Attorneys Ophelia Enamorado and Lynn Greening

Recently, Attorneys Ophelia Enamorado and Lynn Greening attended the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) annual conference in National Harbor, MD. AILA is the predominant association of immigration lawyers in the U.S. Attorneys Enamorado and Greening are both AILA members, as are many of the attorneys at Zhang & Associates, P.C. In order to maintain its professional excellence, Zhang & Associates routinely sends attorneys to these conferences.

As many of our clients have noticed, USCIS has recently made many updates to some very commonly used forms, including the G-28 for notice of entry of appearance as attorney, I-140 for employment based immigrant petitions, I-485 for adjustment of status, I-765 for employment authorization, and I-907 for premium processing. As attorneys, we work to keep up with these continuous changes. Many of these changes, in the most case,have resulted in the forms becoming longer. However,the probable cause of the many modifications USCIS has made to the formsis aimed at reducing the workload of those entering the information from the forms into the USCIS system and to reduce errors. For instance, several of these new editions have 2D barcode technology to help USCIS collect the information quickly and accurately. As the form is completed, the barcode stores the information.

Another major issue in immigration recently has been the limited number of capped H1B visas. When the economy was struggling it took months for the cap to be reached. However,in the last couple of years,the number of petitions USCIS has received at the start of the H1B filing period more than exceeds the cap by tens of thousands of petitions. Thus, the lottery system has been used, leaving many capped H1B petitions unselected. While it is common for other visa options, such as O-1 or TN, to be looked at based on a client’s qualifications, there is also a less well-known visa, the Q visa, which may be an option for a very select group of individuals. The Q visa is a nonimmigrant visa for international cultural exchange and its purpose is to provide practical training and employment, and to share the history, culture, and traditions of one’s home country with the United States. Thus, if theintegral part of the employee’s duties for the proposed job has a cultural element to them, a Q visa can be considered. The Q visa can be obtained for up to 15 months. Unfortunately, there are no provisions to include a spouse or child. Moreover, although this visa cannot be renewed, another Q visa can be obtained afterthe alien returns home for 1 year. However, the alien may change status or reenter with another visa without having fulfilled the 1 year residence and presence outside of the U.S. requirement.

* Attorney Ophelia Enamorado works at our Austin office. Attorney Lynn Greening works at our Houston office.

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Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients nationwide in all aspects of U.S immigration law. We have successfully handled thousands of immigration cases.

At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high-quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM, and I-485 cases. In the past nineteen years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.

Zhang & Associates, P.C.

Silicon Valley • New York • Los Angeles • Chicago • Houston • Austin • Seattle • Madison

Tel:	1-800-230-7040, 713-771-8433
Email:	info@hooyou.com
website:	http://www.hooyou.com

 

(06/26/2015)