Employment-Based Immigration

international entrepreneurThe Department of Homeland Security, through its component agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has issued a proposed regulation to allow a qualified foreign citizen to gain entry and be employed in the United States if he or she will engage in activities that are likely to “increase and enhance entrepreneurship, innovation, and job

Woman With Back Pain[Blogger’s Note:  This post is submitted as a necessarily-lengthy formal comment to the November 20, 2015  draft guidance of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, PM-602-0122, interpreting the phrase, “the same or [a] similar occupational classification” as used in the “increased job flexibility” provisions of Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) §§ 204(j) and 212(a)(5)(A)(iv). This

Vintage inscription made by old typewriterTerabytes of text have already been generated in the course of extolling or excoriating President Obama for his November 20 Executive Actions on Immigration.  The prolific foaming of bloviating mouths has mostly been prompted by the promise of deferred action and work permits for undocumented immigrants under the DACA and DAPA programs.  Surprisingly, however, his

Since 2008 American employers have been burning mad about how U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has gone from fairly reasonable to highly restrictive in its interpretation of the L-1B “specialized knowledge” visa category. This statutory visa category allows certain “intracompany transferees” to enter and work in the U.S. for a qualifying employer if  he

Steve Case quoting Nelson MandelaThe usual voices said trite things when a sliver of Richmond, Virginia Republican primary voters last Tuesday rejected Eric Cantor’s bid to continue as Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.  With a margin of just over 7,200 votes out of roughly 62,000 cast, David Brat, a college economics professor and Johnny-one-note who beat the

Frustrated woman.jpg[Bloggers Note:  Today’s guest column comes from noted Atlanta-based business immigration lawyer, Eileen M.G. Scofield, who addresses a subject covered often before on NationOfImmigrators, the business-critical L-1 Intracompany Transferee visa category. (See, e.g., “The L-1 Intracompany Transferee Visa Facing Attack — from All Branches of the Federal Government, Part I and Part II

gender bias 2.jpg[Blogger’s note:  Once again the prolific and ever lucid Careen Shannon offers fresh insights on another facet of our dysfunctional immigration system.  Today, she shows why gender bias taints America’s immigration system, and what should be done to eliminate structural bias as part of comprehensive immigration reform.]   

Immigration Reform Must Redress the Current Law’s

retro_grunge_triangles_background.jpgThe dictionary defines the adjective, “passive-aggressive,” as “a type of behavior or personality characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation.”  That is an apt characterization describing how federal bureaucrats work their will in the immigration ecosphere.  The passive-aggressive behaviors show up in efforts by federal immigration officials

California palms.jpg“California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.” ― Don DeLillo, White Noise

“Political corruption, social greed, and Americanized quasi-socialism can ruin even the most wonderful places. California proved that.” ― Tiffany Madison

As a transplant from Michigan who has thrived in California since settling here in

Investigator.pngSamuel Herbert, Her Majesty’s Home Secretary from 1931-32 (the British equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security), could well have been speaking about two recent immigration-related events when he quipped that “bureaucracy” is “a difficulty for every solution.”

One is an October 30 Settlement Agreement between Indian It consulting giant, Infosys, and the