On June 4, 2014, acting USCIS director Lori Scialabba, held a teleconference to discuss the DACA renewal process.  On the same day, the Service published a revised Form I-821D, the DACA application form, on which current DACA beneficiaries and those interested in the benefit for the first time can apply.  Current DACA recipients are to submit their renewal request approximately 120 days before their DACA and employment authorization expires.

DACA is an immigration relief granted to people from other countries who entered the United States as children and meet certain USCIS prescribed guidelines.  The Obama administration created the relief in June of 2012.  It was initially for two years, and at the end of which, it is subject to renewal.

If you are a current DACA recipient or interested in the benefit for the first time, please schedule an appointment with Swaray Law Office to know whether you are eligilble, and how you can appply.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issues visas to diplomats and international organization officers and employees that enter the United States to perfom official duties on behalf of their governments or international organizations.  These visas are known as the A and G visas.

The A visas are are of three types — A-1, A-2 and A-3 visas.  A-1 and A-2s are issued to government officials and their family members while A-3s are issued to their personal employees, attendants or domestic workers.

To qualify for an A-1 visa, the diplomat must be a head of state or government; or a government officer that serves at a foreign embassy or consulate; or a cabinet member coming for official activities; or a European Union or African Union delegation representative.

An immediate family member can also be granted the visa. Immediate family members are the spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of any age that are members of his household and those that regularly reside in the household with benefits and rights associated with the diplomat, such as official passport or travel and the like.  Additonally, any other person related to the diplomat or his spouse by blood, marriage or adoption or a his domestic partner and a relative by blood, marriage or adoption of the domestic partner can be an immediate relative.

To qualify for an A-2 visa, the diplomat must be a full-time government employee entering the United States to work at a foreign embassy or consulate or to perform embassy related duties; or a government officer entering the United States upon a written request of his country to perform official government duties; or a foreign military member stationed at a US military base; or assigned to a foreign embassy or consulate in the United States; or a European Union or African Union delegation representative, and their immediate family members.

To qualify for an A-3 visa, the personal employee, attendant, domestic worker or servant must prove that he is qualified for the job that he is coming to the United States to do and that the wage offered him is self-supporting and comparable to that offered for the same employment in the United States.

The USCIS issues G visas to international organization representatives and their family members, and are of four types, which are G-1, G-2, G-3 and G-4.  G-1 visas are issued to permanent mission members of a recognized government entering the United States to serve in an international organization.  G-2 visas are issued to representatives of a recognized governmental officer traveling to the United States temporarily to attend meetings of a designated organization.  G-3 visas are issued to representatives of non-recognized or non-member governments while G-4 visas are issued to individuals entering the United States to take up appointments into designated international organizations including the United Nations.

Diplomats and international organization visa holders can adjust their statuses to Green Card holders in the United States.  To adjust, however, they must waive their diplomatic privileges, immunities and rights and reside and work in the United States just like any other permanent resident.  The adjustment is done in one of three ways:

The first is through qualifying relatives.  Here, the diplomat or international government officer uses a family or employment opportunity to adjust his status from diplomat or international orgnization officer to a Green Card holder.

The second is adjustment under what is known as a Special Green Card.  The diplomat or international orgnization officer qualifies for this visa if he fails to maintain his diplomatic status and is unable to return to his home country due to compelling reasons.  He must also demonstrate that he has good moral character, and admissible to the United States. The officer’s family members can also enter as dependents.  This adjustment type is, historically, very rare, and often tied to promoting the United States national interest.  In fact, only 50 of these visas are granted yearly.

There is a third adjustment opportunity that is specifically open to only former international organization employees.  To qualify, the employee must have lived in the United States on the G visa for at least 15 years before retirement, and must apply for the visa in no later than six months after retirement.  The officer’s employees as well as spouses of deceased international organization officers may independently qualify for the Green Card, and if qualified, must apply for the visa no later than six months after the death of the officer.  Unmarried sons and  daughters of current or former international organization officers or employees are also independently eligible for the Green Card if they have lived in the United States on a G visa for at least seven years before ages five and twenty-one and apply for the visa before they are twenty-five years old.

