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Questions & Answers Sessions 09/02/2010: USCIS Enforces New 08/09/2010 I-864P Poverty Income Guidelines USCIS releases on August 20, 2010 the new poverty income poverty guideline form of August 9, 2010 edition and no previous edition is acceptable. Not certain what difference of new version is. But beware! Old version is no longer acceptable. Visa posts of the U.S. Department of State are also implementing the new guidelines. 09/02/2010: USCIS 09/01/2010 Executive Summary Public Law 111-230 (H-1B & L-1 Fee Increase Provisions) The USCIS has just released its executive summary of implementing this new law. The involved agencies are still coordinating the specific policies to interprete and implement specific langauge of the new law, but pending the release of a final interpretation of every detailed issues, the involved employers should review and follow the executive summary as preliminary guidance. 09/02/2010: New USCIS Policy Memorandum on Denial Language to Appeals to BIA This new memorandum is issued to give guidance on adjudicators of mostly family-related petitions to use certain language in denial or revocation of the petitions on their rights to appeals to BIA. 08/31/2010: USCIS Naturalization Processing and Backlog Statistics as of 07/31/2010 08/31/2010: USCIS Immigration Benefits Applications Processing and Backlog Statistics as of 07/31/2010 Substantial rise in number of applications. 08/31/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Count of USCIS (08/27/2010) Regular cap: 34,900 (Out of 65,000. However, taking out H-1B1 for Chile and Singapore, practical total cap available is not 65,000 but about 58,000) Master cap: 13,000 (Out of 20,000 special cap) 08/28/2010: Deadline of FY 2011 H-1B Cap Filing As we approach the end of September 2010, people wonder whether they should be able to file FY 2011 H-1B cap petitions after October 1, 2010. In fact, the FY 2011 H-1B cap number is not available until October 1, 2010. The agency has been taking in H-1B cap petitions beginning from April 1 each year because under the H-1B regulation, no H-1B petition can be filed six months before the starting date of H-1B employment. Accordingly, should the cap numbers are not exhausted by the end of September, the USCIS must keep accepting the FY 2011 H-1B cap petitions with the starting date of post October 1, 2010 and post the filing date of the petition. Accordingly, until the total annual cap numbers are exhausted, the agency will continue to accept the FY 2011 H-1B cap petitions on and after October 1, 2010. However, there is a question of whether the OPT cap gap relief of automatic extension of OPT status and employment authorization will be available when the petition is filed on or after October 1, 2010. The agency (ICE & USCIS) has to clarify on this but the cap gap provision may not be applicable in the situation. Consequently, inasmuch as H-1B cap petition is filed timely after October 1, 2010 while the student is in a valid OPT or grace period, the student may remain in the country lawfully pending adjudication of the H-1B petition, but pending H-1B petition, there may not be available automatic extension of OPT or employment authorization. Beware. 08/27/2010: By-Product of Failure of CIR - Growing Tension of Obama Policy Within ICE One of the big changes that the country has witnessed since the Obama Administration took over the government was to switch the immigration enforcement focus from the undocumented aliens to the employers hiring undocumented aliens. Obviously, underlying this policy was the efforts of the Obama government to appease its strongest constituency, the Hispanic community, pending the enactment of CIR. Under the policy, the law enforcement against the undocumented aliens has been substantially reduced, while the law enforcement against the U.S. employers has gradualy intensified. This created some tension in the immigration enforcement community. On top of the tension, the leaked internal USCIS memorandum has thrown a gas over the burning fire. Under the leaked policy, detention and treatment of detained undocumented aliens would receive some leniency. Report indicates that such swift of policy at the top level of the Obama administration has ignited discontent and resistance within the ICE, which culminated in no confidence vote by the ICE officers union against the head of the agency. In a way, ICE is squizzed between the Obama administration that needed sustained support from the Hispanic community and the Republicans that needed to take advantage of loosen immigration enforcement policy. Such predicament of the Obama administration could have been abated, had the present leadership pushed for and passed the CIR. In the midst of such politics, immigrants have suffered and turned into helpless scapegoats and victims. Worse yet, we see no light at the end of tunnel, judging from the newly shaping political landscape of the country. America has changed and is changing along with the slipping and downturn of the morality and ethics smearing into every sector of the society. 08/26/2010: USCIS Latest H-2B Cap Count of 08/23/2010 2nd Half FY 2010 Cap: Total: 29,960 Approved: 29,523 Pending: 437 1st Half FY 2011 Cap: Total: 4,841 Approved: 3,654 Pending: 1,187 08/26/2010: ICE Plan for Employment Authorization for Certain Haitian F-1 Students Experiencing Hardship by January Earthquake in Haiti The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is scheduled to publish a notice as soon as it is approved by the White House OMB concerning employment authorization for Haitian F-1 nonimmigrant students experiencing severe economic hardship as a direct result of the January 12, 2010 Earthquake. For the upcoming release of the notice, please stay tuned to this web site. 08/25/2010: Religious Worker Special Immigrant Concurrent I-485 Filing in Crisis Certain class of religious worker special immigrants are currently allowed to file I-360 and I-485 concurrently just like other employment-based immigrants filing I-140 and I-485 concurrently based on a federal district court injunction of the USCIS rule that require bifurcation of filing. This is the famous case of Ruiz Diaz v. United States case. On August 20, 2010, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the federal court decision and vacated the injunctions which was issued by the federal district court judge. It also remanded the case back to the federal district judge to reach the merit of a claim of violation of Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which the federal district failed to reach in its initial decision. Accordingly, the litigation will continue, but vacation of the injunction is in effect. For the decision of the 9th Circuit, please read Findlaw. For the impact of this decision, please stay tuned to this website. 08/24/2010: H-1B Cap Count of 08/20/2010 Regular Cap=33,900 Master Cap=12,600 08/24/2010: USCIS Fee Increase Final Rule Presented to OMB Yesterday for Approval The proposed filing fee adjustment rule was published earlier and after completion of comment period, the agency worked out the final rule. This final rule is now in the hands of White House OMB for approval and implementation. As was true with the proposed rule, the final rule is not likely to take a long time to be published and implemented as this rule is considered "economically signicant impact" rule making which is processed in the OMB outside of the normal review requirement of either minimum of 30 days or 60-90 days rule under the relevant Executive Order. This fee increase rule does not significally increase filing fees for the petitions and applications which are most commonly used by the consumers, but in some areas, the fee increase will be quite significant, particularly investment immigration and some other less frequently used immigration benefits areas. Please stay tuned to this website for the upcoming release of this final rule. 08/20/2010: National Visa Center (NVC) Frequently Asked Questions Relating to Consular Immigrant Visa Processing Those who go through general immigrant visas processing or K-1 Fiance processing or K-3 U.S. citizen spouse visa processing or I-864 affidavit of support requirement relating to the foregoing consular proceedings may have quite a few questions for which they need answers. The NVC FAQ site should be very helpful for this purpose. 08/20/2010: USCIS Draft Memorandum for Evaluation of "Evidentiary Criteria in Certain I-140 Petitions" This draft memorandum was released today for comment until September 3, 2010 when it may be adopted as an official memorandum revising Adjudicators Field Manual. It touches the issues of evidentiary criteria for adjudication of I-140 immigrant petitions in EB-1A(Extraordinary Worker), EB-1B(Outstanding Professor or Researcher), and EB-2(Exceptional Ability), requiring two-prong test in the adjudication. This draft memorandum is intended to override all the previous memorandums touching on the subject petitioin adjudication guidance criteria. In this regard, the draft memorandum is very important and stakeholders and employers may carefully review the draft and send in comments before September 4, 2010. 