Immigration Legal Questions

You will need to reapply at this stage, now that the initial petition has expired.  Also, keep in mind that there are a number of different immigration documents with separate expiries that you need to keep tracking: (1) the visa label that is issued by the local US Consulate/Embassy, which is the employee's "entry ticket" to enter the USA; (2) the I-797 Approval Notice for the USCIS I-129 petition; and (3) the I-94 Admission Record that is issued to the employee upon entry to the USA.... Read Answer

USCIS considers the date of receipt of an application or petition to be the relevant date in deciding whether an individual has timely filed. For cases with rapidly approaching deadlines, we will use a courier service like FedEx. Filing for F-1 status from H-4 without the spouse’s documents may be somewhat problematic as USCIS will want to see that the principal H-1B has been maintaining legal status. You will also require financial evidence of support sufficient for the schooling. That figure can be seen on the I-20 form which estimates the amount required for schooling and living expenses. A timely filing does not incur unlawful presence until the date that an application or petition is denied. At that point, day 1 begins on unlawful presence, not before. There is no grace period to leave if you become illegal after you are divorced and USCIS would like individuals who no longer have status to leave as soon as possible. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

I assume that you have tried to contact your lawyer's office through regular means without success. If your lawyer’s office has closed, you may be able to find information on the lawyer on the Internet. If not, you may contact your local Bar Association to see whether it has any current information on your lawyer. Good luck. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Starting and working in your own separate business while on H-1B status is a violation of that status. It is not legal for you to work and bill for the work when you obtain your EAD. I do note that illegal work will not adversely affect you in the adjudication of a marriage based green card application to a US citizen. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

It is difficult to estimate how long it will take an I-130 petition to be adjudicated from the time that you receive word that your documents are being reviewed. In many cases, those words do not mean very much. USCIS has given us the same message for cases that we just filed and received a receipt. You can access published estimated USCIS processing times at its service centers by going online to USCIS.gov. We have a link to the processing times on our website www.alanleelaw.com on the right-hand side of our home page if that would be more convenient for you. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

The family can travel to the US without another visa stamping. Their relationship is to you and not any company. Even you would be able to travel back and forth on the basis of your existing visa and the new I-797A approval. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

If your work permit expires in June 2023, you will still have to renew it. USCIS has a policy for automatic extension of 540 days where the employment authorization application is pending because USCIS has many times exceeded an applicant’s legal time before reaching the application for adjudication. In the past, USCIS gave an automatic 180 day extension, but even that was many times not sufficient time for the adjudication. Therefore, the new automatic extension time is 540 days to allow USCIS to make the adjudication and at the same time allow the individual to continue working in the interim. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read Answer

Everyone is unfortunately in the same boat and visa availability dates cannot be advanced for any one person or groups of people. Currently visa availability under the final action dates chart of the visa bulletin for the month of March 2023 is open for those who filed petitions prior to March 22, 2007, except for those born in India and Mexico, who must wait longer. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Generally, everyone making a visa application to the United States is judged upon his or her own merits. A consular officer looking at an applicant for a visitor visa will usually check to see whether the individual has ties and bonds to the home country, and this may include any means of financial support. Her father would probably only come into the picture if she is dependent or even partly dependent upon him. INA 212(a)(2)(C)(ii) also makes ineligible for admission the spouse, son, or daughter of a known drug trafficker or where there is reason to believe that the person has been a drug smuggler where the applicant has within the previous five years obtained any financial or other benefit from the illicit activity of the parent, and knew or reasonably should have known that the financial or other benefit was the product of such illicit activity. That section would likely only come into effect if her father’s trafficking activities continued after the 1980s.  Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

The choice is up to you. Unlike the I-539 extension form which asks both for US physical address and US mailing address, the I-134 form asks for a US physical address, but does not ask for a US mailing address – just for the mailing address. As the I-134 affidavit of support form is only a part of the I-539 filing, the mailing of notices from USCIS is not dependent upon what is indicated as a mailing address in the I-134. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

As a DUI is neither misdemeanor nor felony, the DUI should have no effect upon the renewal of your green card. I assume that there were no aggravating factors. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

It is always possible to switch to another immigration attorney, but a few words of caution – your next attorney will probably want to see a copy of the entire file as he or she does not wish to be surprised by anything in your background or that has already been revealed to USCIS. You should ensure that your present attorney has your address or email so that he or she can send you copies of any communication received from USCIS. Also, your new attorney may very well be charging you a fee in excess of what you expect to pay. We have seen many times individuals who believe that they should only pay for part of the case because the former attorney did some work. To your new attorney, this is a new case, and he or she will have to go over the work that was previously done and remedy anything that may be deficient. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

