
    Ledbetter V. Goodyear Tire
    Legal Analysis
    Legal Ethics
    Legal Immigration
    Legalization
    Legal Limbo
    Legalnet
    Legal-status
    Legislative Updates
    Leon Rodriguez
    Less Flexibility
    Level 1 Or Entry Level Wage
    Level 1 Wage
    Level 1 Wages
    Lexmark Int’l Inc. V. Static Control Components Inc.
    Lexmark Int’l V. Static Control Components
    Lgbt
    Liberty
    Libya
    License
    Limited Representation
    Lindsey Graham
    List All Requirements
    Litigation
    Li V Renaudd8a40b72af
    Loan Model
    Loretta Lynch
    Loss Of Revenue
    Low Income Non-citizens
    Low Priority And Discretion
    Low Priority For Removal
    Lpr
    Lugo V. Holder
    Luis Gutierrez
    Lujan V. Defenders Of Wildlife
    Luna Torres V. Holder
    L Visa
    M274f95947aeb8
    Mad Men
    Maintenance Of Status
    Managerial Capacity
    Managerial Duties
    Mandamus Actions
    Mantena V. Johnson
    March 4
    Marco Rubio
    Maria Popova
    Marijuana Activities
    Mario Diazbalarta47ad78f9c
    Mario Rubio
    Marketbased Immigration Reformsac2c6c563f
    Marketing Fee
    Martinez-de Ryan V. Sessions
    Mary Yahya
    Massachusetts
    Master
    Matter New York State Department Of Transportation
    Matter Of AB
    Matter Of A-B
    Matter Of Acosta
    Matter Of Alyazji
    Matter Of ARCG
    Matter Of Arrabally And Yerrabelly
    Matter Of Avetisyan
    Matter Of B-C- Inc.
    Matter Of Cantu
    Matter Of Castro-Tum
    Matter Of Cognizant Technology Solutions
    Matter Of Credit Suisse Securities
    Matter Of Douglas
    Matter Of Ecosecurities
    Matter Of Emma Willard School
    Matter Of E.W. Rodriguez
    Matter Of Fpr515c6b2578
    Matter Of G- Inc.
    Matter Of G-J-S-USA Inc.
    Matter Of Hashmi
    Matter Of Hira
    Matter Of Horizon Computer Services
    Matter Of Izummi
    Matter Of J-R-R-A-
    Matter Of Karl Storz Endoscopyamerica6e946ac639
    Matter Of Koljenovic
    Matter Of L-A-B-R-
    Matter Of Lovo
    Matter Of M-A-M-
    Matter Of Marcal Neto
    Matter Of MEVG
    Matter Of Mississippi Phosphate
    Matter Of O. Vasquez
    Matter Of O Vazquez0fffb5957e
    Matter Of Rajah
    Matter Of Siemens Water Technologies Corp
    Matter Of Silva-Trevino
    Matter Of Simeio Solutions
    Matter Of Simelo Solutions
    Matter Of Skirball
    Matter Of Skirball Cultural Center
    Matter Of Symantec Corporation
    Matter Of The Clariden School
    Matter Of V-S-G- Inc.
    Matter Of WGR
    Matter Of Z-A-
    Matter Of Zamora
    Matter Of Zeleniak
    Matt Ramsey
    Mccain
    Medicaid
    Mehta Declaration
    Mehta V. DOL
    Meissner Memo
    Melania Trump
    Melissa Harrisperrye735025247
    Meme
    Memorandum Of Understanding
    Mental Competency
    Meritorious Claims
    Meritsbased Systemdcb9af44f1
    Mexico
    Michelle Malkin
    Michigan
    Micron Technologies
    Middle Vendor Arrangements And H-1B Visa
    Migrant Manifesto
    Military Families
    Military Service
    Minimum Requirements
    Misclassification
    Misinform
    Misprision-of-felony
    Miss Minnesota
    Mistakes By DSO
    Mitch Mcconnell
    Mitt Romney
    Modular Container Systems
    Moin V Ashcroft3374c3ffaa
    MOMA
    Moncrieffe V Holder2a74c71b8b
    Montana Campaign Finance Law
    #MoreThanALabel
    Morton June 17 Memo
    Morton Memo
    Morton Memo On Discretion
    Motion For Continuance
    Motion For Reconsideration
    Motions For Continuance
    Mou
    Msnbc
    Museum Of Modern Art
    Muslim Ban
    Muslim Travel Ban
    NAFTA
    Narendra Modi
    Narratives
    National Citizenship And Immigration Services Council
    National Day Of Action
    National Id Card
    National Immigration And Customs Enforcement Council
    National Interest Waiver
    National Interest Waivers For Entrepreneurs
    National Interest Wavier
    National Origin
    National Security
