California Immigration Services

Generally, a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States for business, tourism, pleasure or visiting must first obtain a visa. This visa is a nonimmigrant visa to enter the United States temporarily for business (visa category B-1), tourism, pleasure or visiting (visa category B-2), or a combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2).

Exchange Visitors cannot travel on the Visa Waiver Program or with Visitor Visas – Exchange visitors who are citizens of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) participating countries are not permitted to travel without a visa on the Visa Waiver Program(VWP ), if their purpose of travel is to participate in an exchange visitor program. Exchange visitors are not permitted to travel on business/tourist (B-1/B-2) visas if their purpose is to participate in an exchange visitor program. All exchange visitors must travel to the United States with exchange visitor (J-1) visas.

An F-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa issued by a United States Consulate abroad to an alien who plans to come to the United States to pursue full-time studies at a U.S. educational school or institution. Generally, the U.S. Consular Office has total discretion to grant or deny the visa. Foreign students who wish to obtain an F-1 visa must plan to pursue a full course of study in an approved college, university, seminary, conservatory, academia high school, private elementary school, other academic institution, and/or language training program in the United States.

The Immigration and Nationality Act provides 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas yearly. Priority Workers receive 28.6 percent of the annual worldwide limit (about 40,000 visas). All Priority Workers must be the beneficiaries of an approved Immigrant Petition for Foreign Workers.

“Immediate Relatives” refers to the parents, spouses and children (who are unmarried and under 21 years of age) of a U.S. citizen. Immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen can immigrate to the United States without being subject to any numerical restrictions, unlike other close family members of U.S. citizens and/or permanent residents.

H-1 B PetitionsThe H1B visa is designed to allow U.S. employers to recruit & employ foreign professionals in specialty occupations within the U.S. for a specified period of time. The H-1B program provides the opportunity for foreign workers in specialty occupations to legally live and work in the U.S. for a total of six(6 ) consecutive years, and entitles their spouse and children (under the age of 21) to accompany them and legally live in the U.S. on H-4 visas. Under H-1B visa program, the company, organization or the employer is the petitioner and files H-1B petition for hiring the employee, while the foreign worker is the beneficiary. Foreign individuals themselves cannot apply for an H-1B visa to allow themselves to work in the US. The number of H-1B visas issued each year is subject to an annual cap (known as H-1B cap) that is determined by the US Congress.

Our office can help you with this service concerning Consulate General of India. Indian passport: related services , such as: Reissue of Indian passport upon its expiry, new passport in lieu of damaged/ lost passport, Tatkal / Rush passport application, and others.

The L-1 visa is a temporary non-immigrant visa which allows a foreign company to relocate foreign qualified employees to its U.S. subsidiary or parent company, child company, or sister company. The qualified employee must have worked for a subsidiary, parent, affiliate or branch office of the company for at least one year out of the last three years. The L1 visa may also include non-profit, religious, or charitable organizations.

The O-1 nonimmigrant visa is for the individualwho possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements.

I f you are eligible to file for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, this should be done within one year of your arrival to the United States. This will permit you to remain in United States. There is no USCIS fee to apply for asylum. You may include your spouse and children who are in the United States on your application at the time you file or at any time until a final decision is made on your case.

R1 visas are issued to temporary religious workers with non-immigrant intent. The intending worker must be sponsored by a non-profit religious organization that has been present for a minimum of two years within the United States. The petitioning organization and immigrant must demonstrate that the worker will participate in full-time (a minimum of 35 hours) work at the organization per week. The petitioning organization must provide evidence regarding the compensation for the position, which may include: budgets, evidence of previous compensation for a similar position, or verifiable documentation of room and board (if it will be provided).

U.S. CITIZENSHIP THROUGH NATURALIZATION - Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In order for an alien to go through the naturalization process, the alien has to meet certain requirements. Most notably the alien generally needs to be a legal permanent resident over the age of 18 who meets various continuous residence and physical presence requirements.