08/20/2010: Effective 09/08/2010, Visa Waiver Program Travelers Pay $14.00 ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) Fee The State Department issued this cable to the visa posts to engage in public relations activities. This cable explains in detail the legal and policy backgrounds of this fee as well as Q&A to provide guidance for the visa posts as well as the VWP travelers. Read on. 08/20/2010: EAD Delay Alerts for EB-485 Waiters According to the AILA, currently Nebraska Service Center is experiencing delays in EAD adjudications and they are trying hard to issue the EAD in 75 days. It means that in most cases, it takes minimum 75 days or longer. For the reasons, the NSC is advising that EAD renewal be filed as soon as the applicant reaches 120 days before expiration of current EAD. However, people should never file it earlier than this timeline as such filing will be rejected. EB-485 waiters are currently experiencing problems because they are not attentive to the changing situations and they are just accustomed to the earlier situations where most of EAD renewals were issued from one month to two months. Some of the legal counsels, including this reporter, have thus been experiencing difficulties in collecting required documents from clients who just assume that it is no big deal since renewal can be issued in couple of months. They are now suffering and panicking because of the current processing delays of EAD. Agencies' processing times constantly change depending on each agency office and curcumstances at the different times. This reporter thus writes this alert to remind these applicants to take a conservative attitude and file EAD application as soon as they reach the 120-day point before their current EAD will expire. Don't cry on spilt milk! 08/19/2010: USCIS Announcement: USCIS Implements H-1B and L-1 B Fee Increase According to Public Law 111-230 (aka H.R. 6080 Bill) That is fast. After completing the teleconference, the agency posted again the anouncement today, August 19, 2010. The detailed guidance and the revised forms have yet to be released, but this announcement makes it official the involved employers with pending H-1B petition since August 14, 2010 or those who will file new petitions must pay additional fees to avoid consequences. Read on. 08/19/2010: USCIS to Release H.R. 6080 H-1B + L-1 Fee Increase Implementation Guidance Soon The today's teleconference reflects that the USCIS is still working on guidance for implementation of this law and revision of the petition forms. Until that time, it appears that answers to most of key questions will remain fluid. The following are key issues that came up in the teleconference. The new law was signed and took effect on 08/13/2010, but since it was signed middle of the day, the agency will implement the fees on August 14, 2010 and any petitions that were post-marked by U.S. postal services on 08/14/2010 or thereafter will have to pay the new fees. When the petitions are filed, commercial delivery services' record of receipt of the package may be taken instead of post mark. The new fee of $2,000 for H-1B and $2,250 for L-1 is in addition to current fees of $320 for I-129, $500 for Fraud Presention Fee, $750 or $1,500 ACWIA fee for H-1B plus $1,000 premium processing fee, if applicable. The new fee is charged for new H-1B or L-1A or L-1B petition and change of employer H-1B or L-1A or L-1B petition. The new fee will not be charged for extension of the current status by the same employer. The new fee is analogous to ACWIA fee which the employer is liable and not employee. Employers must pay the new fee. With reference to 'definition of employer,' petitioners should follow the H-1B regulation. There are host of issues which have yet to be resolved including Blanket L petition, but the agency defers to the regulation at this point, pending their release of guidance soon. With reference to definition of the employee, three different points to keep in mind: Both full-time and part-time employees considered employees for the purposes of both of following purposes. For the purpose of determination of number of nonimmigrant H-1B or L-1 employees in the staff, L-2 working on EAD will also be counted as employee. (This has yet to be further clarified) Employees in the United States are counted. For purpose of count of total employees and applicable H-1B and L-1 employees, it is counted on the date of filing of the petition. For pending cases, the agency is likely to issue RFE with 30-day response time. For new petitions, they recommend employers to submit attestations as to why they are not subject to the new law. The foregoing is not necessarily the rule nor the current practice of the USCIS. Their current thoughts only, pending release of their guidance and new forms. Readers are thus advised not to rely on this report and seek legal counsel for advice. One sad news is that this new process may substantially delay processing times of H-1B and L-1 petitions for those employers who hire 50 or more employees and 50% of the employees are H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrants. 08/19/2010: U.S. Department of Labor Draft Strategic Plan for FY 2011-2016 The U.S. Department of Labor has drafted the next five-year strategic plan and scheduled to seek inputs from the stakeholders and the public very soon. The goals in the areas of foreign labor certification programs will be to protect job opportunities for Americans, to improve efficiency of management of programs, particularly prevailing wage determination processing times, and implementation of revised PERM program anchored on filing fees. The following represents just a part f the draft, and readers are encouraged to review the full text and prepare themselve to preparre their ideas and inputs and participate in the inter-act review process of the Department within the next two weeks or so. Protecting Job Opportunities for Americans Performance Goal ETA 1.5 — Maintain oversight to ensure that employers are compliant with wage and overtime laws with respect to certified foreign laborers. ETA’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) helps protect workers’ wages by reviewing employer requests for certification of a foreign worker to work in the United States. ETA’s OFLC assures that the hiring of a foreign worker will not adversely impact the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers and that no qualified U.S. workers are willing or available to fill a given vacancy. Employers seeking to hire foreign workers are required to conduct good-faith efforts to locate talent in their communities. In addition, employers are required to pay any foreign worker the wage rate that prevails in the area of employment for the occupation and to comply with all laws governing such employment. Strategies for improving timeliness and quality of certification processes include fee-based funding of application processing, revising applications to promote clarity and ease of use by employers, and for the permanent program, enhancing audit and oversight. In order to achieve the goals, they intend to reinforce reinforcement and enforcement, and in the meanwhile, reduce the processing times from the current target of 80% within six month in FY 2010 to 81% in 2011 and first half of 2012, and depending the developments, the annual targets be established for a period between send half of FY 2012 and FY 2015, and achieve the target of 95% in the final year of 2016. For audit cases, resolution compliance review in FY 2010 is set at 60%, and 61% for 2011, annual establishment of goals between 2012 and 2015, and 70% in 2016. The foregoing may explain in part the late efforts of the OFLC expediting adjucations to reach probably the target of FY 2010. Anyway, the draft strategic plan in a way cuts both ways in the future. 08/19/2010: Growing Rise of Volumes & Trends of USCIS Pending Cases for Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Cases For immigration consumers, there are three primary sources of information available to learn the status of immigration and naturalition. Review of the following three sources indicate that the volumes and trends had been reduced in a fairly rapid pace contributing to reduction of the agency's processing times and achieving the policy target of the reduced processing times of various petitions and applications. However, lately, particularly since March 2010, the information reflects that the volumes and trends of pending cases have been steadily growing, raising a concern to the consumers for its potential negative impact on its processing times ahead. The causes of these reverse trend have never been disclosed. The consumers have been advised since the late part of 2009 of the growing reduction of incoming cases and its impact on the agency's budget short fall leading to the proposed increase in filing fees lately. This certainly does not explain the reverse trend. Some of the causes one can speculate include the agency's set-back of efficient and effective processing of cases as affected in part by its recent practice of intensified scrutiny of cases leading to growing number of RFEs to achieve its goal of "integrity," and/or aches and pains of its business transformation program that should ultimately achieve efficiency and effectiveness but during its current transition stage and bifurcation processing between the front-end filing process function into lock boxes and the back-end adjudication function into the one of the five Service Centers, and/or forthcoming annual file audits and file digitizatation process, plus late rise of new filings. These are all speculations. However, consumers have a legitimate interest in and concern with the fall-outs of these trends and are anxious to hear from the agency or other sources such as the Government Accounting Office for the causes of the trend. The following are the three sources of information available to the general public: Immigration and Naturalization Benefits Applications Monthly Reports (including June 2010 statistics) National Trend and Volume of Processing Statistics (including June 2010 statistics) Districts and Service Centers Monthly Processing Times Report (June 2010) Some of the information in this report does not necessarily reflect the reality of waiting times in all cases. For instance, despite its report of one-month for L-1 and two-month for H-1B, the reality appears to take much longer than it because of a substantial rise of RFEs and adjudication delays. Beware. 08/18/2010: USCIS Processing Delays for Re-Registration of El Salvadorans for TPS and Form I-130 USCIS alerts that it is currently experiencing a three-to five-day delay with the intake and receipting of applications associated with re-registration of El Salvadorans for TPS and Forms I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, filed at the Chicago Lockbox facility. As of August 18, 2010, USCIS is currently receipting applications and petitions received at the Chicago Lockbox on August 5, 2010. Please click here for the alerts. 