    National Security Concern
    Nation Of Immigrators Awards
    Nativism
    Nativist
    Naturalization
    Negotiable
    Neufeld Memo
    New I9268baceca5
    New International Legal Norm
    New Office L19f5f4f35f9
    New Rule Of Professional Conduct 7.2(b)
    Newspaper Of General Circulation
    News & Politics
    New State Ice Co V. Liebmann
    New Travel Ban Executive Order
    New York Constitutional Convention
    New York Daily News Op Ed
    New York State Bar Ethics Opinion 1116
    New York State Bar Opinion 1132
    New York Times
    Next Generation Tech Inc. V. Johnson
    Nexus Requirement
    Nfl
    Nguyen V. Holder
    Nicaragua
    Nicholas Colucci
    Ninth Circuit
    NIV
    NIW
    NOI
    NOIR
    Non-citizens
    Non-compete
    Non-existent USCIS Entrepreneurs Pathway Portal
    Nonfrivolous Application
    Nonimmigrant
    Nonimmigrant Visas
    Nonimmigrant Visa Status
    Non-justiciable
    Nonknown Or Suspected Terroristd52dcd7966
    Nonkst248c8faee5
    Nonprofit Affiliated Or Related To University
    Nonprofits And H-1B Cap
    Non-refoulement
    Non-work Activities
    Nostalgia
    Not Counting Derivative Family Members
    Not Counting Family Members
    Notice Of Intent To Revoke
    Notice Of Suspect Documents
    Notice To Appear
    November 2014 Midterm Elections
    NSD
    NSEERS
    NTA Policy
    Numbersusa
    NYSDOT
    O-1
    O-1 Visa
    Oath Of Allegiance
    Obama
    "Obama Administration"
    Obama Administration
    Obama Amensty Immigration Deferred Action81e6468f69
    Obama August 18 Announcement
    Obamacare
    Occupational Outlook Handbook
    Occupy Wall Street
    Ocrcl
    October 2012 Visa Bulletin
    October 2015 Visa Bulletin
    Offered Wage
    Office Of Civil Rights And Civil Liberties
    Office Of Foreign Labor Certification
    Office Of Inspector General
    Office Of Special Counsel
    Office Of Special Counsel For Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices
    Oig Report
    Olivia Sanson
    Omission
    One Labor Certification
    Opposition To Corruption
    OPT
    Optional Practical Training
    OPT Optional Practical Training
    Opt Out
    Opt Practical Training
    Osama Bin Laden
    Osc
    Oscar De La Hoya
    Osorio V Mayorkas806a9e9fb4
    Outrage
    Outsourcing
    Overqualification
    Overt Act
    O Visas
    O Visas For Entrepreneurs
    Ownership And Control
    P3 Visa72357cd170
    Padilla V Kentucky200410eaa5
    Paperwork Reduction Act
    Parole
    Parole For International Entrepreneurs
    Parole In Place
    Paroleinplace3a3ddef22b
    Particular Social Group
    Parviz Tanavoli
    Pat Buchanan
    Path To Citizenship
    Paul Ryan
    Peggy Noonan
    Penalties
    PERM
    Permanent Residency Options
    Perm-audit-triggers
    Perm-faqs-round-10
    PERM Labor Certification
    Person Of Extraordinary Ability
    Persons Of Extraordinary Ability
    Phantom Visa Status
    Physical Presence In A Foreign Country
    Piepowder Court
    Piers Morgan
    Pinochet
    Plain Language
    Plain Language Of Regulation Regarding Compelling Circumstances
    Plenary Power
    Plyler V. Doe
    Points System
    Policy
    Political Correctness
    Political Opinion
    Pope Francis
    Port
    Portability
    Portfolio Management
    Porting
    Porting Off Unadjudicated I-140
    Post Graduate Diploma
    Potential Court Challenge To Unlawful Presence Memo
    Potted Plants
    Preemption
    Premium Processing
    Premption
    Preponderance Of The Evidence
    Preponderence Of Evidence Standard
    President
    Presidential Debates
    Presidential Elections
    Presidentil Proclomoation 9645
    President Obama
    President Obama Executive Actions
    President Trump
    President Tump
    Presumption Of Fraud Or Misrepresentation
    Prevailing Wage Determination
    Prevailing Wage Determination Validity Period
