Category: Green Cards

One of the underlying rationales driving immigration policy in the United States is family unity. The law allows U.S. citizens to petition for certain qualified relatives. If approved, this petition would permit a spouse, unmarried child under the age of 21 or a parent to come and live permanently in the U.S. These immediate relatives […]

E-2 Visa Background The E-2 visa category is reserved for foreign investors. It enables a national of a treaty country to be admitted to the U.S. when investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business. To qualify, the treaty investor must meet a few basic requirements: The investor must be a national of […]

PERM Labor Certification Process The EB-2 (with the exception of National Interest Waivers) and EB-3 visa categories require a U.S. employer to obtain a labor certification. This is done through Program Electronic Review Management (PERM). Under PERM regulations, a petitioning employer must first conduct a series of recruitment activities to test the labor market. If […]

Congressmen Erik Paulsen (MN) and Mike Quigley (IL) have reintroduced a bill that would exempt certain foreign-born STEM graduates from the numerical caps on employment-based green cards and H-1B visas. The Stopping Trained in America Ph.D.’s from Leaving the Economy (STAPLE) Act would exclude STEM graduates who have earned an American Ph.D. from these statutory […]

In this video, Senior Associate Attorney Gabriella Agostinelli goes into detail describing the options for U.S. employment based green cards. She outlines each option to help choose which may be best suited for an employee based on their experience and qualifications. 

The Balasubramanian family first came to Berardi Immigration Law for assistance with their immigration needs in August of 2012. They had a unique and complex matter that required a careful and thorough analysis by a U.S. immigration attorney. The Balasubramanian family lived in the United States in lawful, valid nonimmigrant status through 2008. The mother […]

USCIS announced last week that it will be redesigning the Permanent Resident Card (also known as a green card) and the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) as part of the Next Generation Secure Identification Document Project. USCIS will begin issuing the new cards on May 1, 2017. These redesigns use enhanced graphics and fraud-resistant security features […]

The new rule published by USCIS eases the impact of I-140 petition revocations and codifies certain longstanding agency policies on I-140 job portability. These benefits are intended to ease restrictions on job mobility for foreign workers, especially from India and China, during their U.S. employment-based immigration process. The rule codifies USCISs interpretations of two key […]

QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT THE PROPOSED MERGER/ACQUISITION: How is the deal to be structured? Is it a merger or a spin-off where employees will have a new employer with a different FEIN? Is it a stock purchase? Is it an asset acquisition where no liabilities are being assumed? Is it a successor in interest where […]

What is it? Normally, a permanent job offer and an approved labor certification are pre-requisites to file an EB-2 petition. However, a National Interest Waiver (NIW) petition requests that the otherwise required U.S. job offer requirement, and thus the labor certification requirement, be waived for the sake of the national interest of the United States. […]