Sponsoring a Permanent Resident: Income Requirements and the Economic Crisis

When a US citizen sponsors a spouse or other relative for permanent residence, he or she has to show that they make 125% of the poverty-level income to support the total number of their dependents in their geographic area. Since the economic crisis, I have noticed that when people file for permanent residence, the most common RFE ("Request for Evidence") that comes from immigration after making the application is a request for more evidence that the sponsor has sufficient income to sponsor a new immigrant. I believe this is partly because people genuinely have less money than before. It's also because a lot of people are losing jobs and immigration has to be convinced that the job the sponsor has is solid and that the income he or she made last year is still sufficient this year. Therefore, it's important to fill out the I-864 very carefully (the form used to qualify for sponsorship) and to include copies of any documents that support what is stated on the form. A copy of at least the most recent year tax record is required but if the income is close to the minimum, it is sometimes good to attach copies of all three previous years, to show the income is steady. If the income has only reached "sponsorship level" recently, it is good to attach an employment verification letter (similar to what an HR office provides when you are applying for a mortgage), to show that your current employment is sufficient and indefinite.

Sometimes sponsors do not meet the minimum requirements and often that happens when the sponsor is still in school, or has been hit in some way by the economic crisis. In that case, there are a variety of options. One is that a friend or relative can act as a co-sponsor. Another is that the income of the non-immigrant spouse can sometimes be included if that person has legal work permission. A third is that there are a variety of assets that can be listed and a formula that can be used to determine if those assets supplement the income to the point where it reaches the minimum requirements. A fourth is that other household members can contribute to the income required (for example, a young couple is living with their parents, or brothers and sisters live in the same household where some are US permanent residents or citizens).

Whatever the case, it is important for sponsors to understand two things: 1. immigration is looking at the income requirement carefully in this time of economic crisis so if the sponsor's income is close to the minimum, take care to include as much solid evidence as possible that the minimum requirement is being met; 2. if the sponsor's income really does not meet minimum requirements, do not try to "fool" immigration; they are quite savvy about economic problems these days. Instead, look at the alternatives for meeting the minimum requirements, including how others can assist with sponsorship.


Most importantly, don't panic. People are receiving RFE's more often these days but they are also finding ways to meet the requirements and once they can show that they can meet the requirement, the case goes on to be approved. Immigration does not have an interest in keeping families apart and will generally work with sponsors to help them understand how to meet the requirements. However, immigration also has a job to do and they cannot approve a petition to sponsor a new immigrant without sufficient evidence that that person will not need social welfare benefits as soon as they become an immigrant. Therefore, it's important to take the I-864 sponsorship form very seriously and to carefully read instructions and understand what is required. As always, I am happy to consult with people on the variety of ways in which a sponsor can meet sponsorship requirements.

Green Card Lottery Time Again! 10/2/2009-11/30/2009

Once again, the US Government will offer the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the US (a "green card") to a randomly selected group of 55,000 people from many countries all over the world. Unfortunately, the following countries are not eligible to apply because these countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years:
BRAZIL
CANADA
CHINA (mainland-born)
COLOMBIA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HAITI
INDIA
JAMAICA
MEXICO
PAKISTAN
PERU
PHILIPPINES
POLAND
SOUTH KOREA
UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories
VIETNAM

Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

The process to apply is easy and if you are eligible to apply, there is never any harm in trying! Entries for the DV-2011 DV lottery must be submitted electronically between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Friday, October 2, 2009, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Monday, November 30, 2009. Applicants may access the electronic DV Entry Form (E-DV) at the State Department Website during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Don't wait until the last minute! Heavy demand may result in website delays and if you wait too long, your entry may not get processed. No entries will be accepted after noon, EST, on November 30, 2009.

The 55,000 lucky winners will be picked and notified and will need to make an application for permanent residence between 10/1/2010 and 9/30/2011. At the time you are selected, you must prove that you have a minimum high school education; you have reason to believe you can be employed in the US; and you are not subject to the 212e requirement as a former or current J-1 visa holder.

If selected, I am always happy to help individuals compile the necessary forms and documents to apply for permanent residence. Good luck to all the applicants!

