Come down to Georgia Tech a few times now over the last maybe even year and a half or so and I love to come down and talk about the post and sort of the nuts and bolts of. The transition into work visas and different options in entrepreneurial ship and things like that so today is going to be a little bit different but of course there might be some overlap of course so again my name's Danielle Claffey I've been with Cook immigration here in Atlanta for a bit over ten years now just to give you a little idea of my background of course I knew nothing about immigration law or what it meant to immigrate to the United States you know I have this cushy privilege of being born here never having to worry about a visa or green card or Priority Dates or waiting or any of that stuff I sort of fell into it when I got out of I graduated from U.G.A. So hopefully you'll still accept me after that but I just got a job as an immigration paralegal and knowing nothing about it but knowing I'd be dealing with you know foreign governments and things like that I loved it I did it for about two and a half years and so I decided to go to law school and then basically started begging Chuck cook for a job about midway through law school and he finally responded back to me when I physically walked in once I knew I had passed the bar and so that was ten years ago ten and a half years ago so it's what I've been doing ever since I think for today's purposes since we're kind of a smaller group and it's not the traditional topic that I've talked about when I come down here I just want to make sure that you know if anybody has any questions or wants to talk about anything specific just raise your hand ask the question I don't mind at all so even whether it's employment or student or family based or anything like that feel free to feel free to just raise your hand OK. So I think Chase and I talked a little bit where he had said you know maybe we'll talk about this or talk about just some suggestions so I think what we're going to start with knowing that we're trying to focus on the executive orders in our. Current administration and enforcement and things like that kind of want to start off by giving an idea and a bit of more background of what it means what an executive order actually means because a lot of us sort of have the perception that you know laws are passed Congress you know Senate House Representatives it's got to go through all this two thirds vote things like that before something can become law how does the president have the power or authority just to sign his name off and be able to make something so right it just seems like that seems a bit excessive in terms of the power you know that one person should have even though he's the president of the United States so really what it means is and of course every new or incoming president or somebody running for president like when Trump was running says Obama had all these executive orders that he signed in without authority and he should have done in any sign so many Well then incomes Trump and before you know it he's already on par for far exceeding the number of executive orders that Obama ever signed off on so how does it actually happened well it's actually constitutionally based where the president has such great power that he does actually have the authority to issue these executive orders but there are still limitations to it so basically what it means is the president has every right to issue this executive order whatever executive order it might be OK but where the limitations come into play is if Congress finds that they are so displeased with whatever this particular executive order is that they want to take action and do something about it they still can it's not as though he's completely all powerful and can't be restricted or restrained in any way so Congress could come in and limits the power of the executive order overrule the executive order amend a prior law in order to do. Then speed able to supersede whatever this executive order is they do have the power to do that but then in turn just as with any other law that's passed the president has power to veto it so it's really a matter that it can go back and forth back and forth OK So that's the reason and so when we look at it we see obviously Trump assigned I think it's like fifty something executive orders to date so far why hasn't Congress challenge any of these executive orders any thoughts because it's a Republican run Congress right so there's not a whole lot that's coming out even though there is some displeasure and some you know that have spoken out against some of the things that he's done and so on but overall when we're talking about the majority none of it really at this stage is going to be strong enough to to really fly in the face of the executive orders that he's issuing So that's why we are stuck with some of these executive orders that he's signing off on so how else can we challenge them of course in court all executive orders are subject to judicial review which is why the moment that the first executive order right was was implemented there was immediately lawsuits flying out everywhere right so that that's what started the ball rolling so there was the first executive order lawsuits immediately Hawaii Maryland so on you know so all these states are filing lawsuits against the federal government challenging the executive orders citing and making the arguments that they are clearly discriminatory on their face that they're clearly meant to target individuals of specific religion targeting Muslims and that there is no lawful basis and that it's in complete violation of the Constitution and of our laws so we least know the first one was challenge and there was there were injunctions immediately issued that basically put a stop to them that's what injunctions