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Posted on March 28, 2023 12:35 The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has just announced that the first phase of the FY 2024 H-1B visa lottery has ended. This means that this year's tense and exciting “lottery” has come to an end, and all applicants who submit H-1B visa applications, regardless of whether they are selected, will be informed of the results to start the next section of their journey. Many of my friends exclaimed that their “heart can't take it an

Published on March 06, 2024 12:09 Today, starting March 6, H-1B lottery organization accounts for fiscal year 2025 have been opened. Come and invite a lawyer account to enter information! 1. What is an organizational account? On February 28, 2024, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sent an email reminder that the myUSCIS organizational account had been activated. The fiscal year 2025 H-1B lottery season is approaching, and the USCIS has launched th

Published on March 1, 2024 18:04 On February 28, 2024, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sent an email reminder that the myUSCIS organizational account had been activated. The fiscal year 2025 H-1B lottery season is approaching, and the USCIS has launched the myUSCIS organizational account! BUT！This year, USCIS upgraded the company account. Although it retained the previous lottery records, it upgraded a Company Group function. 1. What's a Company

Published on February 28, 2024 18:21 On February 28, 2024, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sent an email reminder that the myUSCIS organizational account had been activated. Friends who follow our account should know that there are several major changes in the H-1B lottery this year. Here is an overview of some groundbreaking policies: Create an employer account: On February 28, 2024, USCIS launched a new myUSCIS organizational account. The acco

Posted on January 2, 2025 at 18:08 Dear clients, dear friends, Happy New Year 2025! On this festive occasion, I sincerely thank you for your support and companionship along the way. May your family be happy and healthy in the new year, and everything goes well! The new H-1B policy regulations of the Immigration Bureau for the new fiscal year will take effect on January 17. Clients and community friends have paid great attention to these new regulations and raised many questio

Today, December 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of State published a new Exchange Visitor Skills List (“Skills List”), removing a number of countries that would previously have triggered the application of a two-year home residency requirement, including Brazil, China, India, and South Korea. The revised list supersedes the most recent Skills List published in 2009. Unlike previous iterations, the revised Skills List is retroactive. Individuals that entered on a J-1 or previous

Published October 7, 2013 Due to the increasing number of corporate and personal transactions between the U.S. and China, many green card holders are forced to reside overseas for extended periods of time for work and living purposes. Does this free movement of green card holders affect their ability to maintain permanent resident status? In fact, the USCIS is very mindful of aliens who hold permanent U.S. green cards and do not reside in the U.S. or reside there for a very s

Published October 8, 2013 What is OPT OPT is an internship after graduation. For international students, the two most common types of internships are CPT and OPT. CPT is a work internship that you apply for while you are still in school. During the application process, CPT is easier than OPT, as long as the internship is related to your major, and you need to report to the school for approval. The OPT application is more stringent and has to be approved by the Immigration Bur

Published October 10, 2013 This article is a continuation of last week's article discussing the issues you should be aware of when applying for and utilizing OPT. Finding a suitable job opportunity in the U.S. has become an option for many international students. If you want to stay in the U.S., you have to switch to another legal status before or after the end of your OPT. For those who have an employer who is willing to apply for H-1B for you, they are faced with the questi

Published December 19, 2013 Job Title: Immigration Legal Assistant Working Hours: Full-time Location: Downtown Bellevue, WA Starting Date: 2018 Salary: Depends on Qualification and Experience Skills/Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or above; Excellent English writing skills; Detail oriented, and highly organized; Fast learner with positive attitude to work and ready to take challenges; Strong sense of duty to maintain client information confidential; Eligible to work in the

Published November 4, 2015 Advance Parole An individual who files for permanent legal residence in the U.S. through adjustment of status (Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) may also file for permission to travel abroad while the adjustment of status application is pending. The applicant should file Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, for an Advance Parole document that allows the individual to be “paroled” into the U.S. after tr

Published November 19, 2015 With the Regional Center program of EB-5 set to expire after December 11th, competing interests in Congress have been negotiating a comprehensive reform bill that would extend the program. If no compromise is reached by Congress soon, the possibility of a temporary extension of EB-5 in its current form grows more likely. After the bi-partisan bill S. 1501 was introduced in June 2015, a lack of consistency in effective dates for minimum investment

Published November 30, 2015 A new bill in Congress has been proposed to reform both the H1-B and L-1 visa programs. If passed it would tighten restrictions on companies that sponsor such work visas, such as cracking down on companies that bring in a worker on a H-1B or L-1 visa and then later send them back to their native country to do the same work. The bill is called the “H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2015” (S. 2266) and is co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) an

Published December 18, 2015 Limited Liability Companies have become a popular choice for Entrepreneurs because they protect the owners from being exposed to personal liability for the debts and liability of the business, and because they also have much less governance requirements than corporations. The less time that the Entrepreneur has to spend on the corporate governance of the enterprise means the more time they have to spend on running the actual business and increasing

Published December 29, 2015 Recently we discussed how to form a Limited Liability Company, a popular choice for Entrepreneurs because of its relatively simple governance structure and its protection against exposure to personal liability. For some Entrepreneurs however, forming a traditional Corporation is a better fit because of a need for a larger company, more investors, tax-planning purposes or other purposes. Corporations can either be organized as a “C-Corporation,” or

Published January 6, 2016 The Department of Homeland Security published a newly proposed rule regarding highly skilled immigrant and non-immigrant workers: “Retention of EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 Immigrant Workers and Program Improvements Affecting High-Skilled Nonimmigrant Workers.” The newly proposed rules are particularly helpful for H1-B workers that are waiting to obtain a Green Card, and helps to alleviate some of the concerns found during the waiting process. The proposed r

Published January 18, 2016 A new EB-5 Reform bill has been introduced in Congress. While a comprehensive EB-5 reform bill did not end up being passed as was expected, this new bill would make some major changes to the EB-5 program that was extended in its current form back in December. The bill, S.2415, “EB-5 Integrity Act of 2015” was introduced by Senator Flake (R-AZ) and is co-sponsored by both Senator Schumer (D-NY), and Senator Cornyn (R-NY). Having the support of Senato

Published February 17, 2016 We have recently discussed important issues for foreign residents in forming either a Limited Liability Company or Corporation in the US. While there are many important considerations that go into forming and structuring an entity, there are also other issues involved in carrying out business and transactions. First, as we have discussed in the formation articles, an entity must be registered as a business in order to actually carry out transaction

Published February 24, 2016 Previously, the IRS would allow one to simply designate somebody without such governing power much in the way that a Registered Agent operates. It is important to note that with the new requirements, an individual who merely provides funding for the entity does not qualify as a Responsible Party because the individual (or entity) is also required to directly or indirectly control the management of the funds. It is important to discuss with your Att

Published March 9, 2016 Once the Responsible Party has been established, Form SS-4 will ask for an identification number for the responsible party which can be: Social Security Number Individual Tax Identification Number Employment Identification Number (if the Responsible Party is an entity) This is where the process gets much more complicated for businesses that are wholly or majority owned by foreign residents or foreign entities with no U.S. tax identification number. Mos