The excesses of Trump's immigration policy is being improved - I. Shakhtakhtinsky

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- How did the pandemic affect the advocacy on such a sensitive issue as immigration, taking into account the fact that real contacts between people were terminated and legal protection spilled over into the virtual plane?

- My practice is not limited only to immigration issues; it also covers business proceedings, providing compensation for damage to physical health and property. In connection with my work, I often visit the courts - federal, state, and immigration courts. At first, there was panic for us, who are engaged in law practice, and for various government agencies with which we work. Everything turned out to be not familiar, complicated, since everyone began to work remotely. There were technological difficulties; we had to move from face-to-face meetings to zoom and other online platforms. Then everything worked out. Within a month or two, meetings with clients, consultations, case management, and court hearings were transferred to the online form.

Today, when it has already become possible to conduct offline trials, some cases are still considered remotely. This practice is likely to take root, as it has shown its effectiveness, allowed to save time and expenses. For example, I have many immigration clients in asylum cases. They have court hearings, interviews on immigration issues in different states. Previously, you had to spend money and time on the road.

Now both our clients and we have less expense. Despite the forced shift to telecommuting, the results were effective.

Financially, there were difficulties at the beginning of the pandemic. The federal government supported the business, so there were payments in the second round. However, things were going so well for us, we refused the second tranche of aid. In other areas, for example, catering, retail, many businesses have been hit hard. In the legal business opposite, things went well. That is, the volume of orders increased, since many people began to work remotely, some stopped their activities for a while, and, taking advantage of the free time, they began to establish various long-overdue legal issues.

- During the administration of Donald Trump, much was spoken about toughening the registration rules. President Joe Biden has proclaimed a new course towards liberalization in this area. Is the situation changing somehow?

- I would not say that during the Trump administration they managed to tighten the rules. Under that government, one might say, they tried to put a spoke in the wheel in all migration procedures. Federal courts constantly had to overturn unfounded restrictive decisions. Then they (executive officials) tried to change the procedures so that the federal court could not overturn them. Nevertheless, the higher authority after the proceedings often canceled new changes. That is, there was always such a swing. Now, thank God, all this is being corrected.

In general, the president, administration, executive bodies do not have the right to change laws. This is the competence of the Congress. They can change procedures to change laws. However, the fact that during the Trump administration they put bureaucratic obstacles, and sometimes openly refused to comply with the law, now the situation is different. The immigration laws themselves are the same; nothing has become tougher or easier.

Changing laws in Congress is not easy. Although Democrats now have a majority in Congress, the filibuster rule (the tactic of discouraging bills by the parliamentary minority by stretching the debate over the subject of the bill) makes it difficult for them to push forward with progressive initiatives on immigration law. For the Republicans are against liberalization in immigration matters.

- One of the forms of obtaining the right to enter and reside in the United States is, as you know, green cards. Lotteries are drawn annually for the granting of such permits. Will the winners of last year's lottery, who failed to take advantage of the chance due to the pandemic, be able to get green cards?

- Unfortunately, the 2019 lottery winners who acquired the right to enter and reside in the United States in 2020 lost this opportunity. For green cards are issued during the fiscal year (from October 1 to September 30 of the next year).

After the fiscal year ended in the fall of 2020, the winners of the previous year can no longer get a green card. Fiscal year October 1, 2020 began for those who won the lottery in the spring of that year. Then they, too, are late, because they are only now called for an interview. There are also difficulties here, since the consulates are only now opening and how much they will have time to interview everyone is still unknown.

For those who won the lottery now in May 2021, the interview process will begin in October this year. Therefore, within the framework of the existing US legislation, the winners of the 2019 green card lotteries will not be able to exercise the right to enter America.

- There are many people in Azerbaijan, especially among young people, who want to move to the United States - work here, make business. What would you advise these people to implement their plans in legal ways?

- First of all, I would like to note that in America there is no ban on opening and owning a business. Even a person who is not here can have a business in the United States. As a lawyer, I can help those who live in Azerbaijan to register a business here, open a bank account, taxpayer number. They can start an activity here, rent an office, and hire workers. America does not prohibit the right to own property, conducting business by any person from any country in the world, with the exception of those who are under personal sanctions in America.