The information in this blog is not intended to be a legal advice to the reader. For more information and legal assistance with adjusting from a diplomatic or international organization visa to a Green card status, contact an attorney at Swaray Law Office.  We have adjusted the statuses of many dipolmats and international organization officers from around the world serving in the United States.

You can get a Green Card to live and work in the United States and also increase your wealth through an investment immigrant visa.  This visa opportunity, also known as EB-5, was created by Congress in 1990 though an immigration ACT.  Among others, the ACT gave the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) the power to administer the visa program.

Current statistics show that foreign investors from China are among the leading users of this visa program.  But investors from many parts of the world, including Nigeria, use it as well.

The visa allows investors from foreign countries to immigrate to and invest financial resources in viable investment platforms in the United States.

Under the law, a foreign investor can invest at least $500,000 into the United States economy, and because of the investment, come to the United States under a permanent resident immigrant visa.  This means that the foreign investor can dump their financial resources into areas of the US economy, gain profits on the investment, if the investment does well, and get a visa that permits him and his spouse and children under 21 years old to reside, work, go to school, and live a happy life in the country.

The investment process can be direct or it can be through USCIS authorized regional centers.  Under the direct investment approach, the investor must invest at least $1million and create at least ten full-time jobs for United States workers.  The investment amount can be $500,000 if it is invested in a high unemployment or rural area of the United States.

The investment can also be through a regional center.  Regional Centers are commercial entities that the USCIS has authorized to accept and manage EB-5 related investment funds.  The centers accept foreign investor funds and manage them in ways that meet USCIS investor visa requirements.  Simply explained, they make sure that the job creation and other requirements of the investor visa are met to enable the investor and his family get the immigrant visa.

Under  the investor visa law, it is critically important that the source of the investor funds are investigated to find that they are clean and legally acquired.

The foreign investor visa gives the holder enviable immigration opportunities, such as travel in and out of the United States and reside in any part of the country.  At the application phase, the foreign investor can also elect to be in or outside the United States while the visa is processed.  If he choses to be in the country, he can travel in and out of the country under a government approved travel document.

Once the investor requirements are met, the foreign investor and his spouse and children under 21 can then apply for the immigrant visa on a Form I-526 together with all other evidence supporting his eligibility for the visa.  If the USCIS is satisfied that all the visa conditions are met, it will grant the investor and his family a conditional Green Card for two years.  After the two years, the investor is again required to file another petition to remove the condition.  The petition is filed in the 90 days preceding the second anniversary of the conditional permanent resident visa grant.  In this petition, the investor must prove that the business was created in the requisite  investment amount and  number of jobs.  Once all the requirements are met, the USCIS removes the condition from the Green Card, and the investor and his family can reside, work, travel and live happily in the United States indefinitely.  Best of all, after five years of the immigrant visa grant the investor and his family, if they choose to, can apply for US citizenship.  The investor can also, at the end of five years from the date of his investment, remove his investment with all the dividends if the investment had yielded dividends.

The Swaray Law Office investment team can help you assess your eligibility for the visa, identify investment areas, investment commercial enterprises and process your immigrant visa application.  This means that all you do is cooperate with the team in providing the requisite information needed to process your investor application and fund.  If you are interested in an investor visa, and want to work with Swaray Law Office, contact us today by phone or fill out our contact message form at this website and send it to us.

Image of attendees at a Brazilian Consulate.

Swaray Law Office is excited to participate in the bi-annual Brazilian Consulate event that will be held at United Methodist Church in Bloomington. The event will take place this Saturday, May 24, 2014 from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

The purpose of the event is to give an opportunity for the members of the Brazilian Community here in Minnesota a chance to meet with the Brazilian consulate and address issues with birth certificates, passports and other immigration related paper work. As the members of the community wait to be attended to, they would have the opportunity to stop at different tables that are set up in the room and get information about the different services that the different companies provide.

Our office will be one of the several companies in attendance and we will have a platform to address the legal questions that the community members might have but haven’t had the opportunity to discuss. Not only will we be helping others find solutions to their legal problems, we will also have the chance to build trusting relationships with the community members and get exposure.

You are all invited to attend.