What to do if you did not receive EAD within 90 days

First, you can call USCIS Service Center at 1-800-375-5283. Ask for "service request" so you can get response within a week or even better, ask for interim card and get a response.

Second, you can schedule infopass appointment at local USCIS office. Personally I think this method is not really helping anything as local USCIS office no longer issue EAD. They will still forward your case to service center.

Third, after you attemp above, and get no reponse, write e mail to cisombudsman.publicaffairs@dhs.gov
with detail of your efford.

for detail stpes, check DHS webiste here.

Citizenship test questions

After 5 years holding your green card, you can apply for citizenship. You will need to pass 6 questions out of 10 questions that tester ask you. The questions will be chosen from 100 questions pool. Right now there are three languages test available, Chinese, English and Spanish. USCIS also provide flash card so you can better prepare your test. See more educational material here.

Lehman Brothers and H1B

If Lehman Brothers can disappear overnight then H1B holders sometimes might worry what it the same thing happen to them? When the company file chapter 11, they might still operating so your H1B will be ok as long as you are not laid off. In other words, you need to be "hired" to keep your H1B. When you would like to go to next step, Green Card, it might be risky as USCIS will consider the company "ability to pay". Sometimes Fortune 500 company is not the best place to get H1B as they usually have more hiarachy and you need to go through more people to get your paperwork done. more people usually means more time and what H1B applicants do not have is time.

Oct visa bulletin

Oct visa bulletin does not have good news. Employment base EB2 people from China and India processing time have draw back.

Olympic and Immigrants

2008 Olympic Games ended in Beijing and U.S.A. won 110 medals. Some of the medalists are immigrants. Lopez Lomong, Nastia Liukin, Benard Lagat, and Henry Cejudo, son of undocumented worker from Mexico.

What will it be if there is no more immigrants in U.S.A Olympic Team? Above list is just for 2008 team, what will the list be if we count all Olympic Teams in the history? U.S.A. is used to be the country of immigrants because it is the land of opportunity. No more. It is so hard to immigrant here because I have seen many.


Immigration issue is never easy and sometimes emotional.

Use correct form for EAD application

USCIS sometimes will update forms and if you are DIY your H1B or Green Card application, please pay special attention to those changes. Always download forms directly from USCIS web site instead of from lawyer's site, who know how long those private webiste have not been updated.

USCIS remind EAD( Employment Authorization Document) I 765 applicants use correct and updated form. The form should dated at lower right hand corner as “Form I-765 (Rev. 05/27/08) N" If you use the old form, you will be rejected.

Nebraska Center requires more RFE

There are four process center process green card application, California, Texas, Nebraska and Vermont. Often time when I came cross some news published by law firm, they indicate Nebraska center has longer processing time and have more RFE(Require for Evidence). Not sure the reason why. You can check processing time for each center here.

Pay H1B visa fee online

A lot of people now manage their money online including their checking , saving, CD, stock accounts, etc. Now you can pay your visa fee online at National Visa Center . Usually you pay visa fee while you apply visa and H1B is one of the visa type so this should also applied. I paid my H1B visa fee with cashier's check and I have to ask my family in my home country to do that. With this new service should make payment process easier.

Projected Naturalization Processing Times

Naturalization processing times are shorten to be 10-12 months. It depends on your local office. To see processing times about your local office please check here.

Visa Bulletin for September 2008

U.S. Department of State announce September Visa Bulletin. Again, China and India born visa availability is still the focus. EB2 for these tow countries are all current but EB3 is not. for more detail please check here.

Resource for new immigrants

For most H1B visa holders, they will then apply green card. After you became permanent resident, you might want to know what to do with your kid education, health case, jobs, and so on. You can now use USCIS resource for new immigrants which written in different languages, to know more about what to expect after you get green card. Green card is not only for you to stay in USA longer but get to enjoy some benefit.

USCIS to issue 2 years EAD

Usually people will file EAD along with their I 485 and it is only good for one year. No more, if you are qulified (ie, read the whole press release), you might get 2 years EAD so you do not need to renew every year!

