Foreign nationals may obtain a green card if they invest the required amount of capital in a new commercial enterprise that will create ten full-time permanent jobs for U.S. citizens or permanent residents (INA § 203(b)(5); 8 USC § 1153(b)(5)). To “invest” means to “contribute capital” (in exchange for equity rather than a promise for… Read More
Firm Update – COVID-19
Pacific Northwest Cross Border Law remains fully operational. I have access to files, and the continued capacity to correspond by e-mail, telephone, fax, and traditional mail. Most of my firm’s operations have shifted to a temporary home office, a five-minute commute from the firm’s commercial space. Many US immigration agencies have closed their offices, however,… Read More
Workplace Enforcement and Basic I-9 Compliance
On January 10, 2018 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) executed its “7-Eleven Operation.” According to ICE’s Deputy Director, Thomas D. Homan, “ICE will continue its efforts to protect jobs for American workers by eliminating unfair competitive advantages for companies that exploit illegal immigration.” Both Fox News and NPR described ICE’s efforts as “raids.” On the… Read More
Summary of reasons for regional center terminations
Recently US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) began posting some of the Termination Notices for regional centers that have lost their designation. While not every Termination Notice has been published, some patterns have emerged as to the common reasons for termination. Read More
Additional tips to avoid becoming an EB-5 fraud victim
In a recent call with EB-5 stakeholders, USCIS discussed several tips for avoiding EB-5 fraud. Similar tips can be found on the SEC’s website, which includes an investor alert issued in 2013. Some of the tips, however, may be less than effective. For example, asking if the promoters are being paid will not help if the promoters do not tell the truth. Instead of relying on the word of promoters, prospective EB-5 investors may want to focus on conducting independent research and learning from SEC enforcement actions in the EB-5 context. Read More
USCIS Publishes Talking Points from November 7, 2017 EB-5 Stakeholder Engagement
USCIS held an EB-5 stakeholder engagement call on November 7, 2017 and has published its talking points from the call on its website. Highlights from the call include discussions of the Regional Center Compliance Review Program, customer service, and how to avoid being a fraud victim. Additional topics included the use of “hybrid teams” to adjudicate… Read More
A brief history of fee increases for Canadians seeking I-192 waivers
The fee increases for Canadians filing Form I-192 seeking a non-immigrant waiver are summarized in the chart below. Note that the “Comments” column refers to the total comments submitted in response to the proposed rule, not comments specifically targeted to Form I-192. For anyone interested in researching the regulatory history of INS/USCIS fee increases (as… Read More
USCIS Fee Increases
On October 24, 2016 USCIS announced a final rule increasing fees for most immigration benefit requests. We wrote about this change while USCIS was accepting comments on the proposed rule, and submitted part of this post as a comment. In response to our comments, USCIS decided not to increase the fees for filing Form I-192 when… Read More
Brief Notes and Comments on Proposed Changes to 8 CFR
On May 4, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security published proposed changes to Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations. While the greatest focus on these proposed changes has been on the fee increase, there are some other areas that may be important and warrant comment. The point of this post is not to… Read More
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