U.S. citizen should petition for K-1 Fiancee visa for her same-sex fiancee and bring her to the U.S. to marry

Q: My same-sex fiancée and I want to live in the United States. How can I get her a visa? My partner and I live in Lviv, Ukraine. I am a U.S. citizen. My fiancée and I want to marry, but Ukraine does not allow same-sex marriages. We tried to get her a U.S. tourist visa, but she could not satisfy the U.S. consular officer that she would return to Ukraine. She is 22 years old, college-educated, unmarried, does not own property and has no official employment papers.
Name withheld, Lviv, Ukraine
A: You should bring your partner to the United States on an K-1 Fiancé(e) visa, then marry her in a state that allows same-sex marriages. Then, she can apply for permanent residence.http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/citizenship-now/k-1-fiancee-visa-best-option-same-sex-immigrant-partner-article-1.1459142
Contact Darren Heyman, Immigration attorney Las Vegas, for more information.

When traveling abroad would-be U.S. citizens must be aware of the physical presence and continuous residence requirements

If permanent residents spend too much time outside the United States, will that prevent them from becoming a U.S. citizen? That’s a common question asked callers at the annual Daily News/CUNY Citizenship NOW! Call-in. This year’s call-in will run from April 27 - May 1. We’ll publish the call-in numbers the week of April 20. Most travel abroad won’t keep you from naturalizing. Let’s look at the rules.
Travel abroad can impact two requirements to naturalize, the physical presence requirement and the continuous residence requirement. To meet the physical presence requirement you must have spent at least half your time in the U.S. in the qualifying years before you apply to naturalize. For most applicants, the qualifying years of permanent residence needed is five years. Three years if you are applying under the special rules for the spouse of U.S. citizen. Only religious workers and members of the military are exempt from the physical presence requirement. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/important-requirements-affect-naturalization-article-1.2175170
Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney Las Vegas, for more information.

U.S. runs out of investor visas again as Chinese flood program

The United States has depleted its annual supply of EB-5 immigrant investor visas for the second year in a row after a huge wave of applications from rich Chinese.

The State Department has announced that starting in May, no more spots will be available to Chinese for the rest of the U.S. government's fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Known as EB-5, the immigration program hands out green cards to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 and create 10 jobs in the U.S. The program, which caps the number of visas issued annually at 10,000, hit its annual limit for the first time last August. Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/15/news/economy/china-us-visa-eb5-immigrant-investor/

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney Las Vegas, for more information.

Immigration Reform News Today: Congressional Hispanic Caucus Working on New Reform Bill

As the debate on immigration reform rages on, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is working on another alternate proposal that, if finalized, could be discussed on Capitol Hill this year.

This week, U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Cali., met with the press and informed them that the caucus, which is made up of more than two dozen Latino legislators in Congress from around the nation, was in the process of drafting new immigration reform legislation for Washington to consider. Currently, Sanchez said, legislators in the caucus were in what was described as the "first phase" of creating a bill. Read more: http://www.latinpost.com/articles/48584/20150419/immigration-reform-news-today-congressional-hispanic-caucus-working-on-new-reform-bill.htm

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney Las Vegas, for more information.

Applicants for U.S. citizenship may be exempt from the English language testing requirement

Most applicants for U.S. citizenship must pass a simple English reading, writing and speaking test. But many applicants are exempt from the English language requirement.
Today, I discuss those exemptions. If you have questions about these rules, phone the Daily News/CUNY Citizenship NOW! Call-in, April 27 to May 1, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
We will be answering your questions in English, Spanish and dozens of other languages. We will publish the call-in numbers the week of April 20.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/u-s-citizenship-applicants-exempt-english-test-article-1.2180253

Contact Darren Heyman, Immigration attorney Las Vegas, for more information.

5 Ways to Work in the U.S. Even if Your H1-B Visa Application Was too Late

The door has already slammed shut on the United States’ H1-B visa applications for this year. But there are still some backup options for people who missed the tiny five-day window of opportunity to apply for the skilled-worker visas.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped accepting applications for the coveted H1-B visas for the fiscal year that starts on October. 1 and demand has far outstripped supply.
Even those that got their applications in on time will still have to rely on a lottery system to decide whether their H1-B visa application is even considered. Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2015/04/10/5-ways-to-work-in-the-u-s-even-if-your-h1-b-visa-application-was-too-late/

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney Las Vegas, for information on your options.

These cities have the most high-skilled foreigners

Silicon Valley and NYC aren't the only places with a lot of foreign tech workers.

According to a report released Thursday by Brookings Institute, metro areas like Dallas, Detroit and Durham-Chapel Hill have a big share of workers on H-1B visas, the most common visa for highly skilled foreigners.
On Wednesday, the application period for H-1B visas opened up, but there's an annual quota of 85,000.
If the demand during the first week exceeds the cap -- last year there were 172,500 applications -- the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services dolls out the visas at random via a lottery system.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/02/technology/h1b-approvals/
Contact Darren Heyman, Immigration attorney Las Vegas, for more information.

Obama’s Other Executive Action on Immigration Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416245/obamas-other-executive-action-immigration-ryan-lovelace

While the president’s amnesty gets all the ink, his plan to flood the U.S. with cheap foreign workers proceeds apace. When President Obama issued a series of executive orders on immigration last November, he unleashed a fierce torrent of criticism for granting millions of undocumented immigrants a de-facto amnesty. Lost in all the attention paid to that fight, however, was a lesser known executive action taken at the same time, one which the administration claimed would “modernize, improve and clarify immigrant and nonimmigrant visa programs to grow our economy and create jobs.”

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416245/obamas-other-executive-action-immigration-ryan-lovelace

Contact Darren Heyman, Immigration Attorney Las Vegas, for more information.