Premium Processing Service for Certain Form I-140 Petitions

If your H1B visa is going to expired (in your 6th year), you might qualified to have Premium processing service for I -140. This is a great news for H1B visa holder who are also applying green card. Please check here for official press release.

Poll Result: How much did you pay for Attorney fee?

First I would like to thank all the people who participate this first H1Bdata blog poll. There are total 34 people who share their info with us. Most people fall into category of $500-1,000 (38%) and more than $1,500 (41%). When you are talking about immigrants economic contribution, these 34 people contribute about $37,250 or more(250*1+750*13+1250*5+1500*14). If one pay 500 and the other pay 1500, there is a huge 1,000 dollar gap between attorney fee. Just 34 people! If you can get the same quality of service for 500 or less, why pay more?

There must be a way for fellow H1B applicants find a way to find better service with awesome price...maybe a website? any programmer out there? Do not hesitate to leave your comments!

Presidential Candidates and immigration issue

When you are a U.S. citizen, you have the right to vote for The President of The United State. If you are an immigrant, you will tend to vote someone who is more friendly to immigration issue considering where you come from. You can visit Obama website and McCain's to know more about their attitude toward immigration, including H1B visa.

You can also watch video below to learn more.

Poll: How much did you pay for H1B visa Attorney fee?

Most people will consult with attorney with H1B visa filing to get the best result, after all, you do not want to leave USA because of the stupid reason such as sending applications to the wrong address (although some attorney might make the same mistake). But how much did you pay for attorney, sometimes even , an attorney's assistant to file your H1B visa to buy a peace of mind? Have you ever wondered how much other people pay? I set up a poll at the upper right hand side of the blog and everyone can contribute a count. The poll will end two weeks later and I will post the result.

And yes, they are in US dollar.

Be US Citizen through Military Service

Besides marriage, Military Service might be fastest method to acquire citizenship. The risk is needless to say.You might lose your life in war. Since 2001, there are 39,085 soilders natuarlized. If you are passion about military service, this will be a good option to try. They also have great benefit after you being a veteran.

Visa Bulletin for June 2008

Department of State released visa bulletin for June 2008. All countries EB1 is current but when it comes to EB2, China and India piority date is April 1, 2004. For detail and complete list, please check here.

USCIS plan to increase TN visa period of stay

Professional who come from Canada and Mexico and work in USA usually use TN visa. Compared with USA, it is easier to get Canadian Citizenship so a lot of people choose to apply Canadian Citizenship and use TN visa work in USA. USCIS propose a plan to increase TN stay from 1 year to 3 years.

What Silicon Valley talk about H1b visa

TechCrunch is one of the most influential internet business blog . Today it talks about how difficult to legally transfer hi tech business from oversea to Silicon Valley. Author Michael Arlington clearly indicates Presidential Candidate immigration law orientation. From this article today , we can know now there is a lot of difficulty and barrier that stop talented and most innovative company more from outside of America. The world is flat and that include Silicon Valley.

EAD application to be revsied

Usually when you apply green card, you will get EAD (Employment Authorization Document) first. EAD application is called I-765 and will have new one. After July 9, 2008, USCIS will only accept the new edition of I-765 application so if you file Green Card yourself, do not forget to use the new form.

No more gap between F1 and H1B

Basically if your OPT expired, say, on April 1, you would have gap between April 1 and Oct 1 which was the H1B fiscal year starting date. Now your OPT can be extended within 30 days of your H1 B visa verification (this year you will join drawing). All you need to do is provide

1. receipt number
2. both the petitioner’s and beneficiary’s name,
3. date of birth,
4. I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record) number,
5. Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) number

send email with above info to

Vermont Service Center
Premium Processing cases: VSCPPCAPGAP.Vscppcapgap@dhs.gov
Non-Premium cases: VSCNONPPCAPGAP.Vscnonppcapgap@dhs.gov

California Service Center
Premium Processing cases: CSC.ppcapgap@dhs.gov
Non-Premium cases: CSC.nonppcapgap@dhs.gov

official announcement

USCIS ended random selection for 2009 H1B visa

Applicants should get receipt after June 2 if you get the cap. USCIS will deny duplicate applications so this year they have wait list for those who can replace eliminated petitions. Your application fee should be refund if you did not get the cap. Premium Processing should be processed within 15 days after April 14 the date USCIS run random selection. Good luck everyone.