If your mother is not barred by any of the other provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act such as fraud or misrepresentation, crime, or having reentered the US on or after 4/1/97 after having been previously removed or spending one year illegally in the US, you should be able to petition directly for your mother and have her come back since she has already been out of the US for more than 10 years. She will of course have to prove that she has remained outside the country for that long. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

I am not sure what 217 10000 means, but the usual advice in situations like yours would be to apply for a student visa directly at the American consulate or embassy, and explain your refusal under ESTA at the visa interview. Please note that you cannot make an application for change of status from ESTA to student.  Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

The expiration of your tourist visa should not have any effect upon your ability to adjust status to the green card in the US. If you decide for some reason that you would like to consular process your case rather than adjust status, you would be barred from coming back for 10 years because of your having been illegal in the US for over one year. To adjust status, you would file Forms I-130 petition for alien relative, I-485 adjustment of status application, and if you wish to obtain employment authorization or advance parole to leave the US during the time of the adjustment application, Forms I-765 and I-131. Documents required would generally be proof of your spouse’s US citizenship, marriage certificate, proof of dissolutions of all prior unions of either one of you, your birth certificate, passport, and optionally (at the time of filing) proof of bona fide marriage and Form I-693 medical examination. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Hello, for our clients who do not have OPT stem extension, we have sometimes changed their status to an H3 traineeship visa.  These are difficult to prove, but we have had success. It will give you a maximum of 18 months.  You can also look around for other companies to sponsor you.  We are filing employment-based cases for those with only a bachelor's degree (in fact we just to an i140 approval for an EB3 case yesterday, without an RFE).  If you would like to get a legal fee estimate, please send an email to me at dawn@legacyimmigrationattorney.com.... Read Answer

Although not clear from your fact situation, I gather that you are applying for both L-1B extension and change of status to H-1B. Assuming that is correct, I of the opinion that if both were timely filed within the time prior to the expiration of the previous L-1B approval, then you should be able to continue staying in the US awaiting the H-1B result even though your L-1B was rejected. If the change of status to H-1B was filed after the expiration, it would likely be seen as an untimely filing and it would be up to USCIS whether to approve it or not. As to your ability to stay in the US in that situation if the L-1B is denied, the date of denial would serve as the first day of unlawful presence. If you remain in the US for over 180 days hence, you would then become subject to a 3 year bar on admissibility unless the H-1B change of status is approved. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

If there was nothing more than an overstay on the F-1 visa status and USCIS did not give you a denial or revocation of that or a further status, and you were never the subject of removal proceedings in which you received an unfavorable decision of the immigration court, you would not be subject to the 10 year bar for overstay. Under those circumstances, you might be able to travel overseas and return with a nonimmigrant or immigrant visa. I note that an American consular officer may be reluctant to give you a nonimmigrant visa based on discretion like B-1/B-2 visitor or F-1 student. Because you are no longer legal in the United States, you would not be allowed to regain valid nonimmigrant status except to leave and return. You would generally also not be allowed to adjust status to permanent residence here unless you married a US citizen or had a USC child over the age of 21 sponsor you or you are the beneficiary of §245(i) which allows adjustment to undocumented immigrants who have a basis for such and had a labor certification or immigrant petition filed on their behalf by April 30, 2001, and last entered the US by December 21, 2000. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

Wages for H-1B specialized occupation jobs and their acceptability to USCIS depend upon whether the sponsoring organization is able to meet prevailing wage standards as determined by the Department of Labor in the labor condition application (LCA) which is a prerequisite to the filing of the H-1B petition. I doubt that USCIS is very vested in the fluctuations of what an organization decides to pay H-1B workers within a range of wages which are all above the prevailing wage. The thing to watch out for is that the company does not reach far out for a low-wage standard in an occupation which may not fit what you are actually doing and chance receiving an RFE or denial from USCIS because of the overreach. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

One of two general rules is that an individual must be able to show that he or she is maintaining legal nonimmigrant status for at least 30 days prior to the program start date on the I-20 form. In your case, your fact situation says that your EAD ends on 7/14/23. F-1 status includes the period of time on OPT plus the 60 day grace period thereafter. That would take you into September, and your schooling starts in September. With such a timeframe, you should be able to finish your OPT and move smoothly into your next program. As this rule applies, there is no need to cite a second rule. As to whether there are restrictions by the school, that would be between you and the institution. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer

A marriage legally contracted in Pakistan will generally be recognized as a legal marriage in the United States. To get out of the marriage, your son could initiate divorce proceedings. Even without a divorce, a petitioner has the right under US immigration laws to stop the immigration process for anyone that he or she is petitioning for. If your son wishes to do so, he can notify USCIS that he wishes to withdraw the petition (if the petition is still with that agency) or National Visa Center (if the petition has already been approved by USCIS and is at the NVC) or the consulate in Pakistan (if the case has moved through the NVC and been transferred to the consulate). Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read Answer