H-1B Transfer Activity Will Be Unprecedented

2024-12-04T11:05:57-05:00

On May 1, prospective employers who sponsored H-1B visa candidates this year began to get receipt notices for US Masters Cap cases. In the month to follow, employers will find out the fate of the blind lottery used to determine which H-1B petitions will be adjudicated.

Every year, USCIS starts accepting H-1B petitions on April […]

H-1B Transfer Activity Will Be Unprecedented2024-12-04T11:05:57-05:00

Why become a U.S. citizen?

2024-12-04T11:10:43-05:00

In my profession, I get asked this question a lot. SMA assists many people to get permanent residence in the U.S., either through company sponsorship, self-sponsorship (extraordinary ability) or through family petitions or asylum applications, and the last step is to apply to become U.S. citizens, but not all people take that step, which […]

Why become a U.S. citizen?2024-12-04T11:10:43-05:00

Visas for Foreign Entertainers and Athletes and the Underlying Contracts

2024-12-04T11:14:35-05:00

When you look at the list of concerts coming to your city or look at professional sports rosters and see unique and exotic names from other countries, it may seem normal to you as a spectator. However, for each international artist who plays a show in the U.S., or for all those great international […]

Visas for Foreign Entertainers and Athletes and the Underlying Contracts2024-12-04T11:14:35-05:00

Immigration Status and Employment Laws in New York

2024-12-04T11:22:06-05:00

Foreign workers in the U.S. occupy every position from farmhand and dishwasher to engineer, doctor and CEO, and their visas and legal statuses also vary greatly. For the majority of the twelve-plus million undocumented immigrants, there is no such thing as legal employment, and therefore employers are not supposed to hire them at all. […]

Immigration Status and Employment Laws in New York2024-12-04T11:22:06-05:00

“Outside-In Immigration”

2024-12-04T11:34:33-05:00

SMA Law Firm has its origins in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where its founder, Steve Maggi, set up shop in 2004 and started offering U.S. immigration legal assistance to people and companies from his native Argentina. What developed from that was a specialization in what we call “Outside-In Immigration”. What does this mean? Essentially it […]

“Outside-In Immigration”2024-12-04T11:34:33-05:00

USCIS Announces Alarming Changes in Immigration Petition Adjudications

2024-12-04T11:47:20-05:00

On July 13, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a policy memorandum on its website, that provides guidance to USCIS adjudicators regarding their discretion to deny an application, petition, or request without first issuing a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) when required initial evidence was not submitted […]

USCIS Announces Alarming Changes in Immigration Petition Adjudications2024-12-04T11:47:20-05:00

Hang On! Tips for Surviving the 2018 H-1B Roller Coaster Ride

2024-12-04T14:13:38-05:00

The annual roller coaster ride known as the H-1B visa application process is about to go up the hill and come speeding down, with unknown twists and turns coming your way.

For the next four weeks, employers are scrambling to decide whether to sponsor foreign nationals for professional positions, American university grads from foreign countries […]

Hang On! Tips for Surviving the 2018 H-1B Roller Coaster Ride2024-12-04T14:13:38-05:00

My view on President Trump’s 4 Pillars of Immigration Reform

2024-12-04T14:18:22-05:00

At his first State of the Union address, President Trump announced his 4 Pillars of Immigration Reform. The pillars are:

  1. Dreamers’ Path to Citizenship
  2. Securing the Border
  3. End of Diversity Lottery
  4. End of Chain Migration

With any potential immigration reform, there is no perfect package that exists, but the one proposed by President Trump does […]

My view on President Trump’s 4 Pillars of Immigration Reform2024-12-04T14:18:22-05:00

How I Feel About President Trump’s (sh**thole) Comment

2024-12-04T14:21:12-05:00

Six years ago, I wrote my first ever blog, titled “U.S. Immigration Policy: Don’t give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”, discussing the trend towards an increasingly selective and contradictory immigration system. On the eve of comments by President Trump which referred to immigrants from Central America, the […]

How I Feel About President Trump’s (sh**thole) Comment2024-12-04T14:21:12-05:00
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