More than 163,000 H1B visa applications received

163,000 H1B visa applications received including 31,200 advanced degree H1B Visa applications. I personally like the last year rule better; first come, first serve. This year, because USCIS wait 7 days to stop taking more applications so even you submitted on April 1, you will have the same chance to be eliminated with people who submitted on April 7. In other words, for advanced degree petition, unless first day USCIS reach 20,000 cap, you will get H1b visa for sure if you submitted on April 1 or maybe even April 3. It is pure luck whether you get H1B visa or not when you submitted application during these 7 days.

USCIS Reaches 2009 H-1B Visa Cap

For all H1B cap, including 20,000 cap for master degree or above, exhausted today. The good thing for advanced degree holders are that if you are not dawn by the 20,000 cap, you will automatically be part of 65,000 regular cap drawing so you got two chances. See official USCIS press release here.

17-Month Extension of Optional Practical Training

News Confirmed. It seems OPT holder need to have 12 month OPT first and then apply extension. At the same time, rule did not include business graduate to extend OPT period. Only science, technology, engineering, or mathematics graduate can apply. See original official press release here.

ICE submit OPT extension proposal

ICE submitted OPT 17 month extension proposal to OMB(Office of Management and Budget), so if this passed, it will make OPT period from 12 month to 29 month. This will allow H1B visa applicants have more time to prepare the applications and reduce the chance to have a gap between H1B valid date and OPT expiration date. By the way , today is the second day of H1B visa submission and those quota should be gone fast as usual.

H1B visa debate

This debate is on TV back in 2007, now is 2008 and the issue still exist.

2009 H1B visa new announcement

1. H1B visa (non master degree holder quota) usually used up within one day. People from Singapore and Chile have special reserved quota included so total available quota is less than 6,5000.
Instead of random picked applicants who submit case on April 1 (or maybe April 2 when quota filled up), USCIS decided to draw "lucky applicants" between April 1 to April 5. It means you get less chance to win the lotto.

2. For master degree holder who pursue 25,000 quota, applicants have two times opportunities to enter drawing, one for master degree round and the other for regular round(65,000)

3. No duplicate H1B visa applications in one company for the same person.

4. Applicants who hold master degree need to complete all required courses and necessary dissertation.

5. Premium service fee 1000 dollars remain the same but case will be processed after USCIS finish drawing.

see more detail please visit official USCIS press release on March 19.

After you submit I-485, can you forget about H1B?

I -485 is one of the process when you apply green card. It means that you have intention of immigration. After that, a lot of people also apply EAD (work permit) without renew your H1-B( if your H1b is going to expire). You should still keep your H1B and renew it because you do not know the final result of your green card application. If you fail( hope not), you still have H1B visa status and try to apply your green card again (or ask your spouse to try if you have one). Otherwise, you do not have any back up plan.

Academic Research on H1B visa

Of course! H1B visa issue will be a great topic for social science study. You can download the study here for free.

Bill Gates Testimony to the Senate again, today regarding H1B visa

Well, I can not find the testimony today so let's watch it last year.

H1-B visa biggest users

Guess which business news is in top 1 spot at Digg? Yap, guess who is getting the most work visas.

The majority of top ten companies all based or "branch out" from India is another issue but what really interesting is this table also from business week. As you can see, there are also a lot of Universities hire H1-B visa workers, such as Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Duke, you name it. Are those who hired by Universities also cheap labor as some people try to argue about H1B workers? I really do not think so. Will KPMG, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey , Google, IBM also hire H1B workers to save some cost? I am not sure since I did not work there but I doubt.

Need more H1B visa?

