Immigration News

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Multinational Taxpaying

U.S. tax laws are almost as complicated as U.S. immigration laws. They are particularly complex for non-U.S. citizens who reside, even part time, in the United States. “Residence” in the U.S. has a different meaning under U.S. tax law than it does under U.S. immigration law.  The impact of U.S. tax law on foreign nationals varies depending on where the individual is from as the U.S. has tax treaties with many foreign countries, though not with all countries. Due to the complexity of U.S. tax law and the large impact it can have on individuals, we recommend that all of our non-citizen clients seek the assistance of a tax professional who is well versed in tax liability for multinational taxpayers.

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USCIS Releases Updated DACA Statistics

On July 15, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new deferred action program for certain individuals who came to the United States as children and who meet educational, continuous presence, and other key requirements.  Under this program, known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, eligible individuals may request deferred action and work authorization for a period of two years, which is subject to renewal.  At this time, the program does not provide applicants with legal status, it simply places them in a period of authorized stay during which any removal action is deferred.


On February 15, 2013, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service issued updated statistical data on DACA cases processedbetween August 15, 2012 and February 14, 2013.  The data indicates that a total of 423,634 DACA applications have been accepted for processing, and that 199,460 applications have been approved to date.  The data also ranks DACA applicants in terms of their country of origin and state of residence; the top three countries of origin among DACA applicants are Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras, and the top three states of residences are California, Texas, and New York. 
Comprehensive immigration reform may provide avenues to legal permanent residence for DACA beneficiaries in the near future.  Please check our blog regularly for the latest updates on immigration reform.

 

 

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 32 Comments

Comprehensive Immigration Reform on a Fast Track?

Undocumented immigrants have waited a long time for relief. Due to the political nature of comprehensive immigration reform and Congressional deadlock, Congress has not addressed this issue in decades. Recently, the Obama administration has created some stopgap measures like deferred action for dreamers and state-side waiver processing. Interesting statements made by key Republican congresspeople suggest that the Republican Party may now be on board for comprehensive immigration reform. Our office has been contacted to make a number of presentations about comprehensive immigration reform including looking at this issue from an historical perspective. We caution our clients, however, that this process is in its earliest stages and it will take, presumably, months before there is some type of reform. Clients should therefore be aware that there are unscrupulous individuals, such as notarios, who are trying to charge people fees to file applications for comprehensive immigration reform. There are currently no applications to be filed and our office, other lawyers, and community groups, will be providing alerts regarding this issue. Stern & Curray hopes that comprehensive immigration reform is passed in the near future.

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 48 Comments

The long awaited “state-side” waiver has arrived!

In January 2013, the Department of Homeland Security published a rule for how certain undocumented relatives of U.S. citizens apply for a waiver of the time they were in the U.S. without permission. The new state-side waiver rule will result in significantly shorter periods of family separation by allowing a green card applicant to apply for and receive an approved waiver before leaving the U.S. for the consular interview.  As a result, the time that the applicant for permanent residence will have to spend outside the U.S. could be shortened to as little as a week. However, not all foreign nationals who have a U.S. citizen immediate relative (spouse, parent, child over 21 years of age) will benefit from this rule.

To be eligible for the new waiver, an individual must meet the following criteria:

  • Be physically present in the U.S.;
  • At least 17 years of age at the time of filing;
  • Have an approved immigrant visa petition as the immediate relative of a U.S. citizen;
  • Have an immigrant visa case pending with the U.S. Department of State;
  • Be inadmissible based on unlawful presence in the United States;
  • Meet all of the requirements of the provisional unlawful presence waiver.

It is important to note that the program is only available when there is hardship to a U.S. citizen spouse or parent, not a lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. An individual may become eligible for the program even if they are in removal proceedings if they are able to successfully petition the government to administratively close their removal proceedings and they meet the other eligibility requirements.

Individuals are not eligible for an unlawful presence waivers if they meet the following criteria:

  • The eligibility requirements have not been met;
  • Have a pending application to adjust status to permanent resident;
  • Are in removal proceedings that have not been administratively closed or re-calendared;
  • Have been ordered removed, excluded, or deported from the U.S. or are subject to reinstatement of a prior removal order;
  • DOS acted to schedule your immigrant visa interview prior to January 3, 2013;
  • Have not proven extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen spouse or parent, or that your application should be approved as a matter of discretion;
  • USCIS has reason to believe that DOS may find you inadmissible for grounds other than unlawful presence.

