Berardi Blog

Social Security numbers are used to report an individual’s wages to the government and to determine a person’s eligibility for Social Security benefits. Obtaining a Social Security number is vital in order to get a job, collect Social Security benefits and receive some other government services. For these reasons, obtaining a Social Security number is […]

Form I-9 is used to verify the employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the U.S. Unlike most forms provided by USCIS, Form I-9 must be filled out by all employees in the U.S., including U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, and all other individuals in nonimmigrant statuses. Nationwide, various government agencies perform random audits […]

Managing Partner Rosanna Berardi discusses the process of obtaining a marriage based green card for same-sex couples. Rosanna outlines the different paths which are available during this process and helpful information to remember about each.

On March 3, the Buffalo Law Journal featured Berardi Immigration Law in its weekly Small Firm Profile. The article provides a broad overview of our firm and our managing partner, Rosanna Berardi. The piece first discusses Ms. Berardi’s professional background and extensive experience in the world of immigration law. It further expounds upon our firm’s […]

With spring break right around the corner, more than 1.5 million college students in the United States will flock to popular hot-spot destinations like Cancun, Montego Bay, Panama City and more. Among these traveling college students will certainly be international students, as there are currently more than 1.11 million attending college in the United States. […]

In this video, Managing Partner Rosanna Berardi details the steps of the green card process, the different paths available, and how to ensure a successful outcome.

In this video, Managing Partner Rosanna Berardi goes through the requirements for maintaining green card status. Rosanna outlines the process of a re-entry permit and why you should consider this to help maintain your green card status if you cannot meet all green card requirements.

Why might the Department of Homeland Security shut down? The Senate has been in a stalemate because of immigration amendments the House attached to the bill last month related to the executive orders issued by President Obama. These executive orders would defer deportations for millions of migrants who are now in the United States illegally. […]

Change to reduce economic burdens, personal stresses experienced by many USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez announced today that effective May 26, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security is extending eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful permanent residence. DHS has amended the regulations to allow these […]

H-1B season is once again upon us! H-1B petitions for the U.S. government’s 2016 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2015, should be filed by April 1, 2015. For fiscal year 2015, USCIS received approximately 172,500 cap-subject petitions. USCIS anticipates the volume of H cap petitions for fiscal year 2016 to be just as high, […]

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has now fully implemented its program to automate Form I-94 at all air and sea ports. CBP now also provides a foreign national’s arrival and departure records for the past five years. It’s important to note that the system is passport driven. Consequently, every passport number used by […]

The Vermont Service Center has informed the public that it is currently experiencing issues with its biometric scheduling system. This has resulted in a temporary halt in sending biometric notices in all cases at the Vermont Service Center, with the exception of temporary protected status related cases. The glitch affects cases filed in December 2014 […]

The Department of Labor has recently released Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM) statistics from fiscal year 2014. PERM certification verifies to USCIS that there are no available U.S. workers for a U.S. job position. To learn more about PERM certification, please click here. Here are some of the most noteworthy statistics: • For the Fiscal […]

Last week, USCIS issued a notice detailing the next steps of the Executive Actions on Immigration. USCIS is responsible for implementing these initiatives as soon as possible. Some initiatives will be implemented over the next several months and some will take longer. Over the coming months, USCIS will produce detailed explanations, instructions, and forms as […]

If you are a Canadian citizen applying for a nonimmigrant waiver for entry into the United States, one of the documents required for submission is a RCMP record. RCMP stands for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which is the national police force in Canada. A RCMP record is a certified criminal record listing any […]

Visa applicants can be found inadmissible to the United States due to physical or mental disorders with associated harmful behavior to themselves, others, or property. Alcohol abuse is considered to be one such mental disorder. However, the abuse does not need to rise to the level of addiction or alcoholism. A person is considered to […]

The National Visa Center, or NVC, previously only handled inquiries in regards to immigrant visas, for example employment- or marriage-based green card applications. However, beginning on Jan. 12, 2015, the NVC also became the domestic point of contact for nonimmigrant visa cases such as a visitor visa (B-1/B-2) or intra-company transferee visa (L). The NVC […]

Many people who have been convicted of crimes in the past are ultimately granted a “pardon,” “discharge” or other forms of record-expungement by their government. Accordingly, these individuals are often under the impression that these mechanisms “wipe their record clean.” For U.S. immigration purposes, however, this is not the case. Under U.S. immigration regulations, judicial expungements […]

  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that it is considering a “Known Employer” pilot program in order to aid in U.S.-Canada business travel. The program would streamline adjudication of certain types of employment-based immigration benefit requests filed by eligible U.S. employers. The program will be designed to: • Make adjudications more efficient […]

Dear Berardi Immigration Law: When I was in my early twenties, I hung around with the wrong crowd and ran into trouble with the law on a few occasions. I straightened out within a few years and today I lead a clean life. I have had absolutely no brushes with the law for 20 years […]