What are some of the advantages that franchise ownership offers over traditional businesses in terms of securing an E-2 visa? We were honored to be joined on the podcast by Jeremy Bollington, a Franchise consultant with Your Franchise is Waiting, a service that works with qualified foreign nationals to help them find a franchise to support their E-2 visa application. In this podcast we answer several questions on the minds of potential E2 visa applicants: 0:00 Introduction to Jeremy 4:02 What is an E2 visa? 5:17 What are the criteria for a business to support an E2? 7:13 Benefits of E2 franchi ..read more

Deborah Reidy of SmartChoice Translations joins immigration attorney Lin Walker to discuss the pitfalls of poor translation in many kinds of legal situations. In this episode we tackle such questions as: 0:00 What is SmartChoice Translations? 0:52 What services does SmartChoice Translations offer? 4:11 What kinds of training is required for legal translators? 8:18 Why you shouldn't rely on friends or family to translate 11:00 Qualifications to be a legal translator 14:17 Importance of legal knowledge for a legal translator 18:54 Is AI translation or Google translate a good substitute? 22:29 Wh ..read more

The Proposal, starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock is one of our favorite movies, and one of the favorite movies of our guest, retired CBP Director of Operations, Alma Montemayor. However, the immigration processes the filmmakers show are far from accurate. In this episode immigration attorney Lin Walker enlists the help of Alma to answer the questions: How important is immigration accuracy in the movies? Why should we care? What constitutes marriage fraud, and what are the consequences? What is the role of USCIS in determining the legitimacy of a marriage visa ..read more

On March 10, 2023, with little notice or fanfare, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) updated its website to state that it would, on a case-by-case basis, extend the parole and employment authorization document of Ukrainians admitted into the United States under humanitarian parole ..read more

In this episode we examine two episodes from the very funny NBC sitcom SUPERSTORE, which stars America Ferrera and Ben Feldman, and follows a whole gang of wacky and endearing characters working in a fictional big box store. For our purposes we are going to focus on Mateo, an immigrant from the Philippines who is undocumented and discovers that getting a promotion in the store could mean that he will be discovered and threatened with deportation, as we will see, through some comic and, in some cases touching, circumstances. As with so many of the films and TV we have examined so far, the write ..read more

It’s Back! We are officially in H-1B Cap Season – the chaotic period when hundreds of thousands of H-1B Cap Registrations are prepared and electronically filed with the hope of securing one of the 85,000 H-1B visas available for Fiscal Year 2024. In this quick shot episode of the podcast we are going to give you some quick reminders to make your H-1B Cap Season go much more smoothly ..read more

Please join us for another edition of "Immigration at the Movies: Myth or Truth", the podcast series that examines immigration scenes in popular movies and TV and lets you know how accurately they portray immigration law and procedures. Today we are going to "fix" one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, Seinfeld. Specifically Season 4 Episode 14 from 1993, "The Visa" with Babu Bhat, who you might remember from an earlier episode where Jerry convinced him to open an all Pakistani restaurant in the neighborhood which failed miserably. He is now working at the coffee shop where the gang hang ..read more

Meyner & Landis Immigration partner Lin Walker continues her pop-culture immigration myth-busting by destroying The Terminal, a 2004 Steven Spielberg film starring Tom Hanks and Stanley Tucci. The Terminal tells the story of Viktor Navorski from the fictional Eastern European country of Krakhosia who gets stranded at JFK airport in New York when war breaks out in his country while he is in the air. How realistic is his dilemma? How plausible are the solutions that the director of Customs at the airport proposes for the "man without a country"? In this episode we explore topics such as: Wha ..read more

Immigration in The Movies! Myth or Fact? In our ongoing quest to educate people about the U.S. immigration system (and have some fun), we’ve been reviewing the portrayal of the U.S. immigration system as depicted in popular movies. In this episode, we reviewed (in order of factual immigration accuracy): 1. Brooklyn 2. The Godfather Part 2 3. An American Tale (Wow, how is this a children’s movie and can anyone tell us what happened to the baby mouse by the end of the movie?) 4. The Immigrant 5. The Golden Door ..read more

Answer: They are both back! Each year around this time, during peak holiday travel season, we like to remind employers and foreign nationals alike the devastating and expensive mistakes that can occur on the 1-94 Arrival Departure record. Here are a few tips to avoid problems while traveling this holiday season ..read more