Photo of Cole F. Heyer

Cole F. Heyer has been working in the immigration field for over a decade and has wide-ranging experience in both family-based and employment-based immigration matters. Prior to joining GT in 2015, Cole worked at a high-volume family-based immigration practice where he represented clients before the Atlanta Immigration Court and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

At GT, Cole focuses his practice on representing domestic and multinational employers before the USCIS, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Department of State (DOS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on virtually all issues that employers may face in the employment context with immigration.

Specifically, Cole represents and advises employers, ranging from small, start-up companies to Fortune 50 companies, in all areas of employment-based immigration matters, including nonimmigrant visa categories (B, E-1/2, E-3, F, H-1B, H-3, J, L-1A/B, O, TN, R), permanent residence (PERM, Extraordinary Ability/Outstanding Researchers, Multinational Managers and National Interest Waivers), naturalization, and DACA. He services companies in all industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical device, oil & gas, retail and fashion, IT, financial services, and food & beverage on U.S. employment-based immigration, compliance and enforcement actions, and global immigration. Cole also assists with GT’s federal litigation practice concerning immigration matters.

Finally, Cole advises employers with I-9 compliance by providing onsite training, internal audits and reviews, and deploying best practices to minimize exposure and liabilities in the event of ICE investigations and audits. As part of this practice, Cole has worked directly with ICE on I-9 audits to negotiate on behalf of employers that he represents.

美国海关与边境保护局CBP近期宣布,从2016年11月29日开始,所有持中国护照人士,同时拥有10年期的B1(商务签证)和/或B2(旅游签证)赴美之前必须在签证更新电子系统EVUS上完成注册。拥有B1/B2签证的中国护照持有人士只有完成了EVUS注册才可以入境美国。对那些需要多程转机到达美国的中国护照持有人士,EVUS会在其值机首个航班时完成认证。注册EVUS的费用是8美金,每次EVUS注册有效期为两年.若该中国游客在两年内获得新护照或者新签证,EVUS注册有效期则持续到该中国游客获得新护照或者新签证为止。

我们团队之前已经在2016年2月份的时候就讨论过EVUS。EVUS是针对持10年期商务旅游签证赴美的中国公民的一个在线安全系统。注册EVUS这个新的要求是近期中美两国在互惠基础之上互发10年期旅游签证协议中的一部分。根据CBP官员R. Gil Kerlikowske所述,EVUS是为了“巩固国家安全以及中美两国签发10年签证协议的长久性”。需要了解更多有关EVUS的信息请登录CBP管网。未来估计会有更多的国家需要满足类似的要求,虽然目前CBP还没有列出其他国家。
Continue Reading 从2016年11月29日开始,拥有美国10年期B1/B2签证的中国护照持有人士赴美前必须在签证更新电子系统EVUS完成注册。

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced that, beginning Nov. 29, 2016, all Chinese passport holders who carry a 10-year visa B-1 (business visitor) and/or B-2 (tourist visa)
Continue Reading Chinese Passport Holders who have a 10-year B-1/B-2 visa must have valid EVUS enrollment beginning Nov. 29, 2016 to enter the United States

The Department of State (DOS) recently published its annual report of immigrant visa applicants (2015 Annual Immigrant Visa Report), which tallies up the number of total applicants—including spouses and children—who are waiting for their respective priority date to become current, allowing for them to obtain their green card. The annual report, which totals the number of applicants up to Nov. 1, 2015, does not take into account those applicants who have adjustment of status applications pending with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as of Nov. 1.

Overall, 2015 saw a three precent increase of total applicants compared against last year, increasing from a total of 4,422,660 for 2014 to 4,556,021 for 2015. This total includes both family-based green cards and employment-based green cards. Employment-based green card applicants only accounted for roughly 100,000 of the 4.5 million. When compared against 2014, the percentage of employment-based applicants waiting to apply for their green cards increased from 90,910 to 100,747—an increase of 10.8 percent.Continue Reading Over 4.5 Million Are Waiting for Green Cards—Over 100,000 of them are Employment-Based