| Immigration Services |
 |
| |
| Green Card Interview |
| Green Card interview you will be expected to give the original and a copy of all documents to the immigration officer. Among the documents that you are required to provide are the following: |
- Birth certificate for both you and your spouse
- Any judgments of divorce for you and your spouse
- Your current marriage certificate
- Bank Statements, which should be in both names
- Utility bills, which should be in both names
- Lease for your apartment or deed to your home, which should be in both names
- Joint tax returns
|
| In addition you will be required to provide photographs of you and your spouse along with family and friends. |
|
| E-1 Visa |
- Personnel including executives, managers and specialists of treaty country companies operating in the U.S.
- Nationals of treaty countries seeking to enter the U.S. to carry out substantial trade. The international trade between your home country and the U.S. must be 'substantial' in the sense that there is a sizable and continuing volume of trade. More than 50 per cent of the international trade involved must be between the U.S. and your home country.
- Immediate family members of E-1 visa holders.
- Companies in treaty countries to send key personnel to manage the U.S. affiliate or branch.
- Companies in treaty countries to send personnel to set up a U.S. company.
|
|
| E-2 Visa |
- Entrepreneurs from treaty countries investing substantially in a U.S. enterprise.
- Nationals of treaty countries entering the U.S. to develop and direct investments from the treaty country.
- Nationals of treaty countries entering the U.S. to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which they have invested, or they are actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital.
- Immediate family members of E-2 visa holders.
- Companies in treaty countries to send key personnel to manage the U.S. affiliate or branch.
- Companies in treaty countries to send personnel to set up a U.S. company.
|
| Who can file? |
| Nationals of countries with which the United States has a treaty relationship who are coming to the U.S. to engage in trade or to direct or develop the operations of a business in which they have made substantial investments can apply for an E-1 or E-2 visa. |
|
| H1B Visa |
The H1B Visa allows a foreign professional to enter the United States and work on temporary bases for a U.S. employer. The visa is good for 3 years and can be extended for an additional 3 years, making a total of 6 years. The H1B Visa applicant is allowed to bring along a spouse and children under 21 years old on an H4 Visa. The spouse is not allowed to work. The children are allowed to attend school.
In order qualify for an H1B Visa the following conditions must be met:
A U.S. employer must sponsor the employee. The employer must offer employment that involves a specialty occupation which requires special skills in that field. Examples of such occupations include the following: , accounting, architecture, biotechnology, business, education, engineering, law, mathematics, medicine, physical sciences, social sciences, theology, and the arts.
The foreign employee must have at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent in an area related to the proposed position. If the applicant doesn't have at least a bachelor's degree it may be possible to substitute relevant work experience and education in the field. The employer must prove that it will pay at least the minimum wages and provide the same working conditions to the foreign national as it would to a U.S. employee.
H1B Visas are also available to fashion models. Fashion Models are not required to have a bachelor's degree. However they must be of distinguished merit and ability. The number of H1B Visas are very limited and there is always a shortage of these visas.
An H1B visa holder may apply for a Green Card.
|
|
| Green Card by Marriage |
The Permanent Resident Card is commonly known as a "Green Card". The Green Card allows a person to live and work on a permanent basis in the United States. The most popular way to obtain a green card is by marrying a U.S. citizen or green card holder.
The Green Card is not automatically given upon marriage. After the marriage an application must be made to The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS). To be successful, you must prove that the marriage is genuine, that is that the marriage didn't' take place for the sole purpose of obtaining a green card. Also, in order for to obtain a green card, the person being sponsored must be qualified to be admitted into the U.S. under immigration laws. |
| When you apply to sponsor your spouse you must include all of the following items: |
- Form I-130 petition for alien relative on the spouse's behalf
- Form I-485 application for adjustment of status to permanent resident (green card holder)
- Biographical form G-325A for each party
- Non-Disclosure Agreement with employees
- Form I-765 application for employment authorization
- Birth certificate of the petitioner/U.S. citizen
- Citizenship papers of the petitioner/U.S. citizen (if any)
- Birth certificate of the beneficiary/alien
- Passport of the beneficiary/alien, including the I-94 card (if any)
- Marriage certificate
- Marriage photograph
- Four photographs of the beneficiary/alien (passport size, green card photograph)
- Two photographs of the petitioner/U.S. citizen (passport size)
- Divorce papers for each spouse if applicable
- Birth certificate of each child belonging to each party, if any
- Prior USCIS papers
- Medical evaluation of the beneficiary
- Financial documents of the petitioner, including all tax returns for the previous three years, job letters, pay stubs of the last two months, and a bank statement.
|
|
| Employer Sponsorship |
There are five categories of employees that can get a green card through employer sponsorship.