Bill Gates again urged to have more H1B visa quota for USA companies. Whether H1B visa is good for USA job force or not is always debatable and just like any other economic related issue such as whether NAFTA is good for USA or not also has endless debate. See below CNN report regarding last year Bill Gates testify "We need more H1B visa"

H1B visa wiki page

Wikipedia is one of the most power encyclopedia in the world, in fact, I think is the most updated one. There is a H1B visa wiki page that you can read about unbiased information unlike some private law firm website. From the chart you can see that the major companies received H1B quota are base in India and followed by Microsoft and IBM.

PERM FAQ

There are so many jargons and abbreviation in laws and immigration law is no exception. Sometimes lawyers charge you a lot just to talk with you for 5 minutes and you still do not understand what the hack he or she is talking about. You can actually visit here and get some ideas before you start the whole process of American Dream.

I know one of my friend he dig into almost every single page of USCIS and DOL website and file green card himself and got approved. If you are DIY kind of guy, you can also file your H1B or Green Card yourself. It is possible to do so and no one said that you have to have lawyer to apply for you.

USCIS updated background check policy Q & A

USCIS updated background check policy Q & A on Feb 28, 2008. see official page here.

Visa Bulletin for March 2008

If you were born in Main Land China, India, Mexico, or Philippines and applying Green Card, you should always visit Visa Bulletin. Visa Bulletin is the bulletin that show availability immigrant number during specific month. Usually people apply employment base Green Card so all you need to do is to check employment base column. In the meanwhile, you can also check family based Green Card availability.

Switch this H1B to the other

Some employer are exempt from H1B annual quota such as nonprofit organization and research institution such as schools and universities. What if you have H1B from such nonprofit organization to private company which is regulated by H1B quota? Well, it pretty much depend on which category that your final employer fall into.

For example, you now work for no quota regulated employer and would like to move to quota regulated private company, you will need to follow all steps of filing in April and start to work in October that type of thing. If you are still going to another no quota regulated job, then you still do not need to worry about quota issue. Vice-Versa

It is about time to prepare your H1B visa

People will think there are 65,000 world wide quota for regular H1B visa applicants and 20,000 for master degree holder but the truth is 65,000 quota include Singapore and Chile reserved quota so people from those two countries will get the piority. Last year 65,000 quota used up at the first day and 20,000 qu0ta also used up in mid April.

Even though the company will use the their own lawyer instead of the one you choose, you should still work with the company lawyer closely to make sure the process is handled properly as a lot of company lawyer might not be specilized in immigrantion issue.

For those who just graduate from school, please find out your OPT expiration date as you might have gap between your OPT expiration date and October H1B effective date. All H1B will effect on October the first.

What is your H1B visa Job description

When you apply H1B visa you will need to provide your job description but not the one you got from your employer. You can check Department of Labor Occupational outlook hand book online.

So you can check if your job match one of the job title ,salary requirement, and education requirement, training, etc.

Two H1B at the same time?

The answer is it depends. If you apply two H1B visa with the same company and same or similar position to get the limited H1B quota, that won't work.

However, when you got two offers and do not know which company you should work for, you can apply two H1B visa first and then decide the company later. Actually, you can have two full time H1B but I do not know when you can sleep.

So how about one full time H1B and one part time H1B? Again, you can have two at the same time.
I am not sure if you can physically work in one state and do telecoms the other. In this case, please consult with your lawyer. When you have two H1B, for example, you have A company full time H1B from Jan 1 2008 to Dec 31 2008 and B company part time H1B from Jan 1 2008 to Dec 31 2008, you only consume one year H1B period, not two just because you have two H1B.

reminder, you can not have two status at the same time, such as F1 and H1B at the same time. You should use H1B status if you also want to go to school because it is cheaper that way. You will not be asked to pay international student rate.

Perm process delay

Usually PERM now is filed electronically and usually takes only about two weeks or so. But now it take more than a month maybe even longer. I am not sure why and all the immigration news I read indicate such event. I hope after holidays they will speed up the process.

Happy New Year!