Archive for September, 2008

GC lottery starts again in October!

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

The State Department announced the next GC lottery starts at noon on October 2, 2008 and ends at noon December 1, 2008. I recommend filing as early as possible and not waiting to the last few weeks because in the past there were significant computer problems which caused people not to be able to register.
You [...]

Immigration status of AIG foreign employees

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

I believe the U.S. government bailout of AIG will have a more limited effect on its foreign workers than the Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch situations because the structure of the bailout appears to leave AIG intact as the same company.
The only possible group who could be affected would be L-1A or L-1B visa holders if [...]

Immigration help for fired Lehman and Merrill foreign staff

Monday, September 15th, 2008

I received many calls today from stunned foreign employees of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch deeply concerned about their future.  I want make sure more understand what their situation is:

The day they are fired they are in illegal status.  However, they have an undefinted “grace period” to pack up their bags to leave the country.  [...]

Trouble & help for Lehman Brother’s foreign staff

Friday, September 12th, 2008

While reading about the sad collapse of Lehman Brothers I thought of all the people who work there and have visas, like H-1B or L-1A, or pending “green card” cases.  If Lehman is sold they will probably be in illegal status and have to leave the U.S. quickly if they can’t find a new job [...]

Free immigration consultations

Friday, September 5th, 2008

The next free telephone consultation for anyone who needs help with U.S. immigration laws will be Thursday, September 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Standard time.  Each consultation is limited to 15 minutes which is usually enough for me to get the basic situation and give help.
There will be a monthly consultation the 2nd [...]

What to do if H-1B visa holder leaves

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

If a person working on an H-1B visa leaves the company sponsoring his or her visa before the visa expires, either because they quit or are fired, it is very important that their sponsoring company let both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor know.  The sponsor should do so within 10 days of [...]