Who is eligible to apply for asylum?
You will be eligible to apply for asylum if you are outside your country of nationality or citizenship and you are unable or unwilling to return to that country and unable and unwilling to get protection from that country’s authorities because you suffered past persecution or you have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of your race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
How can I obtain H-1B visa?
To qualify for an H-1B visa, a company, located and properly registered in the United States must sponsor you for a position that is considered a “specialty occupation,” which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher education. The employer will have to establish that you are qualified for the position based on your academic credentials and/or experience.
How many H-1B visas are available per year?
The current law caps the annual issuance of new H-1B visas at 65,000. Congress has provided that the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of foreign nationals who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap. Up to 6,800 visas are set aside from the cap citizens of Chile and Singapore.
I have been in the United States without status for many years, but I have a family here, are there any options for me to legalize my status?
Yes, you may be eligible for cancellation of removal, which results in getting a green card. People who have U.S. Citizen or permanent resident children, parents or spouses are eligible for cancellation of removal if they have been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of 10 years or more, can prove good moral character, have never been convicted of criminal or related grounds, or falsified documents, and their removal would cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to their spouse, parent, or child, who is a citizen of the United States or a permanent resident.
I work for a company in my home country that has a branch in the US, can I get a visa to transfer to work for the US Company?
A possible nonimmigrant visa category for intracompany transferees is the L-1 visa. To qualify, you must have worked for the company abroad for one continuous year within the last three years. Your sponsoring company will also have to show that it is a branch, parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of the company for which you work abroad. Furthermore, your position must be one of a managerial or executive capacity, or requiring specialized knowledge.
