should I do this SB-1 visa compared to cpp visa type thing a lot of people
kind of do that comparison is it yeah i don't know
Hi everyone, this is Joseph Tsang and I'm the managing partner here at Tsang & Associates where we solve
legal problems with creative solutions. So the problem is a lot of people who have green cards
have been outside the U.S. for over a year and when you're outside of the U.S. for over a year
your green card may be deemed abandoned and there are many ways to try to come back into
the U.S. and preserve your green card one way is through the SB-1 visa at the consulate and another
way is directly presenting your case with the CBP officers at the airport I made two separate videos
talking about different various success stories but what are the pros and cons between each one
and I'm not trying to say one is better than the other because they do both have their benefits
the purpose of this video is to compare the two of them and see which one is better for you so you
can make the most informed decision okay let's get started all right let's start with the SB-1
visa typically they're stricter but you take less risk unfortunately you cannot appeal the decision
and there's no attorney representation let me go through each one one by one so what do i mean
it's stricter well typically because when you go to get an SB-1 visa you're filling out these long
applications you're presenting your documents and you have a designated time to present your case
right and these officers they're trained to review all these documents and they are issuing you a
Sb-1 visa specifically for this reason to enter compare that situation with a CBP officer and
i'm sure everybody who's watching this video knows what it's like to enter the U.S. at the airport long
line and you're presenting your document before an immigration officer they're doing so many things
right they're trying to snuff out drugs they're trying to find all these bad guys and they're
determining whether or not you've abandoned your green card the situation is just a little bit
different yes you've been outside for a year okay they pull you into a room they ask you questions
they see your documents and they have to make an immediate determination they didn't prepare
beforehand they don't have that many documents and they just had to make a split second decision
right so that is generally the key once you understand that kind of circumstance difference
if you have a strong case typically if somebody's listening to it making a split second decision
a CBP officer is typically nicer but that's purely my opinion and my experience so the second thing
is less risk and this is the benefit of the SB-1 visa let me explain so you're right now
in a separate country you're trying to come back to the U.S. well instead of buying an airline ticket
which it in itself has all its own problems you're flying to the U.S. not knowing whether or not you'll
be allowed in and if not allowed in your green card might be confiscated you might be forced to
abandon it or you might have to appeal it before a judge i have to stay in the U.S. for a long time
that is a lot of risk and a lot of uncertainty that you don't know and it's all in the air and
you might feel uneasy about it versus let's say you're in Canada or let's say you're in
Taiwan let's say you are in Japan wherever you are you go to the nearest embassy you go
to the nearest consulate and you apply for the SB-1 visa if it's denied well you just go
back to wherever you're staying at you may be lost you know a few hours in your day right
less risk versus taking on this entire burden with all this uncertainty flying to the U.S.
