The Albrecht Index

Number of U.S. immigration law attorneys who are members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association:

Number of these same attorneys who publish denial statistics with a stated methodology and total sample size:

E-2 approvals based on an investment financed entirely by an unsecured loan from the applicant’s brother-in-law, the seller of the 51% equity in the business:

Share of an E-2 enterprise’s startup costs in an approved case, represented by proprietary trading software and a dataset built by the principal investor-applicant:

Total investment deemed substantial enough to qualify for an E-2 visa, two crepe pushcarts to be run by two part-time U.S. workers:

EB-2 NIW approvals for a self-employed portrait painter:

EB-2 NIW approvals for a self-employed wrestling coach:

EB-2 NIW approvals for a self-employed physicist, based primarily on the value of unpublished data:

Consecutive motions to reconsider required to win the approval of one EB-1C petition:

Motions to reconsider filed without a USCIS denial decision in hand, making non-receipt of the denial the motion’s foundational argument:

O-1 petitions prepared for a tea taster of extraordinary ability:

PERM labor certification approvals for a ballet dancer:

PERM approvals for a circus acrobat performing triple somersaults on stilts:

PERM approvals obtained following an audit, for a position whose only requirement was the ability to lift 50 pounds, with three applicants on record:

I-140 approvals for an EB-3 skilled worker upheld against a consular visa denial and a USCIS Notice of Intent to Revoke, by arguing in part that English is not the U.S.’s official language (before its March 1, 2025 designation by Executive Order 14224):

Number of times Jan Albrecht has written to a U.S. Ambassador to call attention to a legal error the post committed in denying a client’s application:

Number of times Jan Albrecht has argued, in a motion to reconsider, copying the USCIS Inspector General and USCIS Investigations Chief, that USCIS fabricated a record and cited it to deny a case:

Number of times Jan Albrecht used the word “gaslighting” to describe the USCIS adjudication in a motion to reconsider, in one case:

Number of times he used the word “bullying” to describe the adjudication in a motion to reconsider, in another case:

Number of times he used the phrase “administrative waterboarding” to describe the adjudication in a motion to reconsider, in yet another case:

Number of times Jan Albrecht has told USCIS in responses to Requests for Evidence that they were sending his clients “on a fool’s errand”: