Everyone knows that the CIS is in a denying mode and will deny every Employment based petition that it possibly can. Add that to the equation that for India and China the Employment based Third Preference petitions for India is currently being processed for people who filed in July of 2001. A lot of client want to get onto the second preference category. But the requirements for EB-2 are very strict. The minimum qualification for an EB-2 job is at least a Master’s Degree or a Bachelor’s Degree plus 5 years of experience. The Experience has to be obtained after the degree is obtained and before starting the job with the sponsor. (The rationale being that if the sponsor provided the beneficiary with the experience, it can provide an Us Citizen with the same experience opportunity).

However, the CIS is extremely harsh with Indian degrees.

A three year Bachelors Degree from India is not equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree here.

A three year Bachelors degree in a general field and a one (or sometimes two year) Masters degree in a particular field from India is not equivalent to a Bachelors degree in the US

A Bachelors degree in some field and a Masters in another specific field is not equivalent to a Masters even if the time frame for both studies is 6 years.

A Four year Bachelor’s Degree and 1 year Masters is not equivalent to a Masters

The waters are more muddied by the fact that all these cases are decided on a “case by case basis.” There is no consistency between cases even in the same service center.

I realize that there are some institutions in India that are not good, but so are many institutions in the US. India has 1 billion people and the competition to get into Universities is far higher than in the US. Yet, the US looks favorably to a degree from say England, than it does to a degree from India. As they say in India, if you cannot get into IIT, apply to MIT or Harvard.

And for the record, Obama did not get into Columbia as an undergraduate in the freshman year. He transferred from Occidental College. And Bush could not have gotten into any college based on merit. Saint John’s School in Houston refused him admission as a kid.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details

In a letter to Senator Grassley, the CIS defended their H-1B adjudication practices and their everything under the kitchen sink Request for Evidences.

The CIS is looking into revising the form I-129 to have Petitioner and beneficiary both attest that:

The beneficiary has been advised of the offsite placement and accepts the terms of the H-IB employment, including the job location and possible relocation;

Really? Does anyone working for the software industry not know that they have to work off site. These people are always traveling, the beneficiary KNOWS they have to work off site. Same with Oil Company Engineers. Its the nature of their work. Does CIS seriously think the beneficiary does not know?

2. Placement of the beneficiary offsite during the period of employment will be in compliance with the statutory and regulatory requirements of the H-IB nonimmigrant classification;

3. The beneficiary will be paid the prevailing rate of pay at any offsite
location; and,

This is in line with the question on the I-94 application on the plane, “Are you a terrorist.” Has anyone ever answered yes to that question? Similarly, will anyone filing an H-1B petition ever say they will not comply with the law?

4. The work itinerary is attached.

The H-1B is given for 3 years. It is difficult to predict the itinerary for all those 3 years. If the work itinerary is for less than 3 years, then the employer has to file the whole H-1B again, with the high fees. And even if they have the work itinerary, the job may be canceled, etc. So what is the point of private employers filing job itineraries with the Government?

All of this simply penalizes the small employers who form the backbone of the American economy.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details

President Obama has named Mr. Ivan J Fong as the General Counsel of USCIS. Mr. Fong has the typical successful Asian resume—-He has a Bachelor and Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from MIT, was a fullbright Scholar at Oxford and a JD from Stanford. He was recently the Chief Legal Officer for Cardinal Health. Before that he was the Deputy Associate Attorney General for the Justice Department, where he wrote a groundbreaking report on cyber crime.

He is indeed very bright, a computer geek, a nerd. But I dont see any experience with immigration law. Hopefully though he will do a good job.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details

The Bush Government is solidly anti work when it comes to immigration. Yes, I admit that a worker must have the legal right to work. But employers know this too, and they would not take in immigrants if they found immigrants and United States Citizens ready to work. The anti Immigration forces make a huge deal about how immigrants are into crime, violence, etc. Yet Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s major focus is work place raids to eradicate illegal workers, not illegal criminals. Unless of course working was criminal!

But the same is true for legal workers who are not from this country. Everyday I hear stories from clients about how long the work permits are taking, and how they simply cannot get the CIS to issue them quickly. These workers are forced to quit and in many cases force to go back to their home country. Many of them are in fields like research or IT where there simply is not enough qualified immigrants to do the job.

