Immigration Law | Jake Lipman

About Jake Lipman

Interview Transcript:

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Jake Lipman, Lipmann Wolf Insurance, also known as Visa Wolf, their immigration attorneys here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jake, welcome to today’s show.

Jake
Hey, thanks. It’s great to be here with you, Alan.

Alan
Jake, give me your background how you got to where you are today?

Jake
Well, I’ve been an attorney for 15 years here in California. And I think that I got interested in immigration partly by accident, I applied for a job when I was in law school to a local attorney here in the East Bay, who had an immigration law practice going he’s now my business partner, and, and was surprised at what I found there. I’d expected one kind of a thing when I envisioned what immigration manton and found something completely different.

Alan
When I hear about immigration in the news, how does it attorney and immigration attorney help people?

Jake
Well, that’s a good question, I think of the name of your show here, American Dreams, right. And that seems to be what I’m doing just about every day is helping somebody obtain their American dream. A big part of what we do is connect individuals with employers, since our law firm is is quite a bit about employment based immigration and people coming for jobs that are needed here in the US skills that are needed and their talents. And so these are very qualified individuals, largely that I work with who bring something to the table in the US that, that we just can’t seem to produce enough of, domestically. So I help these individuals to make their mark and to make a name for themselves and get established in the United States and, and to fulfill that dream.

Alan
Now, typically, when a person comes over and uses your services, is it the employee or the employee or the person immigrating, or you know who, who signs up to so.

Jake
Our, our, our client is typically the employer. In some cases, an employee will reach out to us but in in most companies that have any established kind of regular immigration work, we work directly with the employers, and they’ll contact us to start a project when they need some new employee to come on board that has an immigration issue.

Alan
Doesn’t matter what country they’re coming from when you’re doing immigration, is there favoritism towards some countries?

Jake
I’d say yes, for the most part, it’s kind of a level playing field. But there are a few countries that enjoy more immigration options than others, just because of mostly free trade agreements and things like that, that exist with certain countries. And you would be surprised which ones enjoy those benefits, because it doesn’t follow any kind of logic, necessarily the example of think that, well, for example, there are free trade agreements with Iran. But you know, not with like New Zealand, you know, that are just kind of things that don’t really make sense necessarily, based on what you know, politically. But historically, US had good relations with Iran back when the Shah was there and all those kinds of things. So it’s it kind of stems from historic relations that have existed in some cases from the very beginning of our country’s existence.

Alan
And what’s the current economic climate for a person wanting to immigrate into this country with an h1 B visa.

Jake
So h1 B visas are limited by number each year so a new h1 B visa can only be obtained in a in a in a fiscal year starting April 1, we file for those and the worker might begin October 1, if they’re going to be part of the h1 B quota for that year. Last year, there were over I believe 120,000 h1 B petitions filed for new workers and only 65,000 are permitted with an additional 20,000 they allotted for people who obtained a master’s or higher degree here in the US. So 85,000 Total but 120,000 were requested so several people were rejected in that process. So it’s not an automatic there’s no automatic there and it’s really frustrating for employers who need those critical skilled individuals to come and can’t make that happen within a year even.

Alan
You got any good dad rewarding case stories that people you were able to get through.

Jake
Man that’s that is every day we’re having a rewarding story. I’d say coming to mind. There’s there’s usually well there’s usually a space cific need and I’m trying to think of one right now that would be, you know of interest to you. But

Alan
Well, I’ll tell you what, let me we’re running up against the break. And we need to take a quick break. We’ll be right back at these messages. And when we come back, I want to talk about, you know, with the current state of politics and how that’s affecting the immigration policies today. Sounds great. We’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Jake Lippman visa with immigration attorney. And, Jake, before the break, I was asking you about the most rewarding case, it while there are many out there does any one case come to mind about some of that you were able to get through?

Jake
Well, I’m helping an individual right now. And this is not from the employment side. But occasionally, we work with individuals who have more specific kind of urgent problems. And this individuals is from India, and his family is part of a class that is sometimes persecuted there. And so his parents were allowed to come into the country. And because of his father’s military background, they were granted political asylum. And the problems that existed prior to his leaving the country. So the child, the son was not included in their asylum application, but is now subsequently applying and I have a I have a meeting tomorrow in the immigration court to go and see if we can kind of resolve this, this issue for him and get him included in his parents asylum application. He’s under 21. And still a dependent under their, under their responsibility. So that should work out. Okay. But that’s something that just comes to mind fresh and something that, you know, I feel, again, we’re talking about those dreams and helping this individual to secure a safe harbor here in the US protected from the kinds of intolerance and problems that his his type of people are facing in their home country.

Alan
I will note also for the listeners out there that we do our firm groco uses your services. Thank you. Yeah, we’ve had very good results.

Jake
Appreciate that.

Alan
I want to go into immigration reform. We hear this is a politically charged phrase at the moment and cutting through partisan politics. Where do we stand at this very moment on immigration reform?

