Visa Lawyer Blog

I am proud to say that fellow San Diegans are fighting to keep the Immigration debate alive. A group of about 100 people rallied in front of the San Diego downtown offices of California’s U.S. senators Thursday night, calling for renewed attention to immigration reform.

The group gathered at St. Joseph Cathedral on Third Avenue near Beech Street and marched about two miles to a pair of office buildings on B Street near Seventh Avenue, where the offices of Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are located.

There they delivered a message calling on the lawmakers to work on legislation to legalize the millions of illegal immigrants in the country. Their speeches focused on the themes of unity, family and hope. They held signs, in both English and Spanish, with messages like “Don’t destroy more families. Help families” and “God does not separate families. The government does.”

More here...

This is a first posting is a series of discussions about the above referenced Bill. We upload a Section-by-section summary of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009, introduced by Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL) on 12/15/09. This document was produced by Rep. Gutierrez’s office. Click here for the Summary Download file

The actual Bill is very detailed, ranging from enforcement to Immigration reform changes. For example, one reform discussed is to recognize family unity principles and facilitate backlog reduction, reclassifies spouses and children of lawful permanent residents as immediate relatives. Today such families must wait years to be united.

The government is given greater discretionary authority to waive unlawful presence bars to reunite families upon a demonstration of hardship for applicant’s U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family members. Today such applicants must leave the US, apply for a waiver and risk getting denied.

As we analyze the Bill, more updates to come.

The following immigration-related bills were introduced into the House of Representatives and the Senate in November:
Military Families Act (S. 2757)
Introduced by Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) on 11/09/09
Summary: A bill to authorize the adjustment of status for immediate family members of persons who served honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States during the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts and for other purposes.

Foreign Students Social Security Numbers Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 4145)
Introduced by Rep. Johnson (R-TX) on 11/19/2009
Summary: To amend title II of the Social Security Act to prohibit the issuance of social security account numbers to non immigrant aliens who are admitted to the United States as students in order to pursue a full course of study or their spouses or minor children unless such aliens are applicants for or recipients of benefits under a program financed by the Federal Government.

Employ America Act (S. 2804)
Introduced by Sen. Sanders (I-VT) on 11/19/2009
Summary: A bill to require employers to certify that they have not and will not lay off a large number of employees before they are allowed to employ foreign workers in the United States, and for other purposes.

Not an easy time to a US employer these days. Between ICE raids and USCIS H1B site visits, the stress level is on the rise. Here is the latest update - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the issuance of Notice of Inspections (NOIs) to 1,000 employers across the country associated with critical infrastructure. This follows an earlier initiative on July 1, 2009 when ICE issued 652 NOIs to businesses nationwide. The notices alert business owners that ICE will be inspecting their hiring records to determine whether or not they are complying with employment eligibility verification laws and regulations. Inspections are one of the most powerful tools the federal government has to enforce employment and immigration laws. This is part of a new initiative illustrating ICE's increased focus on holding employers accountable for their hiring practices and efforts to ensure a legal workforce.

"ICE is focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead by cultivating illegal workplaces," said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton. "We are increasing criminal and civil enforcement of immigration-related employment laws and imposing smart, tough employer sanctions to even the playing field for employers who play by the rules."
Audits involve a comprehensive review of Form I-9s, which employers are required to complete and retain for each individual hired in the United States. Employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This form requires employers to review and record the individual's identity document(s) and determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and related to the individual.

Protecting employment opportunities for the nation's lawful workforce and targeting employers who knowingly employ an illegal workforce are major ICE priorities, for which ICE employs all available civil and administrative tools, including audits. Audits may result in civil penalties and lay the groundwork for criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly violate the law.

At the same time USCIS continues with enforcement efforts. As part of the Department of Homeland Security's stepped-up enforcement efforts that include increased audits of businesses to detect immigration and labor law violations, employers are reporting random, unannounced visits by the Fraud Detection and National Security Division (FDNS) of USCIS. The FDNS division has engaged outside contractors and private investigators to conduct approximately 25,000 site visits to petitioners. In addition to verifying the validity of information contained in H-1B petitions, FDNS investigators are apparently using information collected during worksite visits to assist USCIS with developing a fraud detection database. FDNS investigators collect information to develop profiles of the types of organizations that have records of good faith use of immigration programs and records of immigration compliance, and also to identify factors that could be a sign of fraud. Many of these random, unannounced site visits are expected to occur after approval of the H-1B petition or extension. In fact, employers in all industries have reported such worksite visits in recent weeks.

