Keep Your Eyes on the Green Card Prize

Home / Newsletter Home / October Newsletter

The American Dream is quite a universal one and interesting because all over the world someone somewhere is dreaming about relocating to the US to experience the American way of life. As a Brit with a wife and three children we too had that exact same American Dream.

If you ask anyone – why America? You will get a variety of answers, but mostly the common thread can be summed up into just one word – opportunity. In America opportunities are literally endless for immigrants. Whether you want to come over to start a business, study, marry or enhance your career prospects, America is the #1 country in the world where people want to live.

So what do you do as Congress controls immigration to the US when millions of people a year want to migrate here? Hmmm, it can get really challenging. Firstly, Congress has established a comprehensive immigration system that unfortunately was last updated almost 30 years ago so many of the visa types and how you qualify for them can be quite restrictive. Some might even argue quite intentionally, otherwise the influx would be too much, too fast.

EB1 Success – Kesh, Award Winning Consultant

As immigration lawyers one of our main responsibilities and challenges is to help all of our prospective and actual clients navigate the ‘Immigration Maze’. Let me give you an example. The H-1B Visa is a visa designed to help US employers hire graduate level employees to take up vacancies in the US. Many employers are keen to hire overseas employees because they can bring an international perspective and ability into the business, for example, the industries of fashion and entertainment are huge which by their very nature are global. So you can see how being able to bring talent from all over the world to work in these industries could be beneficial to growing the American economy, especially if you’re talking about bringing in graduate level employees.

The sad fact is that Congress has set a numerical limit on the number of H-1B visas that can be issued. It’s 65,000 per year for graduates and an additional 20,000 for MA graduates from an American University. When you think of the millions of graduates there must be in the US, limiting graduate migrants to just 85,000 is so tiny. Let me explain how this works or actually, does not, in practice. Every April 1^st these H-1B visas are released and on the very day of release US Immigration might receive over 200,000 applicants on April 1^st. Not only does the H-1B visa opportunity turn into a H-1B lottery, it means that those employers needing staff before or after April 1^st cannot hire anyone.

EB1 Success – Liron, IT Consultant from South Africa

Let’s take another group of graduates such as I.T. workers for example, software engineers, programmers, developers, tech designers and so forth. If there was ever a time we needed I.T. workers surely it’s now. Silicon Valley and the other tech hubs in the US say that there is a 400,000 shortage of I.T. workers, this shortage must be holding back many tech companies from being able to fill vacancies and thus America’s competitive edge in I.T. is being impacted. With a shortage 400,000 I.T. workers it’s easy to see how having only 85,000 H-1B visas available each year is so inadequate to meet today’s economy.

There are many other industries where America needs overseas workers, so what can we do? There are some visas that provide some hope but they are very difficult to get. However, if we’re able to provide the right kind of support to our clients and the clients themselves can work with us to put the puzzle together we can secure green cards for them.

The EB1 Green Card for Aliens of Extraordinary Ability is available to all those professionals in any field who can demonstrate that they are at the very top of their profession. US Immigration has laid out an amazing checklist that will enable potential candidates to assess for themselves if they have a chance to qualify.

EB1 Green Card Success – Chris, Award Winning Animator, Trinidad

Under 8.F.R. 204.5(h)(3), which is the regulatory code that sets out the EB1 Green Card option if you can satisfy just three from this list of ten categories you could well be a great candidate for your green card.

• Documentation of the alien’s receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field of endeavor;

• Documentation of the alien’s membership in associations in the field for which classification is sought, which require outstanding achievements of their members, as judged by recognized national or international experts in their disciplines or fields;

• Published material about the alien in professional or major trade publications or other major media, relating the alien’s work in the field for which classification is sought. Such evidence shall include the title, date, and author of the material, and any necessary translation;

• Evidence of the alien’s participation, either individually or on a panel, as a judge of work of others in the same or an allied field of specialization for which classification is sought;

• Evidence of the alien’s original scientific, scholarly, artistic, athletic, or business-related contributions of major significance in the field;

• Evidence of the alien’s authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional or major trade publications or other major media;

• Evidence of the display of the alien’s work in the field at artistic exhibitions or showcases;

• Evidence that the alien has performed in a leading or critical role for organizations or establishments that have a distinguished reputation;

• Evidence that the alien has commanded a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services, in relation to others in the field; or

• Evidence of commercial successes in the performing arts, as shown by box office receipts or DVD sales.

EB1 Green Card – Gergana – Film Editor from Bulgaria

Everyday, we get people asking us if they qualify having reviewed this list of categories. With each request we have to do an in-depth analysis to see if they qualify. In fact as we assess these requests we have to break them down into two distinct groups. The group is for people who clearly can satisfy three or more categories and the second group who may satisfy one or two but certainly not three.

Truth is, we can work with both groups and with individuals at their own pace to get their case up to the level where it can be submitted to USCIS for adjudication. So the next question is, does everyone we submit get automatically approved? If only that were the case – in realty while we’re are able to get the vast majority of these cases approved, not every case will be: there is no such thing as a 100% approval rate. Nevertheless we have to keep our eyes on the prize. If a case is not approved USCIS will always explain in detail why they cannot approve the case at that particular time. However, if we’re able to address the particular issue to the USCIS officer’s satisfaction then the case will be approved, so that’s not so bad.

Keeping your eye on the prize is all about not giving up. You have to work really hard to find the best immigration path and of course that’s what we’re here for, but once that path has been established, the key is to be faithful and to never give up.

We are so inspired by the clients in our approval gallery, many of them had no clue they could get their EB1 Green Card. In fact, many of them had never heard of the EB1 Green Card option before discovering our website. Many of our EB1 successes may appear to be somewhat ordinary, but they have put in a ton of work to stand out from the crowd to the point where even USCIS recognizes them as being worthy of an EB1.

The prize of the EB1 Green Card is that once you have your green card you can live in the US for the rest of your life. Indeed after 5 years in green card status you can apply for US Citizenship. Now that’s a prize worth fighting for, right?

To find out more, just get in touch, we’ll help you in any way we can whether it’s for the EB1 Green Card or some other visa, if it’s viable, we’ll present it to you for consideration.

Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
401 Wilshire Boulevard, 12th Floor,
Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292

Specializing in the E2 Visa, EB1 Green Card, L-1A Visa, O1 Visa and K1 Visa Marriage-Based Immigration. Attorney Chris M. Ingram is dedicated to providing the very best in US Immigration legal representation. Enjoy our website.

Important Notice: Please note that all videos created by the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram are intended as general information only and not specific legal advice pertaining your case. If you would like specific legal advice on any immigration matter please do not hesitate to contact this law office accordingly. All pictorial images used in these videos and the website in general are licensed stocked images and not portraits, or otherwise, of anyone from the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram, nor of its clients unless otherwise indicated by name. All images are used solely for illustrative purposes only. Copyright 2010-2016 All Rights Reserved.