Seminars and Speaking Engagements

Martin Lawler is a popular speaker on visa matters. He has a number of upcoming seminars and speaking engagements. They cover a broad range of important immigration topics from H-1Bs and Green Cards for Students, EB-5 investment visas, and information on visas for scientists. The list up to April 2010 is as follows.

H-1B & Green Card workshops:

Location: University of San Francisco

Dates: February 17, 2010 and March 11, 2010

2010 American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting:

Location: San Francisco, CA

Date: March 22, 2010. Martin Lawler will be part of a panel discussion entitled "Foreign National Scientists: Obtaining a Job in the U.S."

EB-5 Investor Green Cards

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Location: Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico Chapter's Spring Conference

Date: April 17, 2010

For more information, please contact Martin Lawler at mlawler@aboutvisas.com or call us on 415-391-2010. Martin is available to speak to other groups.

More EB-5 News

Why the EB-5 green card is so fast.

EB-5 investor visas are now the quickest way to immigrate and obtain a green card, behind marrying a U.S. citizen, being a person of extraordinary ability, an outstanding researcher or a national interest waiver petition (except for China and India the national interest is slower than EB-5). This is because there are a guaranteed 10,000 EB-5 visa numbers each year and only about a third have never been used.

The typical employment-sponsored visa categories take years to complete. For example, the employment based 2nd and 3rd preferences require a labor certification from the Department of Labor proving worker shortage (which in this economy can be hard to obtain for non-technology workers) that can take a year and a half to be issued. One must then wait for a visa number to complete the green card process. Applicants from China and India under the EB-2 must wait years for visa numbers.

The EB-3 category for all countries can take seven to eight years for a visa number and up to 20 years for a person from China or India. Some day Congress will fix the system – but in the meantime, EB-5 processing in about one year remains very appealing. Most EB-5s invest in Regional Centers, which are limited partnerships.

There are now 70 approved Regional Centers and 30 on file. Many are placeholders and not off the ground. Only about 20 are active. I can send you a list of the established Regional Centers and a few of the new ones. Another alternative involves investing in one’s own business. In either the regional center or your own business 10 jobs must be created.

I can refer investors to a risk analyst to help evaluate regional center projects. I also have an easy to understand flowchart of the EB-5 process. It is up on my website in English and Chinese.

Martin J. Lawler

H-1B Visa Filings are Rapidly Using All Available Visa Numbers

All wanting an H-1B visa should apply now. As of November 30, USCIS has received about 58,900 H-1B cases for the 64,000 available visa numbers (the law provides 65,000 numbers and some are reserved for Singapore and Chile). In the past week, the USCIS received about 2,000 applications up from 1,300 the week before.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday.

Martin J. Lawler

Are H-1B Visas Running Out?

USCIS announced that about 53,800 H-1B visa numbers have been used. 85,000 are available each year. 20,000 are reserved for U.S. advanced degree holders (MS, PhD, etc.) and USCIS says those have been exhausted for this year. About 40,000 numbers were used on April 1 when they first became available.

The guessing game now is how soon the remaining numbers will be used. Some will be reserved for Chile and Singapore per free trade agreements. Those can be allocated up to 6,800. But since typically only a few hundred of those are used per year, the expected extra are made available to applicants worldwide.

A colleague predicts the remaining H-1B visa numbers will be used by the end of 2009. Thus, anyone wanting an H-1B visa should apply now.

Certain people are exempt from obtaining an H-1B visa number. They include people sponsored by colleges or universities, nonprofits related to universities, and certain research institutes. People with an H-1B visa number can change employers without obtaining a new visa number, but a new application must be filed by the new employer.

H-1B workers contribute greatly to the U.S. economy and create employment. The founders of many technology companies started out on H-1B visas. Some created whole new industries and hundreds of thousands of American jobs. The economic footprint of an H-1B worker is also significant. They buy cars, groceries, and books and pay U.S. taxes. I have clients on H-1B visas who are researching cures for cancer, developing new medical devices, creating new electronic technologies, and advancing biotechnology, among other fields.

Martin J. Lawler

EB-5 Investor Green Card Update

There have been a number of developments on EB-5 investor green cards. The EB-5 immigrant investor category allows a person and his or her dependent family members to get a green card (i.e., live permanently in the U.S.) by investing in the U.S. and creating or saving 10 U.S. jobs. The minimum amount of investment is $500,000 if invested in a rural or high unemployment area. Otherwise one must invest at least $1,000,000. Most invest in limited partnerships called Regional Centers and the investment amount including their fee is $525,000 to $550,000. People can create their own business as well.

