NYT: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

By JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS
Published: June 22, 2011

But I am still an undocumented immigrant. And that means living a different kind of reality. It means going about my day in fear of being found out. It means rarely trusting people, even those closest to me, with who I really am. It means keeping my family photos in a shoebox rather than displaying them on shelves in my home, so friends don’t ask about them. It means reluctantly, even painfully, doing things I know are wrong and unlawful. And it has meant relying on a sort of 21st-century underground railroad of supporters, people who took an interest in my future and took risks for me.

Jose Antonio Vargas (Jose@DefineAmerican.com) is a former reporter for The Washington Post and shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. He founded Define American, which seeks to change the conversation on immigration reform.

Link.

NAFTA TN Management Consultant application approved after prior refusals!

We are pleased to relate that US CBP [Customs and Border Protection] just approved a complex TN management consultant application for a client at the Peace Bridge port-of-entry!

This was a complicated case which came to us after CBP had previously refused the applicant entry as a business visitor [no legal representation] and then refused him again a week later as a TN mangement consultant [application prepared by another attorney].

We worked closely with corporate counsel and the applicant to understand and document the business need for the consulting services [which actually went back several years] and the applicant's unique qualifications for the job. 

We presented a thorough application which addressed the prior refusals head-on, explained company operations and management structure, and carefully outlined the applicant's previous and proposed consulting services, breaking it down into phases.  

We also called on our one of our local colleagues with over 25 years of border expertise to co-counsel and accompany the applicant to the port-of-entry.  Truly a great result for us and the clients based on preparation and teamwork! 

Please find addtional information about TN Mangement Consultants below and do not hesitate to contact the attorneys at Ryvin Wallace Group with any questions about your case.

TN Management Consultant

H-1B visa usage statistics confirm U.S. employers are not hiring as much as some reports would like us to believe

H-1B season opened several weeks ago on April 1st and we are off to a SLOW start. This comes as great news for employers and foreign nationals who would like to secure Hs this year [for a start date of October 1, 2011] but is also a clear indicator that U.S. employers are simply not hiring as much as some reports would like us to believe.

Below you will find an update on how many H-1Bs have been used this year and a look back at H-1B usage since 2007. Clearly, H-1B usage is WAY down from ‘07 and ’08, when the 65,000 H-1B cap was met in the very first days of April! 

In comparison, since 2009, the H-1B Cap of 65,000 has not been met for at least nine months or more, and based on usage in the first two weeks of this year, we estimate this year's Cap will be open through to March 2012.

2011 H-1B Season [FY2012]
Cap Subject H-1Bs filed as of April 15: 7,100
Cap Hit: To Be Determined [estimated March 2012 based on first two weeks usage]

2010 H-1B Season [FY2011]
Cap Subject H-1Bs filed during first week of April: 13,500
Cap Hit: January 27, 2011 [ten months later]

2009 H-1B Season [FY2010]
Cap Subject H-1Bs filed during first week of April: 42,000
Cap Hit: December 21, 2009 [nine months later]

2008 H-1B Season [FY2009]
Cap Subject H-1Bs filed during first week of April: 140,000
Cap Hit: Immediately! First days of April 2008

2007 H-1B Season [FY2008]
Cap Subject H-1Bs filed during first week of April: 123,000
Cap Hit: Immediately! First days of April 2007

NIW [National Interest Waiver] green card petition approved for PhD student with only 3 scientific research publications and seven citations!

We are pleased to report an excellent decision from the USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Service] Nebraska Service Center on a national interest waiver green card petition!

This was a challenging petition for a highly skilled, but young, social researcher, dedicated to improving the lives of America’s elderly population.  USCIS acknowledged "that the proposed employment was in the national interest of the United States". BUT, USCIS also had serious doubts about whether our client's "past record of specific prior achievement justified projections of future benefit in the national interest”.

By working closely with our client and some of the leading organizations in the United States devoted to research and education in all aspects of gerontology, we prepared a comprehensive response which clearly demonstrated that despite our client's low number of publications/citations, her impact on the field was substantial.  Specifically, we solicited the opinions of the aforementioned leading organizations, and documented her influence on the field by showing that other leading figures in the field were not only taking notice of her work, but were also using it to advance their own work. 

Ultimately, we are so pleased that our client can now focus on helping America's elderly population without being distracted by the immigration process!

Please find a description of the legal requirements for the EB-2 I-140 NIW petition after the jump.

EB-5 Investor Visa Spotlight: New Enterprises

Spotlight EB-5 New Enterprise