How to prepare? Employers must develop and implement strong compliance policies, audit their I-9s and H-1B public access files regularly, and plan in advance how to respond when immigration agents visit the company. HR personnel must be prepared and know what to say and what not to say when USCIS agents visit. Contact your experienced Immigration Attorney immediately.

Continue reading "ICE Announces Another 1,000 I-9 Worksite Audits; USCIS to conduct 25,000 site visits" »

As we move closer to an Immigration reform, even government officials agree that such major change is very necessary. Here are some remarks by Secretary Napolitano on Immigration Reform at the Center for American Progress:

Over the past year, as this Administration has pursued more effective strategies within the current laws, the picture of how exactly those laws need to be changed has become clearer than ever before. In the past ten months, we have made tough choices, and implemented significant reforms within the current legal framework—but they are not enough to create the system that we want or that we need. If we are truly going to fix a broken system, Congress will have to act. When it comes to immigration, I took an oath as Secretary of Homeland Security to secure the nation by enforcing the law and managing legal flows across the border. Let me be clear: to do this job as effectively as possible, DHS needs immigration reform. Reform legislation would provide lasting and dedicated resources at our borders, and provide some critical legal tools that we don’t currently have to combat smuggling organizations. For example, we need tougher anti-smuggling laws in dealing with the aggravated crimes smugglers commit—including assaulting law enforcement officers, endangering children, threatening relatives and abandoning people in the desert— hundreds of whom succumb to death from heat and lack of water. We also need to update current laws that don’t cover some of the new means by which criminals conduct their business. For instance, today’s smugglers and drug traffickers often move cash through “stored value” cards, which aren’t even considered monetary instruments under the current money-smuggling laws.

In addition, we need improvements to the current law when it comes to interior and worksite enforcement. Dishonest businesses often ignore the civil fines for illegal employment now on the books because they’re so low. It’s also very difficult to prosecute these crimes as felonies because of the over-elaborate intent requirements built into the current statutes.

Read more here...

So you all heard by now about Lou Dobb's dramatic departure from CNN. He said on air:

Over the past six months, it's become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us. And some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving, as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible.

Whether he felt that the Immigration reform debate will become a major topic in the next year, and his attempts to stop it will fail, or the rise in the pro immigration movement. Whatever it was, we are happy to see him go. Let the voices for Immigration reform take charge and make 2010 the year such change will happen. Good bye Lou!

The House of Representatives on Saturday night passed a sweeping health care bill by a vote of 220-215. In the next few weeks, this bill will be analyzed and there will be various summaries online regarding this important piece of legislation. I would like to focus on the Immigration related matters in the Bill.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus staunchly oppose including a provision that would bar undocumented workers from using their own money to buy health insurance policies available through the exchange.

The measure is already included in the Senate Finance Committee's version of the bill and is backed by the White House. Some conservative House Democrats have also indicated their support for the Senate language.

Several Hispanic Caucus members who discussed the issue with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday said they had received assurances the Senate language would not be included. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, warned Thursday that several caucus members might try to block the House bill if it's changed to conform to the Senate measure. Pelosi's bill includes various requirements for immigrants to verify their citizenship before getting federal subsidies to buy health insurance. Conservatives, however, have called the requirements insufficient.

We will review the Bill and report on more important points that will be of interest to Immigrants.

Ever since the President was elected, the hope for Immigration reform was on the rise. In fact, we were all hoping for something to happen by the end of this year. Now we know this is not going to happen.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. from the San Diego Union Tribune wrote an excellent piece today about this issue.

President Obama has placed the immigration reform community at the back of the bus.

This same president who insists the country can't wait to fix what he calls a broken health care system tells reformers to wait for him to get around to fixing what they consider to be an equally broken immigration system.

The same president who tried to juggle a half dozen major policy initiatives in his first few months in office now seems unsure of his ability to -- as he told Univision's Jorge Ramos in an interview last weekend -- "solve every problem at once."

And the same president who seems to understand that the longer he waits to accomplish health care reform, the more difficult it will be to get, doesn't seem to understand the same is true with immigration reform.