    Primary And Alternate Requirements
    Printz V. United States
    Priority Date
    Priority Date Retrogression
    Priority Dates
    Private Employment Firms
    Pro Bono
    Pro-bono-legal-services
    Processing Times
    Procurement
    Prodsecutorial Discretion
    Prodsecutorial Discretion Morton Memo James Madison6c95a0548c
    Professional-responsibility
    Proper Signature
    Proposed Rule
    Prosecution For Illegal Entry
    Prosecutorial Discretion
    Protect And Grow American Jobs Act
    Protectionism
    Protests
    Provisional Waiver
    Provisional Waiver Of 3 And 10 Year Bars
    Proxy Marriage
    Public Charge
    Public Health Significance
    Public Service
    Puleo Memorandum
    Puppets
    P Visas
    Qiaowai
    Qualified Candidates
    Qualified Worker
    Quota
    Racial Profiling
    Racism
    Ragbir V. Homan
    Ragbir V. Sessions
    RAISE Act
    Ramirez V. Brown
    Ramirez V. Reich
    Rand Paul
    Range Of Experience
    Raud Detection And National Security
    Raul Hinjosaojedab7c338ba6c
    Ravi Ragbir
    Real Id Act
    Record Deportations
    Recruitment
    Recruitment Report
    Recusal
    Redcarpet Immigrationecf057f251
    Reentry Permit
    Reflecting On September 11
    Refoulement
    Refugee
    Refugee Convention
    Refugees
    Regional Center
    Regional-centers
    Regulations
    Regulatory Flexibility Act
    Regulatory Reform
    Reinterpretation
    Reinterpretation Of INA
    Religion
    Religious Freedom
    Religious Freedom Ground Of Inadmissibility
    Religious Workers
    Relinquish Us Citizenship25cc75ef5e
    Removal Orders And Work Authorization
    Removal Proceeding
    Removal Proceedings
    Render Unto Caesar
    Republican
    Republican Party
    Republicans
    Republicans On Immigration
    Requests For Additional Evidence
    Requests For Evidence
    Required Wage
    Rescission Of Deference Policy
    Residential Fiance Corp V. USCIS
    Resident Vs. Non-Resident Alien
    Restaurant Immigration
    Restrictive Covenant
    Resume Review
    Retention Of Priority Date
    Retroactive Application Of Agency Decision
    Retrogression
    Return Transportation Cost Or Payment
    Retweets
    Reverse Migration
    Revocation
    Revocation Of I130 Petition29e2465d50
    Reza Derakshani
    Rfe
    Rfes
    Rights Of Defendants
    Right To Counsel In Removal Proceedings
    Right To Protect
    Risking Lives
    Rnc Immigration Resolution
    Robert Bosch
    Robert Delahunty
    Robert Zimmerman
    Rod Serling
    Role Of Lawyers
    Romney
    Rosenberg V. Fleuti
    Roving Employee
    Roxana Bacon
    Ruben Navarette
    Rule 1648282cc144
    Rule 3369c1f5dca4
    Rulemaking
    Rule Of Law
    Rules
    Ruqiang Yu V Holder112d7eccb6
    Rusk V. Cort
    Russia
    Rust Belt
    Rust Belt Economies
    S 744388557e228
    Safe Third Country Agreement
    Salary
    Salas-v-sierra-chemical-co
    Same-or-similar
    Same Sex
    Same Sex Marriage
    Samesex Marriagea1a4c1687a
    Same Sex Relationships
    San-berardino-attacks
    Sanctuary
    Sanctuary Cities
    Sanders
    San Francisco
    San Francisco V. Trump
    Saturday Night Live
    Sayfullo Saipov
    Sb 1070
    Sb 170
    Sb 458
    SB 54
    Sb6
    SB 785
    Scales V. INS
    Scialabba-v-cuellar-de-osorio
    Scope Of Representation
    Scotus
    Second Amendment
    Second Circuit
    Second Class Citizenship
    Section-245i
    Section 377 Indian Penal Code
    Section-911
    Section-k
    Security Council
    Self Employment
    Self Referral
    Sen Al Franken8d17f34572
    Senate Bill 54
    Senate-homeland-security-and-governmental-affairs-committee
    Senate Immigration Reform Proposal
    Senate Judiciary Committee
    Senator Grassley
    Senator Hatch Legal Immigration Reform07d2d1ba79
    Senator Mccain
    Senator Rubio
    Senator Schumer
    Sen-coburn
    Sen Cornynb4913b20f7