08/18/2010: USCIS Updates Monthly Processing Times 08/18/2010 This update shows the processing times as of June 30, 2010. See our home page. 08/18/2010: USCIS Schedules Teleconference Tomorrow to Discuss How to Implement H-1B/L-1 Fee Increase Under H.R. 6080 In order to participate in this teleconference, please visit the invitation site. 08/17/2010: USCIS Announces Implementation of H-1B and L-1 Filing Fee Increase for Certain Employers Under the New Emergency Border Security Appropriations Act [USCIS has taken down this announcement from its website without explanation. Accordingly, we will also retract this posting] The announcement is dated 08/13/2010 but posted today. It states that this Act requires the submission of an additional fee of $2,000 for certain H-1B petitions and $2,250 for certain L-1 petitions. These additional fees are required for any initial H-1B or L-1 petition filed starting [insert date] through September 30, 2014, where the petitioner employs 50 or more individuals in the U.S. and more than 50% of its employees are in H-1B or L-1 nonimmigrant status. USCIS is in the process of updating the Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. While these changes are pending and to avoid a Request for Evidence (RFE) and potential delays in processing, petitioners are encouraged to include a cover letter with the filing which states whether they are required to pay the additional fee or explaining why it is not required. For the full text, please click here. 08/17/2010: USCIS Latest H-1B Cap Count of 08/13/2010 Regular Cap=29,700 Master Cap=12,300 08/17/2010: USCIS Latest H-2B Cap Count of 08/13/2010 2nd Half FY 2010 Cap: Total: 29,781 Approved: 29,178 Pending: 603 1st Half FY 2011 Cap: Total: 3,201 Approved: 2,932 Pending: 1,654 08/17/2010: Official PERM Latest Processing Time Update as of 07/31/2010 Analyst Review: 12/2009 Audits: 07/2008 Standard Appeals: 02/2008 Government Error Appeals: Current 08/12/2010: Wow, That Is Fast. H.R. 6080 Presented to President Today, and President to Sign 08/13/2010, Friday As soon as the Senate passed the bill, the Congress quickly cleared for White House and has already been presented to the President. Since it passed during the special session, everything had to be cleared out of the Congress quickly, I guess. USCIS must be busy to get ready for processing and collecting increased fees from these employers soon. The new filing fees will be a huge amount, especially when they decide to file a premium processing request. Can you imagine how much these employers will lose for a single case if the case is filed on premium and denied!! Ouch! The new fees will take effect tomorrow since the President is scheduled to sign it into law at 11:00 a.m. EST, tomorrow. 08/12/2010: Senate Passed H.R. 6080! The President may not waste too many days to sign this bill into law. For those employers who will be subject to the H-1B and L-1 fee increase under this new law, their eyes are on the White House as to when the President will sign it, because under the new law, the new fee takes effect beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. This Act is enacted at the moment when the President signs the bill. For the text of the relevant provisions in the bill, please refer back to our report on 08/10/2010. 08/12/2010: Text of Senator Sessions Bill on Certain Long Time Conditional Residents' Adjustment of Status We reported on 08/05/2010 that Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama introduced in the U.S. Senate on 08/04/2010 the bill S. 3702 to provide for the adjustment of status for certain long-term conditional residents. We were curious about the bill because the Senator is known to be a hardline conservative Republican who rarely takes on a pro-immigration legislation. Here is the text of the bill amending Section 245 of the immigration and nationality act: `(2) ALIENS ELIGIBLE FOR ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS- An alien is described in this paragraph if the alien-- `(A) became a conditional resident under this section as an alien entrepreneur, alien spouse, or alien child (as such terms are defined in section 216A(f)) on or before December 31, 1998; `(B) filed an application to remove his or her conditional resident status on an I-829 form on or before December 31, 2000, in accordance with section 216A; and `(C) had such form or a motion to reopen or reconsider the denial of such form pending before the Department of Homeland Security as of the date of the enactment of this subsection. `(3) WAIVER OF CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR INADMISSIBILITY- `(A) INAPPLICABLE PROVISIONS- Paragraphs (5) and (7)(A) of section 212(a) shall not apply to an adjustment of status under this subsection. `(B) PERMISSIBLE WAIVERS- The Secretary of Homeland Security may waive any other provision of section 212(a) (except for paragraphs (2)(C) and (3)) with respect to an adjustment of status under this subsection-- `(i) for humanitarian purposes; `(ii) to assure family unity; or `(iii) if such waiver is otherwise in the public interest.'. It appears he stands for investment immigrants and their family members in most cases whose cases have been dragged on for certain reasons. The State of Alabama has sponsored so called Regional Center Pilot Programs and supports investment of foreign enterpreneurs. 08/11/2010: U.S. Senate Returns to Special Session at 10:00 a.m., 08/12/2010 (Thursday) to Take Care of Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriation Act Which the House Passed The Senate is returning to a special session tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to consider this bill, H.R. 6080. This is a bad news for the H-1B and L-1 filing fee increase thunderball! 08/11/2010: Official September Visa Bulletin EB-2 for India and Chima moved to May 8, 2006 EB-3 for India remains at 01/01/2002 EB-3 for China: 10/22/2003 EB-2 for Countries Other Than India and China: Current EB-3 for Worldwide: 12/15/2004 08/10/2010: House Passed Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2010 in Different Bill Number H.R. 6080 The House quickly passed this bill this morning. However, the bill will have to wait until the Senate returns from the summer break on September 10, 2010 because the bill was changed in the format and others. Accordingly, unless the Senate decides to return to a special session this week, which is not likely, this bill will not become a law until the middle of September 2010. In a way, it is a good news, but still remain a bad news as the filing fees for H-1B and L-1 for certain group of employers will go up substantially, potentially affecting their business. 08/10/2010: H-2B Cap Count of 08/06/2010 2nd Half FY 2010 Cap Count Total=30,383 Approved=29,240 Pending=1,143 1st Half FY 2011 Cap Count Total=3,201 Approved=2,385 Pending=816 08/10/2010: House Special Session Floor Schedule Today House is scheduled to complete ,before 3:00 p.m., voting for the bills which are on the floor agenda that includes Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2010 as amended by the Senate, which includes the following section: Sec. 402. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other provision of law, during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on September 30, 2014, the filing fee and fraud prevention and detection fee required to be submitted with an application for admission as a nonimmigrant under section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(L)) shall be increased by $2,250 for applicants that employ 50 or more employees in the United States if more than 50 percent of the applicant's employees are nonimmigrants admitted pursuant to section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of such Act or section 101(a)(15)(L) of such Act. (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other provision of law, during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on September 30, 2014, the filing fee and fraud prevention and detection fee required to be submitted with an application for admission as a nonimmigrant under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b)) shall be increased by $2,000 for applicants that employ 50 or more employees in the United States if more than 50 percent of the applicant's employees are such nonimmigrants or nonimmigrants described in section 101(a)(15)(L) of such Act. If the House floor agrees to the Senate amendment without its own amendment, the bill will go to the President for his signature who strongly supports the Border Security bill. Will the House agree to Senate amendment? Please stay tuned to this website for the voting results. 08/09/2010: Administrative Appeals Processing Times of USCIS AAO as of 08/01/2010 08/09/2010: Well Put, New York Times Editorial on the 14th Amendment Controversy Our readers should read this article. It indeed is a beautiful prose. Thank you, New York Times! http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06fri1.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=editorial%2014th%20amendment&st=cse 08/09/2010:Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 08/06/2010 Still plenty! Regular cap: 28,500 (out of total annual cap of 65,000) Master degree cap:11,900 (out of special cap of 20,000) 08/09/2010: Proposed Reengineering and Tightening of H-2B Certifications by Office of Foreign Labor Certification Currently the USCIS regulations require, prior to the admission of H-2B workers, to seek advice from the Office of Foreign Labor Certification regarding the importation of such workers. Specifically, Office of Foreign Labor Certification certifies that there is not sufficient U.S. worker(s) who are capable of performing the temporary services or labor at the time of an application for a visa, and that the employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The Office of Foreign Labor Certification currently administers such certification through an attestation-based program. As a result of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification's program experience, this regulation proposes to re-engineer the H-2B program in order to strengthen the program's integrity and protections of U.S. workers. The proposed rule was submitted to the OMB last Friday for approval. For details, please stay tuned to this website. 08/09/2010: House Scheduled to Return to Session Tomorrow & Take Up Just Passed Senate Emergency Border Spending Bill as Amended Report indicates that the House will return to the session tomorrow to take care of other bill, but it will surely take up and act on this bill on the floor tomorrow. H-1B and L-1 fee increase is more imminent than initially anticipated. Please stay tuned. 