do they say can't move forward with this law you can't implement it it cannot be active until the courts say otherwise and until the case overall. Has been fully heard arguments and a final decision from the court so then he said well let me try a second time so he got a few more staffers and assistants and research and tried to then implement a second executive order what happened with that one immediately there were lawsuits that filed that said this is no different than the first one is still completely restrictive it's still completely discriminatory obviously it's targeting Muslims and so on so then there was a and then at that point were getting into the spring starting into the summer so then those lawsuits were going to come together and be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States and it was they were set to be heard for oral arguments coming this fall in October right so that's where it was all left thinking OK we probably got a good argument here seems fairly sound so what is the president do in response he issued a third and that's where we are now executive order drop some countries added other countries and what he did this time that's different than what he had done with the two previous executive orders is they really took the time to make an effort to try to strategize a stronger underlying basis to be able to get away from the perception that it was just strictly a Muslim band so they did that a couple of ways one of the ways that they did that is he got a team together to really research not only not focusing on what our what the United States government requires for vetting for issuance of visas green cards nonimmigrant visa and so on but they actually did research into the countries that are listed on this ban to determine what those countries vetting procedures are in order to really research and say well how what are their security measures how are they vetting their own nationals to determine whether their citizens are security threats and so on so they carefully constructed that and use that as the underlying basis to. To implement that third band that we now have in place OK because they felt that that would be a stronger basis it would sort of shifted away from the focus of the Muslim band and what else did they do anybody know what other countries were to other countries they added on to this existing travel ban or from the second version North Korea Venezuela OK So those are the two other countries what are they not majority they're not majority Muslim countries right so that was another way that it wasn't blatantly stated but of course it was another way that really the administration felt like it could pass muster is if they said well we have these two other countries now there are a security risk we really have to make sure they're vetting you know their individuals their citizens properly we don't have obviously very good relationship with North Korea or Venezuela so the government the administration's interpretation is well if we don't have a good relationship with them they're not willing to work with us to provide us the necessary info on their nationals and those who are being a minute to the United States therefore they're now going to be on the list so what it does is it is it softens the idea that it's strictly just a Muslim ban now of course Venezuelans I have plenty of Venezuelan clients and those previous to the ban being in minutes the United States and so on but in reality how many North Korean friends or individuals do you all know living in residing here in the United States right any at all know if they're lucky enough to be able to escape and get out of their country most are in South Korea or surrounding But we don't see them coming to the United States it makes no sense other then obviously the reason that we see behind it so that's where we are right now the latest ban September twenty seventh I think was the latest the third travel ban that was implemented so it's got those list of countries now where it distinguishes not every country has the same. Directions I even had to go back and look myself to make sure that I could remember which countries have which restrictions because if I'm talking to you honestly I practice immigration law every single day I file cases every single day this specific travel ban doesn't touch on me or my clients every single day it's not something that comes up all the time because the vast majority of my clients are already in the United States or either in lawful status or maybe not in lawful status and that's a completely different world that I tend to you know talk to groups about and things like that but the fact is it's not something we deal with every day but what's important to you guys or to anybody who might be on that list or national or citizen of one of the countries on that list right so it's important to know that certain countries they have restricted the issuance of new visas so if you already have it. Potentially you're fine but what does it also say in the language of the travel bans it's still sad as that those individuals even if they do have permission to enter may still be subject to additional vetting you know more security measures and things like that so if I have a client who I'm saying let's file your change of status application from an F one you may be an open status and you have a job offer from a company we're going to change your status to an H. one B. but your native in citizen of Iran or or some other country on the list and then it's fine in the United States if you're able to change your status that might be OK because you're physically present but what if you need to travel home for some reason what if you want to travel home what if you want to travel home for holidays so I tend to play things conservative that even if it's not a