    Sen Mccain70a20820e6
    Sen Reidd251095d63
    Sen Schumered4af5bde9
    Sen-tom-coburn
    Separating Children From Parents
    Separation Of Children
    Separation Of Powers
    September 11
    Sergio Garcia
    Sessions V. Dimaya
    Settlement Agreement
    SEVP
    Shabaj V Holdercba68a701d
    Shameful Adults
    Shortage Occupations
    Short-term Placement
    Show Me Your Papers
    Shyima Hall
    Siblings
    Simeio
    Simon Winchestor
    Singapore
    Singh V Reno628d251f29
    Site Visit
    Skidmore Deference
    Skilled Immigrants
    Skilled Legal Immigrants
    Skilled Workers
    Skype
    Slavery
    Smartzip
    Soccer
    Social Distinction
    Social Media
    Social Security Administration Ssa No Match Letterf1d55fcc30
    Sole-representation
    Solis-Espinoza V. Gonzales
    Somalia
    Sophie Cruz
    Sought To Acquire
    Sought To Acquire Lawful Permanent Residency
    Southern Border Enforcement
    Special Counsel
    Special Enrollment Period
    Special Immigrants
    "Specialized Knowledge"
    Specialized Knowledge
    Specialty Occupation
    Specialty Occupations
    Spouse Of H1b153354d1c2
    Staffing Companies
    Stakeholders
    Stalin
    Standard Occupational Classification
    Standing
    Startup
    Startup Visa
    Startup Visa31494d637e
    State Bar Of California
    "State Department"
    State Department
    State Department Advisory Opinion
    State Department Visa Bulletin
    State Enforcement Of Immigration Laws
    State Immigration Law
    State Immigration Laws
    State Law
    State Legislation
    State Rights V. Federal Preemption
    States
    States Refusal
    States Rights
    Status
    Status Violations
    STEM
    STEM 24-month OPT Extension
    Stem Green Card
    Stem Immigration
    Stem Jobs Act
    STEM OPT
    STEM OPT Employer Attestations
    STEM OPT Extension
    Step By Step Day Care LLC
    Stephen Miller
    Steve King
    St. Louis Ship
    Stories
    Storytelling
    Strauss Kahn
    Strausskahn00f7a82137
    Strausskahn0c784e0777
    Strickland-test
    Students And Scholars
    Stylebook
    Subcommittee On Immigration Policy And Enforcement
    Subhan V. Ashcroft
    Substantial Presence Test
    Success Stories
    Sudan
    Summary Removal
    Sunday Ads
    Super Fee
    Supervised Recruitment
    Supporting US High Skilled Business And Workers
    Supremacy Clause
    Supreme Court
    Supreme Court Of The United States
    Suresh Kumar Koushal V Naz Foundation0c35ab381e
    Surrogate Arrangements
    Surviving Spouse Immigration Benefits
    Suspension Of Premium Processing
    Suspension Of Prevailing Wage Determination
    Swde
    Syria
    Syrian Refugees
    Tabaddor V. Holder
    Take Care Clause
    Tamerlan Tsarnaev
    Tani Cantil-Sakauye
    Tapis International V. INS
    Taxes
    Tax Return
    Tax Treaty
    Teaching
    Techorbits
    Ted Cruz
    Ted Cruzs Canadian Citizenship97b85977cd
    Ted J Chiapparid1be1c2015
    Tek Services
    Telecommuting
    Temporary Labor Certification
    Temporary Nonimmigrant Waiver
    Temporary Protected Status
    Temporary Waiver
    Tenrec
    Tenrec Inc. V. USCIS
    Tenyear Bare5cfe49a0e
    Terminatiion
    Termination Of TPS
    Terrorism
    Tesla Motors
    Texas Anti-Sanctuary Law SB 4
    Texas V. United States
    Texas V. USA
    Thanksgiving Turkey
    That Was The Week That Was
    The Iword925fa53b25
    The Philippines
    The Snake
    The Tyranny Of Priority Dates
    Third Circuit
    Third Party
    Third-Party Arrangements
    Third Party Client
    Third Party Client Site
    Thomas Jefferson
    Threeyear Barca4ce1adbf
    Three Year Indian Degree
    Three Year Old
    Thrust Upon Conflicts
    Time
    Tina Turner
    TN Visas
    Tolling
    Tom Lehrer
    Top 10 Most Viewed Posts
    Torture
    Totality Of Circumstances Test
    TPP
    TPS
    Trade In Services
    Trade Policy
