Articles
Nonimmigrants – Visa Types – Business or Pleasure Visitors -Border Crossing Cards
For business and visitor travel to the United States, both citizens and permanent residents of Mexico must have nonimmigrant Border Crossing Cards (BCC), also known as laser visas, which are
machine-readable, biometric visas typically issued to Mexican visitors to the U.S. BCCs are issued to both business and pleasure travelers.
Controlling Alien Admission-Immigrants – Administrative-Consul Consideration of Visa Applications and Refusals of Visas
United States immigration law grants consular officers exclusive authority to consider immigrant visa applications. No formal hearing is required, and most of the procedures are determined by
individual U.S. consulates and embassies. For instance, consulate procedure dictates both how the immigrant interview proceeds and whether an attorney or other representative will be allowed
to attend the interview.
Adjustment Of Immigration Status
Adjustment of status under § 245 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) is a program that allows several categories of nonimmigrants who were not in the United States
legally or who were in the U.S. legally, but temporarily, to “adjust” their status to a person legally in the United States and admitted for permanent residence. This program ended in April
2001, but it is still available to nonimmigrants whose visa petition or application for labor certification was filed on or before April 30, 2001.
Employment-Based Visas – Labor Certification – Availability of Native Workers – Lawful Rejection of U.S. Workers
Employers who wish to bring in alien labor must apply for and receive labor certification for those workers. The United States Department of Labor decides these applications, determining,
among other things, whether sufficient native workers are available to fill the positions. To be considered in the pool of sufficient workers, natives must be able, qualified, willing, and
available for the job.
Visa Denials For Lack Of Strong Ties To Home Country
United States law presumes that aliens who wish to travel to the U.S. intend to stay in the U.S. permanently rather than temporarily. For this reason, aliens who want to visit the U.S.
temporarily must prove that the purpose of their trip is temporary before U.S. consular officers will issue nonimmigrant visas.
