The U.S. State Department provides B-1 visas for citizens of other countries to come to the United States to conduct business.

Most people travelling to the United States from around the world need a non-immigrant visa in order to enter the country. The visitor visas are B-1 for business and B-2 for citizens of foreign countries coming here for pleasure, tourism or medical treatment.

Business travel visas are given for a variety of reasons. Some foreign citizens come to the United States to consult with associates, attend seminars or conferences in their industry, or negotiate and close business contracts. Others come as athletes to compete in American contests or lecturers who speak at events.

There are 35 countries that participate in a visa waiver program and citizens of those countries usually do not need a B-1 visa when travelling to the United States for business.

Those countries are Andorra, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, San Marino, Brunei, Japan, Singapore, Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, South Korea, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Malta, Sweden, Germany, Monaco, Switzerland, Greece, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom.

Qualification for a B-1 visa is determined by the U.S. Embassy in the country where the applicant holds citizenship. It is important to apply well in advance of the proposed travel date as the application process can be time-consuming, according to the State Department.

The application process will likely require an interview at the embassy. Applicants who are younger than 14 or older than 79-years-old usually do not need to interview in the process.

The embassy will ask for some documentation including an online DS-160 form, a valid passport (that will remain valid for six months after an applicant plans to leave the United States) and a photograph.

There are often fees associated with acquiring a B-1 visa as well. The State Department recommends applicants contact the U.S. Embassy in their country as soon as they know they need to travel to find out more about the necessary fees.

There are provisions in the rules that allow domestic employees or personal assistants to travel with their employers.

Carrying a B-1 visa is not a guarantee that a businessperson from another country will be granted access to the United States at a port of entry. The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have the ultimate say on who can enter.

Companies hoping to bring business associates to the United States to work on projects, sign real estate deals or attend conferences can benefit from hiring a qualified law firm to help make the process as smooth as possible for the traveler.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston, Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their information filled website at http://www.visatous.com.

Since inadequate legal immigration policy in the United States prevents many international entrepreneurs from crossing the Pacific to Silicon Valley to create jobs, one California company plans to meet them in the middle – of the ocean.

In order to preserve Silicon Valley’s reputation as the world’s leader in technology innovation, Blueseed is building a Visa-free offshore technology incubator.

The company wants to “…enable countless great ideas and talented individuals to test themselves in the hotbed of Silicon Valley,” according to the Blueseed website. “With our incubator, startups and individuals will also get a chance to establish the connections and capital necessary to move their operations onto land if they so choose.”

The Blueseed team is responding to an American legal immigration policy that leaves many international technology workers on the outside looking in when American companies could be hiring them and creating more jobs.

The U.S. government gives out about 140,000 visas every year to skilled workers from other countries. The State Department restricts those H-1B visas so that no more than seven percent of that 140,000 can come from any specific country. This means workers from countries like India and China get just as many employment-based visas as workers from Iceland and Greenland.

The year’s supply of H-1B visas is regularly taken in the first couple of months into the fiscal year.

There are bills under consideration in Congress that would lift some of those restrictions and make it marginally easier for skilled workers to come to American technology companies.

But Blueseed is not going to wait and see. In an interview with ARS Technia, Blueseed CEO Max Marty, a son of Cuban immigrants, admitted that it would be better if the United States just updated and modernized its policy.

While trying to benefit from inadequacies in U.S. immigration law, Blueseed also will need to depend on the State Department’s generosity. Part of the company’s sales pitch is that entrepreneurs would be able to make frequent trips using B-1 visas that allow international businesspeople to come to the United States for training, conferences and even meetings, according to ARS Technia.

The next step for the company is to raise money to finance the ship, as its projected 300-person crew and interior would make it feel like an office. Blueseed announced in late November that Paypal founder Peter Thiel will lead the company’s seed financing round.

The Blueseed vessel would be parked about 12 nautical miles from Half Moon Bay – south of San Francisco and west of Palo Alto, Calif.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their information filled web site at http://www.visatous.com.

The newest industry to push Congress for changes to the country’s visa processing policies might be a surprise. It is the tourism industry.

The International Tourism Facilitation Act was introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar, D. Minn., and Roy Blunt, R. Mo., in October to make it easier for people to visit the United States from around the world.

Klobuchar and Blunt pushed the proposal as a potential economic lift for the country. About 10 percent of all the jobs created so far this year in the United States were tourism jobs, according to a press release from Klobuchar’s Senate office. Each visitor from overseas spent about $4,000 in this country in 2010.

The bill’s goal is to cut long wait times at consulates and American embassies around the world that can prevent people from visiting the United States. The bill also would give the State Department incentives to make the changes.

“By streamlining our visa processing system without jeopardizing our nation’s security, we can help spur economic development and job creation,” Blunt said in a release.

The U.S. Travel Association was quick to support the proposed bill. “International business and leisure travelers stimulate our economy, and the ‘International Tourism Facilitation Act’ is the legislation our country needs to create U.S. jobs and to improve our visa process,” said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association in a release.

