Have you checked your I-94?

If you have just been admitted to the United States, either as a beginning student or even as a returning one, and if you have not yet checked your I-94 arrival document, you might want to do so. Keep in mind that the I-94 is no longer a hardcopy piece of paper that you fill out while on the airplane, and which the immigration officer stamps during your inspection. Rather, the I-94 is stored electronically on the web site of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

This change to electronic format is a “two edged sword.” That is, it has good points and potential problems ones as well. On the one hand, you no longer have to worry about losing a hardcopy I-94, and paying a couple hundred dollars to apply for a replacement. On the other hand, the issue of “out of sight, out of mind” arises. Not having an immediate copy of the I-94 might lead some people to forget about it, in particular to forget about their “admitted until” date. This date is important for you because you normally must leave the US on or before that date. Staying beyond this date, even if unintentional, could cause problems.

For this reason, downloading and confirming your I-94 information is a good idea. Double-check, in particular, your "admitted until" date, and make a note of it. More importantly, make sure it is correct, and not earlier than what you expect. If you were admitted in F-1 or J-1 status, you normally would be admitted for “duration of status,” so your I-94 would say "admitted until: D/S," rather than indicating a specific date. If you are admitted as D/S, it means you may stay lawfully in the US indefinitely, so long as you maintain the conditions of your status. 

To download your I-94, visit the following site and have the necessary information available: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html 

This material is for general information only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Calvin Sun, 610-296-3947, csun@calvinsun.com

Enhancing Your Personal Security: Business Travel

As part of your job, you may need to travel. I hope that the following information is helpful to you in such cases. Most likely, as you read, you will say yourself, about me, “this guy has been watching too many James Bond movies.”

Taking a taxi

Generally speaking, regardless of the city, a legitimate taxi will display a taxi driver license with at least the name and photo of the driver. Usually this license will be posted behind the driver’s seat or the front passenger seat, so that passengers in the rear can view it. Making sure that the driver really is the driver is a sensible step. This idea also applies if, instead of taking a taxi, the organization you are visiting says they will send a driver for you, for example to meet you at the airport. In such a case, try to verify the name of the car service and at least the name of the driver. Even better, try to get a photograph of the driver.  In either case, failing to verify the driver might leave you in the same situation as James Bond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Wq3ZHsKP8

As soon as possible, make sure the taxi driver knows that someone else knows about you and the taxi you are in. The best way is simply to make a telephone call from the taxi to someone, in which you tell that person your location, your destination, the taxi number and the name of the driver. When you speak, do so loudly enough so the driver can hear you. In this way, the driver is more likely to be dissuaded from any wrong intentions.

Whether you are on business travel or not, never be reluctant to take a taxi to go home if your work requires you to work late. This advice applies especially if your work can be charged to a client of your employer, and if you normally would take public transportation home. That client should understand that a taxi fare is a reasonable part of asking you to work late. Of course, the best approach is to speak to your boss or the client ahead of time about such a possibility.

Staying in a hotel

When you check into a hotel, the front desk person will give you your room number along with a key. However, that room number information should come via a written note, or by a computer printout. In no event should the front desk person say your room number out loud. Nonetheless, if the person should do so, you might want to quietly ask for another room, and this time to get the number as described above.

When you get to your room, look for at least two fire exits. Think about how easily you could get to them in darkness, because when a fire occurs, electricity in a building could fail. In fact, you might even consider testing yourself by blindfolding yourself to see if you nonetheless can reach a fire exit.

Because of this possibility of a power failure, consider bringing a flashlight, or else at least make sure your phone has a flashlight app. If you choose the traditional flashlight I recommend the Mini Maglite http://www.maglite.com/AA_Cell_LED.asp. This flashlight is well made, compact and light. In addition to merely providing light, however, it can double as a weapon because of the hard casing it has. That is, if need be, you can hit an attacker with it. Also, I have taken it with me on airplanes, in carry-on luggage, and I have never been questioned about it.

Driving a rental car

A few years ago, rental car drivers in Miami were facing a high number of carjackings and attacks. The criminals were drawn by stickers or decals that such cars had, identifying the car as a rental. As a result, rental car companies there stopped this practice, and most likely this practice has spread. Still, you might want to make sure by checking the car yourself as you are picking it up. If you should see such a sticker or decal, ask about having it removed.

Similarly, try to get, if possible, a car with an in-state license tag. Having one from out-of-state makes you more conspicuous, even if the car doesn’t otherwise indicate it is a rental.