specific restriction on the travel ban you know I still right now may be advising against all travel. Internationally if it can be helped particularly if you absolutely have to try to apply for a new visa but even if you have a visa and you're on the list of countries. It just concerns me because there is that gray area to say you know somebody may still be subject to additional vetting and so on so who knows what can happen at a port of entry who knows what can happen when somebody is trying to reenter the United States I always have to I mean I have clients ask me all the time well can I definitely reenter you know I have this I have that I don't have a criminal history that may legally prevent me but so I'll be able to get back in fine right I can't ever give any guarantees so especially in this sort of climate am I going to be completely comfortable with telling you guys sure you have absolutely no problem traveling at all yeah you'll be admitted if you're on the list of countries I'm not I'm not I'm just not comfortable saying that at this point I don't want to run into that particular issue so of course I'm inviting anybody right now if you can help traveling and if you are on the list of one of those countries you know please think twice about it if it's not an absolute emergency if it's not absolutely necessary travel so then I have the question a lot of times is well what if I'm already in the United States and I'm in valid status can they take my visa can they take my lawful status from me can they remove me from the United States you know what can they do I've even had permanent residence meaning green card holders say Am I allowed to travel am I going to be readmitted to the United States again I fall back to I can never guarantee but again if you're a lawful permanent resident of the United States you've already been approved No you should not have any problem traveling at the same time if I have somebody who is from one of those countries prepare yourself for extra vetting prepare yourself to potentially be pulled into secondary when you're coming into the airport prepare yourself for those things because I just can't guarantee that we're not in a time where we're facing situations like that. Have I had clients not necessarily students per se but clients who were in the United States in lawful status because they entered with a visa and then they filed an application so I'll give you a real case example real life example husband wife or a lawful in the United States filed for asylum natives and citizens of Russia presently in the United States unlawful status doing nothing wrong committing no crimes not violating the law in any way shape or form one day they are stopped by local law enforcement they are stopped by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement directly five minutes after they leave their house and so the story goes the reason they were pulled over is because Russia had issued an Interpol warrant for this particular individual for the husband alleging that he had been involved in criminal activity and so on OK so there may have been a time when Russia would issue an Interpol warrant for one of their citizens who is now in the United States where that may have not been acted upon by Earth Ortiz but the difference is now is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement everything enforcement is on such a spike and so high that we can't guarantee that So now we're in a time where our own authorities the U.S. government that is meant to in cases like this if we're talking about asylum that are meant to protect those individuals will receive what's called a red notice warrant from Russia take it at face value and go and find that person and pick them up no questions asked at all that's it they believe he's guilty Russia says he committed a crime or government looks at it and says Yep he committed a crime. Is there any evidence or in the language not really there are some court documents that I've had translated so now I'm in the position where this husband has been detained for the last month and a half simply based on where. Authority and simply based on an alleged conviction in Russia of which now I'm having to basically retry the criminal case from Russia here in the United States and our government refuses to release him on bond and refuses to allow him to return home while we're going through this entire process just because they're taking it at face value and believe him to be a criminal so did he violate the law at all did he do anything wrong here he's done nothing wrong but now we're facing detention for this individual for the next several months while we are preparing an asylum application to try to fight his case in court so then what we have to deal with is what are the chances we're going to be successful with his asylum application in court does anybody know anything about asylum and removal proceedings and what it ever means of somebody ends up in immigration court again this is so I practice immigration law I cover all areas of immigration law and not just employment student visas what to do after you graduate but I do the whole other side of things where people end up in deportation proceedings and things like that and the reason it's actually important bring up in this context is it's not to scare anybody but when I start seeing examples like this where somebody has done nothing wrong but for driving to work with a valid driver's license in lawful status with an application pending and they get picked up I'd say it's worth talking about all right so that's actually a reason that I'm talking about it so it's not to scare it's just to really give people a greater sense of what's actually going on right now with enforcement so now I have to try this case in in immigration court mid January as his trial date