Posts tagged “Student Visas”

If there is any better indicator of Trump’s Fortress America policies – deterring and discouraging legal visitors, students, workers, entrepreneurs, and immigrants – one need only look at the most recent visa developments:

1. There will be no more visa interview waiver for those applicants for visas under the age of 14 and over 79. So young kids, including babies, will have to accompany their parents to interviews. For those over 79, there is an exception: if they are applying within 12 months of the prior visa’s expiration. Otherwise, 80, 90 and older visa applicants will need to travel to the embassies and consulates to convince a consul that they really do not plan to overstay their visas.

On this site we list 40 reasons an applicant for a student visa can be refused; 34 reasons for a visa denial under Section 214(b); 16 reasons for a K-1 visa refusal; and 14 reasons for an EB-3 visa denial. But not to be outdone, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in its internal training materials, lists 31 reasons to deny an EB-13 multinational executive/manager immigrant petition; 7 reasons to deny a National Interest Waiver petition; 49 reasons to deny an EB-2 advanced degree/exceptional ability petition; 46 reasons to deny an EB-3 professional petition; 41 reasons to deny an EB-3 skilled workers petition; and 29 reasons to deny an EB-3 other workers petition. These training materials, obtained as a result of filing a Freedom of Information Act request and suing USCIS, offer eye-opening details about the myriad of possible reasons that a petition can be denied. No wonder USCIS…

Here, we finalize our list of the top 15 trends and observations relating to Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) — findings of willful, material misrepresentations: 11. The Role of ICE/HSI. Most individuals who have either submitted a work or immigration petition or application or entered the United States are familiar with the government agencies involved in those processes — US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), respectively. And many are familiar with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the “immigration police”: ICE enforces US immigration laws within the United States. But not many are aware that the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) branch of ICE has officers embedded into certain consulates overseas and that those officers make findings of inadmissibility. ICE denies that it makes such findings — its position is that it is the consular officer who makes such findings, not ICE. However, we have seen internal government…

We continue to receive a surge of questions from those who have been adversely impacted by the situation surrounding AZTech, Integra, Andwill, Wireclass, and other questionable OPT-related companies. Interestingly, we have also been contacted by those who have not felt any adverse consequences yet nor are aware of any impact, but potentially may have some exposure because of their OPT past. What should they do? Reaching out to a lawyer is a good start. Without stating the obvious, these individuals may already have been impacted; they just don’t know it yet. In the eyes of the government, their mere association with a suspect OPT organization opens the door for adverse action: visa revocation; denial of a future USCIS H-1B or green card petition; refusal of an employment authorization or change of status or adjustment of status application; the opening of removal proceedings in the US; expedited removal and/or the imposition…

US consular posts around the world are experiencing significant delays in printing nonimmigrant visas because of a software problem. The Department of State advises that visa applicants should expect delays of 10–14 days in the issuance of nonimmigrant visas. This is consistent with our experience; for example, a client was interviewed for a work visa on July 21 and issued his visa on July 31. The Department of State continues to process immigrant visas, including Diversity Lottery visas and emergency visas, quickly — within 2–3 days. Also, individuals with valid visas are not impacted because they do not need a new visa. Similarly, individuals traveling under the Visa Waiver Program are not impacted by the delays because they do not need a visa. However, nonimmigrant visa applicants will continue to be affected because, according to the Department of State, it will take weeks to rectify the problem. Bottom line: Nonimmigrant…