The USTA also said the State Department simply cannot meet its own goals for timely processing of applications in some markets. Provisions in the bill would allow the State Department to reinvest application fees on infrastructure to meet growing demand.

Travelers discouraged by visa wait times will take their dollars elsewhere around the world. The Boston Globe reported in November that the 10-year change in long-haul arrivals in the United States had remained an almost-flat two percent while the numbers in China and India jumped 126 percent and 124 percent respectfully.

These visas are not just necessary for people wanting to see the Grand Canyon or a Dodgers game, many of the people in line for these visas want to visit their children in grad school or network with professionals at a business conference. Even though these types of visitors will not choose another country to visit instead, they would likely come more often if it was made simpler for them.

The USTA even put together a website with clever graphics, videos and cartoons to help illustrate the need for visa reform: www.smartervisapolicy.org.
An attorney with visa application experience can help get clients through the process so their family can come visit for business or pleasure.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their information filled web site at http://www.visatous.com.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently changed the processing method for some naturalization and citizenship forms, often called N-Forms.

In an attempt to streamline the collection and processing and improve the consistency of intake, USCIS now requires all N-300, N-336, N-600 and N-600K forms to be secure lockbox facilities instead of local offices.

The N-300 form is an application for a permanent resident to file declaration of intention to become a U.S. citizen. The N-366 form is a request for a hearing on a naturalization proceedings decision. The N-600 form is an application for a citizenship certificate. The N-600K form is an application for citizenship for a child who lives abroad to get U.S. citizenship because of the child’s parents.

USCIS began using the lockbox facilities in 2001 to electronically process information from forms, forward that information to the appropriate location, collect fees and generate acceptance or rejection notices.

Beginning in 2007, USCIS has been moving all fee-based immigration forms to this new lockbox system. Because the USCIS is a congressionally mandated and self-funded agency, the timely and accurate collection of fees is imperative. In FY 2009, the agency’s lockbox facilities processed almost 4.5 million applications and more than $1 billion in fees. Last year, USCIS used the lockbox centers to process more than $1.6 billion in fees, according to the agency.

USCIS has lockbox facilities in Chicago, Phoenix and Dallas and a data verification office supporting the lockbox facilities in Burlington, Vt. The immigration forms include the correct address to the lockbox facilities.

In addition to streamlining the application and fee collection process, the lockbox facilities may also free up the local offices to handle daily issues regarding immigration.

The move to lockbox locations has not been without its challenges. About a year ago, the Office of Intake and Document Production Lockbox Processing published a report outlining issues that came up and fixes the agency applied to correct the problems. In response to stakeholder concerns, USCIS changed the working on rejection notices so they would be easier to understand and retrained some employees on which applications to accept and which to deny based on the timing of some forms.

An undertaking of this magnitude is going to create a number of issues to be resolved as the process changes, and the lockbox transition has had plenty.
An experienced immigration attorney can help navigate all the changes in USCIS’ forms and processing. In order to not waste money on fees that are sent in with the wrong forms to the wrong location, contact Houston immigration lawyer Annie Banerjee. To learn more, visit http://www.visatous.com.

A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their information filled web site at http://www.visatous.com.

Republican Congressmen Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Lamar Smith of Texas introduced a legal immigration bill in September that would make it easier for skilled workers from some countries to get visas to stay in the United States and work.

Reform proponents have said American policy does not leave enough room for scientists and engineers from places like India and China to remain in the United States after school and help bolster this country’s technology sector.

The new bill, H.R. 3012, would eliminate the country-by-country limits on the 140,000 visas given to skilled workers annually. As the law is written now, each country is limited to only seven percent of the total, but some countries like India have far more applicants as a percentage.

In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in September, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the current laws are hurting the country.

“Right now, Iceland gets the same quota as India,” he told the Immigration and American Competitive Conference in Washington, D.C. “It just makes no sense. I have nothing against Iceland, but just think about where the next engineers and the entrepreneurs are going to come from.”

Chaffetz said the bill will help to encourage skilled workers to stay in the United States after school and contribute to the economy.

“Per country limits make no sense in the context of employment-based visas,” Chaffetz said in a press release. “By removing per country limits, American companies will be able to access the best talent.”

The bill, called the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, would not adjust the total number of available visas. The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

Smith and Chaffetz’s bill reflects a push by business leaders and politicians to separate the need to reform the nation’s legal immigration policy from the politically charged debate over illegal immigration policy.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, NASDAQ CEO Robert Greifeld asked the committee to let the legal immigration reform discussion happen on its own.

“Americans are losing jobs and opportunity while we let one issue drag down the other,” he said.

As legislators inch closer to reforming American immigration laws with an eye toward economic recovery, graduate students are acutely aware of the bureaucratic hassles before them if they choose to stay in the United States after graduation.

Houston immigration attorney Annie Banerjee works with clients who want to stay in the United States and work. The Law Offices of Annie Banerjee has more than 10 years of experience helping graduate students and their families attain work visas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their information-filled website at http://www.visatous.com.