You may be eligible to apply for authorization to travel to the U.S. now if your visa has been delayed at the consulate
As you may have heard, technical problems with the U.S. Department of State's (DOS) Consular Consolidated Database (CCD), a system critical to visa issuance operations, are causing widespread delays in visa issuance worldwide.
If you have already applied for a nonimmigrant visa abroad and the system failures are causing a delay in processing,
then you may be able to get travel authorization before the visa is officially approved.
To be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:
You must have an emergency that creates an urgent need for you to travel to the U.S. An "emergency" includes a need for urgent humanitarian travel or for travel due to a life and death situation. Upcoming business engagements and U.S. employment needs are not typically considered emergencies. They may, however, be considered on a case-by-case basis.
You must have a pending visa application with DOS, and the visa must be issuable but for CCD system problems. If you have been issued a 221(g) notice indicating pending administrative processing on your visa application, then you will not be eligible for travel.
To request permission for emergency travel, you should provide proof to DOS that your circumstances qualify as an emergency. This can be done via email or during the visa interview, if one is pending.
If you are granted permission to travel, then the consular post that accepted the visa application will release your passport and will issue a transportation letter, which can be presented to common carriers to allow boarding of international U.S.-bound flights. Upon arrival to a U.S. port of entry and presentation of the transportation letter, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) will execute an I-193 application to waive the nonimmigrant visa requirement for admission. This will include waiving the $585 processing fee for the I-193.
If you require assistance in requesting authorization for emergency travel, please contact us at TheTeam@huwelaw.com, or at 415-413-8760 or 650-691-8370.
Hey, For-Profit Companies, Want a Cap-Exempt H1-B Worker?
Given the high demand and limited number of H1-B visas these days, employers are looking for creative ways to get skilled workers to the U.S.
A little known source of H1-B workers are foreign nationals who were approved for H1-B petitions subject to the cap in the past but never used them. The sponsoring employer may have gone bankrupt or closed. The foreign national may have found a better job in their home country. For whatever reason, they never took that approval letter to the embassy to get the visa.
Since these foreign nationals were already counted against past H1-B caps, they are considered "cap exempt." Companies can apply on behalf of unused, approved H-1B foreign nationals at any time during the year, without regard to the lottery, and request that the application be considered cap exempt. These unused H-1B approvals must have been issued within the past 6 years. The H-1B application forms, requirements and processes are the same - but the application is considered cap-exempt.
USCIS is actually required, by regulation, to search for themselves and recapture these past approved H-1B's each year, raising the H-1B cap for all H-1Bs for that year. However, in practice they do not take action because they lack the technological capability. Instead, they have been quietly approving new H-1B petitions for these "previously approved" foreign nationals under cap exempt status. If approved under cap-exempt status, USCIS allows the employee to use the full six years from the time of the new approval.
If you have a prospective employee with an approved, unused H-1B visa issued within the past six years, contact us for an evaluation at TheTeam@Huwelaw.com.
How does Immigration Affect U.S. Taxpayers?
USCIS Report on DACA Recipients
Last week, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a report entitled "Characteristics of Individuals Requesting and Approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)." The report presents the demographics of who has requested and who has been approved for DACA from August 2012 to September 2013.
DACA is a program that the Obama administration implemented in August 2012. It is still ongoing. DACA allows individuals who meet the following criteria to remain in the United States for two years in deferred action status and to obtain employment authorization:
1. Were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012;
2. Came to the United States before reaching their 16th birthday;
3. Have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the present time;
4. Were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making their request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS;
5. Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012;
6. Are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States; and
7. Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.
The report presents data based on age, gender, country of birth, marital status, and geographical location at the time of filing.
You can read the full report at:
http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Humanitarian/Deferred%20Action%20for%20Childhood%20Arrivals/USCIS-DACA-Characteristics-Data-2014-7-10.pdf
