Tag: employment-based visas

On March 17, 2016, USCIS presented a report titled, “Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers” for fiscal year 2015. Fiscal year 2015 ran from Oct. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015. The report was originally provided to four members of Congress, including The Honorable Charles Grassley, The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, The Honorable Robert W. […]

Berardi Immigration Law presented eight TN and L-1 petitions to U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) on behalf of our clients in September. We provide highlights of two of these cases below: • Applying for L-1A status in the U.S. necessitates documentation establishing that the foreign national meets all statutory requirements. In order to qualify for […]

Raun Kaul, the managing director of L’Escape Vacations Inc., a destination wedding planning company based in Toronto, was interested in applying for an L-1 visa for a new office in the United States. He wasn’t sure of the immigration process and came to Berardi Immigration looking for guidance on how to go about setting up […]

You may be eligible for an L-1 visa for “intracompany transferees” if you are an executive, manager or worker with specialized knowledge who has worked abroad for a qualifying organization for at least one year within the three years preceding the filing of your L-1 petition. Key Requirements to Apply for an L-1 Visa: The […]

During the month of April, Berardi Immigration Law presented twenty-two applications for TN/L-1 nonimmigrant status to Customs & Border Protection on behalf of our clients. This month, most of our clients were submitting petitions for L-1A or L-1B status, but a few clients presented applications for TN status as Attorneys, Computer Systems Analysts, and Management […]

In an effort to create a “smart” version of the Form I-9 to reduce user error and make the form easier to complete, USCIS has proposed several changes to the form. These include new drop-down menus, field checks, and real-time error messages to ensure data integrity by employers. After USCIS reviews the comments on the […]

In an effort to improve the efficiency of the employment-based visa process, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has unveiled a “known employer” pilot program to test a preapproval process for companies seeking to bring foreign workers into the U.S. Under the pilot, nine companies will be preselected to file applications with USCIS requesting a […]

The “Typical” L-1 Case The L-1 visa category involves the transfer of managers, executives, or “specialized knowledge” personnel to the U.S. from an entity abroad. Each applicant must have worked abroad for a “foreign qualifying entity” for at least one year during the previous three years. Once in the U.S., his or her job duties […]

Foreign students and graduates, take note: you may be able to work in the U.S. for longer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is aiming to improve the optional practical training program (OPT), which allows foreign students or graduates to temporarily work in the U.S. This program gives them the chance to further their education […]

On September 25, 2015, Berardi Immigration Law’s very own Rosanna Berardi and Jennifer Behm spoke on expert panels at AILA’s Annual Northern Border Immigration Conference in Clayton, New York. BIL was the only firm at the conference with attorneys presenting on two separate panels. This year’s conference was entitled “Strictly Business” and focused solely on […]