On April 9, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) issued an important decision that will impact thousands of H-1B employers across the country. In its precedential decision, Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC, 26 I&N Dec. 542 (AAO 2015), the AAO held that when an H-1B employee changes his or her place of employment (worksite) to a new geographical area, it constitutes a “material change” in employment...

On April 7, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that the H-1B cap for Fiscal Year 2016 had been reached. As predicted, between April 1 and April 7, 2015 - the initial filing period for H-1B petitions for Fiscal Year 2016 – USCIS received more than the maximum number of H-1B petitions filed by U.S. Employers on behalf of professional foreign workers in a specialty occupation. In the...

On April 1, 2015, attorney Jennifer Casey became a Partner at Kolko & Associates, P.C. For me personally, this is an important announcement and milestone for the firm, and is my way of recognizing the legal talent, sincere dedication, and genuine friendship that Jennifer provides to our mission that was started by me over 15 years ago. During the past five years, Jennifer has made outstanding contributions to our law practice as...

Over the past decade L-1B specialized knowledge petitions for foreign national employees have slowly become the bane of multinational companies’ existence.   The L-1B non-immigrant visa was introduced in 1970 as a way to facilitate international businesses’ ability to facilitate the management and transfer of foreign national employees from offices abroad and thus more efficiently manage their workforce.  The L-1B program allows multinational companies to temporarily transfer foreign national employees from...

Respondents in removal proceedings have been having their upcoming hearings rescheduled in recent months, to a date in 2019. This date happens to be the day following Thanksgiving in 2019. Over the past several months, many immigration courts around the country, including Denver, have been vacating or cancelling scheduled hearings and resetting those hearings to November 29, 2019. This date, however, is merely a “place holder” on the court’s docket to...

For several years now, USCIS has permitted its customers to update gender markers on their immigration documents, such as work permits, green cards, and other documents. The process for doing so is a very relaxed process. Transgender and intersex people can file fairly easily-accessed documentation, and USCIS has been very responsive to those who wish to update their records. This process was memorialized with temporary guidance issued by the agency on...

In the world of temporary employment visas, the Q-1 Visa is often overlooked as a good solution for businesses in need of employees with specific language and cultural backgrounds. The Q-1 visa is an international cultural exchange visa that allows employers to bring in employees or trainees for participation in an approved international cultural exchange program. The purpose of the Q-1 Visa is for foreign national employees to transmit their cultural...

Kolko & Associates, P.C., is pleased to announce that Senior Associate Attorney, Bryon M. Large, has been invited to present to the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) at its annual conference, being held this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 6, 2015. Bryon will be presenting on complex grounds of inadmissibility and waivers, discussing criminal grounds of inadmissibility, fraud, administrative processing, and...

Kolko & Associates, P.C., is pleased to announce that Managing Partner David Kolko and Partner Jennifer Casey have been asked to present at the Colorado Bar Association's Continuing Legal Education Program.  Each year, the CBA holds a day-long immigration program, for continuing legal education credits. Mr. Kolko and Ms. Casey have been asked to speak on nonimmigrant business visas. The program will be held on April 21, 2015, at the CBA's...

Kolko & Associates, P.C., is pleased to announce that Senior Associate Attorney Bryon M. Large will be discussing immigration issues related to the transgender community at the University of Colorado's TRANSforming Gender Symposium, being held in Boulder, Colorado, on March 13th and 14th. Bryon is the Vice-Chair of the LGBT Working Group, and advisory committee to the 13,000 member American Immigration Lawyers Association. He has an extensive background working on issues...

Kolko & Associates, P.C., is pleased to announce that its Managing Partner, David Kolko, has been invited to speak at the AILA Texas Chapter Spring Conference, being held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 24-25, 2015. Mr. Kolko has been invited to participate, discussing Motions to Reopen before the Immigration Court. 

Kolko & Associates is honored to have two of our attorneys invited to speak at the Annual Conference hosted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). AILA is a 13,000 member strong organization dedicated to the enrichment of the practice of immigration law. This year's conference, being held at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., will take place June 17th through the 20th. Managing Partner David Kolko will be...

Kolko & Associates is honored to be sending two of our attorneys to Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2015, to sit with Colorado's delegation to Congress to discuss immigration issues affecting Colorado. Each year, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, or AILA, holds a lobbying day, called the National Day of Action, where association members travel to D.C. to meet with their states' congressional delegation. Managing Partner David Kolko and Senior Associate...

USCIS has announced that it will extend employment authorization to some non-immigrants in H-4 visa status. This is very welcome news for spouses of some H-1B visa holders. Beginning May 26, 2015, some H-4 visa holders will be granted employment authorization. To qualify, the H-4 visa holder must be married to an H-1B visa holder. In addition, the H-1B visa holder must either be the beneficiary of an approved Form I-140...

On February 16, 2015, a federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts the implementation of the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans & Residents (DAPA) programs. The expansion of DACA and the DAPA programs were announced as a part of President Obama’s Executive Immigration Action plan on November 20, 2014. Effect of the Temporary Injunction on...

USCIS’s preview instructions for the updated DACA request form, Form I-821D, show that DACA requesters may additionally apply for advance parole at the same time as filing for DACA. This appears to be available for both initial requesters and DACA renewals. Effectively, this means that DACA requesters will not have to wait until their DACA request is approved to send in their advance parole (travel permit) filing. Both packets can be...

On June 15, 2012, President Barack Obama announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that allows individuals who were brought to the United States when they were under age 16, to apply for Deferred Action and Employment Authorization if they had resided in the United States for at least 5 years, were enrolled in school in the United States or had graduated from school, did not have any serious...

The Mexican government announced this month that starting January 15, 2015, all Mexican consulates in the United States will begin issuing certified copies of birth certificates for births registered in Mexico. This new policy will be of great assistance to the many Mexican nationals residing the United States in obtaining these vital records. In order to obtain a certified copy of their birth certificate, Mexican nationals will need to visit their...

On December 15, 2014, in a completely unprecedented move, the Colorado Bar Association’s (CBA) Executive Committee met and unanimously voted to provide matching funds of up to $50,000 in order to fund the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) Children’s Program (http://www.rmian.org/childrens-program/) and to provide legal services to Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Removal Proceedings. CBA President Charles F. Garcia highlights the CBA’s action in his article, “Children on the Run,” published...

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced that applications for the expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will be available starting February 18, 2015. On June 15, 2012, the Obama Administration initially announced DACA as a program to benefit a group commonly referred to as the “DREAMERs” - children who were brought to the United States at a young age and grew up in this country but...