I'm facing a judge who's grant rate of asylums in the Atlanta immigration court is he has a ninety seven point five percent denial rate of all asylum applications that are presented before him and that's an average over the last five years from two thousand and twelve until the present. So what are this man's chances I mean that's just that's what we're facing at this point. So what I. We kind of want to talk about more is how some of this in four spend in these executive orders how do I think that they can really affect where you all are you know possibly here on F one's or Jay is or transitioning to a P.T. status or possibly having you know work visa applications filed on your behalf and things like that so I just want to talk about real life not the things that are in the executive orders but what we're actually seeing happening happening on the ground I think mostly with respect to transitioning into the workforce and being able to get jobs and things like that So first what was the first thing we saw with H. one B.'s If anybody is familiar with H one B. these you know initially there's always been something called Premium Processing right where you can file to premium process your application that means the employer submit the petition but then also request Premium Processing which is supposed to issue meaning a decision within fifteen days unless there's a request for additional evidence issued right so one of the first things he did is he froze all Premium Processing of all H. one B. petitions for six months OK now that's gone away finally so we can do we can use Premium Processing again but one what was even the purpose of it what was the underlying basis what was the thought behind it we don't even know we just know now it's back in effect and it's OK but it doesn't mean he's not going to do something tomorrow so what else have we seen we've seen a huge Lee significant increase on the number of requests for evidence that have been issued for H. one B. filings So basically requests for evidence I don't know if anybody's ever gotten one before for other types of applications requests for evidence just means that the U.S. C.I.S. officer doesn't have all the evidence they think that they need in order to do to Kate a petition so they issue requests for evidence and they say we want this that any other so we used to routinely file each one B S N L ones and zero one zero all sorts of things no problem get them improve some. Times we get requests for evidence but it was definitely the minority now we're just seeing them more and more and some of the requests we're seeing are substantial requests for evidence so we know that all employment based visas across the board are really really under heightened scrutiny and now is that something that's referenced in the travel ban or other executive orders or are there specific regulations no there's not I mean there's references in the travel bans in terms of what types of visas are being restricted but know the difference between a visa and a petition so if you know this the visa is what governs your ability to enter the United States right that's what those travel bans talk about but having an approved petition an H. one B. petition or no one petition or an L. one petition that is the petition that's filed that if it proves governs your ability to work for an employer in the United States that does not govern your ability to come into the U.S. So the proof petition is for working here the corresponding visa is your permission to enter and OK so if you let's say all of you guys are here an F one is currently or no P.T. status and then you have an employer that's willing to sponsor you for an H one B. or no one right and so you file a change of status petition from F one to H. one B. or A one when that gets approved assuming you have no other bars or barriers you begin working in your H. one B. or Euro status upon the approval usually it's October one for the H. one B.'s unless there are certain exemptions that allow you to do it any time throughout the year and no one's there's no restrictions they can get filed at any time so soon as it's approved whatever that approval date is October first or otherwise you begin working here OK that's no problem at all but you may actually still have that F. one visa in your passport right so sometimes I have a lot of students that are confused on that issue and they say well what do I do now is. Am I an F one status or am I No one status or each on the set of course you're in H one B. or O. or whatever your status is in the United States but it still means that the second that you leave the United States for any reason you cannot reenter on that F. one visa you always have to then apply for the corresponding visa that matches what your statuses So that's why I'm still even hesitant at this point anybody on the list of countries and so on. To be careful and to be weary and to always make sure that you're talking to an immigration attorney if you have that approved petition here in the U.S. but then you find the need to have to travel make sure you are talking to an attorney first because I don't want anybody to be stuck in the business where they have the approval of status here in the US They think they're perfectly fine should have no problem at all but then they travel abroad to go apply for a visa and before you know what they're finding some restriction at the consulate abroad where they're not issue that to come back into the United States so that that's certainly an issue to always consider. Here's another tip too I oftentimes have a lot of individuals who are the beneficiaries of his arose so on that make appointments with me and come see me and say Well I actually have my you know I'm working for an employer we're going through the process where in each of these being file for me