According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), marriage fraud accounts for approximately 37% of illegal immigration.  Spouses of both U.S. Citizens and U.S. Permanent Residents are eligible, through slightly different processes with varying time frames, to become  U.S. Permanent Residents and eventual citizens.  On October 6, 2009,  Sgt. Wesly Farris and Stephen Schneider pleaded [...]

On September 23, 2009, Ms. Maria Refugia Camarillo, a 72-year-old grandmother, was sentenced to serve 44 months in federal prison for operating a marriage fraud ring from 1980s until 2008.  Ms. Camarillo had been investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector [...]

Permanent Residency in the U.S. is usually obtained through employer or family sponsorship.  However, for those who do not have employer or family sponsorship, the Diversity Visa Lottery Program (DV Program) provides another avenue to immigrate to the United States.  Approximately 50,000 diversity visas are available each year.  In order to qualify for the DV Program, [...]

What is an L-1 nonimmigrant visa? L-1 nonimmigrant visas are utilized by U.S. corporations to temporarily employ (up to 5 or 7 years depending on type) certain foreign workers employed by the company’s foreign parent, affiliate, subsidiary or branch office.  The L-1 visa is broken into two eligibility categories: (1) international managers and executives, and [...]

Among immigration lawyers, 2009 will be known as the year of “un-cappable” H-1B visas. What is an H-1B nonimmigrant visa? H-1B nonimmigrant visas allow U.S. employers to temporarily (up to six years) employ foreign workers in what USCIS calls “specialty occupations.” The regulations define a “specialty occupation” as requiring theoretical and practical application of a [...]

According to ABC News affiliate WTVD Channel 11, an Immigration Services Officer with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), was arrested on July 15th on charges of blackmail and extortion.  The Officer, Bedri Kulla, was based in USCIS’ service center off of Roycroft Drive in Durham County. Allegedly, Mr. Kulla was blackmailing foreign [...]