Even though the economy is bad, we still need skilled workers. Laid off auto workers in Detroit will not be able to perform bio tech research. And if we continue to have this same policy, US will continue to slip behind.

I know that the economy and not immigration is the major focus of the Obama Government. But America as a nation was built by immigrants and will continue to prosper as long as we get hardworking immigrants in.

Just like a plant that has to work harder to survive in unaccustomed earth, human being flourish better if they have to fight in a foreign land with scant help.

Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details

How to ACE a marriage based Interview at CIS

DO-Dress professionally. As in any interview, the interviewer forms an initial impression, which if negative is hard to shake. The clothes do not have to be expensive But have proper respect by wearing clothes that cover. This is a serious interview, not a dance club

DO- Tell the truth. There are no right or wrong thing in a marriage and making up lies really complicate matter. Apart from the fact that the officer places you under oath to “tell the truth” and lying to a federal officer is a felony, it does actually hurts your case. The officers are supposed to judge whether you are married or not under state law. Most state law defines marriage as:
1. Intent to be married
2. Having a ceremony of some sort for the marriage
3. Holdingout to others as man and wife

Marriage is ultimately a social declaraion of the intent of one man and one woman to be together and no other societal rules govern marriage.

In a separate interview once, for my clients, the husband was asked where he took his wife on the last date. The wife had already answered Mc Donalds. The husband did not want to say that he was that “cheap.” So he hesitated, and ultimately said “a nice restaurant.” We had trouble with that case, although the couple was happily married.

In another case, the male client had gone back to his village in Tanzania, while his pregnant wife stayed in the US. The question was whether when he was in Tanzania, did he call his wife. The man answered no. His village had no phones. His wife thought it would “look bad” that he never called his pregnant wife, so she answered yes. The nest question was how many time, and she answered three ties a day. One lie leads to another. We had to wait for the birth of the child for the officer to actually believe that the couple was in fact living together.

Do -Take all the documents with you. For instance:

Proof of Cohabitation – As many of these as you can get:

A. Copy of birth certificate of child together
B. Copy of joint mortgage documents
C. Copy of joint rental agreement
D. Copy of life insurance where the spouse is the beneficiary
E. Copy of joint health insurance
F. Copy of joint car insurance
G. Copy of joint bank account
H. Copy of joint stock certificate
I. Copy of joint credit card bills
J. Copy of joint purchases, example car or furniture or appliances
K. Marriage album and pictures

ORIGINALS OF
a. Marriage certificate
b. Birth certificates of both spouses
c. Naturalization certificate for petitioner
d. Divorce decrees for both spouses, if applicable
e. All other documents submitted to the INS, like EAD card, or travel document like advance parole
f. Passport, driver’s license and SS Card for both spouses

Do- Be short and sweet. Just answer the specific question asked, nothing more. The officer has many interviews to do a day, and does not have time to hear your life story. Besides going off on tangents derails the officer, and make their job harder. If they forget something, they can ask you to come back later, delaying the time you have to get your green card.

DON’T -Prepare for the interview other than collecting the documents. Very often clients ask me what type of questions are asked, with the intent of starting to memorize the answers. When one of my clients asked me that, I had told him that they may ask him questions about his wife, like her birth date, etc. At the interview, he told me he had memorized everything about his wife. I dont know whether that endeared him more to his wife, but for the interview purpose it was a complete waste of time. Again, since there are no rules in a marriage there is no rule as to what you should now. If you dont know, say “I dont know.” Dont make up an answer. A client was once asked what perume the other spouse wears. This couple knew the answer. But dear readers, I have been married for 22 years, and have raised two kids with my husband aged 21 and 20. And frankly I dont think my husband wears a perfume. My husband certainly does not know what perfume I wear. I dont know what perfume I wear, since they come from little bottles on my dresser that I get as presents. So, if you dont know, say “I dont know.”

DON’T-Act overly amorous or lovey-dovey. The officers are trained to recognize frauds and being overly amorous raises the suspicion as to whether you are really married. Act normal. You are always liked best when you are your natural self.

And above all DON’T file false petitions! That is a crime and will get you deported. If you are actually not living together as man and wife, immigration officers do find out. These officers are trained and do nothing but marriage cases about 7-8 a day for years!