The first category is known as EB-1 Priority Workers. This category include foreign nationals of extraordinary abilities in the sciences, arts, business, education or athletics, also foreign nationals who are outstanding professors or researchers; and foreign nationals who are managers and executives subject to international transfer to the United States.
The second category is known as EB-2 Professionals with advanced degrees or persons with exceptional ability. This category include foreign nationals of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business; foreign nationals who are advanced degree professionals; and qualified foreign physicians, who will practice medicine in an area of the U.S. that is underserved.
The third category is known as EB-3 Skilled or professional workers.
This category include foreign national professionals with a bachelor's degree, but who do not qualify for a higher preference category; foreign national skilled workers with a minimum of two years training and experience; and foreign national unskilled workers with fewer than two years of higher education, including live-in domestic workers.
The fourth category is known as EB-4 Special Immigrants. This category includes foreign national religious workers; and employees and former employees of the U.S. Government living abroad.
The fifth and final category is known as EB-5 Immigrant Investors. This category includes Investors, either alone or with their spouse and unmarried children. A foreign investor must: |
- Demonstrate that a "qualified investment" is being made in a new commercial enterprise located within an approved regional center in the U.S.
Show, through reasonable ways, that ten or more jobs will actually be created in the U.S. either directly or indirectly by the new commercial enterprise.
- Show, through reasonable ways, that ten or more jobs will actually be created in the U.S. either directly or indirectly by the new commercial enterprise.
|
|
| H-2B Work Visa General Information: |
| The H-2B Work Visa was created to allow people to come to the United States temporarily, mainly for non-agricultural jobs, in which the United States workers are in short supply. Up to 66,000 H-2B Visas are issued every year. This year's annual quota has not yet been reached. Prospects are good that H-2B Visas will remain available in future years. |
|
| H-2B Work Visa Eligibility Requirements |
| You qualify for an H-2B Work Visa if you are coming to the United States to accept a temporary or seasonal non-agricultural job from a U.S. employer. You may apply if you have the correct background, skills or natural abilities needed by the employer. H-2B Visas are targeted towards skilled and unskilled workers. |
|
| Fiancée Visa (K-1 Visa) |
US citizen who is engaged to marry a foreign citizen can apply for a fiancée visa, which is known as a K1 Visa, to have his or her fiancée legally enter the U.S.
The K-1 Visa is valid for 90 days. The U.S. Citizen and fiancée must marry within that 90 day period. No extensions are permitted for this visa. If the marriage does not occur within the ninety day period, then the fiancée must return to his or her home country.
To qualify for a fiancée visa, the following requirements must be met:
|
- The petitioner must have met his or her fiancée within the previous two years
- Both the petitioner and the foreign fiancée must be eligible and legally free to marry
- The petitioner must intend to marry the foreign fiancée within ninety days from the arrival date of the fiancée in the United States.
|
| Typically, the K1 Visa approval time take from two weeks to seven months. Once the US citizen and the fiancée are married, the US citizen must apply for an adjustment of the status of the fiancée, now spouse, to obtain conditional, permanent residence status. |
|
| L-1 Visa |
The L-1 Visa is available to employees of corporations operating outside of the United States that also either have an office in the United States or wish to establish an office in the United States. The employee must be a manager, executive or an employee with special knowledge. Also the employee must have been working for the corporation for at least one year.
The employee may also bring a spouse and unmarried children under 21 years old under an L-2 visa. Under an L-2 visa the spouse may work and the children may go to school.
If the L-1 Visa employee is working at an established U.S. office that employee, spouse and children may immediately apply for a green card. If the employee is working at a newly established U.S. office the employee, spouse and children may apply for a green card after one year. |
|
| Divorce Sponsoring Spouse |
If your spouse sponsored you and you are still married, you may apply for your citizenship 3 years after receiving your green card. However, you must still be married and living with your sponsoring spouse. Furthermore, you will need to provide proof that you and your spouse are still married and living together. Among the proof you will need are joint tax returns and a lease or deed that shows the marital residence is in both names.