Take time to make sure that the car’s registration and inspection information is current. Generally speaking, each state has a system and procedure for doing so, and will have some sort of decal on the license or on the windshield, along with a month and year of expiration. Yes, the car rental company staff should have made sure, but sometimes mistakes happen, and one such mistake came at my expense.

A few years ago, I was driving a rental car in Washington DC. One afternoon, I was making a turn from westbound Virginia Avenue onto northbound New Hampshire Avenue, in the vicinity of The George Washington University. Suddenly I saw red and blue flashing lights of a police car, and pulled over. The officer told me that the license tags on the car were expired, and was making comments about my potentially having to be detained. However, after viewing my car rental documents, he simply allowed me to leave.

When I returned the car, I asked for and received a steep discount.

One final note regarding cars: for reasons that will be clear to you from this video, I dislike sitting in a car if someone is sitting behind me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wit1vpOXftg

I hope this information is helpful to you.    

                                                              

The above information does not constitute legal advice and does not form an attorney-client relationship. The author does not guarantee that this information will be effective in any given situation.

Calvin Sun, Attorney at Law, 610-296-3947, csun@calvinsun.com

Enhancing Your Personal Security I: Protect Your Home Address

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. (NIV)—Proverbs 27:12

If you are reading this blog, then you probably are already working in the US with a green card or non-immigrant status, or you hope to do so soon. In any case, this blog post, and the ones that follow, will offer some thoughts on enhancing your personal security. I do not claim to be an expert, or to have any law enforcement experience. I will say, though, sadly, that two people I knew died from criminal violence in West Philadelphia. One of them, Wharton classmate Douglas Huffman, was mugged in the 4400 block of Osage Street late one night in our first year. During the incident, his head hit the curb. Refusing medical treatment, he instead went home and later died in his sleep. The other was a young man from my church, Cyril Leung 梁湘麒, a graduate student at Penn, who was beaten into a coma in Clark Park in October 1988 and died a few weeks later. My other crime connections include service as a juror in a capital murder case, and representation, for H-1B status, of an individual and an organization that counsel victims of sex trafficking.

I certainly do not wish such things to happen to you. However, as much as I would like, I am unable to guarantee that reading what I write will guarantee your safety. Still, I hope this information helps you and makes you think.

A few years ago, I was communicating with a former student of mine, a graduate of Tsinghua Law School, whom I had met in 2008. One day I noticed an address in her signature line, and this address struck me as strange because it didn’t look like an office address. Out of curiosity, I replied to her and asked her if that address was either the office where she was and is working, or whether it was the departmental address of the university she had graduated from. I then wrote that I really hoped it was not her home address.

She replied that yes, it was her home address.

Did I ever freak out at her. In 48-point type, I immediately and furiously wrote to her,

REMOVE THAT ADDRESS---NOW!!!!!!!

I explained to her, after I settled down, that the issue was not that friends of hers might have this address. Rather, the issue was that these friends might forward her email to other people, who might in turn forward it to still others. In other words, people she might not even know could have her home address via her email.

Putting a home address in an email signature is an extreme example. Probably you would never do such a thing, and neither, I hope, will this student anymore. Maintaining the privacy of your home address is a critical aspect of your personal safety.The more that you circulate that information, the less privacy you have, and hence the greater the chances that you are creating a security exposure for yourself.

One of the most common places where you might put your home address is in a resume. Doing so is a common practice, and it stems from the days before email and texting. In those days, the only way to communicate in writing was via regular U.S. mail. For this reason, an employer would want an address on a resume.

Today, however, we have alternate communication methods. For this reason, you may want to re-think the practice of putting a home address on your resume. Instead, you might want to limit your contact information to only a cell phone and email address.

On the other hand, a potential employer, particularly one from an older generation, might be put off by the lack of an address. Last year, one executive told me that he used the resume address as an initial screening, to give less weight to resumes which indicated that the candidate lived further away. I question this person’s logic, but it is what it is, and others might think the same way. For this reason, you will need to weigh the advantages vs. the disadvantages of putting your address on your resume.

One possible solution is to use an alternate address, for example by renting a box from the U.S. Postal Service. Then, instead of using your real home address, use the post office box. One disadvantage of this approach is that many if not all courier services will not deliver to a post office box, and a key example is Federal Express. That is, they and others would require an actual street address.

