H1B Visa Lawyer Blog

January 20, 2015

The 2015 State of the Union Address is tonight!

MVP Law Group would like to remind everyone to watch President Obama’s State of the Union Address. He will be speaking Tuesday Evening, January 20, 2015 at 9:00 PM EST live from the U.S. Capitol. The White House has suggested that the focus of the address will be Internet Access, Education, Jobs, Cuba, Health Care and his Executive Actions on Immigration. We will be listening for any new or expanded information on his proposal for Immigration Reform and his Executive Actions on Immigration.

As usual, we will be posting more information on any of the President’s Immigration Reform Proposals and/or Actions that are included in the speech on our Immigration Blog!

Remember: 2015 State of the Union Address

January 19, 2015

MVP “Immigration Q & A Forum” – This Friday, January 23, 2015

by Kellie N. Lego

We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, January 23, 2015. Act now and submit your questions!

January 16, 2015

IG Report says Drones at the U.S. Border are Expensive and Not Effective

by Kellie N. Lego

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been operating nine military grade drones (Predator B) to police our southern border with Mexico since 2005. They originally had eleven drones but there have been two crashes since the program’s inception. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is charged with operating the drones for DHS. They would like to expand the program by buying 14 more drones at an additional cost of $443 million dollars.

The problem is that DHS’s Office of the Inspector General has released a new Watchdog Report critical of the first 8 years of this Border Drone Program. The report entitled, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Unmanned Aircraft System Program Does Not Achieve Intended Results or Recognize All Costs of Operations” has pointed out three (3) main problems.

Problem One:

January 15, 2015

Impact of New Americans – Vermont, Virginia & Washington

by Kellie N. Lego

Immigration Policy Center Releases Updated State-by-State Fact Sheets (2014)

The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has released all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall), for a total of fifty-two updated fact sheets with accompanying info graphics and other details. These fact sheets highlight the demographic and economic impact of Immigrants, Asians and Latinos in each state. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy division of the American Immigration Council (AIC).

As Washington D.C. continues the discussion of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we thought that it would be a good time to provide some statistics on the Immigrant population in the United States as provided by this IPC research. Once a week we will be posting a blog with information on three states at a time. This week we will highlight; Vermont, Virginia & Washington.

January 14, 2015

Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times – 1/1/15

by Kellie N. Lego

Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times were released with processing dates as of 1/1/15.

If you filed an appeal, please review the link below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.

Administrative Appeals Office

January 13, 2015

Visa Bulletin – February 2015

by Kellie N. Lego

The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.

Click here to view the February 2015 Visa Bulletin

As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the February 2015 Visa Bulletin shows the EB2 date for nationals from India moved from 2/15/05 to 9/1/05; the EB3 date for nationals from India made a small movement from 12/15/03 to 12/22/03; the EB2 for Chinese Nationals moved from 2/1/10 to 3/15/10; the EB3 for Chinese Nationals moved from 3/1/11 to 9/1/11; and EB3 for WW moved from 6/1/13 to 1/1/14; and the F2A category moved from 4/15/13 to 5/8/13, except Mexico which moved from 2/22/13 to 4/22/13. The F2A category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).

January 9, 2015

MVP LAW GROUP – Immigration Q&A Forum, Friday, January 9, 2015

by Kellie N. Lego

MVP Law Group, P.A. makes available the information and materials in this forum for informational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or any contractual obligations. Further, the use of this site, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us through this forum will not be considered as privileged or confidential.

Question #1 – Employment Based

When should your employer file your I-140 with Premium Processing? Does it significantly speed up the processing times?

January 8, 2015

H-2B Cap Count UPDATE – 12/26/14

by Kellie N. Lego

The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.

The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2015 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (12/26/14); 18,841 beneficiaries have been approved and 4,729 are pending for a total of 23,570.

The H-2B cap limit for second half of FY 2015 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (12/26/14); 0 beneficiaries have been approved and 1,231 are pending for a total of 1,231.

January 7, 2015

Impact of New Americans – Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island & South Carolina

by Kellie N. Lego

Immigration Policy Center Releases Updated State-by-State Fact Sheets (2014)

The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has released all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall), for a total of fifty-two updated fact sheets with accompanying info graphics and other details. These fact sheets highlight the demographic and economic impact of Immigrants, Asians and Latinos in each state. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy division of the American Immigration Council (AIC).

As Washington D.C. continues the discussion of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we thought that it would be a good time to provide some statistics on the Immigrant population in the United States as provided by this IPC research. Once a week we will be posting a blog with information on four states at a time. This week we will highlight; Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island & South Carolina.

January 5, 2015

MVP “Immigration Q & A Forum” – This Friday, January 9, 2015

by Kellie N. Lego

We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.

Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, January 9, 2015. Act now and submit your questions!