Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group, P.C. - U.S. and Canadian Immigration and Nationality Law Newsletter and Updates.
In This Issue:

UPCOMING
NPZ EVENTS:

Tri-State Conference 2017: President Trump's New Immigration
 Initiatives, Impact of January 2017 Revisions of I-9 Form, Site Visits and Immigration-related Investigations. Considerations for HR Professionals.

When: 
May 4th, 2017

Time: 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM

Where: 
555 Fellowship Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054

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Webinar- Immigration Related Employment Audits and Investigations

Location:  Online

Date:  May 24th, 2017

Time:  12:00 PM - 1:40 PM ET
 
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U.S. Immigration Law Basics

Location:

New Jersey Law Center
1 Constitution Sq. New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Date: June 28th, 2017

Time: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM ET 

FOR DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE CLICK HERE . . .
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* Please note that our immigration law practice is national and international in scope. We assist our clients throughout the U.S. and throughout the world.

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Kaival Chalishazar & Co. 
22 Vasant Kunj 
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ATT:  Call Kaival at x107
  
(This office provides "on the ground" services to our Indian clients such as India Divorce, India Real Estate Purchase and Sale, Business Sale Purchase, Adoption, Litigation and High Court Complaints).
   
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Law Office of Michael Phulwani
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Andheri West 
Mumbai 400 053, India

Call us at 201-670-0006 (x104) for contact details.
 
 
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Shekhar Raj Sharma 

SRS Legal 
A1/134, Safdurjung Enclave,
Lower Ground Floor
New Delhi-29, India 
  
(This office provides "on the ground" services to our Indian clients such as India Divorce, India Real Estate Purchase and Sale, Business Sale Purchase, Adoption, Litigation and High Court Complaints)
Dear Readers: 
 
Spring has sprung. The immigration and nationality lawyers at the NPZ Law Group continue strong community outreach efforts to inform foreign nationals of their constitutional rights in the US. This past week we presented at several Churches (with distinguished  colleagues) who helped inform foreign nationals about US immigration law options. We encouraged individuals to seek the advice of a "qualified US immigration counselor" and not fall into the hands of a notario (an individual or organization not familiar with immigration rules putting foreign nationals at a high risk for removal).
 
This past week we also had an "OMG" moment. Mr. Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, was called upon by the President to submit a proposal for legalization for foreign national agricultural workers in the United States. Read more . . . Could we be seeing shades of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act ("IRCA"). We would not have believed that this is possible but for the fact that the mandatory implementation of E-Verify is also looming.
 
The past several weeks have brought several interesting immigration news items. First, President Trump's travel ban remains restrained. Second, the "sanctuary city" battle has erupted in Federal Court in California and in State Court in Georgia. Many of the questions that we received during our community outreach focused on whether or not a City or State will be designated as a sanctuary city. A reminder our readers that there is no federal definition of a "sanctuary city".
 
Next week, immigration and nationality lawyers from the NPZ Law Group will be conducting a series of workshops and seminars in Paris, France, aimed at educating French Citizens about opportunities to immigrate to the US based upon investment and business start-ups. Recall that Entrepreneurial Parole will be available in July-August.
 
We remind our readers that we are US and Canadian immigration and nationality lawyers. We have offices in NJ, NY and Indiana. However, we are available to have consultations by telephone or by Skype. If you, your friends, or your family members have any questions about any immigration-related issues, please feel free to contact us at info@visaserve.com or by calling us at 201-670-0006 (x107). 
H-1B NONIMMIGRANT WORK VISA UPDATE: USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2018.
 
USCIS announced on April 7th, 2017, that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2018. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master's cap. 
 
USCIS received 199,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 3rd, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 11th, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing.

It is great that so many of our clients' H-1B visas were lottery winners. 
 
USCIS WILL ISSUE REDESIGNED GREEN CARDS AND EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION DOCUMENTS.  
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced a redesign to 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 1st, 2017.
 
These redesigns use enhanced graphics and fraud-resistant security features to create cards that are highly-secure and more tamper-resistant than the ones currently in use.
 