For this reason, if such delivery is important, you might want to consider instead a private mailbox service, such as the UPS Store, Mailboxes Etc. or similar business. Such services are more likely to be able to accept courier deliveries, assuming that they allow you to specify an actual street number and name along with the private mail box number.

If you do use such an alternate address, then you possibly could use it for more than a resume. You could use it for magazine subscriptions, merchandise orders and other things. If not, be aware of actions that could reveal your address, such as bringing a subscription magazine to the office, or else leaving it in your car such that someone could see it from the outside.

On a related note: if you live in a garden apartment complex, and if you have a car, then the management office probably wants to keep track of which cars are authorized to park. If the office does not keep a paper-based or computer file of license numbers and car model information, then probably they would require you to have an identifying sticker for your rear window or your bumper. If that sticker includes the name of your apartment complex, then be aware that you have given up some measure of privacy as to your address.

Later posts will cover other aspects of personal safety. I hope this initial post is useful.

The above content does not constitute legal advice and does not form an attorney-client relationship.

Calvin Sun, Attorney at Law, 610-296-3947, csun@calvinsun.com 

An early H-1B filing might mean less than full three years of H-1B time

Give up my daughter. That’s the price you pay for the life you choose.

The 1990 movie “The Godfather Part III” closes out the story of the Corleone family, and focuses in particular on the attempts of Don Michael Corleone to become legitimate, and on the transition in power from Michael to his nephew, Vincent. Treacherous enemies and an assassin are threatening Michael, who by now has become older and weary. But Michael has been concerned over a romantic relationship between Vincent and Michael’s own daughter, Mary (who therefore of course is Vincent’s first cousin). For this reason, Michael demands this ultimate choice from Vincent, before the latter can inherit command of the family.

You may never have to make this same choice between love for a first cousin versus control of a family. However, if you are seeking, for the first time, cap-subject H-1B status, you WILL have to choose between an early filing date for the petition, versus being able to have a full three years of H-1B time with that petition. YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH.

The reason for this situation involves the relationship between the labor condition application (LCA) and the H-1B petition, as well as the processing time for the LCA. As you may know, the LCA is the document in which your employer certifies that you are being paid at least the prevailing wage for your job and your geographic location.

Like the H-1B petition, an LCA can be filed up to six months in advance. In addition, like the H-1B petition, an LCA can request a period of up to three years.  However, the LCA must be filed and certified, and then included with the H-1B petition. That is, the LCA filing and certification must occur before you can file the H-1B petition.  Furthermore, the LCA typically requires about six to seven business days for the certification.  This processing time prevents you from getting a full three years of H-1B should you file on April 1. Here’s why.

Let’s say that you wanted to file your H-1B petition on April 1, 2014.  Doing so would allow you an H-1B period of October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2017.  However, the H-1B filing would need to include a certified LCA . Therefore, in order to have the certified LCA by April 1,  you would need to submit the LCA material about seven business days in advance of April 1, for example March 20.

If you submit the LCA on March 20, then specifying an October 1 LCA start date (to match the H-1B start date) would be IMPOSSIBLE, because October 1 is more than six months from March 20.   Rather, the latest that the LCA period could start would be September 20, and the longest it could run would be to September 19, 2017.  The government will not allow you have H-1B time that exceeds the end of your LCA time, so they will shorten your H-1B to end on September 19 rather than September 30.  In other words, you would lose 11 days of time at the end of the H-1B period.

If, on the other hand, you wanted a full three years of H-1B time, starting from October 1, 2014, you would need to submit your LCA no earlier than April 1, 2014.  You then would probably receive the certification around April 10, meaning that the earliest you could file your H-1B petition would be April 10 or later.  In this case, you could get a full three years. However, you would not be able to file right on April 1, but rather on April 10 or later, and therefore would run a greater risk that the cap will fill up in the meantime. In fact, as you probably know, in 2013 the cap ran out in the first five days of April.

If you are like my clients, you are unlikely to want a full three years of H-1B time, if having it means a late filing. In other words,

"Give up the full three years. That's the price you pay for the early filing you choose."

You are welcome to contact me at csun@calvinsun.com, 215-983-3723, 610-296-3947. This information is not legal advice and does not create an attorney/client relationship.