Jake
So my feeling is that immigration reform is alive and well, still, there have been some startups and you know, some some kind of stall outs and things here. The the Congress has been on recess for the summer, they take a break. Some people do take a break during the during the summer. So I’m told, but anyway, they’ve come back, they’re in session there they’re discussing and the various parties are, are at work on trying to reach some kind of an agreement still on immigration reform, and I expect something, something will come out of that that will be some type of reform, what it looks like, hard to say. And we can talk more about that if you like.

Alan
Well, now, do you have an opinion? What should be done? Are you middle the road? Or do you remain left? Or where do we?

Jake
So I don’t know that you go immigration for me is not a right or a left issue. I’m generally a pretty conservative person, I think, by comparison to others. But I don’t see that immigration falls into a right or left kind of a spectrum. I think it is something that depending on where you sit personally, you have an opinion about it. Clearly, as a business owner and an immigration professional, I, I care that that this would pass it would be a great benefit to me in that way. But I can also see just, you know, from my own view of the economy and how things work and what I’ve seen with immigration and how it changes not just lives but how it improves the opportunities that exist out there for people to to grow new companies and create new jobs. I think it’s it’s something that would benefit our economy. And again, from that kind of conservative standpoint, to me fiscally, in that way that I ultimately look at the economy as one of the major factors of it’s not just a touchy feely thing that I want to give a benefit to somebody because because that’s what we should do. But I think It would really benefit our country and and help the help the overall economy.

Alan
I’m visiting here today with Jake Lipmann. He’s an immigration attorney with Lipmann Wolf, also known as feasible attorneys here in the Bay Area. And, Jake, we need to take a break. We’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Jake Lebanese and it went Gration attorney with Littman wolf also known as Visa whip attorneys located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and that you have another office out of San Luis

Jake
Obispo, San Luis Obispo, yeah, my business partners working from San Luis Obispo. And it’s a beautiful place. He’s got his he’s from down there. So it’s working out real nicely and, and is expanding our offering a bit.

Alan
I guess, you know, when you go through the immigration process, everything is automated to the same office. And I mean, who who issues these visas.

Jake
The department, the Department of Homeland Security will authorize most of the visa processes that happen through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, which is USCIS. And then we work also with Department of State, who operate the consulates around the world where people actually go and apply for the visas once they’ve been approved by the immigration service here in the US. And then we sometimes work with Department of Labor, they have a they have a section that is focused on foreign labor. And so we touch that too.

Alan
Is there a tie between our education system and the immigration policies today?

Jake
I would say definitely, especially at the highest level, at the university level, I’ve heard statistics that maybe half of the PhD candidates that are out there right now are foreign students, which, you know, obviously would have it has a tremendous impact on the research and, you know, the the types of Associate Professor positions and other types of opportunities that exist within education. So, and this is especially true in the math and science and technology areas. So foreign foreign presence in the educational system is is a huge deal right now.

Alan
You know, a student coming out of school, oftentimes will want to hang around the US looking for a job. So what it just outlined, what are the rules? What can they do as a foreign student coming to the country.

Jake
Okay, so most, most degree programs, when the student completes it, if they’re from outside the US, they will get a one year Optional Practical Training Program. And that lets them work within their discipline for a year up to a year. Typically, if they’re from a science technology, mathematic engineering background, they call STEM, that’s kind of their acronym for those types of focuses, then they can get an additional 17 months to work in the US and to develop their skills and maybe find an opportunity here. Like we talked about earlier, the h1 B visas and their limitations, the numbers that are offered each year present that kind of problem that even if they do get a degree, there’s a there’s a chance they may not be able to secure that long term position, because the visas aren’t available.

Alan
Yeah. Have you noticed a lot of people going the other direction. For example, I hear with India’s economy booming a lot of people that were immigrating are now saying, Hey, we’re gonna go back.

Jake
Absolutely. People here that had struggled to come and establish themselves, seeing the opportunities in their home countries and the wages being roughly equivalent, and at least the higher level jobs and even more opportunities in some cases, because like you said, the economy is booming and, and the demand for jobs and in places like India, specifically in cities like Bangalore, is like Silicon Valley here in the 19, late 1990s.

Alan
In a Jake, there’s a lot of people that are coming immigrating in and they get their age from B visa, and then they go back and say, Now I want a green card. Well, what exactly is the green card? And how difficult are they to obtain what benchmarks do they need to meet?

