Photo of Kristin Bolayir ˘

Kristin Bolayir's legal career spans twenty-seven years including more than twenty-four years of experience in immigration. Kristin specializes in business immigration law, especially complex and writing-intensive nonimmigrant and immigrant cases. Her experience in immigration involves nonimmigrant and immigrant solutions for the business, research, information technology, education and entertainment communities. Kristin leads a team of immigration professionals, supervises and mentors paralegals involved in a variety of business immigration matters, assigns cases and monitors paralegal workload and production, and provides training for new paralegals. She effectively manages client relationships, provides case management for clients, and oversees large volume caseloads of both non-immigrant and immigrant petitions. Kristin also regularly writes articles reflecting changes and developments in immigration law and procedure for both the group's blog, Inside Business Immigration: Legal Analysis for the Global Employer.

˘ Not admitted to the practice of law.

A divided Eleventh Circuit recently ruled against a Jamaican national’s claim to U.S. citizenship, holding that his mother’s naturalization before his 18th birthday did not confer derivative citizenship because his parents had remarried by the time of her naturalization.

Potential Derivative Citizenship Implications

This decision reinforces a strict interpretation of derivative citizenship under the Immigration…

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) released the availability of immigrant numbers in its March 2025 Visa Bulletin. All dates listed below are based on the final action dates for employment-based preference cases. Applicants must have a priority date that is earlier than the final action date listed for their preference category and country…

The registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap petitions opened at noon ET March 6, 2024, and will continue to run through noon ET March 22, 2024. Employers seeking to file an H-1B cap-subject petition must electronically register during this period using a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) online account. The…

On Oct. 23, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend H-1B regulations. The purpose of the NPRM is threefold: 1) to modernize and improve the efficiency of the H-1B program; 2) to provide greater benefits and flexibilities; and 3) to improve integrity measures. This proposed…

On March 2, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the designation of Sudan and Redesignated South Sudan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). On March 3, 2022, DHS announced the designation of Ukraine for an initial period of 18 months. On April 19, the Federal Register released notices on TPS for both Ukraine and…

Starting Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, as per CDC Order, all air passengers traveling to the United States must have a negative viral COVID-19 test taken within one day of the flight’s departure to the U.S. This new rule applies to everyone over the age of two, regardless of citizenship or vaccination status. This does…