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President Barack Obama gave a new hope to Immigration reform movement yesterday, when he attended in a White House meeting with more that 100 immigration supporters, and indicating to go ahead with reform soon. However, there is no set deadline but it is expected to hear something in this fall unlike Mr. Obama’s earlier indication for the year to come.

The session was officially hosted by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who has been sharply criticized by immigrant advocates in recent days for putting too much emphasis on enforcement and too little on reform legislation and making the immigration system more humane.

The meeting was attended by advocacy groups, religious organizations, unions, employers and law enforcement. United Farm Workers Union President Arturo Rodriguez said participants delivered blunt messages to Napolitano that she needed to adjust her public message “Very frankly, one issue was that we want to make sure you’re communicating the importance of immigration as much as you are communicating the importance of enforcement,” Rodriguez said. “We are a nation of laws. We all understand that, but simultaneously we are a nation of immigrants as well that treats people with dignity and respect. We delivered that. I think she got that message loud and clear from everybody.”

Janet Napolitano later issued a written statement emphasizing her commitment to reform.
“Today’s meeting on comprehensive immigration reform was an important opportunity to hear from stakeholders and build on the significant time I’ve spent on the Hill meeting with members of Congress on this critical subject. I look forward to working with President Obama, my colleagues in Congress and representatives from law enforcement, business, labor organizations, the interfaith community, advocacy groups and others as we work on this important issue”.

A spokesman for Obama, Nick Shapiro, said Obama’s message has not wavered.
“The President understands our nation’s immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, and that’s why he asked Secretary Napolitano to work with stakeholders and Members of Congress to move the legislative process forward on this important issue. The President has consistently said we would begin work on comprehensive immigration reform this year, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Some of the employers who made their presence in the meeting are Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle, who often press for visas to hire foreign citizens including lower-wage employers such as McDonald’s, Tyson Foods, and Wal-Mart.

We are optimistic about the favorable outcome to such initiatives and will continue updating on Immigration reforms.

The Center for Trade Policy Studies, published a recent report about the economics of a possible Immigration reform.

By the latest estimates, 8.3 million workers in the United States are illegal immigrants. Proposed policy responses range from more restrictive border and workplace enforcement to legalization of workers who are already here and the admission of new workers through a temporary visa program. Policy choices made by Congress and the president could have a major economic impact on the welfare of U.S. households. This study uses the U.S. Applied General Equilibrium model that has been developed for the U.S. International Trade Commission and other U.S. government agencies to estimate the welfare impact of seven different scenarios, which include increased enforcement at the border and in the workplace, and several different legalization options, including a visa program that allows more low-skilled workers to enter the U.S. workforce legally.

Read the report here...

New proposed Immigration Legislation which is currently pending in the United States Senate may cause India-based IT companies to step up their operations in Mexico. The bill, by Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley, would impose a new limit on the proportion of foreign workers who would be allowed to work in the United States under the H1B and L-1 visa programs. The proposed legislation said says for 50-50 rule, which means no more than half of a firm’s U.S.-based employees could be H1B or L-1 beneficiaries. This measure may create uncertainty in Indian IT firms, because their U.S. operations typically have a very high percentage of foreign employees, often far exceeding the proposed 50 percent limits.

Indian IT companies may need to expand their presence in Mexico, because Mexican employees could be sent to the United States under TN visas, available only to Mexican and Canadian nationals, pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexican employees whose education, work experience, and job category qualify them for TN visas, would be able to work in the United States without counting against the Indian company’s 50 percent cap on employees with H1B and L-1 visas.

The TN category is special category created under NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) for qualifying professionals who are nationals of Canada or Mexico. Aliens qualified to enter the U.S. under this category may work for a company located in the U.S. for a temporary period. Moreover, they may also work for a Canadian or Mexican company in the U.S. when those companies are engaged in projects with U.S. based companies. The initial time limit for a TN professional to work in the U.S. is one year. However, this period may be renewed indefinitely, at year to year increments.

Continue reading "New Proposed H1-B Restrictions May Drive Indian IT Companies to Mexico or Canada" »

U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued instructions on making inquiries with the agency’s four Service Centers. Customers, community-based organizations and liaison groups should follow this guidance when inquiring about case related issues. This new process standardizes customer service and streamlines processing of customer inquiries at USCIS Service Centers. The step-by-step instructions are as follows:
Step 1: National Customer Service Center (NCSC) can be contacted at 1-800-375-5283. The NCSC can assist customers, community-based organizations and liaison groups with case related inquiries. Please get your Receipt No. the NCSC please have available your receipt number, alien registration number, type of application filed and date filed. We recommend you note down:
-The name and/or id number of the NCSC representative
- The date and time of the call
- Any service request referral number, if a service referral on a pending case is taken.

