I traveled from the United States to a U.S. Consulate in Mexico, solely for the purpose of obtaining a multiple-entry H1-B visa stamp in my passport. However, I was granted a single entry H1-B visa. I need to know whether my return back to the United States from Mexico counted for that single entry. Can I now make an international trip and re-enter the US on that single entry, during the validity of the visa? I still have my original I-94 and my approval notice (it was a change of status from F-1 to H-1B here in the U.S.). I wasn't issued a new I-94 while travelling back into the U.S. from Mexico and my passport was not stamped when I entered the United States.

I assume you are from a country such as China where you are only entitled to seek single-entry visas. You are normally required to have a visa when you enter the United States, even from Mexico. However, if you are coming from Mexico after a trip of 30 days or less, have your current I-94 showing an unexpired period of stay, have maintained your status, and you are in possession of a valid passport, you can seek automatic revalidation under 22 CFR §41.112(d). If this is what occurred at the border, you may not have used up your single-entry visa.

The issue of whether they admitted you under 22 CFR §41.112(d) or using your single entry visa is not known with complete certainty. However, §15.3(d) of the INS Inspector's Field Manual says, "Upon admission of single or specially limited entry visas, place your admission stamp on the visa page or the adjacent page to indicate its use." Since you claim that the INS did not stamp your passport, it is likely that your single entry visa is still valid and may be used on your next trip outside the United States.

I am a landed immigrant of Canada with an H1-B. I have been in H-1B status for over a year but have not received any compensation as mentioned in my appointment letter. I have instead been recieving a nominal monthly stipend during my employment. If I have to transfer my visa to another employer, would I get into trouble with the INS? Would they ask for paystubs from previous employment?

Your employer appears to be taking advantage of you and violating the terms of the Labor Condition Application that was filed with the department of labor in your case. If you or some other aggrieved party makes a complaint to the Wages and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, they will investigate. If the Department of Labor makes an adverse finding, the employer faces the following:

1. If the employer has failed to pay the required wage, the Department of Labor will order a back-pay award to the H-1B nonimmigrant. The back pay award shall be equal to the difference between the amount that should have been paid and the amount that actually was paid to you. In other words, the Department of Labor will force the employer to pay you the money they originally promised to pay you. This is clearly in your benefit.

2. There is also the possibility of a civil fine against the employer (not against you). It is normally capped at $1,000 per violation. However, the cap is raised to $5,000 per violation for a willful failure or misrepresentation and to $35,000 where there was a displacement of a U.S. worker during the course of such willful violation.

3. Finally, Federal criminal statutes provide for penalties against the employer (not against you) of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 5 years for knowing and willful submission of false statements to the Federal Government.

In summary, you have nothing to lose in bringing this violation to the attention of the Department of Labor.

As stated in my H-1B article, the new whistle blower protection created by the FY1999 Omnibus Appropriations Bill prohibits an employer who has filed an LCA from intimidating, threatening, restraining, coercing, blacklisting, discharging, or in any other manner discriminating against an employee (including a former employee or applicant for employment) who reports a violation. The penalty for violating this provision is $5,000 per violation and a minimum 2 year debarment from using the H-1B category. Nevertheless, you probably will be more comfortable if you are working for a new employer by that time.

I am British and currently engaged to a U.S. citizen. I am awaiting an interview for a fiancee visa. I have already made several trips to the U.S. in the last year under the Visa Waiver Pilot Program. However, I have a 16 year old fraud conviction and I have just found out that because of this I was supposed to have obtained a visa to travel. I was never told of this anywhere and even when completing the form on the plane I answered "no" when asked about criminal convictions for moral turpitude because I had no idea that fraud was considered a crime of moral turpitude. I honestly didn't believe I was doing anything wrong or hiding anything; it was a genuine mistake. Now I'm concerned that the consular officer will hold these prior entries against me. I'm not only asking to have a conviction waived, I'm asking for forgiveness on the "illegal entry". Is there a waiver for this or am I expecting too much?

Fraud is clearly a crime of moral turpitude. Since you have been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, you would have required a visa (aliens who require waivers are not eligible under the Visa Waiver Pilot Program) AND a waiver in order to enter the United States. Your prior entries were not necessarily lawful but there is no additional ground of exclusion arising from these unlawful entries since you were never actually excluded or deported from the United States. Unless an accusation of misrepresentation to the INS is made, you only need a waiver for the prior fraud conviction.

Since you are entering as a fiancee (a nonimmigrant category), you will need to first seek a nonimmigrant waiver of the fraud offense at the consulate, in concert with your K-1 fiance visa application. You should disclose the fraud offense to the consulate and explain your prior entries. If you explain your prior misunderstanding properly, there is a good chance he or she will conclude that it was an honest mistake. You will still require a waiver of the fraud offense, but the consulate should request this from the Immigration and Naturalization Service on your behalf. A fraud conviction from 16 years ago should be easily waived for nonimmigrant purposes.

Once you enter as a fiancee, you must marry within 90 days and then file for adjustment of status (i.e. a change from temporary to permanent status). As part of your adjustment case, you will be required to seek an immigrant waiver (which is different from the nonimmigrant waiver you will have previously obtained) from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. An immigrant waiver of your criminal offense is available under INA §212(h)(1)(A). Further information on this waiver appears here. However, since your offense occurred more than 15 years ago, it is likely that your immigrant waiver request will be approved.

In a worse case scenario, either the consular officer (during the fiance visa application) or the INS officer (during the adjustment of status application) will accuse you of misrepresentation on Form I-94W when you previously entered under the Visa Waiver Pilot Program. If so, you may still get the nonimmigrant waiver, but an immigrant waiver is going to be very difficult to get. This is because the misrepresentation waiver under INA §212(i)(1) requires you to show extreme hardship to your U.S. citizen husband, a difficult threshold to meet. Hopefully, this will not occur.