08/07/2010: Emergency Border Spending Bill - Misguided? This bill which the Senate just passed with amendments is very controversial. As we noted in our report of this bill yesterday, the Democrats had been pushing the bill to send a wink and to lure conservative forces in Congress to come to the table for negotiaion for Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation. However, as it is reported by the Center for Community Change, the Democrats were misguided in that by tossing away their bargaining chips with the conservative forces that had been advocating border security and immigration enforcement only immigration reform, the conservatives would no longer have any incentives to come to the table with the Democrats to negotiate the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation. The truth is that such piecemeal immigration reform bill as this bill should have been an essential part of the overall comprehensive immigration reform legislation to force the conservatives to sit and negotiate for the legislation. We agree with the CCC that this bill is politically and strategically misguided for the Democrats and the Obama team. Hmm................................... 08/06/2010: Senate Passed H-1B and L-1 Filing Fee Substantial Increase Yesterday as Part of $600 Million Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010 The House passed the Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010, which the Senate passed it yesterday with amendments. One of the amendments includes the following fee increase for H-1B and L-1. This amendment was sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. The amendment provides: L-1 Filing Fee and Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee Wiil be Increased by $2,250 for Petitioners Employing 50 or More Employees in the United States and More Than 50% of the employees are H-1B or L-1 Employees H-1B Filing Fee and Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee Will be Increased by $2,000 for Petitioners Employing 50 or More Employees in the United States and More Than 50% of the employees are H-1B or L-1 Employees. The total filing fees after this legislation will be much higher than these figures in that these employers will also have to pay $1,500 American Worker Training Fees for H-1B petition plus current fraud preventiuon fee of $500 and I-129 filing fee of $320. The Increased Fee will take effect on the date this bill is enacted into a law by the President's signature and remain in effect until September 30, 2014. The bill needs Senate-House Conference and unless the House and Senate leader agree to return to the session during the summer break which ends on 09/14/2010, this bill is not likely enacted into law untill after the Congress returns to the session after the summer break. The amendment will be found in Title IV, Section 402 (a) and (b) of H.R. 5875, as amended by S. 3721. Understandably, this bill will hit hard Indian giant consulting businesses since the employers that will be subject to the increased fees fit primarily Indian businesses such as Wipro, Infosys, Tata, etc. Report indicates that these firms started and will continue to lobby the Congress against this bill from here on. The fact that this amendment was introduced by the Chairman of Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Judidiary Committee indicates that probably he intends to smooth out hardline opponents of CIR by showing strong support for border protection and protection of U.S. hi-tech labor markets in the environment of nation's struggling economy and unemployment rate. Please stay tuned. 08/06/2010: USCIS Expands Employment Authorization for Dependents of Foreign Officials Effective 08/09/2010 Effective Monday, August 9, 2010, USCIS will expand the list of dependents who are eligible for employment authorization from spouses, children, and qualifying sons and daughters of A or G foreign officials to include any other immediate family member who falls within a category of aliens designated by the Department of State as qualifying. This rule will be published in the federal register Monday. For advance copy, please click here. 08/06/2010: Congress Over One-Month Summer-Break Until September 14, 2010 Other than election politics, the Congress will stay dormant for over one month and until September 14, 2010. The House has already been adjourned and yesterday, the Senate passed en masse [but no immigration bills other than the Help Haiti Act!] legislative bills before it adjourns beginning from next week. There have been a lot of talks in the media on volatile ultra right wing immigration issues including the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with proposed restriction to right to U.S. citizenship for certain babies born of illegal aliens in the United States. Other than such talks here and there, all motivated by the election year politics, the Congress and for that matter, the White House have remained low key in immigration legislation. The media will continue to carry reports on talks on immigration during next one month, but it will be all fruitless and election strategy motivated talks. We'd rather turn our ears and eyes away from such reports until the November election is over. 08/05/2010: Senate Passed The Help Haiti Act of 2010 Yesterday With Amendment, H.R. 5283 Senate passed this House bill yesterday with amendments. This bill provides adjustment of status to permanent residents for certain Haiti orphans. Since the bill was passed with amendments, it has to go to the conference to compromise. 08/05/2010: Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama Introduces S. 3702 to Grant Adjustment of Status to Certain Long Time Conditional Residents Senator Sessions rarely introduces pro-immigration bills because of his ultra-conservative staance. Yesterday, he introduced this in the Senate. The text is yet to be made available and we are curious of text of this bill. Please stay tuned. Hmm................. 08/04/2010: What a Wonderful Feeling of Receiving Email Notices of August 2010 Visa Bulletin 485 Approvals! I have never loved the USCIS online email notices of decisions until I keep receiving EB-485 appoval notices for Indians whose priority date became current beginning from August 1, 2010. Simply hilarious!! 08/04/2010: USCIS Changes Filing Location to Lock Boxes for the Following Forms I-140 I-526 I-539 I-129F I-817 I-130 The filing location changes to lock boxes can mean that the front-end processing of data entry and receipt notice production can experience some delays. Let's wait and see. 08/03/2010: H-1B Cap Count as of 07/30/2010 08/03/2010: H-2B Cap Count for FY 2010 2nd Half and FY 2011 1st Half as Counted on 07/30/2010 The USCIS has started using H-2B cap for FY 2011 First Half. Read on. 08/02/2010: HHS Notice of Continued Delays of Update of Poverty Guidelines Until January 2011 The HHS will publish a notice that there will be a delayed update of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines for the remainder of 2010, and until the 2011 poverty guidelines are published, which is expected to occur in late January 2011. Accordingly, the current poverty guidelines will remain in effect until January 2011. Read the notice. 08/01/2010: Reported USCIS Response to the Leaked Memo The National Review Online reports that the USCIS has released a statement on the memo as follows: Internal draft memos do not and should not be equated with official action or policy of the Department. We will not comment on notional, pre-decisional memos. As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system. We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges. Internal memoranda help us do the thinking that leads to important changes; some of them are adopted and others are rejected. Our goal is to implement policies wisely and well to strengthen all aspects of our mission. The choices we have made so far have strengthened both the enforcement and services sides of USCIS — nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions. To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population. We totally agree with the USCIS that in the decision-making process of any entity, various thoughts, ideas, and suggestions can come up from within and without sources and this memo should not represent the decision of the entity. 08/01/2010: Alleged Sources of Leakage of USCIS Memo on Administrative Solutions to CIR The Fox News blog today reports that "it was first obtained by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's office from the U.S. Customs & Immigration Services." Republican Senator Vitter reportedly stated that "The first letters were in June. We had heard rumors about this sort of activity; no answer. We followed up in July; no answer" and "Then this 11-page memo has gotten out,..." Reportedly several Republican senators wrote a letter to President Obama regarding the memo, and they are waiting for a response. Hmm....................................... 08/01/2010: The Congressional Schedules Ahead If we look at the House and the Senate schedules, we can see why the government's top priority legislative agenda are practically gone. The Congress will return to the Hill for less than one working week and is scheduled to go into its "one month" summer break between August 9 and September 10, 2010. Then there will be less than one month for the Congress in session before it probably adjourns on October 8, 2010. During this period, the members of the House and the Senate will stay business in their districts for November election campaigns. After the national election is over, the Congressional leaders may consider lame duck sessions before or even through the nation's biggest holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas, which remain an open question at this point. For the reasons, we see that the 111th Congress is very much over when it comes to the remaining national top priority legislative agenda. It is extremely travesty that the ailing immigration system has been left unresolved for so many years owing to the nation tangled in politics. There are pet talks for the hope for immigration reform in 2011, but this hope will entirely depend on the results of the November election and completely remain an open question. There are enough blames to go around for the failures, but whoever they may be, they should feel ashamed of themselves. 07/31/2010: Leaked Undated USCIS Memo for Internal Discussion and Nagative Impact on Prospects for Administrative Fixes The memorandum indeed contained very thoughtful discussion on various administrative fixes which could be available within the confinement of existing law. Howevever, the unauthorized leakage of the internal document will have a chilling effect on administrative fixes which the agency could potentially consider and make preparation against the Congress failure to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation. The immigration opponents and conversative political forces are attempting to take advantage of the election year politics to accuse that the Obama forces were attempting to achieve "amnesty" of millions of illegal aliens bypassing the Congress. 