TO READ MORE, PLEASE CLICK HERE . . .   
USCIS REMINDS BENEFICIARIES OF TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR GUINEA, LIBERIA, AND SIERRA LEONE FORMAY 21 TERMINATION.    
USCIS is reminding the public that the designations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone terminate effective May 21st, 2017. 
 
To provide sufficient time for an orderly transition, the Department of Homeland Security gave beneficiaries under these three designations 8 months advance notice of the expiration by publishing 3 notices in the Federal Register on September 22nd, 2016 (one for each country). These notices urged individuals who did not have another immigration status to use the time before the terminations became effective in May to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States or to apply for other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible.
 
Although TPS benefits will no longer be in effect starting May 21st, 2017, TPS beneficiaries will continue to hold any other immigration status that they have maintained or acquired while registered for TPS. Individuals with no other lawful immigration status on May 21st, 2017, will no longer be protected from removal or eligible for employment authorization based on TPS.
 
FOR DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE CLICK HERE . . . 
USCIS UPDATE: CERTAIN STUDENTS APPLYING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDY AND 24-MONTH STEM OPT EXTENSION PROGRAMS AFFECTED BY THE ACICS LOSS OF ACCREDITATION.
On December 12th, 2016, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that it no longer recognizes the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) as an accrediting agency. This determination immediately affects two immigration-related programs:
 
English language study programs, as the programs are required to be accredited under the Accreditation of English Language Training Programs Act.  
 
F-1 students applying for a 24-month science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) optional practical training (OPT) extension, as the regulations require them to  use a degree from an accredited, Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified school as the basis of their STEM OPT extension. The school must be accredited at the time of the application; this is the date of the Designated School Official's (DSO) recommendation on the Form I-20.
 
TO READ MORE, PLEASE CLICK HERE . . . 
DHS ANNOUNCES THE LAUNCH OF A NEW OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIME.
On April 26th, 2017, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly announced the official launch of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE).  The VOICE office will assist victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens.
 
ICE built the VOICE office in response to the Executive Order entitled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, which directed DHS to create an office to support victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens.
 
The key objectives of the VOICE office are:
 
* Use a victim-centered approach to acknowledge and support victims and their families.
 
* Promote awareness of available services to crime victims.
 
* Build collaborative partnerships with community stakeholders assisting victims.
 
TO READ MORE, PLEASE CLICK HERE . . .
 
USCIS POWERPOINT PRESENTATION ON THE CASE INQUIRY PROCESS FOR DACA RENEWALS .
 
USCIS provided a PowerPoint presentation with an overview of customer service tools and mechanisms to submit an inquiry about a DACA renewal case. This included a summary of the process to create online accounts, how to submit case status inquiries, and how to escalate a case inquiry with USCIS.
 
FOR DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE CLICK HERE . . . 
FB-4 Worldwide. FB-4 Worldwide should be watched closely. Following aggressive movement of the final action date in April, this category is not expected to advance. The April movement seems to have stimulated applicants to take action, and increased demand may require a temporary retrogression in this category later this fiscal year. Should retrogression occur, the category would recover completely in October, the first month of the new fiscal year. The final action dates for all other family-based categories are expected remain stable. 
 
 
As business lawyers, we get questions from clients about valuing equity incentives:  Can an employee have options granted at $0.01? Can we give "free" stock to a new executive?
 
Yes, a company can do either of those things. However, because of often-overlooked tax consequences, your new executive or employee is going to end up unhappy and will probably blame you, which is a less than ideal way to (literally and figuratively) invest in human capital. 
 

CANADA IMMIGRATION UPDATE

Canada has just pronounced itself on how it views marriage fraud and its relationship to false sponsorships.

Do you remember the movie "Green Card," starring Gérard Depardieu, in which the protagonist from France (Depardieu) married a U.S. citizen solely to obtain permanent residence (the "green card") in the U.S.A.? Of course, à la Hollywood, in that movie the applicant ended up truly falling in love with the sponsor and they lived happily ever after. However, in real life, when there is marriage fraud, this almost never happens. 
 
AUDIO: IMMIGRATION LAWYER VERONIQUE MALKA GIVES INTERVIEW ON NATIONAL RADIO ABOUT THE EFFECTS ON CANADIAN IMMIGRATION FOLLOWING THE TRUMP ELECTION.
Veronique Malka, the Managing Lawyer (Licenced in Ontario by the Law Society of Upper Canada, but practicing from the USA) at Canadian Law Group (a Canadian Immigration Firm in New Jersey) and an affiliate of the NPZ Law Group, gives an interesting interview.   

NPZ ASSISTS THE GREATER BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY - OUR STAFF SPEAKS PORTUGUESE AND MANY OTHER LANGUAGES.

O secretário do Departamento de Segurança Interna dos EUA, John Kelly, anunciou em 26 de abril de 2017 o lançamento oficial do Escritório de Vítimas Envolvendo Crimes de Imigração (VOICE, na sigla em inglês), do Serviço de Imigração e Controle de Duanas (ICE). O VOICE dará assistência às vítimas de crimes cometidos por estrangeiros.

FB-4 Mundialmente

O visto FB-4, de Imigração com Base na Família para Irmãos e Irmãs de Cidadãos dos EUA, deve ser acompanhado de perto. Após uma intensa movimentação devido à data final, em abril, não espera-se que a busca por essa categoria de visto continue forte.
 
Em 12 de dezembro de 2016, o Departamento de Educação dos Estados Unidos anunciou que não reconhece mais o Conselho de Credenciamento de Faculdades e Escolas Independentes (ACICS) como agência de credenciamento. Essa determinação afeta diretamente dois programas de imigração: 
 

CHECKOUT VISASERVE'S REGULARLY UPDATED YOUTUBE VIDEO LIBRARY (SOME SELECTIONS BELOW) ABOUT U.S. AND CANADIAN IMMIGRATION LAWS:

"IMMIGRATION NEWS AND VIEWS" - NPZ'S NEW PRACTICAL SERIES ON YOUTUBE ABOUT VARIOUS U.S. AND CANADIAN IMMIGRATION LAW ISSUES.

Check us out at . . .

 
NPZ LAWYERS LOOK AT THE H-1B LOTTERY -
LOTTERY AGAIN? SEEMS SO!  STAY TUNED.  
 
 The H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 101(a)(17)(H). It allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. If a foreign worker in H-1B status quits or is dismissed from the sponsoring employer, the worker must either apply for and be granted a change of status to another nonimmigrant status, find another employer (subject to application for adjustment of status and/or change of visa), or leave the U.S. effective January 17th, 2017, USCIS modified the rules to allow a grace period of up to 60 days.

The regulations define a "specialty occupation" as requiring theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in a field of human endeavor including but not limited to biotechnology, chemistry, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, law, accounting, business specialties, theology, and the arts, and requiring the attainment of a bachelor's degree or its equivalent as a minimum (with the exception of fashion models, who must be "of distinguished merit and ability"). Likewise, the foreign worker must possess at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent and state licensure, if required to practice in that field. H-1B work-authorization is strictly limited to employment by the sponsoring employer.
      
NPZ LAWYERS TALK ABOUT TRUMP'S AIM TO DO
EXTREME VETTING: CHANGES TO THE VETTING PROCESS PROPOSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP.  
 
 
 Donald Trump's speech on the threat of radical Islam included a section about immigration policy that has the usual suspects in a tizzy. This section focused not on terrorism, but rather on what Andy McCarthy calls the "grand jihad," the importation of Islamist ideology that rejects our constitutional order and open society.

In his trademark manner, Trump departed from the prepared text to Archie Bunker-ize the speech by calling this "extreme vetting," which is not the phraseology you should use once you've won the nomination and are trying to persuade the middle-of-the-road voter in Ohio and Florida. But rather than calling for body-cavity searches, as this label might suggest, he was instead calling for ideological/values screening, with the commonsense goal that "we should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people."
      
Join NPZ Law Group, US immigration and nationality lawyers, for multiple presentations about immigrant and nonimmigrant investor visas in Paris, France, in early May, 2017.
 
Please feel free to forward the invitation to others that you think may be interested. You can RSVP by emailing us at USAimmigration@visaserve.com