Month: June 2025

Alan Lee, Esq. Q&As published on the World Journal Weekly on June 15, 2025：1. You cannot change status from an immigrant visa to nonimmigrant visa status in the US 2. You would face a 10-year bar for unlawful presence once you leave the country

1. You cannot change status from an immigrant visa to nonimmigrant visa status in the US

A reader asks:
My case is a bit complicated. I-485 has been submitted for EB-5, and needing to provide additional documents. The approval is likely, but the project has declared bankruptcy, which may cause issues with the I-829 application later.  Therefore, I am considering switching  to NIW. If I receive the conditional green card now, can I voluntarily give it up before transitioning to the I-829 and continue with the NIW application?  I have heard that transitioning from an immigrant to non-immigrant status is very difficult. If my conditional green card expires, do I need to leave the country immediately and apply for another non-immigrant status abroad, like the H-1B?

The company’s immigration officer said that they won’t retrieve my case and told me to wait for the green card. Can one really have no payroll before receiving the green card?

Alan Lee Esq. answers,
Having a conditional resident status allows you to remain legally in the US, but if you are not filing the I-829, the conditional status would expire and without any changes in your condition, you would seemingly have no basis to remain in the US. It is our understanding that you cannot change status from an immigrant visa to nonimmigrant visa status in the US, and that you would have to leave the country to obtain a nonimmigrant visa status. On your other question as to whether one can really have no payroll before receiving the green card, I assume that you are referring to the conditional green card – in such case, that is entirely possible, especially in the EB-5 context, and also given that you must have work authorization to be employed in the US.

2. You would face a 10-year bar for unlawful presence once you leave the country

A reader asks:
My I-140 is approved but my H-1B status has long expired. After  I switched from F-1 to H-1B, I haven’t returned to my home country. If I go now for a visa interview, would there be a high risk?

Alan Lee Esq. answers,
If your I-140 petition is approved but your H-1B status has long expired, a major question is whether you have maintained legal status in the US. If you have not, you would face a 10 year bar for unlawful presence once you leave the country. Assuming that you are maintaining legal status under some other nonimmigrant category, you could face questions concerning your intent to take up the position with the I-140 sponsoring organization if that is also the organization that sponsored the H-1B. This is assuming that the organization is willing to move forward and keep sponsoring your immigration. In such circumstance, if you are able to convince the consular officer that there is still a bona fide need for your services with the organization, then the risk is mitigated.

Article: IMMIGRATION NEWS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE AWARE OF – TRUMP AND CONGO; 12 COUNTRY TRAVEL BAN; PEOPLE/SITUATIONS THOUGHT SAFE/LESS RISKY MAY NOT BE ANY LONGER; AILA WARNING OF INCREASED ARRESTS AT USCIS/ICE INTERVIEWS AND IMMIGRATION COURT HEARINGS AROUND THE COUNTRY; FRAMED, VILIFIED UNJUSTLY BY DHS SECRETARY, YET STILL SITS IN DETENTION.

As published in the Immigration Daily on June 11, 2025

  1. Trump and Congo

President Trump must really have it in for Congo. First he sends a deportee of Congo nationality to South Sudan which refused him for no connection and for which Trump threatened to cancel all visas of that nation. https://www.legit.ng/people/1649090-man-originally-congo-deported-country-revokes-visas-south-sudaneses/. Then he confronts the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House in a Zelensky type ambush claiming genocide in South Africa of Afrikaners including burial pictures – with the pictures turning out to be of the conflict in Congo. https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/may/22/Trump-video-South-Africa-burial-farmers-genocide/. Mr. Trump either is a terrible fact checker or facts are inconvenient truths to be skirted.

  1. 12 Country Travel Ban

The 12 country travel ban that came into effect on June 9, 2025, covers 12 countries – citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/05/us/travel-ban-order-full.html. It also restricts entry for 7 countries’ citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and do not hold a valid visa. Partial suspensions for the seven countries are for immigrants and nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas. Generally, the ban applies to foreign nationals of those countries who are outside the US on the effective date and do not have a valid visa on the effective date. The ban does not apply to permanent residents, or a dual national of one of the countries if the individual is traveling on a passport issued by a country not designated. There are certain other exceptions including one for certain individuals who, in the discretion of the Secretary of State, can be allowed to travel where the travel would advance a critical US national interest. This latter type of exception spawned legal work by firms previously in the Covid-19 travel ban, but given the countries involved, will likely not result in law firms doing a lot of work here.

