Fine Judaica Blog / Immigration Updates

01-24-2020
H-1B Registration Starts March 01, 2020

By: Law Offices of David B. Gardner, Inc.

H-1B Registration Starts March 1, 2020. 

The new USCIS registration process for companies seeking to file petitions for H-1B employees  starts March 01, 2020.
The H-1B visa is one of the most valued options for company who wish to hire foreign nationals for professional positions in the United States. Demand for the H-1b visa far exceeds the supply which is subject to an annual cap of 65000 visas. An additional amount of 25,000 visas have are allocated from graduates of U. S. universities with Master’s Degrees.


Earliest Date for filing H-1B Petitions  this year is April 2020
Each year the H-1B filing season begins and ends in the first week of April because of overwhelming demand by employers and potential employees to be selected to obtain a coveted H-1 B visa no. USCIS conducts a lottery to randomly select petitions for the annual visa allocation. Most years the selection process or lottery is closed for further applications by the end of the first week of April.
For more information on the H-1B Visa process please contact us for a free initial telephonic consultation. Please see our website for more information on H-1 B visas as well as other visa options.

09-22-2019
EB5 for Indian Nationals Investment Amount increase November 21, 2019

By: Law Offices of David B. Gardner, Inc.

India's economy is booming and its Government is now aggressively competing with China for manufacturing jobs by reducing corporate tax rates to 22%. Increasing real estate values and stock market investments have made the EB5 investment visa option available to many Indian nationals from all parts of the country and from different sectors of society. Now, the rush is on for investors to select a Regional Center Investment to qualify for the $500,000 minimum investment needed for the EB5 visa before the amount increases to $900,000 on November 21, 2019. The EB5 visa remains the only effective means of obtaining permanent resident status for most Indian nationals because of visa retrogression in the employment and family  visa categories. H-1b and L-1 are non-immigrant visas and do not automatically convert to permanent resident status. Persons with H-1b status  who are fortunate to have been sponsored by employers for labor certification  and are approved for EB2 or EB3 visa categories may still  wait years for a permanent employment visa to become available. The uncertainty and risk of changes in employment or company structure have caused many H-1B holders as well as others to turn to the EB5 visa because of the relatively shorter time frame to obtain permanent resident status. The increase in interest may also lead to visa retrogression for Indian Nationals. Chinese investors are now facing visa quota waits which have been estimated to be longer than 10 years because of the country quota limitation. Time is of the essence to invest before the minimum investment amount increases and to avoid visa retrogression.

07-01-2015
Immigrant Entrepreneurs Launch Over 1 in 4 New Businesses

By: Andres Pena

Today, immigrants make up around 13 percent of the U.S. population, yet they play a great role in entrepreneurship and business formation relative to their overall numbers. According to a report from the Kauffman Foundation, immigrants continue to be almost twice as likely as the native-born to become entrepreneurs.

06-15-2012
Dream Act Announcement

By: Law Offices of David B. Gardner, Inc.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today announced that effective immediately, certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety, and meet several key criteria will be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings. Those who demonstrate that they meet the criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization.

09-09-2011
Possibility for Company Owners to Obtain H1Bs

By: Law Offices of David B. Gardner, Inc.

USCIS Issued Guidance Memorandum on Establishing the "Employee-Employer Relationship" in H-1B Petitions.

10-21-2010
H-1 B and L-1 fee increases already in effect.

By: Law Offices of David B. Gardner

H-1 B and L-1 fee increases already in effect. A recent change in the Law increased fees for certain H-1B and L-1 petitions. Effective August 2010 the fee for certain H-1b employers [hyperlink to H-1 b page] increase by $2000 and for certain L-1 employers [insert hyperlink to l-1 page] increased by $2250. With these new fees, employers filing an H-1b petition could pay as high as $5320 to USCIS for the Government fees alone. An intra- company transferee petition for an L-1 visa [insert hyperlink] could cost as much as $4070 in USCIS fees.

10-21-2010
Prepare for immigration fee increases – file now

By: Law Offices of David B. Gardner

Immigration fees continue to increase. Effective November 23, 2010 filing fees for many petitions or applications filed with USCIS will increase. The fee increases will make cost of obtaining immigration benefits even more expensive at a time when the economy has impacted many persons who would be seeking to obtain temporary visas or permanent visas to immigrate to the United States.