Second, the question is how to come and run your business. There are three methods of immigration for your business.

One of them is the well-known EB-5 program for investors. Previously, the requirements for this program were - an investment of at least 1 million dollars to create your own business and open at least 10 jobs.

Now, its conditions have changed and it is necessary to invest 1.8 million dollars. However, in regions where unemployment is high or in rural areas, it is allowed to invest half of this amount of 900 thousand dollars. If these conditions are met, the applicant and his family members can receive a green card.

This program also has a subprogram. It allows investors, without opening their own enterprises, to invest 900 thousand dollars in investment projects for the construction of hotels, resort areas, etc., entering them as shareholders. Investors of this type also receive green cards with their family members.

The second type of visa for businesspersons - the E-2 investor visa - requires less investment. It is based on an international agreement between the United States and more than 135 countries, including Azerbaijan.

This is a very beneficial method to be in the United States, to run a business, to live, to be with your family. The investor's spouse or spouse may not be eligible to work here; children may attend public schools and study free of charge.

To obtain it, an investment of 1 million or 1.8 million dollars is not required; 75 thousand - 100 thousand dollars in a small business can be sufficient. I have clients from Azerbaijan who have opened a pizzeria or a car dealership here, someone an IT company, a beauty salon.

To obtain such a visa, you must first register and create a business, have someone here with a work permit or a green card as a manager. After that, the investor can apply for a visa. That is, the condition for this type of visa is confirmation that the money has already been spent on setting up a business. That is, equipment has already been purchased, premises have been rented, a manager has been hired, an accountant, a lawyer has been paid, some marketing has been done, etc.

One of the difficulties in obtaining an E-2 visa for my clients from Azerbaijan and other post-Soviet countries is the need to prove the legality of the origin of the money invested. The Immigration Service is not interested in how a person who works as an engineer has 100 thousand. The question is to explain the legitimacy of the source of the money that entered the United States. Are they clean or not. What is meant? For example, a person says, "I sold a house that cost 150 thousand and invested 100 thousand here." However, it is still necessary to show how these funds were transferred here - to submit notarized documents on the sale and purchase, transfer of money through the bank. The countries participating in this agreement guarantee the United States that they will check the source of the investors' money, so that this is not money laundering from drug trafficking, trafficking and other criminal activities.

The problem with Azerbaijan and a number of other countries is that some people do not trust banks and keep their money in cash. They bring money here literally in suitcases, and this interrupts the chain of tracking the receipt of money in the United States. As a result, these people cannot get visa approval.

There is a third method of obtaining business visas - L1 visas. It is intended for the transfer of workers between companies. Let us say there is some kind of organization in Azerbaijan, and there is its branch in America. For example, a carpet-weaving factory in Azerbaijan opens an enterprise in the United States and wants to transport a chief engineer or designer here.

The requirements are that a person must be a manager, or a person with specialized knowledge necessary to establish a given production.

For other visas related to work in the United States, you need to find employers. For this, there must be a justification for the demand for the invited specialist.

- How do you see the Institute of the Bar in Azerbaijan?

- I am not so familiar with the practice of law in Azerbaijan. My acquaintance is limited to the fact that I worked with local lawyers in some common cases, where my client needed something in Azerbaijan, or vice versa. Judging by the information from the media, and from the people with whom I spoke, there is a completely different system. This is not because it should be different, but because of corruption in the judicial and legal sphere, the absence of independence of judges. Unfortunately, it is impossible to enjoy advocacy in Azerbaijan, as it gives pleasure here, when you can prepare well, go to court, give the right arguments, and win a case against some huge corporation.

Now I am filing a lawsuit against the US attorney general in one case. I know that I will win this administrative case and not because I am such a brilliant lawyer. It is just violations of the law in the case are obvious and the court will inevitably recognize them. However, this is hardly possible in countries with a judicial system like Azerbaijan.

Farid Gahramanov, special correspondent of Turan from Washington