H1B Visa Lawyer Blog

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas marked a significant milestone for the USCIS Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) initiative by launching an online resource center today at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship in Cambridge, Mass. The resource center, Entrepreneur Pathways, provides entrepreneurs who seek to start a business in the United States an intuitive way to navigate the immigration process.

“Through our innovative Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative, we are working to realize our current immigration system’s full potential to attract and retain startup enterprises that promote innovation and spur job creation in America,” said Director Alejandro Mayorkas. “The first phase has already led to unique improvements in our programs and enabled us to better serve immigrant entrepreneurs.”

Launched earlier this year at an Information Summit in Silicon Valley, the EIR initiative draws on industry expertise to strengthen USCIS policies and practices critical to American economic growth. The team comprised startup business experts and USCIS immigration experts working collaboratively over a short period of time to streamline pathways for a range of existing nonimmigrant visa categories often used by entrepreneurs.

Eligible nationals of Haiti (and persons without nationality who last habitually resided in Haiti) who currently have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) must re-register for TPS by November 30, 2012. Failure to re-register by this deadline may result in the loss of your TPS status. If you re-register after November 30 2012, you must provide good reason you could not re-register on time such as hardship due to Hurricane Sandy.

Details and procedures for re-registering for TPS are provided on the USCIS website and in the Federal Register notice announcing the extension of TPS for Haiti.

TPS was originally designated for Haiti in January 2010 in response to a catastrophic earthquake that devastated that country. TPS was re-designated in May 2011 (effective July 2011). The current 18-month extension of TPS for Haiti will remain in effect through July 22, 2014.

Baltimore – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched the Global Entry program at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) Wednesday allowing trusted travelers to speed their processing upon international arrival.

Global Entry is a voluntary expedited clearance program that allows pre-approved, low-risk international travelers the ability to bypass the traditional CBP inspection process and use automated kiosks upon arrival into the U.S.

CBP opened two such automated Global Entry kiosks at BWI.

Of all the holidays acknowledged and celebrated in the United States of America, Thanksgiving is the one which, perhaps, can most easily be embraced by all who live here – wherever their origins, whatever their beliefs.

Most countries or cultures have a harvest festival in their yearly cycle. While turkey is still the centerpiece of many, but certainly not all, Thanksgiving tables, the offerings of immigrants have created any number of “traditional Thanksgiving” variations. Just as a resident of California will consider certain items crucial to the meal different from those of a Southerner, the contributions of ItalianAmericans, IndianAmericans, PolishAmericans, ChineseAmericans, MexicanAmericans, and all others enrich the diversity of this holiday just as their cultures enrich the diversity of this country.

In short; , as the year comes to an end, we’ve all likely had losses and gains. Use this time of Thanksgiving and the rapidly approaching year’s end as an opportunity for both introspection and retrospection. However blessed or trying the past year has been; however bare or bountiful our tables; however many chairs sit empty that were occupied; or however many new chairs have been drawn close – each household has something for which to be thankful. For just one day we are joined in that, at least, and the differences in our tastes, our prayers, and our features are celebrated.