Immigration will begin accepting applications for the new waivers on March 4.

 

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 773 Comments

‘Tis the Season

Here in Colorado, the ski season so far is a bit of a bust as we are in desperate need of snow.  However, the H-1B season is in full swing. Under the law, only 85,000 new H-1B’s may be allotted for foreign professional workers each year, and 20,000 of those are reserved for individuals who have completed a master’s degree or higher in the United States.  The annual allotment of H-1B’s becomes available October 1, which is the start of the fiscal year.  However, employers may apply April 1stfor an H-1B with an October 1st start date.  In 2012, the H-1B cap was reached, meaning that all of 85,000 H-1B’s had been allotted, in ten weeks. Due to the improvement in the economy, it is expected that this year the H-1B cap will be reached even sooner, quite possibly the first week in April. 


Foreign workers who have never previously been in H-1B status for a private employer are subject to the cap, meaning they must receive one of the coveted 85,000 H-1B’s in order to work in the U.S. in H-1B status.  In contrast, except in extremely unusual circumstances, foreign workers who have previously held an H-1B for a private employer are not subject to the cap and often can extend their H-1B status, even if changing employers.  An individual who does not receive an H-1B in the allotment would then have to apply next year.  While certain individuals may have other options to continue employment in the U.S., depending on circumstances, we encourage all employers who need an H-1B for cap-subject individuals to start the process as soon as possible so that the petitions are ready to be filed April 1st. 


If you intend to hire foreign workers, please join Ste

rn & Curray on February 6th from 12:00-1:00 pm (MST) for a complimentary teleconference that will help employers understand and plan for the H-1B cap. For more information, including how to RSVP, follow this link: http://conta.cc/Uvr9cl.

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 8 Comments

The Latest on Immigration Reform

We are all delighted that President Obama addressed immigration reform in his inaugural speech on January 21st.  The President’s statement that, “Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce, rather than expelled from our country,” indicates that he is making comprehensive immigration reform a priority.  This is welcome news and we look forward to further developments.  As always, we will post the latest information regarding changes to the law and policy that benefit our clients and all of our nation’s immigrants. 

 

 

 

 

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More Facts on the New Stateside Provisional Waiver Rule

The new stateside provisional waiver rule will result in dramatically reduced periods of separation between U.S. citizens and foreign nations in some case.  However, not all foreign nationals who have a U.S. citizen immediate relative (spouse, parent, child over 21 years of age) will benefit from this rule. It is important to understand the scope and limitations of this new rule. 

To be eligible for the new provisional unlawful presence waiver an individual must meet the following criteria:

  1. You are physically present in the U.S.

  2. You are at least 17 years of age at the time of filing.

  3. You are the beneficiary of an approved immigrant visa petition classifying you as the immediate relative of a U.S. citizen.

  4. You have an immigrant visa case pending with the U.S. Department of State for which you have already paid the immigrant visa processing fee.

  5. You believe you are, or will be at the time of the immigrant visa interview, inadmissible based on having accrued a certain period of unlawful presence in the United States.

  6. You meet all of the requirements of the provisional unlawful presence waiver as listed in the regulations, form I-601A and its instructions.

Individuals are not eligible for provisional unlawful presence waivers and their applications will be rejected or denied in the following circumstances:

  1. You fail to meet the eligibility requirements discussed above.

  2. You have a pending form I-485 with USCIS to adjust your status to that of a permanent resident

  3. You are in removal proceedings unless your removal proceedings are administratively closed and have not been re-calendared as of the date of filing of the I-601A.

  4. You have been ordered removed, excluded, or deported from the United States.

  5. You are subject to reinstatement of a prior removal order.

  6. DOS acted to schedule your immigrant visa interview prior to January 3, 2013, even if you fail to appear or you or DOS cancelled or rescheduled the interview on or after January 3, 2012. 

  7. You do not establish that a refusal of your admission to the United States would result in extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen spouse or parent, or that your application should be approved as a matter of discretion.

  8. USCIS has reason to believe that DOS may find you inadmissible at the time of your immigrant visa interview for grounds other than unlawful presence. 

