Akst & Akst

The staff of Akst & Akst congratulates George Akst on 40 years of legal service as a member of the bar!

Well, it has finally happened. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has finally released the E-2 visa legislation and announced that the new E-2 investor’s visa for Israelis will become available in 90 days, which means on or about April 1. If you or anyone you know is an Israeli citizen and interested in opening a US company and getting a visa that allows you to come to the US to look after that new enterprise and help it flourish and grow, please feel free to contact us.

Traveler’s Alert for our Chinese friends: CBP has launched the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) website for early enrollments. All individuals with a passport issued by People’s Republic of China bearing a 10-year B1/B2, B1, or B2 (visitor) visa will be required to have a valid EVUS enrollment in order to travel to the U.S. beginning on 11/29/16.

Due to a shortage in finding qualified teachers, New York City is allowing undocumented teachers to work in the classroom-legally. Read the NY Times article to learn more: http://mobile.nytimes.com//new-freedom-to-advance-for-a-ne

USCIS just announced that they are going to substantially raise their government filing fees for everything from Citizenship and green card applications to temporary visa petitions. So,if you were thinking of filing for naturalization or some other immigration benefit, now may be a good time to get started before the fee increases.

At the end of March, George is speaking at a conference in Miami Beach hosted by the Paris-based international lawyer's group the UIA. He will be speaking to their commission on Sports Law, which is covering everything from anti-doping and fantasy sports gambling to salary caps and integrity in sports. George's topic will be, of course, immigration-related, specifically how athletes and sports officials can obtain US visas. He is looking forward to sharing his thoughts with officials from FIFA, MLS, MLB, NBA and many other sports groups.

George speaking at the US immigration conference at US Embassy-London

In honor of America's first immigrant, we are closed for Columbus Day!

The US Department of State’s green card lottery has opened. Find out if you are eligible by going to https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ ... Follow the instructions for the 2017 lottery

Go to this link if you want to see what Trump really thinks about immigration: http://www.huffingtonpost.com//donald-trump-empire-sought-?

Know your lawyer before hiring him (or her): A former New Jersey attorney who made money by creating phony advanced degrees for immigrants seeking employment visas in the United States was ordered to serve 27 months in prison Thursday. Richard Kassel ran a solo immigration practice and focused on employment-based visas until 2014, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, conceding that he made $187,000 over a six-year period while submitting some 47 f...raudulent diplomas, mostly on behalf of Eastern European clients. Kassel, 51, was facing a sentencing guidelines range of 27 to 33 months. His attorney had asked for a sentence of community service from Southern District Judge Paul Gardephe. But Gardephe said the length of the scheme, the number of fraudulent documents and the fact that Kassel abused his position as an attorney required incarceration. Immigrants, he said, are vulnerable people who depend on attorneys for relief and "these people need to expect that the lawyers they turn to for advice follow the law."

USCIS and the Office of the Mayor of New York City have joined forces to strengthen citizenship education and awareness efforts in the City of New York. USCIS is proud to collaborate with Mayor de Blasio and the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in a meaningful community partnership to help permanent residents learn more about citizenship and the naturalization process. This initiative formally establishes New Americans Corners in all branches of the Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, and Queens Library systems. These libraries will support permanent residents by offering citizenship and English as a Second Language classes, along with tools and resources to help them prepare for the naturalization interview and test."

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced today the United States intends to enter into negotiations to expand air preclearance operations to ten new foreign airports, located in nine separate countries: Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. If negotiations are successful, preclearance where each traveler undergoes immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) before boarding a direct flight to the United States could be completed before departure from these foreign airports rather than upon arrival in the U.S. Expanding the preclearance program is both a security imperative enabling CBP to stop potential threats before they arrive on US soil as well as a strong economic opportunity.