H-1B, J-1 and F-1 Updates for Spring and Mid-Summer, 2009

There was a lot happening in the world of immigration this spring and mid-summer. Here are some highlights:

In the H-1B Category

1. The quota for H-1B professional workers is still not full as of July 2009! If a private company offers you a job as of today, you can still apply for an H-1B visa for professional work, which would begin on October 1, 2009. I do not remember the last time in 20 years that the quota was not full in July. In the economic crisis, it's much harder to get work so employers are sponsoring many fewer of these visas. However, if you do get an offer, an employer can still hire you for a job that requires a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific field.

2. On July 1, 2009, the Department of Labor started a new LCA system called iCert. The LCA (Labor Condition Application) must be filed and certified before an H-1B can be filed. It now takes 7 business days to get this document (it used to happen instantly online) so H-1B applicants now have to plan for that delay.

3. The "prevailing wage request" which is usually sent to the local Employment Development Department prior to filing an LCA (to determine the "prevailing wage" for an H-1B position)will be sent to a national office in Chicago, Illinois, beginning January 2010. We can expect even further delays when this happens.

The J-1 Student and Scholar and the F-1 Student Categories

1. Since 2003, J-1 and F-1 visa holders have been "tracked" in a system called SEVIS which is the same system that produces the DS-2019 and I-20 documents to apply for J-1 and F-1 visas, respectively. There is now a plan to implement a new system called "SEVIS II." All J-1 and F-1 visas holders already in the US will have to create a unique immigration profile, beginning some time in Spring 2010. All newcomers will have to create that profile abroad, prior to arriving. The profile will be used, in conjunction with the school, to create an online profile for each individual, which will be viewed by US Embassies and Consulates abroad, the USCIS in the US, and all port-of-entry inspectors at borders and international airports. Through this global database, people will be granted visas and admitted to the US without paper documents. Yes! You read that right: by September, 2010, the plan is to have a paperless F-1 and J-1 system. For more information,
contact the international office at your school or read up on it at the SEVP website.

2. The J-1 Skills List has been revised and 36 countries have been removed. When a person uses a J-1 visa status, the Exchange Visitor Skills List is one of the main ways that a person gets "subject to 212e." A person who is "subject" based on the Skills List must return home for 2 years after using a J, before they can return to the US using an H-1B, L or permanent resident status. The new Skills List is more precise and some of the "skills" (professional fields of work or study)listed for certain countries in the past have been removed. If you have a J-1 and want to know if you are subject or not based on the Skills List, you can view the Skills List at the State Department Website. However, if you are subject, don't worry too much. Most people who are subject to 212e only because of the Skills List can get a waiver fairly easily. There is more information on that at the State Department website as well.

My Immigration Advisor Has Moved

This blog has been a bit vacant of late and I want to apologize to any readers that might be out there. I have physically changed locations and now reside in Davis, CA. However, I continue to work with clients in Reno, NV, and elsewhere through email, fax and phone, and can occasionally meet with people in Reno as well as in California. I also hope to build a client base in the Sacramento/Davis area. However, due to the downturn in the economy, immigration consulting will by my pleasure but not my primary employment. I now work at the University of California, Davis, heading up the division that files immigration petitions for international faculty and researchers. With 2500 international scholars per year (the fourth largest program in the country), it's challenging and rewarding. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my community work in Reno and elsewhere, and I would like to continue to help people who want information on filing immigration documents. Please continue to use my contact information to get in touch whenever you have immigration needs. Best wishes to all.

Work Permits for Pending Immigrants

When a person applies to immigrate, either through marriage or through employment, that person has a right to apply for a work permit, using Form I-765, along with the application for permanent residence and a request for a travel document (advanced parole). By law, USCIS is supposed to issue the work permit within 90 days of your receipt notice date. If they cannot issue the work permit within 90 days, a person is technically eligible to go to their local immigration office and request a temporary work permit. However, local offices no longer have the equipment to issue the temporary work permit so that leaves people who need a work permit with a serious problem.