07/30/2010: USCIS Considers Administrative Fixes As Alternatives to Comprehensive Immigration Reform Unofficial internal document of the USCIS, as released by ProRepublica, indicates that the USCIS is considering a wide range of alternatives to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform, should the Congress fail to pass the CIR legislation this year. We are currently, editing this confidential document, but readers may be able to get access to this document which has yet to be edited. Read on. 07/29/2010: Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Benefits Applications Statistics as of 06/30/2010 The just released statistics reflect that both immigration and naturalization applications have steadily increased since March 2010. For the details, please review the following: Immigration(nonimmigrant & immigrant proceedings) application statistics Naturalization application statistics Trend and monthly statistics of immigration and naturalization application statistics 07/29/2010: "Admission" Requirement for I-485 Eligibility and Important Board of Immigration Appeals Decision Handed Down Yesterday Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) handed down a rule that for the purposes of establishing eligibility for I-485, the law does not require the alien to be questioned by immigration authorities or be admitted in a particular status. In this case, a citizen of Mexico who entered the United States without a valid document as a passenger in a car being driven by her United States citizen friend. According to her testimony, the immigration inspector asked her friend (driver) whether he was an American citizen but did not ask her anything. The officer then waved the car through the port of entry. She five years later married a United States citizen and filed I-485 before immigration judge who denied the relief based on the decision that she was not "admitted" to the U.S. The BIA disagreed and overturned the decision and remand the case to the immigration judge. This decision is important in that similar situations have been taking place quite often in both the Northern border and Southern border. See Matter of Quilantan, 25 I&N Dec. 285 (BIA 2010), Interim Decision #3688 (BIA July 28, 2010). 07/28/2010: Federal Judge Susan Bolton Issued Preliminary Injunction Blocking Profiling Provision of Arizona Immigration The Arizona immigration law was scheduled to take effect tomorrow. The law itself will take effect as scheduled, but the controversial and politically volatile immigrant ethnic profiling provision will not take effect tomorrow because of the judge's preliminary injunction against this provision of the state statute. For the implication of the turn of this event, please stay tuned to this web site. 07/28/2010: H-2B Cap Count as of 07/23/2010 Beneficiaries Approved: 28,760 Beneficiaries Pending: 1,880 Total Count: 30,640 07/27/2010: USCIS Policy Review Results Report Released 07/26/2010 USCIS has been actively engaging in review of policies in certain areas through collection of surveys online, public engagement sessions, and other medium. The report covers interesting statistics which are related to each of the areas they have been reviewing. Please read the following: External Stakeholder Survey Data (in PDF) External Stakeholder Survey Summary Graphs & Tables (in MS Excel) 07/27/2010: Incoming Questions & Answers Session Email Questions We have been receiving a volume of emails addressing some issues, seeking answers. Thank you for the questions. When people address a question relating to the AC 21, they should lay out at least the following three dates: Labor Certification Filing Date(Priority Date); I-140 Filing Date and EB Classification; and I-485 Filing Dates. Most of the questions, at least at this time, have been focusing on pending I-485 applications. We will also welcome nonimmigrant proceeding questions. We will reinstate the sessions as soon as the new site is technically prepared. Thank you. 07/27/2010: Recent Unreliability of USCIS 'My Case Status Check' and Email Notification Systems Lately, people must have experienced an annoying situation where my case status site and email notification system of the USCIS either reported none or "review" stage report and hard copy approval notices had been delivered in the mail. Even after receiving the hard copy notices, My Case Status site and Email Notification system showed no changes. This unreliability of the USCIS case status check system has frustrated and confused the consumers tremendously. Now, it has not been confirmed, but the USCIS is scheduling an Webinar public engagement session on 07/30/2010 to present to and hear from the stakeholders the USCIS site modification plans adding a new online inquiry tool, tailored case status information for My Case Status, and new features for Spanish-speaking customers. We hope that its status check site was unreliable as affected by the technical process to add the new features. It would have been nice, though, had the agency informed the public of such ongoing technical process and alerted its impact on the status site pending the system adjudstment. For the engagement session, please click here. 07/27/2010: USCIS Expands Fee Payment Methods USCIS has announced that effective 10/01/2010, they will no longer accept payment by cash in domestic field offices. Payment in cash may still be available in its international offices outside of the U.S. In domestic filings, payment by checks or money order, or credit cards such as Visa®, Mastercard®, American Express®, and Discover® Network will be acceptable. For the full text of this announcement, please click here. 07/26/2010: Please Stay Tuned for Our Return to the Questions and Answers Sessions Hope our readers stay in good health in this hot and steamy summer season. The year 2010 continuously places the immigration news at bay because of the persistent economic downturn and political landscape against the immigration and immigrants. It is not only Congress and White House that have remained totally in dormant state, but also the stakeholder agencies that have been shy in launching any actions to fix the broken immigration system at the administrative level. Under the political environment where the term "immigration" is taken as a "taboo," especially in the election year, the center of political power has shown timidity and nervousness. No one will expect to see any changes in such political environment within this year. Again, it is not just Comprehensive Immigration Reform, but also any move in the government which may continue to remain dorman throughout the year. Under the circumstances, the survival issues and strategies have been gaining importance, and the questions and issues within the existing legal system relating to the nuts and bolts need some answers, albeit not authoritative, to relieve the pains from our audience. For the reasons, this reporter has decided to reinstate our Questions and Answers sessions for our readers. Unlike the previous Q&A sessions, the new Questions and Answers session will include some updates with the immigration policies, practices, and laws and rules. Those who wish to send a question may use our office email of ohlaw@immigration-law.com. As was true in the past, people should not include any information in the questions that can relate to or identify any specific individual, particularly from their friends, colleagues, and other people around them. We may not be able to answer all the questions, but will try to accomodate any many issues as possible. In the email, people should clarify that the emails are related to the Q&A Sessions. Otherwise, their questions may be ignored. 07/26/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/23/2010 Still plenty! Regular cap: 26,000 (out of total annual cap of 65,000) Master degree cap:11,300 (out of special cap of 20,000) 07/22/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/16/2010 Still plenty! Regular cap: 25,300 (out of total annual cap of 65,000) Master degree cap:11,000 (out of special cap of 20,000) 07/22/2010: H-2B Cap Count as of 07/16/2010 Beneficiaries Approved: 28,539 Beneficiaries Pending: 1,615 Total Count: 30,154 07/20/2010: DOL Performance and Results of PERM and H-1B LCA Processing During January Thru March 2010 This performance report indicates that there was one time a significant decrease in number of PERM cases which had been resolved in six months, but the OFLC has been working hard to increase the percentage of the cases resolved within six months and such reduction of processing times is likely to improve significantly from here on. There are a number of PERM applications that have lately been certified in a short period of time. For the full report, please click here. 07/15/2010: Latest Update of USCIS Processing Times 07/15/2010 for Service Centers, Local Offices, and National Benefits Center Today, the USCIS updated its processing times at all levels, including local district/field offices, four Service Centers, and National Benefits Centers as of May 31, 2010. As for the FY 2011 H-1B cap processing, it appears the agency is currently experiencing backlogs since April 2010 unlike this report shows (2 months). There are plenty of H-1B cap cases which were filed in April 2010 and are yet to be adjudicated. It is uncertain as to what causes such delays. Usually towards the end of fiscal year each year, the agency has been experiencing delays because they tend to schedule "file audits" freezing movement of the files in some cases. However, we have no information available about for the current delays. Please stay tuned. 