Jake
That’s a great question. So a green card is is a permanent residency in the United States. It’s a visa to remain here as a resident which means you have to continue to reside most of your time in the US and abide by the laws and be a good person and things like that to maintain it, you can obtain a green card through employment through a three step process. And the first step is to get a clearance from the US Department of Labor, the employer needs to show that they tried to find a US worker that would have been qualified to do that job, but they didn’t find any in the local economy. And and that somebody else a foreign individual, a candidate that they have found appears to meet those qualifications and is available. That process usually takes about six months to clear, maybe a little more can take more in some cases, but that’s probably average. The next step is an immigrant visa petition. And that’s where the employer has to show that they can afford to pay this individual, the foreign worker at a level that is commensurate with what you would pay a US worker, and that they have the resources to do that the funds. And then you also need to show that the that the candidate really has the credentials and is qualified to do that job at that point and document all of those qualifications. So that’s step two, now between step two and step three is usually a long lag because there are quotas in the number of green cards given for employment each year. And so the higher the skill level, typically, you’ll see people who you know, maybe their job requires a master’s degree, they come in at a at a faster rate than the people whose jobs require less than a master’s degree and so on through the you know, there’s a spectrum of jobs and qualifications. So the final step in some cases will not be allowed until the individual has reached the top of a waiting list to get a visa number through the quota system. And that can sometimes take 10 years or more I have clients I’d like I said I’ve been doing this for 15 years I have people that are just now reaching the top of a waiting list that I’ve been working with for like a decade.

Alan
Is there any way people can jump to the federal line?

Jake
Not really there’s no way to expedite it they’ve just got to take a seat and wait and sometimes they’re tied to that employer for you know multiple years like this while they’re waiting for the process to go through. The government has created some opportunities to port their green card process if they’ve reached a certain stage in the third and final step of the process but for those people who just started steps one and two it can be a long road and and quite a quite a long wait for them as they wait for their green card.

Alan
Jake we need to take a quick break we’ll be right back after these messages and I like to get in talking about this EB five the Immigrant Visa or the investor visas if I hot topic right now we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Jake Lippmann. We’ve been talking about immigration law. And, you know, before the break, I mentioned that we want to get into this EB five which talks about the immigrant investors hot topic right now, people coming and establishing opportunities for people to get in the country. Now, what is it about, first out outline what EB five is, and then how people get involved with it.

Jake
EB five is essentially an immigrant visa opportunity. So the person would get a green card at the end of that opportunity by investing a million dollars in the United States in some company where they create 10 jobs as a result of that investment. There’s also an option for a $500,000 investment, if a if the company exists in a certain kind of economically challenged region of the US, or if they are investing in something called the regional center, which is an immigration approved kind of pre qualified investment where where they can actually don’t have to create 10 real jobs but indirect jobs through the economy as economists go go around to figuring how the jobs are created.

Alan
With $10 million is that just for them? Or do they get other people with it?

Jake
Their whole family up to children? 21 or under 21? spouse and children? Okay, unlimited kids? Yeah, unlimited. How does it Yeah, exactly. Big families are welcome.

Alan
That’s a nice nice feature, I guess gives me an opportunity. I guess what it’s doing essentially is is creating jobs here. They have to have 1010 employees and

Jake
Yeah, they’re going to create 10 jobs. My business partner has a has a regional center that he’s established called the Golden Pacific ventures, and it’s, it’s essentially an agricole. Israel project on the island of the Big Island of Hawaii, where he establishes farms for individual investors and manages those farms. It’s a $500,000 investment. So we’ve already seen a lot of traction with that, and people coming and a lot of interest, especially from the Asian countries where the economy is doing so well. What did they grow down there? The heat there? That’s a coffee plantation. Really? Yeah. So he’ll establish a coffee plantation and manage it for the investor. And, and that’s and we do the immigration work for the investors to help them get the through the process.

Alan
So a person wanting to start it on this, they just contact you by the Internet or email or phone or how do they how do they reach you? Yeah,

Jake
Yeah, you can reach us by phone nine to 57718181 is an easy way to reach our website is visa wolf.com. Visa, like the immigration visa, and Wolf, like the animal no E on the end?

Alan
Yeah, going back on this EB five? What’s the timeframe a person starts in for the immigrant investor. So is it just a matter of them having a million dollars, and they say, I just bought a farm, and we’re ready to roll or

Jake
They need to show the source of the funds. So the money can’t come from some kind of illegal source. But, but if they have a million dollars, and they invest in a legitimate business in the US, or half million in certain cases that can qualify, then they will get a green card, it usually takes about a year.

Alan
Now, after the green card, how long do they have to keep the business open for?

Jake
Um, well? That’s a good question. So typically, there’s a two year period that it is a conditional green card. And after the two years, they need to come back and show that their business has created the 10 jobs, and that it’s still inactive. It’s in some sort of active status. And and then they will get a permanent green card at that point.

Alan
So it’s typically from from the day it’s issued, two years conditional and permanent.

Jake
Yeah. And they can become a citizen after being a resident for five years total.

Alan
Wow, it sounds like it’s it. I know. It’s a hot growing area. Here. A lot of people wanting to get in. It’s an easy way to get in if they have the money to do so.

Jake
That’s right. It’s a great option, especially for those wealthier individuals that may want some kind of security plan. If they’re coming from a country where they’re not so sure about how the future might play out.

Alan
I’ve been visiting here today with Jake Lipman. He’s a visa with immigration attorneys. Contact him as you can get his website at visa worth vi sawolf.com. And, Jake, it’s been a pleasure having you on today’s show.

Jake
Appreciate it Alan, thanks a lot.

Alan
Thanks for being with us here in America dreams. Join us again next week right here on AM 12 20k d o w

 

 

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This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

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