“IMMIGRATION LAW CONNECTION”

Foreign visitors to the United States who wish to begin a course of study or training in the United States, without first obtaining a visa (such as F-1, J-1 or M-1) at a U.S. consulate abroad, need to be careful when applying for a so-called “change of status” with USCIS.
B1/B2-visitors CANNOT / MUST NOT  enroll [...]

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International students currently in the United States on F-1 (who may or may not have OPT), who are the Beneficiary of a pending or approved, cap-subject H-1B worker petition (which will become effective on or after October 1, 2010), can bridge the time in between their old status expiring and the start date of their [...]

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Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the Fiscal Year 2010 DHS Appropriations bill (P.L.111-83).
The law extends the non-minister religious worker (section 568), the “Conrad 30″ for J-1 visas (section 568), the EB-5 pilot program for regional center investments (section 548), and the E-Verify (section 547) programs through September 30, 2012.
The bill was previously [...]

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On March 20, 2009, President Obama extended the date until Sept. 30, 2009 by which international medical graduates have to have been granted J-1 status in order to later qualify for the “Conrad 30” program.
Under the “Conrad 30” program, each state health department may submit a request directly to the
Department of State (DOS) to [...]

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Some aspects of Immigration Reform are starting to materialize in Congress.
This week, Senators Durbin and Lugar introduced the DREAM Act  in the Senate while Representatives Berman and Diaz-Ballart did the same in the House.   Immediately below is background information on the DREAM Act.
DREAM Act
(based on prior Senate proposal in 2007)
Who is eligible?
Those who would qualify [...]

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Following a recent extension from September 30, 2008,  the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program will “sunset” or expire at midnight on March 6, 2009, unless extended again by Congress.
The sunset date affects all Regional Center Proposals and certain I-526 petitions, affiliated with Regional Centers relying on “indirect” job creation analyses.  If the sunset date is [...]

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Not too long ago, USCIS made some changes regarding the Optional Practical Training (OPT) for academic students on F-1 status, who are in certain classified fields known as “STEM” (essentially, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
To read more about STEM and its occupation classifications, please refer to my previous post on this issue.
To qualify for the [...]

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ICE and SEVIS, who oversee the regulation and monitoring of foreign students and trainees in the United States, have recently published updates to the list of so-called “STEM” occupations.
The updated list of Classifications have been designated by ICE as science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) degrees for the purpose of approving a 17-month STEM extension [...]

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In a very recent decision by the Federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court found a Foreign Student had not violated her student status, for purposes of seeking an adjustment of status, by switching from a private school to a public school, where the private school closed and ceased operations.
CASE SYNOPSIS:
Foreign Student entered the [...]

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Currently, approximately 350 foreign nationals enter the United States annually for the purpose of flight training under the terms of the Exchange Visitor Program and its J-1 visa.
Designated flight schools are also certified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue the Form I-20, which is needed to obtain an M-visa. DHS is [...]

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