07/15/2010: Change of Address and Potential Impact on Last Minute Adjudication of EB-485 Applications Whose Visa Numbers Become Available As people are aware, the USCIS has "preadjudicated" a large number of pending I-485 cases whose priority dates are close to the pace of the immigrant visa number availability in the Visa Bulletin and has been awaiting the visa number availability for the final decision. Generally, change of address to outside of the metropolitan area or different state is considered a red flag in the final adjudication process as the employment-based nonimmigrant status or intended place of employment is the "key" to the labor certification based immigration proceeding and labor certification remains valid only if the offered job in the place of employment continue to exist. From the perspective of the agency, one may move out of the intended place of employment either because of change of employment or loss of employment or other factors that contradicts to the inended place of employment for which a labor certification has been granted and the applicant is supposedly to work at the location once a green card is approved. Since the agency will not know why the address of residence has changed out of the intended place of employment metropolitan area or state, the last minute check can lead to issuance of RFE or in the worst cases, tranferring the file to a local district or field office for interview. Even if such move is justified in most of cases under AC 21, such RFE or transfer to local offices can cause delays in adjudication of the I-485 application. In some situation, while they deal with the RFE or local office interview scheduling, they can face the visa number retrogression. For this reason, those whose visa numbers are scheduled to become current in July and August 2010 may not want to move their place of residence out of the current metropolitan areas or the current states. Once they moved, they are required to report change of address in 10 days, knowingly failure of which can be considered a ground for deportation and denial of I-485 application. Accordingly, those who have already moved should file AR-11 within 10 days of move regardless of its impact on the final I-485 adjudication process. This reporter wants to remind the readers that place and "location" of employment is a key to the employment-based nonimmigrants and immigrants from the perspectives of U.S. immigration laws because the law is intended to protect U.S. labor market from unqualified or illegal immigrants and "wage" in each location constitutes a primary factor to determine the labor market and permit of a foreign worker to work in the market area at the prevailing wage or higher wage in the specific market area. Just a reminder. 0713/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/09/2010 Still plenty! Regular cap: 24,800 (out of total annual cap of 65,000) Master degree cap:10,600 (out of special cap of 20,000) 07/13/2010: List of Witnesses to Testiby Before House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Scheduled Tomorrow Morning on Immigration Reform Ethics Issues The list of witnesses: Richard D. Land, Ph.D. President Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention Washington, DC Gerald F. Kicanas, D.D. Bishop Archdiocese of Tucson, Arizona; and Vice-President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Tucson, AZ Mathew D. Staver, J.D. Founder and Chairman Liberty Counsel; and Dean and Professor of Law Liberty University School of Law Lynchburg, PA James R. Edwards, Jr., Ph.D. Fellow Center for Immigration Studies Washington, DC Their testimonies may be made available through the links. Unfortunately, the list of witnesses does not give any clue for the intent and purpose of this hearing. Please wait and see. 07/13/2010: PERM Processing Times as of 06/30/2010 The following information comes from the official report of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification: Analyst Review: 10/2009 Aduts: 06/2008 Standard Appeals: 01/2008 Government Error Appeals: Current The foregoing represents the average processing times. But lately, Atlanta National Processing Center has made a huge stride in improving processing time of PERM applications and there are some cases that have been certified in much shorter time frame than this official report. The OFLC intends to improve further processing times ahead. It is indeed a good news. On behalf of the readers, this reporter wants to send "big hats-off" to Dr. William Carlson, Chief of OFLC, other leaders, hard-working analysts and supporting staff of the OFLC! 07/12/2010: August 2010 Visa Bulletin India EB-2 moved to March 1, 2006! 07/12/2010: House Immigration Subcommitte Schedules a Hearing 07/14/2010 on "the Ethical Imperative for Reform of our Immigration System" The hearing is scheduled at 9:30 EST. The details have yet to be released, including witnesses to testify and the specific reform proposal behind the scheduled hearing. The Chairwoman, Zoe Lofgren, has been impatient lately with all the delays in the reform initiatives on the other side of the Hill. Please stay tuned to this website for the details of this hearing. 07/12/2010: Extension of Initial TPS Registration Period for Haitians Through 01/18/2011 The current deadline which was set in the 01/21/2010 release is expected to expire on 07/20/2010. As it approaches the deadline, the USCIS has decided to extend the deadline to provide applicants more time to register for TPS until July 20, 2010. The USCIS publish this notice tomorrow in the federal register. Here is the advance copy. 07/10/2010: Employment-Based Piecemeal Employment-Based Immigration Reform Bill Introduced in the House on 07/01/2010 Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona introduced 'SKILL Act of 2010' H.R.5658 in the House on July 1, 2010. This is a piecemeal immigration reform legislative bill from the Republican legislator in Arizona focusing solely on the employment-based immigration reform. The following list of the titles and sections of the proposed legislation speaks for itself. Under the circumstances of practical total failure of the Congress in enacting comprehensive immigration reform bill, this bill appears to propose reform of employment-based immigration system first. This bill has a slight chance to make it as a stand alone legislation under the current political landscape in mid-term national election year, but since the Congress is not likely to pass FY-2011 federal government appropriation legislation before the end of FY 2010, this type of bill is likely to attempt to be attached to a chain of federal departmental appropriation bills after the national election. As one can easily tell it, this bill is strongly supported by the businesses and the foreign worker immigrant community. The titles and sections of the bill are as follows: SECTION 1. Short Title: Table of Contents Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I--Access to High Skilled Foreign Workers SEC. 101. H-1B Visa Holders SEC. 102. Marked-Based Visa Limits TITLE II--Retaining Foreign Workers Educated in the United States SEC. 201. U.S. Educated Immigrants SEC. 202. Immigrant Visa Backlog Reduction SEC. 203. Student Visa Reform SEC. 204. L-1 Visa Holders Subject to Visa Backlog SEC. 205. Retaining Workers Subject to Green Card Backlog TITLE III--Business Facilitation Through Immigration Reform SEC. 301. Streamlining the Adjudication Process for Established Employers SEC. 302. Providing Premium Processing of Employment-Based Visa Petitions SEC. 303. Elimination Procedural Delays in Labor Certification Process TITLE IV--Miscellaneous SEC. 401. Completion of Background and Security Checks SEC. 402. Visa RevalidationI SEC. 403. Severability SEC. 404. Constitutiional Authority One may call this bill as a foreign-worker Dream Act! Please read the full text. 07/10/2010: USCIS Questions & Answers and Information for Salavadoran TPS Registration and EAD Processing Q&A EAD Processing Procedures 07/09/2010: Federal Register Notice of Salvadoran TPS and EAD Extension 07/09/2010: USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times of July 1, 2010 07/09/2010: USCIS Proposed Fee Adjustment Rule Comment Period Ends 07/16/2010 The comment period for this proposed rule is scheduled to end on 07/16/2010. This fee adjustment rule-making is considered "economically significant" which usually bypasses the regular 30-90 days comment period requirement. Accordingly, the new fee binding rule is likely to be enacted not too long past from July 16, 2010. Beware. 07/08/2010: Extension of TPS Designation and Automatic Extension of EAD for Salvadorans This extension was cleared by the OMB at the same time that other two countries' (Hondurans and Nicaraguans) TPS extension notices way back, but somehow there has been delay for Salvadorans. This extension will be published in the federal register tomorrow.The notice will extend the TPS extension for 18 months from 09/10/2010 through 03/09/2012. New EADs with a 03/09/2012 expiration date will be issued to eligible TPS beneficiaries who timely re-register and and apply for EADs.This Notice will also automatically extend the validity of existing EADs for six months through 03/09/2011. The 60-day re-registration period will begin from 07/09/2010 and will remain in effect until 60 days from tomorrow. For advance copy of this notice, please click here. 07/07/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/02/2010 Still plenty! Regular cap: 24,200 (out of total annual cap of 65,000) Master degree cap:10,400 (out of special cap of 20,000) 07/07/2010: Increasing Number of States Adopting and Requiring E-Verify Program for Employers Over the period of time, the increased number of states have adopted the federal E-Verify program as the state requirment in varying forms. Employers should keep track of these ongoing changes at the state level. One of the good resources for tracking this information will be find in the link herein. 07/07/2010: Biometric Visa Program Changes at Visa Posts Effective 07/08/2010 The State Department has decided to amend the current biometric visa program to require "ten" fingerprints and a photo image as biometric identifiers. Upto now, it has been collecting only two finger prints. The Biometric Visa Program is a partner program to the DHS US-VISIT Program that is in effect at U.S. ports of entry and that uses the same biometric identifiers. By coordinating these two programs, the two departments have ensured the integrity of the U.S. visa. This is accomplished by sending the fingerscans and photos of visa applicants to DHS databases. When a person to whom a visa has been issued arrives at a port of entry, his or her photo is retrieved from a database and projected on the computer screen of the Customs and Border Protection officer. The person's fingerscans are compared to the fingerscans in the database to ensure that the person presenting the visa is the same as the person to whom the visa was issued. Please stay tuned to this website for other details. 