Immigration Legal Questions

365 days of full time CPT negates OPT. That being said, a F-1 student may be able to dispute the total amount of time actually spent on full-time CPT. In your case, you may wish to discuss your situation with the designated school official (DSO) to see if the DSO can give you any assistance. You can also in conjunction with or separately request OPT from USCIS. You can send all documentation and explanations with the application. I express no opinion as to whether USCIS will approve the application where the claim is two days less of actual employment then was authorized on the SEVIS I-20. 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

Whether your boyfriend is single or married has no effect upon his ability to sponsor his parents for green cards. I assume that your boyfriend is a US citizen. He must provide I-864 affidavits of support for his parents ensuring that his parents will be able to live in the US without becoming public charges. Your being married would increase his household size and the amount of support required for his parents. You can be either a plus or minus in this regard. If not working and with no assets, you would increase his financial burden. If working and making a decent salary, you could add your salary and assets to his to assist him in his support affidavits for his parents. 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

Without knowing the nature of the misdemeanor, it would be difficult to say definitely that you could not be deported for your situation – however, a citation generally indicates that an offense or crime is not serious. 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

To your second question, US citizens should not be worried about travel bans at this time. You, your siblings, and mother should be safe in traveling. The birthright citizenship Executive Order has no effect at this time. On the second question of your mother’s approved petitions for her siblings, President Trump has not yet proposed changing the family preference categories as he did in his first term, but there is a good possibility that he will get around to doing so. In that case, any effect on your mother’s petitions would be determined by the language of the passed legislation. Please note that such a change would require a bill by Congress and could not be done through regulation or executive order. 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

Assuming that you did not obtain your permanent residence through adoption, you should certainly petition for your mother. I will also assume that your mother is overseas. The time involved would be approximately two years if she is overseas. You would have to fill out and send the I-130 petition for alien relative to USCIS to begin (you can access the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov for all the forms and instructions); wait about a year for the USCIS adjudication; and upon approval, you and your mother would begin working with the National Visa Center of the US Department of State to prepare all of her other documents for an immigrant visa interview at the American Consulate or Embassy in her home country. As for your aunt’s petition, you can largely ignore that except to notate it on the I-130 form where it asks whether your mother has ever been petitioned before. 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

You appear to be eligible to sponsor your parents assuming that they have no inadmissibility issues such as crimes, fraud, etc. On the question of financial sponsorship for your parents, there is a possibility that they may be able to financially support themselves on your I-864 affidavit of support under two scenarios and one in which they can sponsor themselves: 1.) The law appears to allow nonresidents who have income from a legal source to use that income on the petitioner's I-864 as long as there is the expectation that that income will continue after obtaining permanent residence – here, the TPS status with attendant work authorization would perhaps satisfy this scenario. 2.) The assets of persons without status can be put down on your I-864 to bolster the amount of income/assets that you have in support of the I-864. 3.) Persons without status who have earned income on a certain level for 10 years in the US can sponsor themselves through the new 10/24/24 form I-485 (page 8 part 3) which will become mandatory on February 10, 2025. The old I-864W which used to self-sponsor is being discontinued. Kindly note that as you are sponsoring each parent under the immediate relative category, each parent must qualify separately under his and her own set of circumstances under any of these scenarios. 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

Unfortunately, your priority date is not current. Being exactly on the date does not make your immigrant visa available. Only a date earlier than the date on the chart qualifies. Thus, if the visa bulletin date was October 16, 2012, you would be current. You will have to wait a little 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

I would assume that your wife will be safe to travel from Florida to New York as you are traveling in February and her legal stay is authorized until April. The fact that she is applying for adjustment of status would appear to give her another ground to stay although it is difficult to imagine that the subject would come up where a visitor is legally authorized to stay and that the travel is domestic instead of international. 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

Besides the question of having employer A go along with you when you are no longer employed by A, kindly note that your proposed move may encounter a later difficulty with USCIS if it questions the rationale behind an employer further sponsoring where you have gone your separate ways. Among the grounds for which I-140 petition approvals can be revoked are fraud and misrepresentation. You may wish to think this over before going in this direction. 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

Although not 100% clear, it appears that a H-1B change of employer petition may not be treated the same as a regular extension by the same employer, and may not be subject to a 240 day limit on employment authorization. If you wish to be safe, your employer can always request premium processing on form I-907 with USCIS. 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 H-1B modernization regulation that was just passed should not have any effect upon the way that USCIS looks at your qualifications. The language favors a less restrictive interpretation in that it switches from requiring a degree “in the specific specialty” to a degree “in a directly related specific specialty” and the definition of “directly related” is “a logical connection between the required degree, or its equivalent, and the duties of the position.” USCIS will not focus on degree titles, liberal arts, etc., and consider whether the “actual course of study is directly related to the duties of the position”. Your degree in mechanical engineering combined with years of experience which were determined to be the equivalent of a bachelors in computer information systems and engineering should in my opinion still enable you to obtain a H-1B extension barring no further issues in your case. 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 difficulty with filing a new I-539 or motion on I-290B is that you are already not legal in the US, and you face an unlawful presence bar of three years if you do either, and the adjudication takes over 180 days from the date of your initial decision, and you lose. If you do either one and the adjudication is not yet received by the fifth month after the expiration of your initial permitted stay, you will be faced with the choice of leaving the US to avoid the three year bar or staying and gambling that your application or motion will be approved. It is difficult to say which route would give you the best chance of being approved, but at least the I-290B motion would not be late. It should be further noted that DHS does not approve of persons coming into the US on tourist visas and giving birth in the country. 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

