In an anticipated ruling on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 4-4 decision on President Obama’s Immigration Accountability Executive Action. The plan sought to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and/or would have allowed them to work legally in the United States. Yesterday, the Supreme Court had an opportunity to provide the nation with guidance and clarity. But …
Attorneys Michael Shane, Evan Shane and Veronica Cordova of Shane & Shane this week are attending the AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) Annual Conference on Immigration Law. The event is being held June 22-25, 2016 in Las Vegas in celebration of its 70th year. The conference features over 170 sessions covering major areas of immigration and naturalization law including family …
Interested in applying for an E-Visa, but feeling overwhelmed? No problem. The process is complex and can be overwhelming. Below is some basic information to get you started. While this is a helpful starter guide, we strongly suggest working with a Board Certified immigration attorney to ensure that you proceed with the best course of action for your unique situation. …
What is an O Visa? Our clients often ask about O Visa qualifications and eligibility criteria. The O-1 nonimmigrant visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement. There are three types: O-1, O-2, and O-3. Those for individuals with an extraordinary ability in particular fields: O-1A: sciences, education, business, or athletics O-1B: the arts, or the motion picture or …
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Monday made a precedential decision regarding K-4 Visa regulations. Background on K-4 Visas Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), children under 21 whose alien parent marries a U.S. citizen abroad can obtain a K-4 Visa to accompany their parent. Then, the individual can apply to adjust his or …
Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative is the first step for U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents seeking to help relatives immigrate to the country. This form verifies the relationship between the two parties, and may be filed along with an I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, depending on the category of relative petition. The process of …
The answer to this question varies widely depending on a number of factors. Some of the elements that determine an immigration lawyer’s fees for services to obtain a permanent resident card, commonly known as a green card, are “the experience, reputation, diligence, and ability of the lawyer or lawyers performing the service and the skill, expertise, or efficiency of effort …
A L-1A nonimmigrant has some very strict legal requirements. Namely, the intracompany transferee must establish that within the three years preceding the application for admission, s/he was employed abroad continuously for one year by a parent, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary of the U.S. petitioning company. Although ‘temporariness” is no longer an issue of concern to Immigration because of ‘dual intent’, …
A H-1B nonimmigrant visa is generally for persons who want to temporarily come to the United States to work in a specialty occupation. These visas are currently capped at 65,000 per fiscal year, minus free trade visas for Chile and Singapore, resulting in 58,200 H-1B visas per year. If the cap was met for the current fiscal year, USCIS will …
A B-2 nonimmigrant visa is for persons who want to temporarily visit the United States for pleasure. This visa is commonly known as a “tourist visa”. The B-2 visa is commonly used by tourists, persons visiting friends and family for social purposes, persons who are seeking medical/health services, participants in conventions of social organizations, and participants in amateur events who …