Over 25 years of experience in strategic U.S. Immigration counseling and representation in the San Francisco Bay area including advocacy for businesses, individuals and families worldwide.
Immigration is the story of American history…
From the earliest days of our nation, generation upon generation of immigrants has come to be part of a land that offers freedom and opportunity to those willing to do their part. Immigrants built our great cities. They cultivated our rich farm lands. They built the railroads and highways that bind America from sea to shining sea..."
~Senator Ted Kennedy, 2006
This country was built on a very simple idea:
We all aren’t here yet. With more people and more ways of looking at the world, we will have better ideas. IMMIGRATION IS AN ADDED VALUE TO THIS COUNTRY. It always has been."
~Lawrence O‘Donnell, msnbc host
… if we're going to remain the America…
that we all love and respect, it has to be an America that greets everybody, whether you're a skilled intellectual or a technician of some kind or just a guy who got here with nothing and is working at a hot-dog stand so he can put his kids in school. This is what's made us great, and let's never forget it. American truly is a nation of nations."
~Colin Powel, 2009
… it is in a company's best financial interest…
to proactively
comply with the law now rather than to face potential fines or criminal prosecution for noncompliance in the future."
~ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] spokeswoman, WSJ 2011
… take employers out of the business of…
performing government functions, like playing immigration police."
~Angelo Paparelli, an immigration attorney in New York and Southern California
America simply cannot afford to forgo…
the contributions of
the world’s best and the brightest to our economy. To do so would not only be contrary to our values, but also hamper our economic competitiveness. To win the future, we must ensure that highly-skilled immigrants who want to start a business or work in research laboratories do so here, creating American jobs and generating value for our economy."
~Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, 2011
My life today, given my background,…
is something I cannot believe possible. I am privileged to serve the Congress of the United States. I think back to my life fifty years ago, when I was a hunted animal in the jungle, and how I am dealing with issues of state of a country I love so deeply. It all seems like a dream and it all places an incredible sense of responsibility on me. I didn't achieve this because of what I am, it happened because of what this country is."
~Congressman Tom Lantos, 2006
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EB-5: Investing Your Capital
As an EB-5 investor with the required capital, how must you invest it? Invest means to contribute capital, as that term was defined in an earlier blog. But a contribution of capital in exchange for a note, bond, or any other debt arrangement between the new commercial enterprise and the immigrant investor does NOT constitute… read more
Posted on: January 26, 2012
EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program: Key Elements
The EB-5 Program is based on three main elements: The immigrant’s investment of capital In a new commercial enterprise That creates jobs. In a series of blogs we will lay out what each of these three elements means for both the original EB-5 program (investment of $1 million) and the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program such… read more
Posted on: January 23, 2012
EB-5 investor Program: Favorable Climate
USCIS re-emphasizes thoughtful and careful adjudication of applications to further the program’s purpose to promote the immigration of people who can help create jobs for U.S. workers through their investment of capital into the U.S. economy In this environment of job scarcity, USCIS has promised to focus its resources on investment/entrepreneurial visas to beef up… read more
Posted on: January 12, 2012
TheVISAGeek™ blog is published out of our San Francisco Bay Area immigration law office.
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The ICE Man (Immigration &] Customs Enforcement) cometh!
Is your company next? You are staring at the I–9 Notice of Inspection, knowing that in 3 days the ICE Man will be knocking on your door asking for the kitchen sink – what to do? ICE has issued its strategic plan going forward – to beef up audits of Employers’ Forms I–9 to serve as groundwork for civil and criminal prosecutions for employer violators.
In the last two years alone, California employers across various industries have been hit with criminal penalties. Our job is to insulate our San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast employer clients from ongoing liability for past errors and to proactively implement programs for current and future compliance. Your best protection is the external immigration compliance audit by a competent, objective and independent attorney.
“I love living and working in California. I don’t want to go home!”
You just landed your dream tech job South of Market in San Francisco and have your H–1B visa in hand. You love California and don’t want to go home. How can you stay? With a green card, of course - provided your employer is willing to file for you.
The employer must first test the U.S. labor market and advertise for the job. If no U.S. workers apply, you may be eligible for a green card in one of five immigrant visa (green card) categories depending on the job and your skills, with a wait time dependent on your country of birth. If you are on grant money, with no employer, you may still be able to apply for a green card on your own with no job offer if you have extraordinary achievements in your field and/or your work is deemed vital to the U.S. national interest.
“I love you but how do we make this work!”
Carol, a U.S. citizen, fell in love with a sporty Italian over the internet—sharing a passion for scuba diving. They want to marry and settle in Santa Cruz, California. What papers do they need to file?
The good news is they can file for the green card based on the marriage either in Rome or the U.S., depending on circumstances, and the Italian husband can apply for U.S. citizenship 3 years after the grant of the green card. Once he is a citizen he can file for green cards for his parents and his siblings. This pleases his parents who want to retire in California.
On the other side of the ocean, in Singapore, a young cellist pines for the piano player from Palo Alto whom she met over the summer. The piano player can file a fiancee visa for her, and once she arrives at SFO, he can pick her up and whisk her to the Justice of the Peace to get married the next day and file for her green card.
Two British gentlemen, redwood furniture and the San Jose Sharks
Two gentlemen from England came into my office. They own “Wood ‘n Us”, a furniture store in N.W. London and the ink has just dried on their purchase of a successful furniture store in San Jose, California that will be renamed “Redwood ‘n Us.” I like the name. They tell me they have set it up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the London company. Now they want to know what they have to do to stay in San Jose and expand the store.
We go through the two best visa choices for this type of start-up: the L–1 and the E–2. We choose the E–2. One will come in as the owner and the other as the executive employee. They are happy to learn that if the company does well, the visa is renewable indefinitely and that their wives will be able to work as well. They are both fans of the San Jose Sharks so an added bonus will be to see their team live.
Learn more about Business Start-ups: E-1 (Treaty Trader)/E-2 (Treaty Investor) →
Tea for two in the E.U.
We see many U.S./U.K. couples trying to decide where to settle down after they get married. Many choose the U.K. if there is a good job offer for one spouse. For those moving to the U.K. the U.S. spouse needs a green card equivalent - a “settlement visa”.
A settlement visa is applied for through the British Consulates General. In California, all applications go through the Los Angeles office. If you are in a rush, we work with visa services that provide a very short turn-around time.
We also counsel disappointed foreign-born professionals unable to find a job in Silicon Valley or the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. If you are in that boat, we often suggest a temporary job in the U.K. Under the U.K. immigration points-based system it is possible to obtain a visa that allows for living and working in the U.K. based upon your qualifications without a specific job offer. All of the visa work can now be done through the British Consulate General in the U.S.
Come see us if you have a British-born parent. You may qualify for dual U.S./U.K. citizenship - a real bonus if you want the freedom to live and work not just in the U.K. but anywhere in the E.U.
Learn more about U.S. to U.K. Expat Visas and U.K. Work permits →