  1. People/Situations Thought Safe/Less Risky May Not Be Any Longer

Areas that we thought safe or less risky may not be any longer and we will be adjusting our risk assessment:

  • A US military wife from Australia being petitioned by her husband visiting on a three week vacation in Honolulu with her mother and whose husband was waiting to collect them at the airport was allegedly laughed at when she said that she was married to someone in the U.S. Army; taken to secondary inspection; made to undergo a body cavity search; walked through the airport in handcuffs; driven to the federal detention center; strip-searched; put in detention with women who had been convicted of murder and drug offenses; made to share a cell with a woman from Fiji who was also denied entry and waiting to be deported; not given food; and the next morning brought back to the airport and sent back to Australia. https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/05/24/im-not-criminal-australian-woman-recounts-detention-experience-while-trying-visit-us-military-spouse-hawaii/.
  • A high school student in New York for a downtown 26 Federal Plaza immigration court hearing had his case dismissed, and was arrested by waiting ICE officers. https://www.rsn.org/001/ice-shifting-tactics-detains-high-school-student-at-nyc-courthouse.html. He had entered the US in April 2024 under the Biden humanitarian parole program; had no criminal record; and when not at school worked as a delivery driver to help his mother and two younger siblings save enough money to move out of the shelter. Mayor Eric Adams when asked about it said that he did not handle federal enforcement policies and that his opinion did not matter. It is pretty well known that part of his deal for the Justice Department to drop corruption charges against him was for his immigration enforcement help and Thomas Homan, the Border Czar, promised to be up “his butt” if Adams did not advance the Trump agenda.
  1. AILA Warning of Increased Arrests at USCIS/ICE Interviews and Immigration Court Hearings Around The Country

AILA  (American Immigration Lawyers Association) is warning of ICE increases of arrests at USCIS field offices at scheduled immigration benefits interviews including asylum, permanent residence, naturalization, and ICE check-in appointments. Members have reported arrests at I-130 interviews at field offices in Miami, LA, Fresno, St. Louis, and Portland. USCIS has publicly reported 26 arrests including Tampa, Orlando, New Orleans, Houston, Phoenix, Indianapolis, El Paso, Charlotte, San Fernando, Kendall, and one unspecified office in California. High-risk people include those with prior removal orders, criminal charges, criminal convictions, and warrants. AILA is also warning of ICE arrests in immigration courts around the country; that immigration court cases are being dismissed by judges after motions by ACCs (Assistant Chief Counsels) for DHS to dismiss where ICE can process them for expedited removal, and some members are reporting seeing detentions regardless of whether dismissals were granted. In other words, you walk into the court with your client who was served with a regular NTA (Notice to Appear); the ACC moves to dismiss the NTA on the basis that the client is subject to expedited removal (entered illegally or with fraud or misrepresentation and not yet here two years or paroled on entry whether two years have since passed); the IJ grants the dismissal and ICE is waiting in the hallway with handcuffs and takes away your client. In the meantime, you the attorney are standing there flabbergasted watching the back of your handcuffed client going away with ICE officers down the hallway and into the elevator.

  1. Framed, Vilified Unjustly by DHS Secretary, Yet Still Sits in Detention

In the meantime, there is a report out of Milwaukee that a US citizen charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery against an undocumented immigrant concocted a letter supposedly written by the victim threatening to kill Donald Trump, and the story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who released a statement praising immigration officers for arresting Ramon Morales-Reyes one day after the forged letter was received by an ICE field intelligence officer. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/what-to-know-about-ramo-n-morales-reyes-a-20361562.php. The case against him began to come apart because one of the victim’s children said that he could not have written the letter since he cannot read or write in Spanish, let alone English and a handwriting comparison showed no similarities.  The US citizen had allegedly assaulted the victim with a box cutter during an attempted theft of his bike and framed him to keep him from testifying. As of the time of this writing, Mr. Morales sits in immigration detention, and there is as yet no apology from the DHS Secretary.

