I-140 and H1B Portability Under Act 21

Generally, an lien in H1B status may work for up to six years. Before obtaining another round of H1B status, the alien must return to his home country for one year. Yet Act 21 gives some H1B holders opportunities to extend H1b status beyond 6-year limit. There are two common scenarios:  

1) If the H-1B holder has filed either a Labor Certification application

or an I-140 petition 365 days before reaching the six-year limitation AND the LC or I-140 has not been denied, the H-1B visa holder may extend his or her status one year at a time beyond the six-year limitation.  There is no upper limit on total years in H-1B extension under such a circumstance as long as the immigration process is still ongoing; 

2)  If an H-1B visa holder has an approved I-140 petition AND the immigrant visa number is not available to him/her the H-1B visa holder may extend his/her status in three-year intervals beyond the 6-year limit. There is no 365-day requirement for this circumstance.

On the other note, H-1B Not Limited to the Permanent Residency Petitioner Employer. That is to say, H1B holder can receive a new H1B visa as long as the sponsor is willing to continue to sponsor the immigration petition. However, he/she needs to come back to work for his/her PERM sponsoring employer either during I-485 or after his/her green card is approved.

I-140 Portability under Act 21. 

Where the labor certification is approved, the I-140 petition is approved and the I-485 application has been pending for 180 days or longer, there is nothing that the previous employer can do to stop the new employer from using the underlying labor certification and I-140 approvals.  At this point, the foreign worker retains his right to the labor certification and I-140 petition and the new employer need not file either.  The new employer need only explain how the new job is "the same, or substantially similar" to the job described in the labor certification application.  The new job does not need to be in the same city, the same state, or at the same salary as the job listed in the underlying labor certification so long as the new job is the same, or substantially similar to the old job.  

Before the I-485 application to adjust status has been pending for 180 days, the earlier employer may withdraw the approved I-140 petition.  If the employer does so, the employee may not use the I-140 petition as the basis for an I-485 application and if the employee has a pending I-485 application, USCIS will almost certainly deny it.

为什么不雇用无牌家承包商是至关重要的?

考虑重新装修你的家？你一定知道，大多数能在你们家施工的专业人士必须需要获得专业许可证。

当然雇佣无照承包商是很有诱惑力的， 因为可能在较大程度上降低成本。但是，你准备好了吗？如果将可能出现的后果都考虑进去， 雇佣无照承包商有可能导致最终成本更高。

首先，在大多数的州内，雇用无牌承包商是非法的。如果承包商有专业执照， 那么工程中他所受到的所有的伤害以及分包商的伤害都是该承包商自己负责； 但是，如果承包商没有执照，承包商和分包商便成为房主的雇员，房主要负责为他们支付医疗费用。 不用说， 医疗费用可能会非常高。

此外，你的保险公司未必愿意给你造成的无牌承包商的工作疏忽而提供伤害赔偿。

因此，为了保护自己的利益，你应该雇佣有专业执照的承包商。 其实要核查承包商是否有执照，只是几分钟的事情。幸运的是，大多数州都提供网上数据库，方便查询。

Why Not Hiring Unlicensed Home Contractors Is Critical?

Considering remodeling your home? You must know that most of the professionals who will work on your remodeling project need to be properly licensed.

Sure it is tempting to hire unlicensed contractors for the sake of lower cost. But brace yourself, with all things considered, overall cost of having work done by unlicensed contractors could end up being significantly higher. 

First, in most states, it is illegal to hire an unlicensed contractor.  When the contractor is licensed, any injury to the contractor or to any subcontractors is the responsibility of the contractor. But, if the contractor is not licensed, the contractor and any subcontractors become employees of the homeowner, who is responsible for on-site injuries to them.  Medical bills can be extremely high.

In addition, your home insurer may not be willing to reimburse you for damage caused by the negligent work of an unlicensed contractor.

It’s prudent to assure yourself that your contractors are properly licensed. It only takes a few minutes online to check. Fortunately, most states maintain easily accessible websites listing whether a particular individual or company has such a license, the licensing status of your contractors whether you’re serving as your own general contractor or letting a general contractor supervise the work.

EB1-C 适合企业家的一种绿卡

很多人都非常熟悉的签证类型L1。许多国际公司在美国设立子公司后获得L1。其实，L1背后真正的赢家是EB1移民签证，即绿卡。EB1有三个子类EB1-A，“非凡能力”的外籍人士，EB1-B： 杰出教授或研究人员，和EB1-C，被派往美国的高管和外国公司的经理。 

我们在这里讨论EB1-C。简单地说，可以申请EB1－C 的人士是那些被派往美国公司的1）在过去三年中至少一年在外国关联公司工作； 2）他们的工作职位在调职前后都是管理人员或高管。当然要得到EB1-C 绿卡，申请公司还要满足其他的要求，诸如：

