EDITOR’S NOTE; This is the second of three stories about the impact of U.S. immigration policies. The series is written by Erica Nitschke, a Bismarck native and North Dakota State University student who was selected for a North Dakota Newspaper Association reporting fellowship in Washington, D.C. Bharat Verma’s flat-billed hat and zip-up hoodie may not…
WASHINGTON, DC: Despite the enormous popularity of the EB-5 visa program among Chinese investors, and billions in foreign investment made to its implementation, the State Department is temporarily putting a halt on thousands of recent EB-5 visa applications from mainland China, putting it in retrogression, reported the Huffington Post. The E-B5 program only has access…
Despite the enormous popularity of the EB-5 visa program among Chinese investors, and billions in foreign investment made to date, the State Department is pressing pause for thousands of recent EB-5 visa applicants from mainland China. This development, contrary to rumors, does not mean the end of the road for prospective Chinese immigrants or for…
The bill being filed by Florida Congressmen David Jolly could substantially affect the lives of foreigners who are doing business in the US on E2 Treaty Investors Visa and pursuing a permanent resident status. “Every day the immigration reform debate hits the headlines, but only focuses on those here in the US illegally, what about…
Two U.S. lawmakers, a Democrat and a Republican, have introduced legislation in Congress urging the State Department to speed-up J-1 visa approvals for international physicians. Entitled the Grant Residency for Additional Doctors (GRAD) Act of 2015, introduced April 23 by Reps. Grace Meng, D-NY and Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, is expected to end the logjam…
All 85,000 H-1B visas for 2016 are spoken for, snapped up in less than seven days in an application process that began April 1. Congress allotted 60,000 regular H-1Bs for fiscal year 2016, and 25,000 special visas for applicants with advanced degrees. The number of applicants in both categories exceeded the congressional caps, so U.S.…
Libbey Tucker and Sharif Ahmed are waiting to find out if they won the lottery, but not the multimillion-dollar payday kind. They also have more at stake than a few dollars invested at the local convenience store. Tucker, who oversees information technology for the city of Chesterfield, is waiting to hear whether she can keep…
Overall, the USCIS received 233,000 H-1B visa applications this year. The agency will grant 65,000 of them. However, several groups noted that the lack of H-1B visas is limiting the potential for greater global competitiveness in the US. Top Jobs For STEM: Big Data, IT Product Management The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced…
Instagram almost didn’t happen, and the U.S.’s convoluted immigration system would have been to blame. Before Mike Krieger created the wildly popular photo-sharing app with business partner Kevin Systrom, he was living in Silicon Valley on a temporary work visa. If not for some lucky breaks navigating the country’s immigration process, our world of artfully filtered, boxy…
With the push for a broad immigration bill now dead in Congress, business advocates are ramping up their calls for Republicans who run both chambers to at least consider updating the nation’s guest-worker programs to help boost the economy. From overhauling the visa that allows in farmworkers to boosting the number of high-tech visas awarded…