San Francisco Immigration Law Blog

Visa programs allow immigrant workers to stay with their families

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation on Thursday, May 24, 2018.

Growing companies often need to have a broad approach to securing the best possible talent for open positions. In some cases, that could mean hiring workers from another country to fill a skilled role within your business. Whether that person has an existing relationship with your company or is a new hire, securing a work visa is only one critical step to hiring an international worker.

One of the biggest concerns for people from other countries considering a job in the United States of America is the potential for long-term separation from their families. Thankfully, most of the professional visa programs do have special processes in place to allow for family members to accompany workers with a valid visa during their time in the United States.

Trump's Immigration Policy Divides Immigrant Families

By Donny Smith of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation posted in Immigration Policy on Monday, May 14, 2018.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recently announced "zero tolerance immigration policy for illegal entry on our Southwest border" is counter to America's immigration policy favoring family unification because it will ultimately divide more families than unify them.

May 7, 2018, the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions further indicated this administration's position on immigration and families when he announced that the Department of Homeland Security will now refer 100% of its deportation proceedings for unlawful Southwest Border crossings to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

USCIS Director Announces Pending Changes to the H-1B Visa Program

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation posted in Immigration Policy on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.

On April 4, 2018, the Director of USCIS, Lee Francis Cissna, wrote Congress on USCIS' efforts to comply with the April 2017 Executive Order, "Buy American, Hire American." Below is Litwin & Smith's summary of the existing, pending, and proposed changes that have occurred since the Executive Order:

USCIS Reports That H-1B Approvals Historic Low

By Donny Smith of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation on Monday, April 23, 2018.

For many employers and employees the H-1B Visa has become an elusive thing of the past decade as H-1B approvals have gone from an all-time high of around 87% to an all-time low under 60%.¹ These charts tell the story of how the H-1B visa became evermore available over the past ten years to plummet 20% below the numbers 10 years earlier.

Trumpification Adds Social Media Profile Requirement

By Donny Smith of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation posted in Trumpification on Friday, March 30, 2018.

In response to the Trumpification of America's immigration policy, the Department is also adding several additional questions for immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applicants.

How to sponsor an employee for permanent resident status

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation posted in blog on Thursday, March 29, 2018.

Are you a company owner or a human resources (HR) professional? If so, there may come a point when you want to learn more about sponsoring an employee for permanent resident status.

While this sounds simple enough, especially if you know how the process will unfold, there are quite a few details to keep in mind.

The essentials of E-1 Treaty Trader & E-2 Treaty Investor visas

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation on Wednesday, March 28, 2018.

Trade and investments play a large role in international commerce. For foreign nationals interested in trade or investing in the U.S., the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offers two non-immigration visas to encourage trade and investment opportunities.

Green Card via PERM labor certification & employer sponsorship

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.

The most common form of green card sponsorship through employment is PERM labor certification. While the first employment visas to the US are usually nonimmigrant visas. Because they take less time to obtain. For employers looking to fill permanent positions with qualified non U.S. workers, the PERM labor certification process is advantageous. Under the PERM process, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) collaborate to allow an employer to sponsor a qualified foreign worker.

In the PERM process the employer must prove to the DOL they were unsuccessful in recruiting a qualified U.S. worker for the position through a test of the labor market. The position must be permanent, full time and pay the prevailing wage for that occupation in that geographic area. Below is a brief introduction of the green card process through employment. It consists of three steps: labor certification, immigrant petition, and green card application. You may find our article helpful as well: http://www.litwinlaw.com/CM/Articles/Immigrate-Through-Employment.asp

L-1A visa holders (and others) can obtain green card under the EB-1C category

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

The L-1A visa is a non-immigrant employment visa that allows a qualifying company to send a qualifying owner, manager, or executive employee to a qualifying related U.S. company with existing offices in the U.S. as an executive or manager or send the owner, manager, executive as manager or executive to the U.S. to establish an office in the U.S.

Trump Thumping Continues with H-1B 3rd Party Worksite Policy Memo

On behalf of Litwin & Smith, A Law Corporation posted in Immigration Policy on Monday, March 12, 2018.

This Policy Memorandum (PM) supplements and supersedes preceding 3rd Party Worksite PMs and continues the Trump Thumping of the H1B program to further the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order under the scheme of protecting U.S. workers. The PM compels USCIS officers to request detailed documentation to ensure an employer-employee relationship exists and is maintained while an employee is working at a third-party worksite and encourages the review of prior 3^rd party worksite petitions to confirm prior compliance as the location of work may change.