but I want to ask these questions and I don't seem to get a lot of information because the immigration attorney or the employer tells me that you know the immigration attorney represents the petitioner so I have a hard time getting a lot of information well the the issue hair is that you guys are the ones that are dealing with these issues right with your ability to remain in the United States and status you need to know how to be able to conduct your travel maybe there might be family you know you might have dependent family members and so on so the way that we proceed with that is and I'll explain this to you so if you ever run into it in the future anytime I have a corporate client hire me. The corporate client the company is my client OK first but then that company wants to file a petition for you OK and they want to file an H. one B. for you so my obligation is always to the company because that's who I'm representing and they're filing then a petition on your behalf but invariably Of course the beneficiaries are always going to have questions again because they need to figure out their life right the way that we proceed is I will always answer questions to the beneficiary a lot of times you may ask questions to each our Can you answer this king you answer sometimes they can but a lot of times they can't so the position that we take is we always make sure that we're responding as responsive to you guys as we possibly can be because you need to know what to do right now if it ever comes down where there's an issue where there's a conflict between the employer and the beneficiary I do have to remind that the employer is my client right so if there's ever any breakdown or something like that happens like for instance I can have a beneficiary employee come to me and say I really hate my job I found somebody who's willing to sponsor me I want to change jobs can I do that can you help me I can even hear that I can help you I can't do that because again the employer is my client so I can't have the employee go behind their back come to me and say hey I need legal advice can you help me out that's where I have to draw the line I can't do that but am I always willing to answer questions for you so just know that in the future if you're ever dealing with an employment based situation and you're finding it difficult to get questions answered and things like that you always can it least seek out advice from another immigration attorney just to simply ask questions there's nothing wrong with doing that you guys need to know to you know how to how to proceed with things OK So that's just kind of another thing that I want to talk about. Something else to show how increased betting and things like that once anybody know what zero ones are positions for extraordinary ability exceptional ability so the corresponding green card thing is extraordinary ability to show the. You're at the very risen to the very top of your field that it's a specialty field so no one in zero one is valid for three years and then can be renewed indefinitely in one year increments certainly can lead to green card and so on so when we file a One's Ones are very voluminous in terms of the evidence that's required so we have to show that the person meets at least three of a criteria meaning they've received national or international awards of a claim that they've been published that they've published journal articles that they've been written up in you know magazines or in the newspaper or social media things like that again because they are at the absolute pinnacle of the field that they're in or they're doing you know new innovative research things like that so for instance right now I'm working on one for somebody who's Portuguese and what would normally otherwise have been a straightforward one filing because there was voluminous evidence of it well published extensively they now issued a request for evidence and one of the primary things they're asking for are full and complete translations of every single journal article that he's ever authored now in the past what we always do as a matter of practice is we would do abstract translations summaries translations make sure that we're citing of course to the author or to you know how he cited the work that he's doing and do a detailed summary translation but they literally just issued this request for evidence and he's been published fifty plus times among many other things every single document we have submitted they now want a full complete So if we if you were to journal article that was published that's eight or ten pages every single word translated now so that's just another example it's not written into the regulations it's not referenced in any travel bans but it's just another example of something that we're now dealing with and we're facing that we know from now on any zero one. That I have after this if I need any translations I'm going to have to explain to all of my clients look we can try to do summary or abstract translations but I'm telling you right now there's a very good chance we're going to come back in one full translations for every single document that we submit So those are just some of the things that we're facing in this environment so and I just want to say does anybody have any questions or any particular Yeah. Yeah so so the question was about NAFTA and what's going to happen with T N So I don't know if there are any Mexican Canadians in the room besides one of course right here asking the question of course I don't know if there are any others but basically so it C.N. is a type of work be said that's reserved specifically for Kenyans and Mexicans and it's through the NAFTA treaty agreements so if anybody heard on the news you know there was discussion about it initially when he first became president then it kind of got quiet and