Jennifer Gagliardi - U.S. Citizenship For Dummies

USCIS Information for Afghans: www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/information-for-afghans

Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans - Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/special-immg-visa-afghans-employed-us-gov.html

EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program basic requirement:

Create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.

Invest the following amount of capital:On or before 11/21/2019:$1,000,000 (Minimum Investment)$500,000 (Targeted Employment Area)$1,000,000 (High-Employment Area)On or after 11/21/2019:$1,800,000 (Minimum Investment)$900,000 (Targeted Employment Area)$1,800,000 (High-Employment Area)

Each year, about 10,000 EB-5 visas are allotted to qualified investors and their spouses and children. At least 3,000 of the visa numbers are reserved for investments in targeted areas.

Immigrant investors are admitted for two years in conditional permanent resident status. During that time, they must invest the required capital and create the required employment. The condition may be removed if the investment was sustained throughout the period of the investor’s residence in the United States.

If you’re a prospective immigrant investor, you must petition for yourself on USCIS Form I-526 “Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur,” which you file with the required fee and supporting documentation with the USCIS’s Texas Service Center, depending on which office has jurisdiction over the area where the commercial enterprise will principally be doing business. The required documentation must show that you have invested, or are investing, the required lawfully gained capital in a qualifying commercial enterprise within the United States, and that you will create full-time (at least 35 hours per week) jobs for at least ten U.S. workers (U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, asylees, or refugees). At the end of the two-year period, you must file INS Form I-829 “Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove the Conditions” and demonstrate that the investment has been completed and sustained for the conditions to be removed.

The investment must be in a for-profit commercial enterprise. The business may be a

Sole proprietorship

Limited or general partnership

Holding company

Joint venture

Corporation

Business trust

Other public or privately owned entity

In addition, a new commercial enterprise may be established through

The creation of an original business

The purchase of an existing business and restructuring and reorganizing it into a new commercial enterprise

The expansion of an existing business through a 40 percent net increase in its net worth or in the number of employees

Check the USCIS website EB-5 Investor Program at www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/eb-5-immigrant-investor-program for more information.

Entering the Diversity Visa Lottery Program can speed up your chances of receiving a visa, especially if you find yourself in one of the lower preference categories. Even if you’re currently on a waiting list, you have nothing to lose by entering the visa lottery — it’s easy, and it costs nothing but your time and the price of a few USCIS-style photographs. (Find out more about taking a good photo USCIS-style in Chapter 4.)

If you receive a visa through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, you will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States, as well as bring your husband or wife and any children under the age of 21 along with you.

Each year 55,000 immigrant visas become available to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The qualifying countries can change from year to year, so check with the Department of State ( www.travel.state.gov ) to get the latest list of qualifying countries and detailed instructions for applying.

The Department of State randomly selects about 100,000 applicants from among the qualified entries. They pick 100,000 applicants when only 55,000 visas are available because they know that not all the applicants will qualify to successfully complete the visa process. After 55,000 applicants have qualified and completed the immigration process, no further diversification lottery visas are issued for that year. The following year, the process starts all over again — so if you didn’t win this year, try again next year, and if necessary, the year after that, and so on.

Visa lottery winners wanting to adjust their status must still meet the normal adjustment criteria, including lawful status at the time of adjustment.

Many unscrupulous companies prey on the insecurities of noncitizens. They charge big bucks for the service of helping them fill out their visa lottery applications. Don’t pay it! Filling out the visa diversification lottery application is one of the easiest things you’ll do during the entire immigration process. If you have doubts about your ability to fill it out properly, you and an English-speaking friend or family member should be able to figure it out in less than 20 minutes.

Even though filling out the form is easy, be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully. If you don’t do everything as required in the instructions, your application will not be considered.

In the case of a relative immigrant visa petition, the priority date is the date on which the petition was actually filed. In the case of an employer-sponsored petition, the priority date is the date the labor certification was filed with the Department of Labor or, if no labor certification is required, the date the petition was filed.

You can track changes in priority date availability with the Visa Bulletin https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html .

Several factors influence how long the process of getting an immigrant visa can take.

The U.S. government does not impose a limit on the number of immediate-relative visas that can be issued in any given year. Therefore, USCIS workload permitting, processing often begins upon receipt.

On the other hand, preference categories for both family and employment visas are numerically limited. A visa must become available before the Department of State can start to process the case or before you can apply to adjust status in the United States.

The reason for lengthy waits — priority dates that are months or several years away — is that each year many more people apply for immigrant visas than can be allowed to enter the country under the yearly preference limits set by law.

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