There are certain occupations that the Department of Labor (DOL) has pre-certified, which means that the DOL accepts that there are not a sufficient number of qualified and available U.S. workers. The following Schedule A occupations have been predetermined by the DOL: Group I-Physical Therapists and Nurses; and Immigrants of exceptional Ability in the sciences…
Category Archives: Blogs
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USCIS Relaxes 60 day Filing Requirement For I-693 Medical Reports
USCIS has announced that it will not require applicants to file their medical report within 60 days of the civil surgeon signing the I-693. This is effective December 9, 2021 and will remain the case until September 30, 2022. Previously, USCIS had required applicants applying for adjustment of status to submit their medical report within…
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2021: A Year in Review
Staying on top of the ever-shifting sands of Immigration is no easy task. While 2021 did not see the kind of drastic changes which we saw in the previous 4 years under the Trump administration, there were still significant changes, nonetheless. For the immigration community, most of these changes were much more favorable, especially for…
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An Overview of the H-1B Process
The H-1B visa is one of the most utilized visas by employers to bring foreign talent to the U.S. The H-1B program is intended to allow employers to hire foreign workers temporarily, where such skills cannot be found domestically. The H-1B program is available for specialty occupation workers and fashion models of distinguished merit and…
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Guide to Business Entities
Businesses can be categorized by law in several manners. And these classifications matter when it comes to determining how a business is recognized, how it’s taxed, and the personal liability, or lack thereof, of the business owners. Knowing how their business is set up and how it is categorized under the law is crucial for…
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A (Very) Basic Introduction to Estates in Land
As with most legal concepts, the question of real estate ownership is not simply a yes or no proposition – like cakes and onions, the answer has layers. Specifically, the various rights accompanying real property ownership can vary in kind, degree, and duration, and include – but are most certainly not limited to – the…
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Hold Everything In Confidence: Confidential vs Privileged Information
Texas attorneys generally must keep all information relating to a client or furnished by the client confidential. This duty far outstrips what most people think about as “confidential”—it includes the identity of the client, the fact that the attorney and the client communicated, even information that is publicly available, such as whether the client is…
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Travel Ban To Be Lifted Starting November 8, 2021
The White House recently announced the lifting of the travel ban, which has barred tens of thousands of foreign travelers from entering the U.S. Instead, the U.S. will require foreign travelers to provide proof of vaccination prior to departure. Our original article on this can be found at: https://www.patellegal.com/biden-administration-to-lift-travel-ban-and-allow-vaccinated-travelers-to-enter-the-u-s/ Further details of the new travel…
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My Case Went To Mediation… What Is Mediation?
Short Answer: Mediation is where each party sits in a separate room with their attorney and the mediator walks back and forth between rooms and talks to the parties to see whether they want to settle the case. Longer Answer: Mediation is a forum in which an impartial person—the mediator—facilitates communication between parties to promote reconciliation,…
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November Visa Bulletin Disappoints, Especially For EB-3 Applicants
The November visa bulletin was just released and has left many applicants disappointed, especially those who filed a downgrade from EB-2 to EB-3. However, this was to be expected, based on Charlie Oppenheim’s comments during his last YouTube video, as well as the comments at the bottom of last month’s visa bulletin. Charlie confirmed, during…