H-1B pitfalls to watch

So, Barzini will move against you first. He’ll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety. And at that meeting, you’ll be assassinated….Now listen: whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. (NIV) Proverbs 27:12

The classic 1972 movie The Godfather portrays the Corleones, a New York crime family headed by Don  (总) Vito Corleone, and depicts the transition in power from Vito to his youngest son, Michael. In particular, Vito has been concerned about the rival Barzini family, which has long been plotting against the Corleones. Perhaps knowing that his end is near, Vito counsels Michael on what to expect in terms of treachery from Barzini. On the DVD version, this dialog appears in scene 20, “I Never Wanted This for You.” http://youtu.be/fuWkcKbBQkg

You may never be in a position to become head of the Corleone family, nor may you ever need to fear assassination. Nonetheless, pitfalls await you during your stay in the U.S., particularly with respect to seeking H-1B status. I am not saying that any of these pitfalls will absolutely doom your petition, nor am I saying that heeding everything I say below will guarantee approval. Still, knowing about such pitfalls may increase your chances of success in this regard. I strongly suggest you pay heed even if your company has an attorney that is preparing your petition. A mistake by that attorney could be far less serious for that attorney than for you.

Here, like Michael Corleone’s Barzini meeting, are things to beware of:

-          Does the Department of Labor recognize your employer’s EIN?

Before your employer can file an H-1B petition, it must file and receive a certified labor condition application (LCA). In order to file an LCA, the employer’s employer identification number (EIN) must be recognized by the Department of Labor (DOL) computer system. In other words, simply having a valid EIN from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) might be insufficient, because the system of Department of Labor is separate from that of the IRS.

A delay in having a recognized EIN will delay the filing, and hence the receipt of a certified LCA, and thus will delay your H-1B petition filing. Such a delay could be fatal if as a result you miss the “cap full” date. For further information, you are welcome to visit

http://yi2min2.blogspot.com/2013/01/is-your-h-1b-employers-ein-recognized.html

I strongly suggest that ensuring a DOL-recognized EIN be the first step of your H-1B process. This verification can never occur early enough.

-          Premium processing might be irrelevant in the event of a lottery

In previous years, USCIS has stated that petitions that request premium processing receive no special consideration in a lottery. Assuming they are truthful, and assuming the same applies in the upcoming filing season, you may wish to consider your reasons, if any, for requesting premium processing. You might want peace of mind. Or, you or your employer might be cap-exempt, and you simply want to start work as soon as possible. On the other hand, if your sole reason is to have a better chance in the lottery, you might want to reconsider premium processing, because it might not give you a better chance at all. In that case, you would simply be wasting money.

-          Make sure of the filing address

The instructions for the H-1B petition will contain the address to which your completed petition and other materials should go. Read those particular instructions carefully, because filing at the wrong location could result in a delay or even a denial of your petition.

In general, those who work in the “east” will send petitions to the Vermont Service Center, while those who work in the “west” will send instead to California Service Center. However, historically, those petitions from an employer which is cap-exempt have gone to California regardless of work location, and the same might be true in the upcoming season. Furthermore, the respective service centers may have multiple addresses, in particular a street-and-number address as well as a post-office-box address. Be aware that most if not all courier services, such as Federal Express, will deliver ONLY to a street number/name address, NOT to a post office box address.

Therefore, read the mailing address instructions carefully.

-          Early delivery may kill your petition

The H-1B cap already is full for fiscal year 2014, that is, the fiscal year that ends September 30, 2014. For this reason, anyone subject to the cap who wishes H-1B status may begin only on October 1, 2014 or later—that is, fiscal year 2015. Under H-1B regulations, filing may begin a MAXIMUM of six months prior to a requested start date, so that the earliest one may file for an October 1 date is April 1, 2014.

Therefore, a petition that arrives at USCIS prior to April 1, which request an October 1 start date, IS SUPPOSED TO BE DENIED. That is, such a petition must arrive on April 1 or later, but no earlier.

For this reason, don’t get “cute” with trying to save money with courier services, by asking for “second day” or “third day” delivery. Keep in mind that generally speaking, a “third day” delivery, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean the courier will actually deliver exactly on the third day from your dropoff. Chances are, it means only that the courier commits to delivery NO LATER THAN that third (or second) day. In other words, if you mail three days before April 1, specify “third day delivery,” and expect delivery on exactly April 1, you might be rudely surprised. Depending on how busy the courier is, it might end up delivering early, say March 30 or 31. In most cases, customers would be happy at an early delivery. In your case, though, early delivery kills you. Therefore, I recommend you “bite the bullet” (that is, put up with the extra expense of next day delivery) and mail only ONE day before April 1, and make sure you AVOID same-day delivery. Trying to be “cute” with second- or third-day delivery is what Americans call being “penny-wise and pound foolish.”