Congress has passed a three-year extension of the Regional Center statute which now sunsets October 30, 2012. Senator Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has introduced a bill for a permanent extension – a link to the bill is found on my web page http://www.aboutvisas.com/ in the EB-5 section. It contains my proposal for a “good faith waiver” in case the 10 jobs are not created through no fault of the investor. This is a safety net which I proposed and is being supported by many others.

USCIS has begun to process cases faster. USCIS announced at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) first all EB-5 conference that they would decide a sample EB-5 petition for the Regional Center so that the center project aspect of the EB-5 investor case did not have to be decided with each investor’s application. The investors still must prove the investment is made, funds are at risk and the funds come from a legal source. This new process should streamline the deciding of cases.

I spoke at AILA’s EB-5 conference on the process of obtaining removal of conditional resident status, the I-829 application.

I have learned this fiscal year (beginning 10/1/09) that 422 EB-5s have been issued conditional green cards. Most were cases which could not be completed in September, the last month of fiscal year 2009.

The EB-5 classification is one of the fastest ways to immigrate compared to the other slow immigrant EB-2 and EB-3 preference categories.

Contact me for an EB-5 flowchart explaining the EB-5 immigration process.

Martin

H-1B Site Visits

USCIS is conducting unannounced site visits to randomly selected companies sponsoring H-1B visas. USCIS says that some such 40,000 site visits will be conducted. So, the odds of a visit are high. I also anticipate in the future that there will be site visits for L-1 and possibly other work visas. USCIS is using contractors not USCIS officers.

Here are some guidelines:

· USCIS has a legitimate interest in verifying that the company exists and the H-1B worker is appropriately employed. However, USCIS is not allowed to compromise proprietary processes, information and trade secrets by touring the company or taking photographs on the premises. It is essential that accurate information be provided by a knowledgeable management team member about the H-1B employee's terms of employment including the job duties and salary. Inadvertent misinformation provided by, for example, a receptionist, may cause complications for the employer and H-1B worker. It is important to alert reception personnel that a site visit may happen and who will be the only person designated to talk with the inspector.

· Problems might arise by innocent characterizations provided about job duties, the job title, and salary which may seem different from those on the H-1B visa petition. For example, the H-1B petition may contain the generic job title of “software engineer” but the employer's internal title is “technical staff.” Or the H-1B petition may describe the job in lay terms, but the investigator is given a technical job description he/she does not understand. Or perhaps the employee provides his net pay instead of gross. For this reason the management team member and the H-1B employee should be familiar with the H-1B paperwork.

· USCIS guidelines provide that a site visit will be terminated if an employer requests presence of a lawyer. But I have heard conflicting reports as to whether this is happening in practice. You should evaluate your situation to decide how you wish to respond to a site visit. If you are more comfortable with counsel present, get me on the phone and we can discuss it with the inspector together.

· I recommend cooperation with the site inspector so long as safeguards are in place to be sure accurate information is provided.

If you would like to discuss this further, please call me or Hope Frye. Hope is an expert on worksite enforcement.

Premium Processing Resumes for Some Green Card Petitions

USCIS is resuming Premium Processing service for Form I-140 workers involving EB-1 Aliens with Extraordinary Ability, EB-1 Outstanding Professors and Researchers, EB-2 Members of Professions with Advanced Degrees or Exceptional Ability but not seeking a National Interest Waiver, EB-3 Professionals, EB-3 Skilled Workers, and EB-3 Other Workers.

Under the Premium Processing Service, USCIS guarantees it will issue either 1) an approval notice, 2) a notice of intent to deny, 3) a request for evidence, or 4) open an investigation for fraud or misrepresentation within 15 calendar days of receipt. There is a filing fee of $1,000, which does not include legal costs associated with the application.

USCIS promises a refund of the $1,000 fee if the petition is not processed within 15 calendar days from the date it receives the premium processing request. However, this does not mean that USCIS must refund the fee if it fails to complete the case within 15 days. If USCIS reviews the petition and issues a notice of intent to deny, a request for evidence, or opens an investigation during the 15 day period, the fee will not be refunded.

Premium Processing may greatly expedite some cases and save six months to one year of waiting time for a green card. If you are potentially interested, please contact Martin Lawler at mlawler@aboutvisas.com to discuss the specifics of your petition.

Martin