not knowing which airline would allow you to board because you've been outside for a year
some people can't even buy a plane ticket because no order you could buy a plane ticket but when you
try to board they won't let you so you have to buy multiple plane tickets you might have to fly to a
third country and then fly to the U.S. it's a lot of uncertainty we had to work through that with a lot
of different clients over the years and it's a lot of risk so some people might just prefer the SB-1
because it's a more formal more smooth process it might be a little harder to some people but some
people are very very confident maybe they got their green card through the EB-1A they're very
confident with the situation and the process that they can present their case so they prefer the
SB-1 method all right so the third difference is no attorney representation now when you apply for the
SB-1 visa the attorney can prepare the application they can write everything explain everything
provide all the exhibits and with all the case law coach you practice with you but ultimately you are
taking the information going before the officer and presenting it right and that could be scary
and the officer is directly asking you and if you don't answer correctly the officer doesn't review
it there's nothing you can do and there's nothing the attorney can do and if your Sb-1 visa is denied
we can't appeal it other than to the supervisor but if the supervisor denies it then that's the
end of the story there's no recourse um well the recourses like one of our clients the SB-1 got
denied and then they just hopped on the plane and flew to the us and we helped them get into the cbp
but that's the only recourse right so there is no official recourse for the SB-1
but cbp on the other hand let's say you enter let's say you provide all these documentation
some clients want the attorney present when they land and go to the interview with them
before the immigration officer that is an option it's very very rare that that happens but that is
an option secondly let's say you enter and you don't want the attorney present you present all
the documentation to the immigration officer and let's say the immigration officer at the airport
they don't believe you they confiscate confiscate your green card and tell you to go home and wait
for a trial well your green card is in the hands of a CBP officer in the United States where your
attorney is and i've physically gone to the airport and talked with the immigration officer
and got the green card back and just handed it back to my client so because we're physically here
that option is possible and the third recourse is well let's say the CBP officer doesn't give
the green card back and there is trial well the attorney is here and when you go to trial the
attorney can speak on behalf of the client to the judge and present the case and win your or
win your green card back right so these are the three different recourses that you have when you
enter the U.S. with a green card and presenting your case but you might have to stay longer the
attorney might have to go to the airport there's a lot of different things but at least it's possible
if it's at the consulate sorry the hands are tied the attorneys can't even physically go
to the consulate so that is unfortunate. All right so those are the key pros and cons and differences.
Before I summarize and talk about the strategy there's one common misunderstanding and that's
people think that u.s attorneys can directly contact the CBP officers and they can't contact
the consulate and that's not true we can contact both and we have contacted both some clients
want us to contact the CBP officers before they arrive so they can get a clearance right CBP
officers looks good they can come in then they buy the plane ticket and fly in that's happened before
not often but that's happened before but that's also happened with the consulate officers where
we present every all the documents and all the arguments beforehand before they apply for the
SB-1 the consulate offer says no they're not likely going to get approved so the office so so
the client just directly gives up on applying for the SB-1 and just directly applies for the CBP or
just abandons the green card and reapplies for the green card right so so us attorneys can contact
both the consulates as well as the cbp um and and and to get a kind of a feel on whether or not
it's possible now that depends on each individual client's case oftentimes clients say they want to
but after hearing about it i'm like i don't think it's a good idea to try to contact them beforehand
because your case might be really weak i just kind of steer them towards another direction instead
but there's a lot of strategy involved as you can imagine which route should you choose um which
agency should you work with which arguments to present which documents to have how do you present
yourself there's so many things to decide um and so usually we prepare months and months before
making the ultimate decision on which path and then to actually execute it right so let me
summarize real quick what are the key differences between the SB-1 visa the consulate and the CBP
entry SB-1 it's less risk it's more formal you present your documents if you have a good case you
want a smooth sailing do the sb1 that's typically what i have it's not exactly true that if you got
your green card through business employment based like eb-5 eb-1a eb-2 eb-3 where you have
an employment in the u.s it's easier that's not exactly true i've done plenty of cases where it's
family-based immigration and you still got the SB-1 the key is what are your us roots what is a
fixed state why you have to leave in the purpose of departure right if you are employment-based
you typically have more that's the reason why employment cases are typically easier but that's
only because you have more documentation i usually steer my clients towards the CBP if they have
less documentation but they're able to present themselves and they're very sympathetic reasons
why they had to leave and they might want to contact the CBP beforehand and they might want
a turning representation during after or for trial so there's all these reasons why we steer
our clients towards cpp if they're falling those situations so those are the quick pros and cons of
the two different agencies the process itself is completely different completely different agencies
different training different manual pros so those are the pros and cons of the two different methods
on how you can come back to the U.S. if you've been outside for over a year and you're a green card
holder two completely different agencies the CBP and the consular officer their different
field training manuals different things that they look at different process and different
recourse if it succeeds if it fails hopefully that's informative if you have any questions
feel free to reach out to me and in the next episode we're going to focus on how to win these
arguments whether you're doing it at the CBP or you're doing at the consulate stay tuned take care!