By the way, in previous years, when a lottery arose, USCIS has stated that they accept petitions during the first FIVE days of April. However, none of my clients has ever been happy with, or wanted, anything later than April 1 delivery, and you probably are the same way.

-          Submit duplicate copies of the petition

Even if you request change of status to H-1B (from, for example, F-1) rather than consular processing (whereby you leave the US, or are already outside the US, and receive actual H-1B visa stamp at a US embassy or consulate), you STILL need to be concerned with embassies or consulates. One day, you might need to leave the US while in H-1B status, and therefore would need an H-1B visa in order to return. For this reason, you should submit a duplicate copy of your H-1B petition, and mark it clearly as such. This duplicate petition, assuming your original one is approved, will go to the Kentucky Consular Center, a facility of the US Department of State, and there it will be scanned into a computer system accessible by embassies and consulates worldwide. Therefore, when you have your visa interview, the consular officer theoretically will have access to your petition.

-          Separate checks for the filing fee

Your petition may involve as many as three separate filing fees: a base filing fee, a fraud prevention fee and an H-1B training fee. In addition, certain employers who have “many” H-1B or L-1 employees are subject to a separate additional fee. In any event, I recommend that you submit a separate check for each filing fee, even though the payee will be the same—US Department of Homeland Security. Having separate checks reduces the chances of an arithmetic error in calculating the total amount of a single check, and thus reduces the chances of denial on that basis. Of course, you will need to verify that you have accounted for all relevant fees and that your checks are in the correct amount for each fee.

-          Do you need a license?

Generally speaking, if your H-1B occupation requires a license or certificate, then you yourself must have such license or certificate at the time your employer files your petition. However, if for some reason you are exempt from any such requirement, be aware that simply relying on the boss’s “say so” might be insufficient for the petition. Americans will say that simply having the boss’s say-so “won’t fly.”  That is, simply having the boss say, in a letter, that you are exempt might not satisfy USCIS, and as a result you might get a request for evidence (RFE), asking for more proof of why you are exempt.

Rather, if you are exempt, you are better off if you can supply official documentation as to the reason, for example, a state statute or regulation. In other words, try to submit such evidence with the initial petition, thus reducing the chances (and resultant delays) of an RFE.

-          Certified translations

In the event you submit a document that is not in English, you must submit with it a certified translation. You may, but are not required to, use a professional translation service. In fact, you may even do the translation yourself. However, at the least you will need someone else to sign a statement to accompany the translation. That statement will certify that the signer is fluent in English and the other language, and that the document is truly what the certification says it is.

-          Official transcripts

In many, if not all cases, you will need to supply a transcript of your school work. Be aware that such a transcript must be official. That is, it should come from the office of your university that maintains the transcripts (generally the registrar). It should also contain the insignia of that office and be signed. Note, however, that while the transcript should be official, it need not necessarily be original. That is, a photocopy or scanned version is acceptable so long as, of course, the copy is accurate. I never have received any request to submit an original copy of a transcript.

I hope this information helps you.

Now listen: whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.

This information does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. You are welcome to contact me, Calvin Sun, at 610-296-3947 or 215-983-3723, or via email at csun@calvinsun.com. My avvo profile is at http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/19301-pa-calvin-sun-1935383.html

Make Sure About Your H-1B “Trapeze”

You probably have seen a flying trapeze act if you have ever been to a circus. Performers swing from a trapeze (that is, a swing) high above the floor. In particular, they will use multiple trapezes to move from one platform to another. To do so, of course, they must coordinate the trapeze they are on with the one they intend to change to. That is, at the time they let go of the first trapeze, they must make sure that the next one is right by them so they can grab it. Otherwise, they will fall.

This same situation pertains to obtaining more than three years of H-1B time. A person can have as many as six years of H-1B time, but any such petition for H1B status is limited to a maximum of THREE years. Therefore, a person who wishes more than three years must have an employer file a second “extension” petition later, as the time on the first petition is drawing to an end.

For purposes of the following discussion, assume that you have never had H-1B status prior to what I describe below.

