href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/information-for-afghans">www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/information-for-afghans
Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans - Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/special-immg-visa-afghans-employed-us-gov.html
EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program basic requirement:
Create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.
Invest the following amount of capital:On or before 11/21/2019:$1,000,000 (Minimum Investment)$500,000 (Targeted Employment Area)$1,000,000 (High-Employment Area)On or after 11/21/2019:$1,800,000 (Minimum Investment)$900,000 (Targeted Employment Area)$1,800,000 (High-Employment Area)
Each year, about 10,000 EB-5 visas are allotted to qualified investors and their spouses and children. At least 3,000 of the visa numbers are reserved for investments in targeted areas.
Immigrant investors are admitted for two years in conditional permanent resident status. During that time, they must invest the required capital and create the required employment. The condition may be removed if the investment was sustained throughout the period of the investor’s residence in the United States.
If you’re a prospective immigrant investor, you must petition for yourself on USCIS Form I-526 “Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur,” which you file with the required fee and supporting documentation with the USCIS’s Texas Service Center, depending on which office has jurisdiction over the area where the commercial enterprise will principally be doing business. The required documentation must show that you have invested, or are investing, the required lawfully gained capital in a qualifying commercial enterprise within the United States, and that you will create full-time (at least 35 hours per week) jobs for at least ten U.S. workers (U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, asylees, or refugees). At the end of the two-year period, you must file INS Form I-829 “Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove the Conditions” and demonstrate that the investment has been completed and sustained for the conditions to be removed.
The investment must be in a for-profit commercial enterprise. The business may be a
Sole proprietorship
Limited or general partnership
Holding company
Joint venture
Corporation
Business trust
Other public or privately owned entity
In addition, a new commercial enterprise may be established through
The creation of an original business
The purchase of an existing business and restructuring and reorganizing it into a new commercial enterprise
The expansion of an existing business through a 40 percent net increase in its net worth or in the number of employees
Check the USCIS website EB-5 Investor Program at www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/eb-5-immigrant-investor-program for more information.
Winning the green-card lottery
Entering the Diversity Visa Lottery Program can speed up your chances of receiving a visa, especially if you find yourself in one of the lower preference categories. Even if you’re currently on a waiting list, you have nothing to lose by entering the visa lottery — it’s easy, and it costs nothing but your time and the price of a few USCIS-style photographs. (Find out more about taking a good photo USCIS-style in Chapter 4.)
If you receive a visa through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, you will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States, as well as bring your husband or wife and any children under the age of 21 along with you.
www.travel.state.gov) to get the latest list of qualifying countries and detailed instructions for applying.
The Department of State randomly selects about 100,000 applicants from among the qualified entries. They pick 100,000 applicants when only 55,000 visas are available because they know that not all the applicants will qualify to successfully complete the visa process. After 55,000 applicants have qualified and completed the immigration process, no further diversification lottery visas are issued for that year. The following year, the process starts all over again — so if you didn’t win this year, try again next year, and if necessary, the year after that, and so on.
Visa lottery winners wanting to adjust their status must still meet the normal adjustment criteria, including lawful status at the time of adjustment.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRIORITY DATE
In the case of a relative immigrant visa petition, the priority date is the date on which the petition was actually filed. In the case of an employer-sponsored petition, the priority date is the date the labor certification was filed with the Department of Labor or, if no labor certification is required, the date the petition was filed.
You can track changes in priority date availability with the Visa Bulletinhttps://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html.
Waiting for a Visa
Several factors influence how long the process of getting an immigrant visa can take.
The U.S. government does not impose a limit on the number of immediate-relative visas that can be issued in any given year. Therefore, USCIS workload permitting, processing often begins upon receipt.
On