Unfortunately, there is no good news in this article –readers may wish to use the above information to better assess or reassess risk in these types of situations involving themselves and others.

Alan Lee, Esq. Q&As published on the World Journal Weekly on June 8, 2025： 1. Bloggers with millions of followers do not meet EB-1 requirements 2. Recruitment must be completed within 180 days before submitting PERM 3. If you are laid off while doing consular processing after your date becomes current, the green card application will end 4. Re-entering the country with an H-1B is conducive to converting to H-4

1. Bloggers with millions of followers do not meet EB-1 requirements

A reader asks:
I still have a job, but in my spare time, I’ve been using Facebook & YouTube for a few months and have already gained 100,000 followers. If I take this more seriously, reaching 1 million followers should just be a matter of time. If I become a fitness influencer with 1 million followers, could I apply for an EB-1?

Alan Lee Esq. answers,
I believe that it would be difficult for USCIS to approve such an application even if you reach 1 million followers. The following are the requirements for EB-1A consideration of which an applicant must fulfill three before going into a final merits determination of whether the individual is one of the best nationwide or worldwide –

  1. National or International Awards: Evidence of receipt of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field.
  2. Membership in Exclusive Associations: Evidence of membership in associations in the field that require outstanding achievements as judged by recognized national or international experts.
  3. Published Material About You: Evidence of published material about you in professional or major trade publications or other major media.
  4. Judging the Work of Others: Evidence that you have been asked to judge the work of others, either individually or on a panel.
  5. Original Contributions of Major Significance: Evidence of your original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance to the field.
  6. Authorship of Scholarly Articles: Evidence of authorship of scholarly articles in professional or major trade publications or other major media.
  7. Artistic Display of Work: Evidence that your work has been displayed at artistic exhibitions or showcases.
  8. Leading or Critical Role: Evidence of a leading or critical role in distinguished organizations.
  9. High Salary or Remuneration: Evidence that you have commanded a high salary or other significantly high remuneration in relation to others in the field.
  10. Commercial Success in the Performing Arts: Evidence of commercial successes in the performing arts, as shown by box office receipts or sales.

Another facet of the EB-1A category is that you must show sustained achievement over a period of time and so even if you were able to fulfill three categories of proof, you would have to show years of sustainable achievement in the field.

2. Recruitment must be completed within 180 days before submitting PERM

A reader asks:
I applied for EB-2. During the process, PWD was approved in March this year and started advertising in May, but PERM has not been filed yet. I remember there was a 180-day requirement, and I urged them to do it in early September. They told me it was okay, the deadline was November 8th. I thought that since the lawyer said so, it should be correct. However, I was suddenly told today that since the employer did not advertise in paper media as the lawyer requested, but only posted online, it is too late to put it in the newspaper now. So far, all their efforts have been wasted, and they have to start all over again for PWD. This is like my entire past year has been wasted. More importantly, my H-1B will be six years in May 2026. If I want to extend the period later, I must wait for PERM for more than one year before that, which means I must submit PERM before May next year (2025). It’s already October. If we restart PWD, based on the current processing time and advertising, it may not be on time. Please advise what I should do? Is it really like they said that there is no time to file PERM, and I have to start over? How is the PERM filing deadline defined?

Alan Lee Esq. answers,
Yes, the 180-day rule requires that recruitment steps be completed within 180 days before filing the PERM. If your employer didn’t follow the lawyer’s instructions (e.g., skipped newspaper ads), that recruitment effort is invalid, and you must restart the PWD and recruitment process. Given your H-1B max-out in May 2026, you need the PERM to be filed by May 2025 to be eligible for H-1B extension beyond 6 years. PWD processing takes 5 months currently and with the time for recruitment at fastest another 3 months, that would be 8 months when you have 7 (question sent in October). Timing could perhaps be shortened for recruitment if the lawyer knows or has a good idea of the prevailing wage and if the employer is willing to take the risk of beginning recruitment without knowing the wage amount for certain since the wrong PWD would necessitate redoing the recruitment.

