Entries by Cyrus Mehta

WILL KAZARIAN CHANGE THE 0-1 VISA?

By Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta The value of the O-1 visa is its flexibility, an adaptive quality that enables it to respond to the different needs of different petitioners. Any formulaic approach that restricts the full and open expression of such subtlety not only reduces the value of the O-1 but undermines its […]

Immigrant Power: Naturalized American Wins Boston Marathon

Today is a day to celebrate. One year after the devastating bombings at the Boston Marathon, Meb Keflezighi won the Boston marathon. Keflezighi is a naturalized American. “I’m blessed to be an American and God bless America and God bless Boston for this special day,” Keflezighi said. Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/04/21/5753571/american-meb-keflezighi-wins-boston.html#storylink=cpy This victory resonates much […]

WHY WE SHOULD ALL BE MAD ABOUT THE H-1B VISA CAP

The USCIS announced today, April 9, 2014, that it had received 172,500 H-1B visa petitions for the 65,000 H-1B regular cap and the  20,000 additional cap for graduates with advanced degrees from US universities. This is much more than the 124,000 H-1B visa petitions the USCIS received in 2014. The H-1B cap makes no sense, […]

Obama’s Paradoxical Deportation Policies

President Obama has been called the Deporter in Chief as he has presided over nearly 2 million deportations during his presidency – higher than that of any other President. On the other hand, President Obama has also rolled out some of the most innovative prosecutorial discretion policies, which include granting deferred action to hundreds of […]

WAS THE ATTORNEY REALLY INEFFECTIVE IN KOVACS v. UNITED STATES?

In Kovacs v. United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower district court’s decision denying a writ of error coram nobis to vacate a 1999 guilty plea to misprision of felony on the ground that his lawyer rendered ineffective assistance. While the outcome of the Second Circuit’s decision […]

TRANSMISSION OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP THROUGH ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY – AN UPDATE

By Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” Lao –Tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC-531 BC) Ed. note – This article updates information from a previous piece, “Answer Man: Assisted Reproductive Technology and U.S. Immigration Law.” The Department of State has announced a major and most welcome […]

GOP PRINCIPLES ON IMMIGRATION – A PATH TO LEGAL STATUS

By Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta The Congressional Republicans finally issued a brief document outlining its principles on immigration on January 30, 2014. As anticipated, and unlike the Senate bill S. 744, the GOP proposes a path to legal status with no special pathway to citizenship. The document states: There will be no special path to citizenship […]