There will be a fee increase for the US non immigrant visas effective November 1, 2002. The MRV fee increases from $65 to $100. The demand for the non immigrant visas has decreased due to the tightened security measures after the September 11 attacks. Therefore the MRV fee increase is taken as an emergency measure to meet the costs of processing the Non immigrant visas.

    This visa is also known as the Intra-Company Transferee visa. It is the cornerstone of immigration for multinational businesses. This visa allows employees who are executives or managers of  multinational companies to come to the U.S. and aid their offices in the U.S. It is also useful for positions requiring specialized  knowledge within the company.
    Another possiblity under this visa is the creation of a new office or branch of a foreign company here in the United States. At Smith, White,Sharma & Halpern, we provide advice to foreign companies as to the viability of this option for them and aid in the process of  starting the new branches in the U.S.
 
E-2 Visa
 
    The status under this visa is as a Treaty Investor. This is a long-lasting non-immigrant visa. Although each trip may only be one year in length, the visa is renewable for five-year periods and can be renewed  indefinitely.This visa is for investors who wish to invest a substantial amount of capital in some U.S. enterprise.The INS has approved amounts as low as $50,000, however, a case like that is very rare, and a good rule of thumb is that the minimum amount is $200,000.
 
H-1B Visa

     The H-1B Visa is for professionals in specialty occupations.This term covers a wide variety of industries and the INS is constantly  changing and adding to the type of professsionals that may use this category. We provide legal assistance to a large number of persons applying for this type of visa. This visa is for the temporary employment of these professionals.This intent must be present at the time of application by both the employer and the employee.
 

EB-2 Visa

     This is a permanent immigrant status visa. It allows investors of a large amount of capital to apply for a green card and to receive permanent immigrant status in the United States. Ordinarily, the INS requires an investor to commit one million dollars to the enterprise. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule that our law firm finds extremely beneficial to our clients, where this minimum is reduced by one half.This is an extremely attractive option because it allows a person to obtain a permanent green card, not just a temporary visa.

Other Visas

      Even though the visas outlined above are often the most useful to our clients, there are numerous other options. They range from family-based permanent visas to student visas to highly specialized visas. Our office is able to provide legal advice and assistance with any and all visa categories.