07/06/2010: H-2B Cap Count as of 07/02/2010 Beneficiaries Approved: 27,291 Beneficiaries Pending: 1,583 Total Count: 29,374 07/05/2010: Senate and House 2010 Published Schedules for the Rest of Year 2010 This published schedules can change a lot depending on the decisions of the leaders of the House and the Senate, particularly between August and Sepatember. Depending on who wins, the schedules will change substantially between November and December 2010 since the 112th Congress with newly elected Senators and representatives of the House do not take office until January 2011. Beginning first part of August, all these members of the Senate and the House will be sent to their constituent districts and states for the reelection campaign and to support other candidates of their parties. One eye-view of this schedule vividly tells how much working times the Congress will have from today until the election in November or the end of December 2010! 07/05/2010: Visa Number Demand Data Which State Deppartment Used in the Determination of the July 2010 Employment Preference Cut-Off Dates This statistics of June 2, 2010 shows what were the total EB visa number available and EB visa demand for "Calendar Year" 2010 which led the Visa Office to determine the July 2010 Visa Bulletin (EB categories). August 2010 Visa Bulletin is anticipated to be released sometime after the government returns to work on 07/06/2010. The foregoing demand and available data reflect "calendar" year statistics that ends on 12/31/2010. However, the readers are reminded of the State Deparmtment prediction of probable cut-off dates by the end of "Fiscal" Year 2010 which ends on 09/30/2010. Before October 1, 2010, we have only two Visa Bulletins that will be released, including August and September Visa Bulletins. They predicted that by September 30, 2010, the EB visa cut-off dates "might" move to the following: EB-2 India and China: 03/2006 or 04/2006 EB-3: ROW: 06 through 09/2004 China: 10 through 12/2003 India: 02/2002 Mexico: Unavailale Philipppines: 06 through 09/2004 We will watch very closely the next two months Visa Bulletins as to how July visa demand would have affected this prediction during the period. Please stay tuned to this website for the development of immigrant visa numbers. 07/03/2010: Full Text of S. 3544, Visa Waiver Program Standard Change Bill of Senator Mikulski This bill which is titled as Visa Waiver Program Updated Framework and Enhanced Security Act of 2010 is proposed to tighten the stanadards for eligibility or removal of VWP membershiip designation to achieve increased control of illegal immigrants and security. Read on. 07/03/2010: Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Receipts and Processing Statistics as of 05/31/2010 Immigration and Nonimmigrant Petitions and Applications Naturalization Applications Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Applications Statistics by Month 07/02/2010: Obama CIR Speech and Prospect for CIR Legislation The President and Hispanic leaders have apparently been under tremendous pressure from the Hispanic community and Mexico on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation. The Obama speech appeared to be a by-product of such political pressure and a political statement. As for the legislative agenda for the 111th Congress, there is practically no room for the Congress to accomodate and complete this legislation before the end of December 31, 2010. The practical question on success of this legislation within this calendar year lies not with introduction of such CIR bill within the year but successful passage of the bill within the year. Implicitly, this has been admitted both by the Democrats and the Hispanic leaders. However, it does not translate into the conclusion that the Obama speech was meaningless and purely a political gimmick. There were numerous reports in the Washington political circles that the Democratic leaders were accepting early CIR legislative agenda for 112th Congress that will open in January 2011. In order to achieve such agenda, the CIR legislation momentum will have to be continuously built this year. In this regard, other than calculation of November election, the Democrats appear to be moving into a right direction. Question then remains: Whether this strategy can survive the November election. It thus translate into a more substantive question of whether the Democrats will be able to keep majority seats in both the Senate and the House after the election. Something to watch closely. 07/02/2010: The H-2A New Web-Based Tool, 'Public Job Registry' Integrated into iCERT Portal System, Accessible Effective 07/08/2010 The Office of Foreign Labor Certification announces that the new web-based for H-2A certification process has been fully integrated into the iCERT Portal Systemn which will be accessible to the public on 07/08/2010. Read the notice. The next question is whether and when the PERM program will be integrated into the iCERT Portal System. It may be a matter of time. 07/01/2010: President Obama CIR Speech Live at 10:45 a.m. White House Please watch. It is Eastern Standard Time. 07/01/2010: OFLC Online Wage Data for 07/2010-06/2011 Takes Effect Today The Foreign Labor Certification Data Center has released this new wage data for all PERM and temporary labor certification programs. This new data is effective 07/01/2010 and will remain in effect until 06/30/2011. Beware!! 07/01/2010: Senator Mikulski Introduces Visa Waiver Bill, S. 3544, to Improve Traveler Security This bill proposes accountability of the VWP countries for security by amending the current VWP requirement as follows: Holds VWP countries accountable for behavior of citizens traveling in the U.S. by using non-immigrant VISA overstay rates as a metric for program admissions and participation. This replaces the current practice of using refusal rates which are influenced by factors that have no impact on U.S. security, law enforcement, or contribution to rates of illegal immigration. Improves sharing of information on lost and stolen passports by requiring that all VWP countries have agreements in place to share information on lost and stolen passports within 180 days of passage and requiring the Department of Homeland Security to integrate databases on lost and stolen passport information into the Electronic System on Travel Authorization. Enhances interagency cooperation on VISA waiver program security benefits by requiring DHS to make information on travelers who have overstayed their VISAs be available electronically to state and local law enforcement agencies and requiring DHS to maximize the usage of all available databases to compile overstay rates for VWP countries to maximize the integrity of the overall rate. Takes steps to enhance oversight and accountability over VWP country compliance, such as simplifying existing annual reporting requirements for the VWP by combining all required reports into a single annual evaluation of the VWP. It also requires that DHS publish as part to its annual evaluation a report card on VWP country program compliance to include updated assessments for each participating VWP country. Stay tuned for the full text of the bill. 07/01/2010: New Form I-90 and Lock Box Filing, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card USCIS has announced that USCIS will accept previous versions of Form I-90 for 45 days, until July 28, 2010. After July 28, 2010, USCIS will reject all previous versions of Form I-90 and will return incorrect applications with a note instructing applicants to refile using the correct version of the form. The application by mail should be filed at a USCIS Lockbox facility in Phoenix, AZ. Please read announcement. For Pre-July 1, 2010 Postings, Please Click Here.
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09/02/2010: USCIS Enforces New 08/09/2010 I-864P Poverty Income Guidelines
09/02/2010: USCIS 09/01/2010 Executive Summary Public Law 111-230 (H-1B & L-1 Fee Increase Provisions)
09/02/2010: New USCIS Policy Memorandum on Denial Language to Appeals to BIA
08/31/2010: USCIS Naturalization Processing and Backlog Statistics as of 07/31/2010
08/31/2010: USCIS Immigration Benefits Applications Processing and Backlog Statistics as of 07/31/2010
08/31/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Count of USCIS (08/27/2010)
08/28/2010: Deadline of FY 2011 H-1B Cap Filing
08/27/2010: By-Product of Failure of CIR - Growing Tension of Obama Policy Within ICE
08/26/2010: USCIS Latest H-2B Cap Count of 08/23/2010
08/26/2010: ICE Plan for Employment Authorization for Certain Haitian F-1 Students Experiencing Hardship by January Earthquake in Haiti
08/25/2010: Religious Worker Special Immigrant Concurrent I-485 Filing in Crisis
08/24/2010: H-1B Cap Count of 08/20/2010
08/24/2010: USCIS Fee Increase Final Rule Presented to OMB Yesterday for Approval
08/20/2010: National Visa Center (NVC) Frequently Asked Questions Relating to Consular Immigrant Visa Processing
08/20/2010: USCIS Draft Memorandum for Evaluation of "Evidentiary Criteria in Certain I-140 Petitions"
08/20/2010: Effective 09/08/2010, Visa Waiver Program Travelers Pay $14.00 ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) Fee
08/20/2010: EAD Delay Alerts for EB-485 Waiters
08/19/2010: USCIS Announcement: USCIS Implements H-1B and L-1 B Fee Increase According to Public Law 111-230 (aka H.R. 6080 Bill)
08/19/2010: USCIS to Release H.R. 6080 H-1B + L-1 Fee Increase Implementation Guidance Soon
08/19/2010: U.S. Department of Labor Draft Strategic Plan for FY 2011-2016
Protecting Job Opportunities for Americans Performance Goal ETA 1.5 — Maintain oversight to ensure that employers are compliant with wage and overtime laws with respect to certified foreign laborers. ETA’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) helps protect workers’ wages by reviewing employer requests for certification of a foreign worker to work in the United States. ETA’s OFLC assures that the hiring of a foreign worker will not adversely impact the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers and that no qualified U.S. workers are willing or available to fill a given vacancy. Employers seeking to hire foreign workers are required to conduct good-faith efforts to locate talent in their communities. In addition, employers are required to pay any foreign worker the wage rate that prevails in the area of employment for the occupation and to comply with all laws governing such employment. Strategies for improving timeliness and quality of certification processes include fee-based funding of application processing, revising applications to promote clarity and ease of use by employers, and for the permanent program, enhancing audit and oversight.