then all of us you know where he said it's not working for us it only works for them you know we're always the ones that are on the losing end of all these trade agreements and he seems that they are terrible but just about I think maybe six weeks ago again the issue came up and there was a lot of discussion behind it so I don't know yet what's going to happen if I had to predict what I think might happen I see more than likely. That's my opinion I think there's a good chance that it may go away in terms of with respect to the United States from the latest that I heard I did hear that there were discussions between Canada and Mexico that they may renegotiate the agreement but leaving the United States out of it. So that's actually what may happen and I would not be surprised in lease if that's what does happen but I haven't heard anything else recently. I mean it's not a bad idea certainly if you know if you have an employer who's willing to sponsor you I know the downside of course is the lottery and that's the downside so I don't know how many of you are from mil you're with the H. one B. process and the lottery and so on of course I know a lot of you are most if not all of you are going to be are going to have STEM degrees where you'd be eligible for not only the twelve months but the full thirty six months in STEM and so H. one B.'s are difficult because they're subject to a lottery you know it's something like twenty eight percent or so get selected and of course that they're easier to year but on average about twenty eight percent or so of H. one B. petitions that are filed are selected in the lottery so what that means is come January all our corporate clients are talking to us the new ones higher and say hey we're going to file an H. one B. we get them already and we file them all on April first every single H.B. across the country unless they are exempt for reasons meaning they are a nonprofit organization an institution of higher education public university there's all these small category that are exempt from that April one filing deadline but otherwise they all get filed in April one and then in the coming weeks of through May we get receipt notices back meaning that it's been accepted or we get rejections back meaning we get the full package back and says you have not been selected in the lottery Good luck trying X. year right and so that's what happens because again we're looking at a small percentage of them that they get accepted if they are accepted into the lottery for processing then we'll usually see a decision hopefully an approval toward the mid end of September and the reason is because again all of those that are subject to that lottery all are going to have October one start dates for the twenty's so any of it is the lottery they're going to be filed in April but you cannot start working until October one that's going to be the start see for the each one be OK Now the reason they can still be beneficial is because if you are a stem grad in particular you're going to have several chances to hopefully get selected in that lottery So that's number one so if your employer is really happy with you let's say you're. You're working for an employer who says we're really happy with you we want to get seen each one be right so they file an H. and B. doesn't get selected they can you can keep filing for an H. one B. each year so long as you're still here and you still have a P.T. time left you can potentially benefit from from a few H. one B. filings and hopefully you'll get lucky at some point and get selected and that the additional benefit is if you have a masters degree then or at least a masters or higher so master's P.C. or so on you can then benefit from the extra twenty thousand on top of the existing sixty five thousand H. one B.'s that are a lot of through that lottery OK minus a few because of Chile and Singapore those are there's a specific number set aside for those countries but otherwise so if you've got a masters degree or a Ph D. You then get put into the first lottery the Masters kept first for an extra twenty thousand if you get selected great if you don't then they put you in the general lottery so that gives you two chances each time over the course of a few years to get selected in each one the lottery so as much as the lottery sounds really daunting on the flip side of it you know there are actually multiple chances for you to get picked and we've done it time and time again where we filed multiple H. one B.'s and somebody finally gets picked OK The other thing to keep in mind though while you're doing that is really consider the possibilities of looking into direct pasts to green cards while you are going through this OK because if you're invalid O.P.C. set us for three years on and working on something really great doing some great research developing something whatever it is talk to an attorney or look into the possibility of going down a path of either an easy one or two and I don't know if you guys know what that is or familiar with that so even when you get to be three that's all referencing the green card side of things and employment wise meaning a path as to how you can file for a green card independent of your underlying temporary status whether it's O.P.C. or you end up with an H. one B. or no one or whatever so I have. Individuals who may not even be at the stage where they're where they're being petition for by an employer but they're doing in great research and working on projects and working as a research scholar research assistant so on and they show me these resumes where they've been again well published and been doing you know specific research for the last several years and they talk and say hey my eligible possibly to just file for a green card independently without employer sponsorship and the answer to that is