These eligibility requirements and grounds for ineligibility emphasize a couple of key points.  First, the program is only available when there is hardship to a U.S. citizen spouse or parent, not a lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. The new rule also is not available for individuals who need waivers other than the waiver for unlawful presence.  For example, individuals that need fraud waivers or waivers for certain criminal offenses are not eligible for this new waiver procedure. An individual may become eligible for the program even if they are in removal proceedings if they are able to successfully petition the government to administratively close their removal proceedings. Of course, the individual must also meet the other eligibility requirements describe above.    

To learn more about this exciting new rule and determine whether or not you or a relative is eligible for the program, please contact us for a consultation. 

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 23 Comments

The Long Awaited "State-side Waiver" Has Arrived!

On January 6, 2012, the Department of Homeland security published a proposed rule that would change the process for how certain undocumented relatives of United States citizens apply for a waiver of the time they were in the United States without permission. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stated that they received over 4,000 comments on the proposed rule. A year later, on Wednesday January 2, 2013, the final rule was issued!


Many undocumented relatives of U.S. citizens who are applying for permanent residence must leave the United States and complete the process at a consulate in their country of birth. The Catch-22 of the process has been that once the person departs the United States, the immigration law says that the person must wait in their birth country for ten years as punishment for the time they were unlawfully in the U.S. The person can apply for a waiver of this punishment, but, prior to the change under the final rule, the application for the waiver could only be made at the consulate abroad after the interview. The processing of those waiver applications often takes a year or more. During that time the husband and wife, parent and child, etc. are often separated. The result of the waiver processing abroad has been that many families found the risks of having the undocumented family member leave the United States to complete the processing of the permanent resident application and waiver was too great and decided not to apply, adding to the numbers of undocumented people living in the U.S.


The“state-side waiver” process aims to reduce the risk of prolonged family separation by allowing the applicant for permanent residence to apply for and receive an approved waiver prior to departing the United States for the consular interview. As a result, the period that the applicant for permanent residence will have to spend in the country of birth could be reduced to as little as a week.

Immigration will begin accepting applications for the new waivers on March 4.

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 692 Comments

Colorado Heights University Offers Intensive English Language Program

The next session of Colorado Heights University’s (CHU) intensive English language program begins January 7, 2013.  Prospective students whose first language is not English will be able to speak, listen, read, and write English more fluently once they’ve graduated from the 12-month course.  Classes are taught at CHU campus in Denver.

 

“I’m excited to get the word out about our program to immigrant families so they can be more involved in their children’s activities, participate actively in the community, and communicate in a more effective way with current or future employers,” said Pam Smith, Executive Director of Marketing & Admissions.


CHU’s core mission is to serve local immigrant and first-generation college students along with international students.  For more information, prospective students can set up a time to tour the campus by calling 303-937-4225. 

by SCwpadmin SCwpadmin 79 Comments

House Passes Controversial STEM Jobs Act – Uphill Battle in Senate


Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed the controversial STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429), a Republican-backed measure that was approved by a 245-139 vote. In addition to offering a limited number of visas for family reunification through the creation of new “V” visa categories, the bill would provide up to 55,000 immigrant visas per year for foreign students who graduate from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). To do so, the legislation proposes to eliminate the longstanding Diversity Visa Program, which awards the same number of immigrant visas annually to applicants from countries that are under-represented in the U.S. immigration system.

Proponents of the bill included the majority of House Republicans and 27 House Democrats. They advocate that the STEM Jobs Act is critical for economic growth and believe that it will enable the U.S. to maintain its competitive advantage by retaining highly skilled and sought after STEM graduates within our borders.

Most Democrats and the Obama Administration oppose the bill in part because it would cut the Diversity Visa Program which they deem valuable to the American immigration system and to the country as a whole. The White House also opposes the bill because it “does not support narrowly tailored proposals that do not meet the President’s long-term objectives with respect to comprehensive immigration reform.”

The bill is also opposed by NAFSA: The Association of International Educators. In a press statement, the group announced that it opposes the STEM Jobs Act because “it perpetuates a divisive, us-versus-them approach to immigration reform.” Although the group supports the creation of visas for foreign graduates of U.S. institutions of higher education, it does “not support creating a new path for international students by eliminating another immigration program.

The STEM Jobs Act is not expected to progress in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority. Please refer back to our blog for updates on the STEM Jobs Act and other pieces of proposed immigration legislation.

 

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