3. If you are laid off while doing consular processing after your date becomes current, the green card application will end

A reader asks:
My I-140 is approved and my PD will be current soon. Due to family reasons, I need to transfer to my company’s overseas branch before the date becomes current. If I choose consular processing abroad after the date becomes current, what impact would it have if I am laid off before I get the green card?

Alan Lee Esq. answers,
If you are laid off while doing consular processing after your date becomes current, and there are no prospects for continued employment with the sponsoring organization, your application for a green card based upon company sponsorship would be effectively ended, since it can be assumed that the organization would not continue sponsorship. You would have to seek sponsorship with another organization. As the I-140 petition is already approved, you would be able to retain the priority date absent fraud, misrepresentation, or material USCIS error in the prior I-140 approval.

4. Re-entering the country with an H-1B is conducive to converting to H-4

A reader asks:
My wife filed for NIW and submitted the I-485, and we both received combo cards.  However, my wife’s job might face layoffs. I recently used the AP on the combo card for re-entry, which technically puts my H-1B status in a grey area. Can I still switch to  H-4 under my wife’s application?

Alan Lee Esq. answers,
You are correct in thinking that reentering on advance parole instead of H-1B might present a problem in changing to H-4. Assuming that your wife still retains her H-1B status and that you are set on obtaining change of status instead of applying for H-4 visa overseas, you may decide to take a trip out of the country and return under H-1B status if you still intend to work with the H-1B employer after reentering the country. This might especially be attractive if you already have a H-1B visa in your passport. Reentering the country under H-1B and working for the H-1B employer for a small period of time would give you the basis to make the change to H-4 without much difficulty. Otherwise, according to our understanding, you would have to leave the US and apply for the H-4 visa at a US consular post.

Alan Lee, Esq. Q&As published on the World Journal Weekly on June 1, 2025：1. I-485 is pending, we suggest not staying out of the US more than 90 days 2. Check the processing times of the office(s) having jurisdiction over your I-485

1. I-485 is pending, we suggest not staying out of the US more than 90 days

A reader asks:
My I-485 is pending, and it will probably take about 5 years until Form A is available. Currently, I have AP and EAD cards, and I still have a job in China. Can I go back to the US every six months for 2 weeks to utilized my cards? Lawyers have different opinions. There is no law that explicitly stipulates how long one must live in the US. My lawyer recommends that I should not leave the US for more than 180 days. However, some lawyers also recommend that one should not leave the US for more than 90 days, and should stay in the US for more than 183 days each year and be a tax resident. Can I really use my AP and EAD cards until my I-485 is adjudicated? How big is the risk? Will I be stopped when entering the US, or it will cause my I-485 be rejected? It seems that as long as I go back to the US every 4 to 5 months and have evidence I am willing to stay in the US and I should be ok, correct?

Alan Lee, Esq. answers,
You are correct that lawyers have different opinions of how long individuals with advance parole based on I-485 can remain outside the United States. We tend to be conservative and would recommend the same as some lawyers that you say suggest not staying out of the US more than 90 days. We are entering a new age of restriction in immigration law under the Trump administration and risks that may have been acceptable under the Biden administration may be much riskier given the turn in DHS attitude from benefits granting to enforcement that we are now starting to see.

2. Check the processing times of the office(s) having jurisdiction over your I-485

A reader asks:
My I-485 has been lying on NBC since I submitted the form in January, and there is no news about I-765 and I-131. Am I in a black hole?

Alan Lee, Esq. answers,
I doubt that you have fallen into a black hole. USCIS has processing times for everything, although it had said that was decreasing the time for EAD applications submitted with 1-485’s. That being said, you can check the processing times of the office(s) having jurisdiction over them. You can visit the USCIS website page for processing times (https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/) and enter your case type and your USCIS office, and the website will inform you of the normal processing times for your type of application. You can also enter the date in which your application was filed at the bottom of the page. Once you enter that, the webpage will tell you whether your case is being processed normally or if it is outside normal processing times. If it is outside normal processing times, then you may file an eRequest (https://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/Intro.do ) or chat with EMMA (https://www.uscis.gov/tools/meet-emma-our-virtual-assistant) to place a service request to inquire about the status of your case. You can also reach out telephonically to the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283 to speak with a contact representative.