At this stage, probably the best thing to do (unless you receive word from the embassy to upload the support documents) is to have your spouse bring in an updated signed I-864 with documents by you. If you find a new job and have documentation of such, you can show that in the updated I-864. If you do not have a new position, it would probably be best to add a signed I-864 with documents by a joint sponsor. An updated I-864 should not delay adjudication if it is clear that there is sufficient financial support. Please note that this is general advice and that we do not claim to know any local rules or practices of the embassy in the Philippines. 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

Yes, the national visa center holds the case for processing, and the immigrant has to file the non-immigrant or immigrant visa application, pay the fees, and upload documents if necessary to the CEAC website. Once the file is ready to be sent to the US consulate overseas, the immigrant must schedule an interview, and also make an appointment for a medical examination. You should retain counsel to handle the case from start to finish. Some of us charge very affordable flat fee for marriage based green card cases and fiancé based visa cases. ... Read Answer

OK, so if your fiancé is inside the United States now, you can get married and then file to adjust her status to get her green card. If she is outside the United States, then you can either go over there to get married and process her for a spousal visa at the US consulate, or Just file a K-1 fiancé petition, and bring her over here on a fiancé visa. Once she arrives in the United States on a fiancé visa, you have to marry her within 90 days, and after that she can adjust status to get her green card. The fiancé visa pathway is taking a little bit less time than the spousal visa pathway.  ... Read Answer

If you have been deported, you cannot return to the US unless you have advance permission from USCIS to return or you have served out the period of time required by law for your deportation. That applies for any type of visa, including F-1. If you believe that you have a sympathetic case, you can apply for the F-1 and upon being refused, ask the consular officer to recommend to DHS that you be given a temporary waiver to enter the country. 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

Most classes of appeals to the Administrative Appeals Office are being completed within six months. As a general question, many law firms including ours have had success with I-140 appeals. From the time that a PERM application is begun, an approximate time for an adjudication in a case that moves normally is two years. To your question of whether you should consider requesting your attorney to file in an I-140 next year if your new PERM is still pending and your appeal is denied, I cannot give an answer as I do not know your situation well enough to comment. 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

Sounds very strange and a mistake of USCIS. One does not apply for adjustment of status and then receive an invitation for a naturalization oath ceremony. You or your legal representative may wish to call the USCIS Contact Center (1-800-375-5283) to find out what is going on. 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

Good question. My answer is - maybe. The unfavorable factors are that you have never worked for the company for which you were picked, and the petition has not been approved. It is no fault of yours that you have not worked for that company since you have no authority to do so until the H-1B is approved. However, transfers are generally easier to do where a beneficiary has been working for the company. There is the possibility of a H-1B transfer, but USCIS would have to be convinced that your first H-1B petition is approvable during the adjudication of the petition by your new employer C. 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 an individual having a final order of removal and not having appealed on time, your husband’s present immigration case will most likely not save him. He may, however, be able to go through the I-601A process, an Obama program, to get a green card as long as it is not rescinded by incoming President Trump. The mechanics are that you would file an I-130 relative petition; he would file an I-212 conditional request for advance permission to enter the US; and if both are approved, he would file an I-601A application for waiver of grounds of excludability based upon extreme hardship to you if he and you are separated for a long period of time. Assuming that the application is approved, he would complete consular processing and return to the home country for an interview with the American consulate or embassy. If approved at interview, he would return to the US with permanent residency. The process is currently taking about 4-5 years at this time. 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

Under the situation that you describe, you are not eligible for US citizenship. The Child Citizenship Act requires not only being under the age of 18 when the parent naturalizes, but also your being a permanent resident and residing in the US under the physical and legal custody of the citizen parent. It would appear that your best solution of immigrating through your parents is to have your citizen parent file an I-130 relative petition for you. If you are single, the process will probably take approximately eight years and if you are married approximately 15 years. 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

That is a good question for which I do not have an answer. Perhaps a solution is for you to leave the US and reenter the country using the approval of the company for which you intend to work. In most cases, this would involve arranging an interview at the US consulate or embassy overseas to be visaed under the desired company. 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 you are a US citizen, and you are not ready for marriage yet, you could always sponsor him for a fiancé visa. The fiancé visa takes about a year prior to when he can actually legally enter the United States, but you would have to get married to him within 90 days after he arrives in the US. Then he can be sponsored for a green card. This will buy you at least one year of time before you commit to marriage. One of the conditions for the fiancé visa is that you have to physically meet your fiancé within two years prior to filing for the K-1 application. Consider working with an attorney. Some of us charge a very affordable flat fee. ... Read Answer