World Journal Weekly Q & A - September 4, 2011

Q & A 1.

Q&A 1.

Experienced Cook Who Just Came to U.S. Wonders How Long to Immigrate Through Restaurant Sponsorship.

A cook asks:

I am an experienced cook who came here a month ago under a visiting visa which allows me to stay until November 2011.  The restaurant now wants to hire me and to sponsor my green card.  How quickly can this be done?

Dear reader:

Unless you are a distinguished cook with reputation, you would find the waiting time long during which you would have to maintain a legal status.  The immigration law does not allow a regular experienced cook to stay here and work merely based upon the restaurant's having applied for the cook's permanent immigration.  The category under which most cooks with two years experience are categorized is the employment based third category which has a current waiting period of approximately six years for most of the world and seven years for China born.  That is approximately how long a regular cook would have to wait for immigration to occur.  In the meantime, the regular cook is usually not allowed to work or stay legally in the States unless he/she has some other type of longer lasting non-immigrant status than a visitor.  Some cooks attempt to become students under F-1 status; or try to qualify under other non-immigrant statuses of long duration.  Some decide (with the restaurants) to go home and only come back once the sponsorship process is completed.  Still others decide to remain here illegally.  The problem of the last choice is that the law presently does not allow most persons who are illegal to adjust status to permanent residence in the U.S. unless they are beneficiaries of Section 245(i), under which individuals must show that they have either had a labor certification application or immigrant visa petition filed on their behalfs by April 30, 2001, and were physically present in the U.S. on December 21, 2000.  If not qualified under Section 245(i), individuals can return overseas for interviews at American consulates or embassies  - however, most would be barred from returning to the U.S. for 3 or 10 years if they remained illegally in the U.S. for 180 days or one year respectively after April 1, 1997. 

Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.