USCIS has an ombudsperson who receives complaints from schools and other constituents and makes recommendations to USCIS. The ombudsperson has received numerous complaints on this topic so clients can be aware that USCIS is concerned about the delay in issuing work permits and is looking at various solutions. You can read about the recommendations made by the ombudsperson at the website for NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Hopefully, USCIS will find a way to issue the work permit within the 90 days required by law, or will give applicants an alternative way to get work permission. I will be monitoring this topic closely so if you have questions, please feel free to contact me. As soon as a solution is announced, I will post it on this blog.

Green Card Lottery Accepting Applicants: DEADLINE 12/01/2008

The "Diversity Lottery," otherwise known as "DV-2010," is an opportunity for many people to simply apply to "win" the opportunity to apply for a "green card" or permanent residence status. It costs nothing to apply and there are no risks involved - only a chance to win! In my career of over 21 years, I have known quite a few people who won this lottery, from Greece, Germany, Jamaica, Japan, Korea and other places, so it never hurts to try.

The DV-2010 Lottery online entry period runs from noon EDT on October 2, 2008, to noon EST on December 1, 2008. You do not need to have an attorney to apply. You can go to the State Department website to find out how to apply. It is important to read the instructions carefully as the program is highly technical and the slightest error will result in automatic disqualification. In the past, the government reported that approximately 40% of applications were disqualified for failing to follow technical instructions. However, anyone who can read English should be able to complete an application.

Please note that natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV2010 Program: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. This is because the US has had a disproportionate number of people who have already immigrated from these countries this year. However, people born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible. If you are not from one of the excluded countries, go ahead and apply. Good luck to all!

TN-1 for Mexican Professionals... Success!

As I have discussed before, the NAFTA Free Trade Agreement brought us the TN-1 visa for Mexicans and Canadians. When the law first passed, there was a quota for Mexicans (though never for Canadians). However, over time, the quota was eliminated as it was deemed unnecessary. Not enough professional Mexicans apply for this visa to make the numbers who come here a problem and therefore, no quota is needed. Originally, it was also necessary for employers to file a Labor Condition Application (LCA) for Mexican workers (but not for Canadians). This was a deterrent because filing an LCA means surveying the job market for the prevailing wage and interacting with the Department of Labor, as well as the USCIS. Fortunately, the requirement for the LCA was also eliminated over time. Therefore, at this point in time, the TN-1 visa status is one of the easiest ways for higher-educated Mexican professionals to come work in the US. In most cases, it requires that the applicant be a college graduate.

That fact was on my mind when a client from Mexico approached me this summer who wanted to work professionally in the US. There is a list of professions that qualify for TN-1 status so this status is not open to all Mexicans with a bachelor's degree (or "licenciatura"). However, this client has a licenciatura in computer information systems and "computer analyst" is one of the professions listed on the NAFTA Free Trade Agreement website as qualifying for a TN-1 status. Fortunately, this client was also legally in the US, so he had the option of changing his status while in the US. Finally, he already had an job offer from a company that was interested in him and all those facts combined pretty much make the TN-1 a sure thing.


Changing to TN-1 from inside the US is a bit more labor-intensive than applying at the US embassy but it does save legal Mexican non-immigrants who are already in the US the trouble of taking a trip home. This client preferred not to return to Mexico to request the visa at the US embassy there.Therefore, I helped him prepare the form that is filed to request a change to TN-1 status, the letter needed from the employer, and the other copies of documents needed. Putting together the forms and documents for a TN-1 status is fairly simple and most people can do it on their own, with a little information and guidance. Since time was short, this client also chose to request a change of status under "premium processing." This means that one more form is filed with a $1000 fee. In exchange, the US government agrees to make a decision on your case within 15 calendar days. Premium processing is not available for all statuses but fortunately, it is available for the TN-1 status. Since the client wanted to start work as soon as possible, he decided to pay the extra fee and he used the premium processing option. Otherwise, these types of cases are usually approved in about 3 months. In this case, within one week, he received an email that his TN-1 was approved! I was very pleased for him and happy I could help. I wish more Mexican professionals would consider working in the US because the TN-1 is by far one of the easiest work visas to obtain.