    Trade With India
    Trafficking
    Trafficking; VAWA
    Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act
    Training Plan
    Training Plans
    Transparency
    Travel
    Travel Authorization
    Travel Ban
    Travel Ban Executive Order
    Travel Ban Waivers
    Trayvon Martin
    Tribunal
    Truax V. Raich
    Trump
    Trump Immigration Policies
    Trump V. Hawaii
    Tseung Chu V. Cornell
    Turner V Rogerse0e2213e28
    TVRPA
    Tweets
    Twitter
    Two Priority Dates
    Tyranny Of Priority Dates
    "U"
    Unaccompanied Children
    Unaccompanied Minor
    Unaccompanied Minors
    Unauthorized Employment
    Unauthorized Immigrants
    Uncategorized
    Uncommon H-1B Occupations
    Unconstitutional
    Undamental Fairness
    Undocumented
    Undocumented Immigrant
    Undocumented Immigrants
    Undocumented Lawyer
    Undocumented Student
    Undocumented Workers
    Unhappy-lawyers
    United States Citizenship And Immigration Services
    United States Trade
    United States V. Bean
    United States V. Texas
    United States V Windsord2b852bf02
    United States V. Wong Kim Ark
    University Of Miami Law School
    Unlawfully Present
    Unlawful Presence
    U Nonimmigrant Visa
    Unsuccessful Prosecution
    USA V. California
    USA V. Olivar
    USA V. Texas
    US-Canada Border
    Us Chamber Of Commercea7b71cf5ba
    USCIS
    USCIS California Service Center
    USCIS Deference Policy
    USCIS Director
    USCIS Director Francis Cissna
    Uscis Economists
    USCIS Guidance
    Uscis Immigration Attorney Attorney At Immigration Interview Frauda4f5dad76b
    USCIS Listening Session
    "USCIS Ombudsman"
    Uscis Ombudsman
    "USCIS Policy Memorandum"
    Uscis Policy Memorandum
    U.S. Citizen Parent
    U.S. Citizenship
    Us Constitution
    Us Consulate
    Us Consulate081a8a95d6
    Us Consulates64f4af575b
    Us Customs And Border Protectione83df9ce06
    U S Immigration And Customs Enforcementca915606c7
    U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement
    Us Immigration Policy18cc81545d
    Us Tax Guide For Aliens
    Us V Arizonaa89601cba1
    U.S. V. California
    US Worker
    US Workers
    Us Workersbab035371d
    Utah
    U Visa
    U Visa Category
    U Visa Eligibility
    U Visa Status
    "U" Visa; U Visa
    Vartelas V Holdera1ea23ce84
    Vawa
    Velasquez-Garcia V.Holder
    Velasquez-Garcia V. Holder
    Vendor Management
    Vendor Relations
    Vera
    Vera V Attorney Generalaf3a90412f
    Vermont Service Center
    Viability
    Viability Of Fleuti
    Victims Of Abuse
    Victims Of Crime
    Victims Of Domestic Abuse Or Sex Crimes
    Victims Of Domestic Violence
    Villas At Parkside Partners V. Farmers Branch
    Vinayagam V. Cronous Solutions
    Violation Of Status
    Violence Against Women Act
    Vip Immigration
    Visa Application
    Visa Availability
    Visa Ban
    Visa Bulletin
    Visa Denials
    Visagate2015
    Visa Modernization
    Visa Revocation
    Visas
    Visa Voidance
    Visa Voidance 3year Bara99b8dc197
    Visa Waiver Admission
    Visa Waiver Program
    Vivek Wadhwa
    Vladimir Putin
    Void For Vagueness
    Voting
    Vwp
    Waiting In The Immigration Line
    Waiting Line
    Waiting List
    Waiver
    Waiver Of 10 Year Bar
    Waiver Of Inadmissibility
    Waivers
    Wall
    Washington Alliance Of Technology Workers
    Washington Alliance Of Technology Workers V. DHS
    Washington V. Trump
    WashTec
    Wealthy Travelers
    White House
    Work Authorization
    Work Permits
    Worksite
    Workspace
    Work Visas
    Worst Of The Worst
    Xenophobia
    Yemen
    Yerrabelly
    Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. V. Sawyer
    Youseff V Renaud
    Youth
    Zombie Precedents
    Zone Of Interest
    Zone Of Interests

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Mrs Logic