Most of the time, the “second trapeze” of the H-1B extension already is waiting for you. For example, if your first status was with a cap-subject employer, then you would have been counted under the cap for that petition, so you would not be counted a second time. This cap-counted situation applies regardless of whether you remained with your same employer or whether you sought a new one. Furthermore, if your second employer itself is cap-exempt, you similarly would not have a cap problem.

You will need to be careful, however, if your first H-1B status is with a cap-exempt employer. Yes, you would have avoided, at the time of filing, many of the troubles your friends may have faced with their cap-subject petitions. They, for example, probably had to worry about whether their petitions were prepared and filed in time, whether they needed to face a lottery and whether or not they were selected in the lottery. However, if they got through those things, they generally would be “home free” with respect to the extension petition, because they have dealt with and conquered the cap problem already. They are like the person who had chicken pox as a child, and so need not worry about it later.

You, on the other hand, did not face these problems the first time, but you might face them the second time, i.e. with the extension. That is, you are like the one who still risks chicken pox through not having it as a child. Therefore, to reduce risk and the chances of problems, you might want to assess your situation and talk with your employer. Having assurance from your employer about continued employment would be helpful. Alternatively, having a second potential cap-exempt employer also would be helpful.

The WORST situation for you is to be caught off-guard near the end of your cap-exempt H-1B time, with no cap-exempt possibilities, and with the cap at that time already full. In this case, you will be leaving your current trapeze, but no second trapeze might be waiting for you. In this case, put another way, now you are facing your chicken pox.

This situation is occurring right now with a client who came to me recently. In 2012, before she knew me, she began H-1B status with a cap-exempt employer, and that status will end in the summer of 2014. The employer had made clear that it would offer only initial H-1B status, and no extension. However, the attorney who handled that petition apparently (and if so, then in my view, irresponsibly) never told her the implications of the summer ending date. As you probably know, the cap already is full for fiscal year 2014, that is, the year in which her initial H-1B is to expire. In fact, the cap filled up during the first five days of April 2013, the earliest time one could file to begin work October 1, 2013, that is, the first day of fiscal year 2014. At the present time, therefore, filing a cap-subject petition that would allow her to begin work in the summer of 2014 is impossible.

Be careful of this situation, if, like this client, your initial H-1B is at a cap-exempt employer. If you fail to find a cap-exempt status for your extension, you may even need to end your first H-1B time early, in order to have an October 1 start date at a cap-subject employer. In turn, in this case, an October 1 start date would require an April 1 filing date.  As you can see, careful planning and timing is critical. This process may be hard, but it might be the only way that you can begin your extension in time to avoid a cap problem.

You are welcome to contact me at 610-296-3947, 215-983-3723 or csun@calvinsun.com. The above information does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Don't Get Dog-bit

Being bitten by a dog is rarely pleasant, but it is something I need to discuss.

A guy (call him Guy 1) sees another guy (call him Guy 2) with a dog. Guy 1 asks Guy 2, “Does your dog bite?” Guy 2 says, “No.” Guy 1 reaches to pet the dog, which promptly bites him on the hand. Shocked, Guy 1 shouts to Guy 2, “You said your dog doesn't bite.”

Guy 2 responds, “That isn't my dog.”

I thought of this old American joke the other day, after getting a call from someone who wanted answers to some green card and F-1 questions. After I explained arrangements, he emailed back the next day, saying that he found answers on the Internet and therefore didn't need my help.

I responded that I hoped his sources and his information were correct.

However, after thinking some more, I realized that for this person, simply having correct information was not enough. That information had to actually apply to the person, that is, it had to be relevant. Otherwise, this person would be like Guy 1, who received correct information (i.e. that Guy 2’s dog did not bite) but for whom that information was irrelevant (because the dog by Guy 2 was not Guy 2’s dog at all).

You probably have done much searching on the Internet for information, and if so, I hope your information is correct, particularly if it relates to immigration. However, as with the person who called, make sure that your information—even if it is correct—actually applies to you. Everyone's situation is different. Your green card options and waiting times depend, for example, on (among other things) where you were born, what type of degree you have and whether your work benefits the national interest. Your H-1B options depend on whether or not your employer is exempt from the cap, and whether you yourself might be exempt, even though your employer isn't.

If you care only about the correctness of your information, and ignore its relevance, you could end up like Guy 1: dog-bit.

*************************************

You are welcome to contact me at csun@calvinsun.com, 215-983-3723, 610-296-3947. This information does not constitute legal advice.