yes so there are really options that you all should be looking into I mean we're certainly in a time where where you really have to look out for yourself and sometimes carve your own path to green card if you feel like you're really not going to get the support of an employer you're having a tough time finding that support or an employer willing to petition for you so the important thing there is most times filing for a green card whether it's under the E B three category or sometimes under the category you have to have employment sponsorship which means you have to start that process by your employer filing a labor cert application on your behalf which is an application of the Department of Labor that tests the labor market OK which is where they are testing the market to see if you are the most qualified individual for the position or if there are other U.S. workers that are equally or more qualified than you and they have to go through that complicated process first well an easy one or in easy to national interest waiver bypasses that entire requirement and also bypasses the need to have an employer sponsored you you can file it independently without a job offer OK Which means if you've got the merit if you've got the resume and it can all be well documented that might be an option for you so even if it sometimes can take either it's current meaning the day you can file for a green card immediately upon approval or even if it's a couple of years depending sometimes on your on your country of nationality that can be a path that you can start on and process while you're still in a P.T. status and you've got those few years to work with where you're still in valid status and you don't always need that H. one B. again if it's not an option Yeah. So. It's funny we're still not seeing a whole lot I get a lot of questions about it and I get a lot of do you think I'm eligible and you know when I look through resumes and things like that and I do offer suggestions I think it should be no. Yeah. Yeah and I haven't seen a whole lot of our fees and I think what's helping not seeing a lot of our fees with the national interest waiver is the change in the law in two thousand and so in December of two thousand and sixteen before December twenty sixth seen the requirements to meet eligibility for national interest waiver were very different than what they are now Post December twenty sixth seen national interest waiver requirements are not by statute or regulation it's not written into law that says you have to meet this this and this it literally was an interpretation through an old case I think back from maybe ninety nine or so I can't remember the year of the case but then in December twenty sixth in a new case came out that now governs the requirements for a national interest waiver and what it did was it actually expanded the eligibility for national interest waivers it made it less restrictive it used to be one of the main requirements for a national interest waiver was that it had to be national in scope in that they literally looked at the geographical impacts of a national interest waiver to determine whether the idea that you're working on that you think is going to benefit our country that's really going to change you know whatever industry or whatever new invention and so on that it had to be shown that it was going to benefit the entire country on a broad scope and so on well they've they've sort of soften those requirements So they've definitely made it a much more viable option so that could be part of the reason why we have seen you know not as many or if these are not too much of an issue there and why I think it's more viable option. Sure is. Right. So on a positive note I actually have not seen. A lot a whole lot of kickback from that where employers are now saying we're not even to go down that road because of all these bands I haven't seen that I saw issues with H one B. sponsorship much more with the downturn in the economy in zero eight in zero nine than I am now so the fact is is that employers who are willing to sponsor employees for H one B.'s or other types of work visas probably are not going to be dissuaded because of enforcement and trump it almost actually has the opposite effect where those companies that are in favor of you know immigrants bright young minds and working hard and really benefiting our economy and companies in the United States even more so want to be able to move forward so I've actually heard the opposite thankfully and I haven't seen I haven't heard of any employers today I'm not saying they're not out there but I certainly haven't heard of any employers that said No we're definitely staying away from this now because we don't want to have to be bothered thankfully so. Have you. You know. And I might be a little bit disconnected from that where I don't necessarily have direct conversations with employers that are just going to blatantly say to me you know no we're not inches it because they're either approaching me because they want to file for somebody you know so that's normally what I see but and I'm going to answer two questions right there and just second before I lose this train of thought I want to mention this. So a lot of times I'll have somebody a college student grad student whatever come to me and say hey I have a job offer from a company but they have no clue what it means they said they're willing to help me they understand that I'm foreign national that I was to you know international student so on they said they're willing to help me but they have no idea how to do it and so they're a little bit scared off but they're willing to at least entertain the possibility what do I do and so I always say to them please make sure and put the individual in touch with me let me talk to them because a lot of times I can then if