by Heidi Meyers | May 23, 2016 | Articles
Because of very high EB-2 demand worldwide, including very high EB-2 demand for India, the EB-2 category for India has retrogressed for June 2016 to October 1, 2004, and is expected to advance only very slowly for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30th. This means that the current wait of 11 years and nine months for the Indian EB-2 category will become even longer. Additionally, the EB-2 worldwide category, although it is now still current, may be at risk of retrogressing due to very high demand.
For June 2016, EB-3 for India is at September 22, 2004, slightly worse than EB-2, and is expected to advance at a snail’s pace for the rest of the fiscal year.
Similarly, but much less severe, the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for China will retrogress in June 2016 to January 1, 2010, a current wait of about six and a half years, which will become even more lengthy. It is expected that this cutoff date will remain in place at least through the end of this fiscal year.
by Heidi Meyers | May 20, 2016 | Articles
STEM F-1 students are now eligible for a total of three years of OPT, as long as they are working for an employer that participates in E-Verify. If you are a STEM student you can find E-Verify employers through this link with USCIS:
www.uscis.gov/e-verify/about-program/e-verify-employers-search-tool
by Heidi Meyers | May 18, 2016 | Articles
On May 4, 2016, DHS announced that it will increase the USCIS filing fees for most immigration applications by about 21%. For example, the fee for Form I-129 (used for E, H, L, O, P, R petitions) will increase from $325 to $445, and Form I-140 will increase from $580 to $700.
by admin | Nov 20, 2014 | Articles, Espanol, Visa, Visas
You can read the full page for these different types of visas by click on one of the items on the right.
Major areas of concentration are the following:
- H-1B (Professionals);
- H-1B1 (Professionals from Chile and Singapore);
- L-1 (Managers, Executives and Specialized Knowledge Workers) ;
- E (Investors and Traders) ;
- R (Religious Workers) ;
- P (Artists and Entertainers) ;
- Labor Certifications;
- National Interest Waivers;
- Aliens of Extraordinary Ability;
- Health Care Workers;
- Student Visas;
- TN Visas; Business; Federal Court;
- Greencards and citizenship;
- Professors and Researchers;
- Adoptions;
- Family and Marriage Petitions ;
- Asylum, Deportation and Cancellation of Removal.
by admin | Nov 20, 2014 | Articles, Espanol, Visa, Visas
The Law Office of Heidi J Meyers is a full-service immigration law firm, established in 1997. In addition to H-1B petitions and employment-based immigration, our office offers a wide array of immigration services, including: E-1 (treaty traders), E-2 (treaty investors), L-1A (managerial and executive transferees) and L-1B (specialized knowledge workers), cap-exempt H-1Bs to work at non-profit universities or their affiliates, R visas (religious workers), family petitions, marriage petitions, F-1 (student visas), naturalization, asylum, deportation and removal proceedings, waivers of deportability, waivers of unlawful presence, and DACA (Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals).
Ms. Meyers has been practicing U.S. immigration law since 1995, and has had her own firm since 1997. We speak Cantonese, French, Fulani, Mandarin, Punjabi and Spanish and represent people of all religions and nationalities, and from all walks of life.
Our office is located at:
The Woolworth Building
233 Broadway, Suite 801
New York, NY 10279
Our phone number is (212) 791-4007. We are conveniently located near the World Trade Center PATH station, the A, C, E trains at Chamber Street/WTC, the 2 and 3 trains at Park Place, the R and W at City Hall, and the 4, 5, 6, J and Z trains at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall.
USCIS has recently come out with the final rule on F-1 students with STEM degrees. STEM students will now be eligible for a 24-month extension of their OPT, provided that their employer participates in the E-Verify program. The rule requires employers to implement formal training programs, and adds wage and other protections for STEM students and U.S. workers. DHS will now conduct site visits of the employers of F-1 students on OPT. The final rule also codifies cap-gap relief for F-1 students with a timely-filed H-1B petition and request for change of status.
The U.S. Supreme Court may make a decision as early as this June 2016 on the Texas v. United States lawsuit regarding the president’s executive action and power to create the expanded DACA and DAPA programs. Should the U.S. Supreme Court rule in favor of the Obama administration and immigrants, more people will be eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Currently undocumented people who arrived in the US before turning 16 years old and have been present since January 1, 2010 (rather than since June 15, 2007), are now eligible for DACA. There also will be no upper age limit on who can apply for DACA. Additionally, parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been present in the US since January 1, 2010, will be eligible to request deferred action and work authorization, provided they pass background checks;
