From the end In January, Ryan Helgeson, an Immigration lawyer from Chicago, noticed an unusual trend: he received a much larger imprint from civic and immigration services in the US when he submitted applications for a visa of employment on behalf of his foreign clients.
Helgeson, Mcentee Law Group, represents technology employees who hope for emigration or will remain in the United States through visits awarded to special professions or unusual skills. On average, Helgeson consists of 50 to 75 visa petitions per month. It is even 90 a month in the height of the “H-1b season”, when employers enter the lottery of the visa on behalf of foreign employees, and then the candidates will submit a formal petition. During many years of practice, Helgeson and his team from time to time received applications for additional evidence or RFE, from the SCZCIS, as part of the agency process regarding the checking of applicants.
But since Donald Trump took office and began to break immigration, Helgeson says that there was a “absolute increase in the number and RFE indicator” in Visa’s complicated petitions. This follows what three other immigration lawyers said. Regardless of whether their clients apply for H-1B visits, visas with the extraordinary O-1 skills, intra-chamber visas for foreigners who want to move to the US office, or visas specific to traders and investors, the CEO is looking for an increased amount of information from applicants.
This includes more applications for support lists, education certificates and biometric data, immigration lawyers say Wired. Lawyers say that some of the information are based on “negative information” about the applicant or applicant who will not update their address. But other RFE is unnecessary, asking for information that has already been provided. In some cases, lawyers are trying to determine what the CEO is still looking for.
“The tons of applications for evidence remained the same, but the whole process is openly hostile,” says Helgeson. He adds that these requests from the CEO can double the amount of time needed to process the visa.
The re -message of visa petitions is also pricey. Matt Doyle, a technology entrepreneur born in Austin, Texas and one of the Mcenee Law Group customers, born in Great Britain, recently refused his EB-1 application. Now he must submit the application again. Doyle will pay the government another $ 4,000 for accelerating its re -application, in addition to $ 20,000, which, he claims, has already issued legal fees for him and his family. For now, the Law Firm is resigning from additional fees.
“I was approved in two of the three criteria and confirmed [my company’s] Innovations and uniqueness, but they did not feel that the evidence showed a broader influence, “says Doyle. The entrepreneur now asks for some additional support letters from clients and colleagues. He pays for the acceleration of this process, he says, hoping that his visa will be approved before his current extension expires this fall.
“In more than 30 years, we have seen me and my legal partner practicing immigration law in cases such as Matt’s in the last few weeks than we have seen before in our career before,” says Helgeson.