The United States is experiencing a record number of international students enrolling in its educational institutions, During the 2012 - 2013 school year, there were over 800,000 foreign nationals studying in American universities alone. And every single one of them had to go through the U.S. immigration process in order to get a student visa – in most cases, they apply for an F-1 visa, the most common type of U.S. student visa.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
The holiday travel season is here, and that means thousands of students and young people will be spending school breaks and vacation time in international destinations. Tourist destinations such as Australia, Japan, Ireland, France, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom offer a working holiday visa to allow tourists to work while traveling to pay for their tourism expenses.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
This week we look at the E Visa, a temporary work visa for foreign nationals of certain “treaty” countries that have struck up immigration deals with the United States. You can find the full list of treaty countries on the U.S. State Department website (there are around 50 of them.)
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Immigration Blog
ellenm1 on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0
Topics: Immigration Reform Updates, Work-Based Visas, Immigration Blog
If your Adjustment of Status (I-485) green card application is pending, you may want to consider filing an I-765, Application for Employment Authorization Document (EAD), and/or an I-131, Application for Advance Parole Document.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
The D visa is a non-immigrant (temporary) visa for foreign national crewmembers on ships, cruise liners, and airplanes. Like the C visa, you must intend to depart the U.S. on the same vessel or on another vessel within 29 days. If you are a crewmember traveling to the U.S. to begin passage on a plane or ship, you would apply for the combination C-1/D (transit/crewmember) visa.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
The December 2013 visa bulletin was just released by the U.S. State Department, and the news is a mixed bag for work and family-based green card applicants. The priority dates for the F2A family visa category, which was current in August, continue to stay put. All family-based green card categories besides the F2A and Mexico groups saw advancements in their priority dates.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
The C visa or U.S. transit visa is an extremely short-term visa for individuals passing through the United States in immediate and continuous transit. Generally, Like B visas, C visas are not necessary for citizens of member countries of the Visa Waiver Program. Each person traveling regardless of age needs their own C visa. The maximum duration of any C visa is no more than 29 days.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
Did you know that USCIS officially took over immigration service duties of the federal government only on March 1, 2003? On that date, USCIS was formed to “enhance the security and improve the efficiency of national immigration services by exclusively focusing on the administration of benefit applications.” (http://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history) In addition to USCIS, you have probably heard of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These elements of the Department of Homeland Security deal with immigration enforcement and carrying out actions in order to ensure border security.
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog
Did you know that scheduling an appointment for your non-immigrant visa can differ vastly from consulate to consulate?
Topics: Work-Based Visas, Personal and Family Visas, Immigration Blog