08/19/2010: Growing Rise of Volumes & Trends of USCIS Pending Cases for Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Cases
08/18/2010: USCIS Processing Delays for Re-Registration of El Salvadorans for TPS and Form I-130
08/18/2010: USCIS Updates Monthly Processing Times 08/18/2010
08/18/2010: USCIS Schedules Teleconference Tomorrow to Discuss How to Implement H-1B/L-1 Fee Increase Under H.R. 6080
08/17/2010: USCIS Announces Implementation of H-1B and L-1 Filing Fee Increase for Certain Employers Under the New Emergency Border Security Appropriations Act [USCIS has taken down this announcement from its website without explanation. Accordingly, we will also retract this posting]
08/17/2010: USCIS Latest H-1B Cap Count of 08/13/2010
08/17/2010: USCIS Latest H-2B Cap Count of 08/13/2010
08/17/2010: Official PERM Latest Processing Time Update as of 07/31/2010
08/12/2010: Wow, That Is Fast. H.R. 6080 Presented to President Today, and President to Sign 08/13/2010, Friday
08/12/2010: Senate Passed H.R. 6080!
08/12/2010: Text of Senator Sessions Bill on Certain Long Time Conditional Residents' Adjustment of Status
08/11/2010: U.S. Senate Returns to Special Session at 10:00 a.m., 08/12/2010 (Thursday) to Take Care of Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriation Act Which the House Passed
08/11/2010: Official September Visa Bulletin
08/10/2010: House Passed Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2010 in Different Bill Number H.R. 6080
08/10/2010: H-2B Cap Count of 08/06/2010
08/10/2010: House Special Session Floor Schedule Today
08/09/2010: Administrative Appeals Processing Times of USCIS AAO as of 08/01/2010
08/09/2010: Well Put, New York Times Editorial on the 14th Amendment Controversy
08/09/2010:Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 08/06/2010
08/09/2010: Proposed Reengineering and Tightening of H-2B Certifications by Office of Foreign Labor Certification
08/09/2010: House Scheduled to Return to Session Tomorrow & Take Up Just Passed Senate Emergency Border Spending Bill as Amended
08/07/2010: Emergency Border Spending Bill - Misguided?
08/06/2010: Senate Passed H-1B and L-1 Filing Fee Substantial Increase Yesterday as Part of $600 Million Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010
08/06/2010: USCIS Expands Employment Authorization for Dependents of Foreign Officials Effective 08/09/2010
08/06/2010: Congress Over One-Month Summer-Break Until September 14, 2010
08/05/2010: Senate Passed The Help Haiti Act of 2010 Yesterday With Amendment, H.R. 5283
08/05/2010: Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama Introduces S. 3702 to Grant Adjustment of Status to Certain Long Time Conditional Residents
08/04/2010: What a Wonderful Feeling of Receiving Email Notices of August 2010 Visa Bulletin 485 Approvals!
08/04/2010: USCIS Changes Filing Location to Lock Boxes for the Following Forms
08/03/2010: H-1B Cap Count as of 07/30/2010
08/03/2010: H-2B Cap Count for FY 2010 2nd Half and FY 2011 1st Half as Counted on 07/30/2010
08/02/2010: HHS Notice of Continued Delays of Update of Poverty Guidelines Until January 2011
08/01/2010: Reported USCIS Response to the Leaked Memo
Internal draft memos do not and should not be equated with official action or policy of the Department. We will not comment on notional, pre-decisional memos. As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system. We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges. Internal memoranda help us do the thinking that leads to important changes; some of them are adopted and others are rejected. Our goal is to implement policies wisely and well to strengthen all aspects of our mission. The choices we have made so far have strengthened both the enforcement and services sides of USCIS — nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions. To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.
Internal draft memos do not and should not be equated with official action or policy of the Department. We will not comment on notional, pre-decisional memos. As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system. We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges.
Internal memoranda help us do the thinking that leads to important changes; some of them are adopted and others are rejected. Our goal is to implement policies wisely and well to strengthen all aspects of our mission. The choices we have made so far have strengthened both the enforcement and services sides of USCIS — nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions. To be clear, DHS will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.
08/01/2010: Alleged Sources of Leakage of USCIS Memo on Administrative Solutions to CIR
08/01/2010: The Congressional Schedules Ahead
07/31/2010: Leaked Undated USCIS Memo for Internal Discussion and Nagative Impact on Prospects for Administrative Fixes
07/30/2010: USCIS Considers Administrative Fixes As Alternatives to Comprehensive Immigration Reform
07/29/2010: Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Benefits Applications Statistics as of 06/30/2010
07/29/2010: "Admission" Requirement for I-485 Eligibility and Important Board of Immigration Appeals Decision Handed Down Yesterday
07/28/2010: Federal Judge Susan Bolton Issued Preliminary Injunction Blocking Profiling Provision of Arizona Immigration
07/28/2010: H-2B Cap Count as of 07/23/2010
07/27/2010: USCIS Policy Review Results Report Released 07/26/2010
07/27/2010: Incoming Questions & Answers Session Email Questions
07/27/2010: Recent Unreliability of USCIS 'My Case Status Check' and Email Notification Systems
07/27/2010: USCIS Expands Fee Payment Methods
07/26/2010: Please Stay Tuned for Our Return to the Questions and Answers Sessions
07/26/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/23/2010
07/22/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/16/2010
07/22/2010: H-2B Cap Count as of 07/16/2010
07/20/2010: DOL Performance and Results of PERM and H-1B LCA Processing During January Thru March 2010
07/15/2010: Latest Update of USCIS Processing Times 07/15/2010 for Service Centers, Local Offices, and National Benefits Center
07/15/2010: Change of Address and Potential Impact on Last Minute Adjudication of EB-485 Applications Whose Visa Numbers Become Available
0713/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/09/2010
07/13/2010: List of Witnesses to Testiby Before House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Scheduled Tomorrow Morning on Immigration Reform Ethics Issues
07/13/2010: PERM Processing Times as of 06/30/2010
07/12/2010: August 2010 Visa Bulletin
07/12/2010: House Immigration Subcommitte Schedules a Hearing 07/14/2010 on "the Ethical Imperative for Reform of our Immigration System"
07/12/2010: Extension of Initial TPS Registration Period for Haitians Through 01/18/2011
07/10/2010: Employment-Based Piecemeal Employment-Based Immigration Reform Bill Introduced in the House on 07/01/2010
07/10/2010: USCIS Questions & Answers and Information for Salavadoran TPS Registration and EAD Processing
07/09/2010: Federal Register Notice of Salvadoran TPS and EAD Extension
07/09/2010: USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times of July 1, 2010
07/09/2010: USCIS Proposed Fee Adjustment Rule Comment Period Ends 07/16/2010
07/08/2010: Extension of TPS Designation and Automatic Extension of EAD for Salvadorans
07/07/2010: Latest H-1B Cap Counted on 07/02/2010
07/07/2010: Increasing Number of States Adopting and Requiring E-Verify Program for Employers
07/07/2010: Biometric Visa Program Changes at Visa Posts Effective 07/08/2010
07/06/2010: H-2B Cap Count as of 07/02/2010
07/05/2010: Senate and House 2010 Published Schedules for the Rest of Year 2010
07/05/2010: Visa Number Demand Data Which State Deppartment Used in the Determination of the July 2010 Employment Preference Cut-Off Dates
07/03/2010: Full Text of S. 3544, Visa Waiver Program Standard Change Bill of Senator Mikulski
07/03/2010: Immigration Benefits and Naturalization Receipts and Processing Statistics as of 05/31/2010
07/02/2010: Obama CIR Speech and Prospect for CIR Legislation
07/02/2010: The H-2A New Web-Based Tool, 'Public Job Registry' Integrated into iCERT Portal System, Accessible Effective 07/08/2010
07/01/2010: President Obama CIR Speech Live at 10:45 a.m. White House
07/01/2010: OFLC Online Wage Data for 07/2010-06/2011 Takes Effect Today
07/01/2010: Senator Mikulski Introduces Visa Waiver Bill, S. 3544, to Improve Traveler Security
07/01/2010: New Form I-90 and Lock Box Filing, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card
For Pre-July 1, 2010 Postings, Please Click Here.