1）请愿雇主必须为美国雇主。

2）雇主必须和外国公司建立了一年以上的关联； 

3）受益人必须担任管理或行政职务。

当然，和其他所有移民申请或应用程序一样，要满足这些标准不是通过简单的就可以做到。 申请人必须承担证明自己满足条件的义务。具体来说， 申请人必须提供大量的充足的证据来证明他们所做的任何陈述。 例如，移民法律赋予的管理位置的非常严格的定义。 申请人必须通过呈交大量辅助文件， 才能满足审查人员满意。 

EB1-C: Green Card for Entreprenuers

A lot of people are very familiar with the visa type L1. Many international companies set up subsidiaries in U.S to obtain L1. Actually, the real winner behind L1 is EB1 immigration visa, i.e, green card. There are three sub-categories of EB1: EB1-A, for foreign nationals who either have "extraordinary abilities", EB1-B, for outstanding professors or researchers, and EB1-C, for some executives and managers of foreign companies who are transferred to the US”. 

We will talk about EB1-C here. In a nutshell, those executives or managers of foreign companies who are transferred to the U.S and who 1) have been employed, during the last three years, for at least one year outside of the US 2)  in a managerial position in the same company that is going to employ them in the US or in a related company can apply. Of course there are other requirements such as: 

1) The petitioning employer must be a U.S. employer.

2) The employer must have been doing business for at least 1 year, as an affiliate, a subsidiary, or as the same corporation that employed the beneficiary abroad.^[1]

3) The beneficiary must be employed in a managerial or executive position.

Of course, as all other immigration petition or application, none of these standards can be met by simply stating so. Petitioner must bear the burden of prove, specifically, the petitioner must provide preponderant evidence to prove each claim they make. For instance, immigration law gives managerial position a very stringent position, a company cannot satisfy the requirement by calling a person manager or director, etc. Substantial paperwork is called for to prove the beneficiary is indeed a manager or executive to the satisfaction of adjudicators.  

Where EB5 Pilot Program is heading…

EB5 Pilot Program was enacted in 1992 to allow foreign investment in a pre-approved US companies (so called regional center). Since the start, the program has to be reauthorized every 2-3 years depending on its previous version.  The current EB5 pilot program is to sunset on Sept. 30, 2015. 

June 3, 2015,  A bill intended to extend, modify and reform the EB5 program was introduced and referred to Committee. Among all the modifications this bill is proposing,  the followings are worthy of great attention: 

1. Current minimum investment for Non-TEA areas is $1 million, the bill, if signed into law, will change it to be $1.2 million, whereas minimum investment for TEA areas is currently $500,000, ( almost all EB5 investors receive their green card after “investing” this amount, ), the amount will be changed to $800,000. 

2)  Gifts of funds to the investor will be limited to those from immediate family members, siblings and grandparents. 

3. Those pre-approved US companies (“Regional Centers”) will have to pay an annual ‘EB5 Integrity fee’ of $20,000, which means the US companies might pass on the fee to each investors in some way. 

Will the reform actually happen? Will the investment amount increase? It is hard to say as all other bills born and died on the Congress’s floor. There is certain support from influential people though. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, for instance, are one of them, especially when Congress sits down to review actual cases, they will find lots of fraud in this area and increase is necessary to assure the purpose of this program not to be frustrated. 

We will keep watching. You are more than welcome to contact us for your thoughts or more related information.

EB5 走向何方？

EB5试点计划于1992年颁布，允许在预先批准的美国公司（所谓的区域中心）的外国投资。自从试行以来，每2-3年该计划已被重新授权。 目前EB5试点计划于2015年9月30日到期。

2015年6月3日，旨在扩展，修改和改革EB5程序的法案出台并提交委员会。在所有的修改建议中，值得高度重视的有如下几个：

1）非目标区的最低投资目前为$100万美元，如果该法案被签署成为法律，它将改为$120万，而对于目标区的最低投资额是$500,000，（几乎所有的EB-5投资人都是通过投资该数额而获得了绿卡，该金额将被更改为$800,000美元。

2）如果投资款是赠予，赠予方将只限于因直系亲属，兄弟姐妹，祖父母，外祖父母。

3）这些预先得到接受投资批准的美国公司（“区域中心”）将每年支付“EB-5诚信费”$ 20,000，这意味着美国公司可能以某种方式转嫁该笔费用給投资人。

EB5改革会实现吗？投资金额会增加吗？结果很难说的，因为和所有其他法案一样，这个法案也可能自生自灭。当然一些有影响力的人在很大程度是支持这样的改变的， 比如比尔·盖茨和沃伦·巴菲特。 当美国国会讨论该事项的时候，他们会发现目前的EB5在实施的过程中有大量欺诈的行为， 因此增加投资底线是必要的，以确保该计划的实施达到其预设的目的。 

我们会继续观望。 如果有问题和想法，请来电。 954 892 5517