If you can't meet these requirements you may apply for your citizenship on your own after 4 years and 9 months after receiving your green card. If it has been 4 years and 9 months since you have received your green card you will not need to still be married to your sponsoring spouse. |
|
| Divorce Before Green Card |
If your spouse sponsored you for your green card and you have not yet received your permanent green card you will need your spouse's cooperation to order to obtain your permanent green card. There is one exception to this rule. If you are a victim of physical abuse by your spouse, you may be able to obtain your permanent green under the battered spouse exception.
In order to qualify under this exception, you must have started a divorce action based upon the abuse, and you must have proof of the abuse. Proof may include photos, witnesses to the abuse, medical records. Also there should be police reports of the abuse and an order of protection against the abusive spouse. |
|
| Deportation |
If you are in the process of deportation, also known as removal proceedings it is essential that you have an experienced immigration attorney represent you. If you go to your hearing without an attorney or with an inexperienced attorney and you are ordered to leave the United States it is very unlikely that you would win an appeal.
When you make an appeal, you are saying to the appeal court that you believe that the court that decided your case didn't make the correct decision based upon what was said and presented to them. Appeals of decisions to deport are made strictly on the transcript of the hearing and the evidence that you or your attorney submitted at the hearing. If you or your attorney didn't say the right thing or present the proper evidence, you will not have another opportunity to do so at your appeal. |
|
| R1 Visa Application for Religious Worker |
The R-1 visa category is reserved for Religious Workers. To qualify as a Religious Worker in this visa category, you must be a member of a religious denomination that has a genuine nonprofit religious organization in the U.S. You must have held membership in the denomination for at least two years before you can apply. To qualify as a genuine non-profit, the organization must be exempt from paying U.S. taxes, or eligible for tax-exempt status.
In addition, as a Religious Worker you are can only perform certain duties for the denomination. Specifically, you must serve as a minister, or in another recognized religious vocation.
In order to sponsor a Religious Worker for R-1 status, a religious organization must first file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly the INS). After the petition is approved, the Religious Worker can apply for a visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad. |
|
| Student Visas (M-1 & M-2) and Student Visas (F-1 & F-2) |
| An M-1 Visa is meant to give you the opportunity to study in a non-academic program such as vocational training in the United States.
In order to qualify for a student visa, you must go to a program that has at least 12 hours a week. The M-1 Visa is valid for up to one year. It can be extended up to an additional 2 years, making a total of 3 years.
At the conclusion of your program you are allowed practical training, which means that you are allowed to work in your area of study. Depending on the length of your study, you are allowed to work up to one year.
If you obtain an M-1 Visa, you are allowed to bring your spouse and children under 21 years old under an M-2 Visa; however they are not allowed to work. Children may attend school, but not beyond high school |
|
| Requirements to Become a U.S. Citizen |
A green card holder can apply for U.S. citizenship 4 years and 9 months after receiving a green card. However, if the green card holder was sponsored by a U.S. citizen, the green card holder can apply for citizenship after only 3 years. To become a U.S. citizen you must be at least 18 years hold.
You must have resided continuously as a lawful permanent resident in the U.S. for at least 5 years prior to filing. If you apply for citizenship based upon sponsorship by your spouse, you must have been a lawful permanent resident for at least the past 3 years. This doesn't mean that you had to actually been physically present in the U.S. for that entire period of time, however you must have maintained a residence in the U.S. for that period of time.
In addition you must been the following requirements:
You must have been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months out of the previous 60 months or if being sponsored by a U.S. citizen for at least 18 months out of the previous 36 months.
You must have had no single absence from the United States of more than one year
Must have resided for at least the previous 3 months in the U.S. state or territory where you made your citizenship application.
You must have resided in the U.S. for the entire period since you filed your application for citizenship.
You must read, write and speak English. You are exempt from this requirement if you are at least 50 years old on the date you have filed your citizenship application and have lived in the U.S. for a total of at least 20 years after admission as a permanent resident. If you are over 55 and have been a legal permanent resident for at least the past 15 years you are also exempted from this requirement. You may also be exempted from this requirement if you have a physical or mental impairment that affects your ability to learn English.
You must have a basic knowledge of U.S. government and U.S. history.
You must be of good moral character and not have been convicted of any crimes.
You must have filed you federal and state income tax returns every year. |
| |
