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U.S. Immigration law attorney, Ann L. Lipson is theVISAGeek™!

TheVISAGeek™ has her ear to the ground regarding daily changes to immigration laws, procedures and policies. Whether you are an individual or business in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara or Monterey counties or a worldwide corporation, you will find timely and useful guideposts to help navigate the rough seas of U.S. immigration. Our goal is to be accessible to the non-specialist by using straightforward English.

TheVISAGeek™ is a publication of the Immigration Law Offices of Ann L. Lipson, PC. A U.S. Immigration attorney with 25+ years experience advocating for employment-based immigration, including universities/researchers; scientific/engineering skilled workers and self-petitioners; and family-based immigration, including marriage; fiance; and citizenship applications.

Concurrent H-1B employment – how does it work?

Published on: May 7, 2013 | Immigration Law Category: Work Permits

An alternative if you didn’t make the H-1B lottery In my blog of April 10, 2013, I suggested alternative pathways to live and work in the U.S. if you didn’t make the H-1B cap lottery this year. One way is to be employed simultaneously at a cap exempt institution as well as in private industry… read more

New I-9 Form Now Required for All Employees

Published on: | Immigration Law Category: I-9 Compliance

I-9 Form revised 3/8/13 is the version that employers must use for all employees U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a press release today regarding the revised I-9 form that they issued in March, 2013.  The revised form must now be used for all new hires and re-verifications. The new I-9 forms may be… read more

I Didn’t Make the H-1B Lottery – Now What?

Published on: April 10, 2013 | Immigration Law Category: Work Permits

FY 2014 H-1B Lottery  is a major disappointment to business and potential employees Unbeknownst to most of us, the economy has kicked up enough steam to bring forth the annual spring time run on H-1B visas that we haven’t seen since 2008. Within the first five days of April, USCIS received 124,000 H-1B petitions for… read more

H-1B 2014 Alert: Cap Likely to be Exhausted Early

Published on: March 6, 2013 | Immigration Law Category: Work Permits

Economic recovery means accelerated H-1B visa submissions and less time to beat the cap The cap of 65,000 H-1Bs plus an additional 20,000 H-1Bs for those with U.S. graduate degrees, opens on April 1, 2013, for a start-date of October 1, 2013 and we are trying to predict when the cap will be used up.… read more

Fulbright J-1 Waivers: Not Happening

Published on: February 17, 2013 | Immigration Law Category: J-1 Waivers

Fulbright J-1 Waivers are rarely approved As we prepare to send off yet another J-1 waiver application to the Department of State for an “extraordinary ability” cancer researcher on a J-1 visa funded by Fulbright Australia, we are worried that we are going to hit another wall for this Fulbright scholar even though our application… read more