I can talk directly with a potential employer then I can explain the process and I can really you know some of those myths and concerns and things like that I can really just have a good conversation and make sure that they understand it's not as bad as it seems you know I can help we can help them do the work and so on so I think it goes back to the same idea sometimes I will have conversations with individuals or get into Facebook debates where people are anti immigrant anti undocumented anti this get them all out make everybody leave we don't need them we need the jobs they don't need to be here taking our jobs I mean I've heard it a thousand times over but then that same person will say but I have this woman Maria who's been cleaning my house for ten years and I know she's here without a visa and she's undocumented but she's the nicest individual and she's you know this and that the other so they have no problem generally being you know kind of having their opinions and so on on immigration generally but then they know somebody individually and they really like that person and they want to help that person but they still may have their feelings about. Illegal immigration across the board right so I've seen the same thing actually when I've seen individuals who you might have a hard time when you're going to a job fair and trying to have an initial conversation about will you sponsor me for an H one B. but at the same time on the flip side of it if you're no P.T. satis and you're able to secure a job because you've got valid work authorization for the next two to three years and then you're working for that company and they're so impressed with you and they like you so much that it takes you out of that category of just the general person trying to approach a table at a job fair you then becoming a person that's really important to their company that they realize wait a minute we really do value the work that he or she is doing let's see what we can do to help so that sometimes can change the way that they view right so I've seen that actually a lot of times so don't don't give up just because you feel like you're being met with you know right off the bat just really try to kind of sell yourself and find a good employer while you're in that O.P.C. status while you have the time while you can show I am employment author is employing authorized and then you can maybe convince them just by the work that you're doing you know how valuable you are so yeah OK. Yeah thank any other questions guys yeah yeah to over here. Yeah. You know we should order on us and find ways to summarize you know I'm. Going into. Industry deciding if you want to go back to. What happens for example if you start working three years. And it was your age when he said START we're going to decide to do. Is that. One of the sort of stops they. Want well just by virtue of any of these so that you have is going to be governed by the by what you're doing and vice versa so so if you're working in H one B. status you're invalidate the status so long as you are full time employed without H. one B. employer Let's say you decide to go back to school so you apply you get issued a new I twenty and you file a change of status to be able to be issued you know an F one or consular process for a visa or whatever it is the moment you're making that transition you stop working and being you begin a you know a program a study here than an F one status obviously so long as you get all the proper documentation changes satisfied and approved and then you can begin your course of study so every single decision that you make also carries along with it changing your status so as long as you're always complying with that you know then then you're fine because you can't just stop working there are limited ways where you can take a leave of absence or do certain things in H one B. other employment base status without losing your status for instance if you know if you think of going on somebody has a baby and goes on maternity leave things like that just because you're not actively employed doesn't automatically mean that somebody falls out of status but if you just stop working quit your job or terminated from your position whatever it is then you have to know that immediately you are the no longer in valid H one B. status or whatever it is so the general rule is always making sure that you're changing from status to status lawfully so that you never have gaps there. And then yeah and there was another win there. Well that's just. So so what I would say generally is if you wanted to kind of ask me a specific question what I have a lot of students do is they want to send me an email with their resume and their whole history of publications and things like that so that really would be my best suggestion because there is no quick answer to that question. It's a whole lot of voluminous documentation which sometimes can be hard to establish for an undergrad and grad student a lot of times it's more post-doc and so on because you do have to be able to show that long history you know of lengthy several years of publications and things like that so but I mean you're more than welcome to send me an email kind of want to ask me specific to look to look at your you know your background I would say be very very difficult Yeah yeah because it's not just your education it's really focusing in on. A lot of the research that you've done and things like that so you probably would need to take more time and build on that much more before you may be eligible for an A B. one so I mean answering that without knowing your specific but generally. OK so. There's some question. Yeah. So. It's always well and. Thanks guys appreciate it. Provide. Us well. It's probably more of these these in. The session I would yes or no you get maybe seven more years.