Continue reading "Case Status inquiries made easy by USCIS" »

Immigration Reform is getting delayed. The legislation, which was expected to be passed within 100 days of the swearing in of President Barack Obama. Immigration reform activists disappointed that the Obama administration has not given immigration top billing, are trying to push the same off the back burner by pressing ahead with lobbying and legislation plans they hope will reinvigorate reform efforts.

The demand for Immigration reform came in the year 2006, when more than a million people nationwide marched in solidarity to fight a bill considered anti-immigrant, since then, two legislation attempts failed. The election of President Barack Obama gave a sigh of relief to Immigration activists, who hoped Mr. Obama would push for immigration reform. Some thought the president would go so far as to put a moratorium on immigration raids. Recently Mr. Obama met with the 30 lawmakers over this issue but the final outcome of the same is yet to come.

Continue reading "Immigration Reform is being delayed" »

U.S. President Barack Obama says he is committed to passing comprehensive reform of the country's immigration laws. The president told a gathering of Hispanics the nation's borders must be strengthened to stop illegal immigration.

President Obama said that while immigration is vital for America's future, illegal immigration cannot continue.

"The American people believe in immigration," he said. "But they also believe that we cannot tolerate a situation where people come to the United States in violation of the law."

At the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and Conference, Mr. Obama said the millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally should have the chance to become citizens.

Continue reading "Obama Calls for US Immigration Reform " »

US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), along with Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) today introduced legislation to re-emphasize family unity in the US immigration system. The Reuniting Families Act would help legal immigrants reunite with their families and end decade-long waiting times for legal immigrant visas.

Senator Schumer said: "No matter our disagreements about how to reform our immigration laws, we can at least agree that families should not be made to suffer in the process. We can have a policy that is tough, but fair, and emphasizing family unity as a principle is key to ensuring that fairness."

The legislation would reinforce the historical emphasis on families in the immigration system and reduce current wait times in the family immigration system by:

* Helping an estimated 322,000 spouses and children under the age of 21 of lawful permanent residents who are waiting in line to reunite with their families by reclassifying them as immediate relatives
* Addressing the decades-long backlogs for certain countries by raising the per-country immigration limits from 7 percent to 10 percent of total admissions
* Protecting widows, widowers and orphans by allowing them to continue to wait in line for a visa after the death of the sponsoring relative.
* Utilizing an estimated 400,000 family-sponsored and employment-based visas that went unused between 1992 and 2007.
* Respecting the contribution of Filipino World War II veterans by reducing their children's waiting times for an immigrant visa.
* Promoting family unity by allowing more people who are already eligible for an immigrant visa to efficiently use our legal family immigration system.
* Providing equal treatment for stepchildren and biological children by allowing stepchildren under the age of 21 to immigrate upon their parents' marriage (current age limit is 18).

We welcome this legislation. It seems that we are on the right track for Immigration Reform, or something close.

Several thousand immigration rights advocates marched in Los Angeles, San Diego and hundreds gathered in the rain in San Francisco on Friday, but crowds in California appeared much smaller than in previous May Day demonstrations.

Marches in downtown Los Angeles took on a festive atmosphere with people carrying signs and banging drums while vendors sold food, cotton candy and ice cream from pushcarts with ringing bells. One group walked to a building housing federal immigration offices and blared salsa music from loudspeakers.

Immigrants and supporters in San Francisco's Dolores Park hoped to keep immigration reform on Obama's agenda. They held signs calling for amnesty for undocumented immigrants and an end to immigration enforcement raids. Many argued that allowing undocumented immigrants to become citizens and take a more active role in the economy will improve the country's financial outlook. Dozens of students participated, many calling for passage of the DREAM Act, which was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate in March, and would make undocumented immigrants brought into the U.S. under the age of 15 eligible for in-state tuition.

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President Obama spoke at a prime time news conference commemorating his 100th day in office today. President Obama seems to be one step closer to being able to secure Comprehensive Immigration Reform. He said the following at the meeting:" I see the process (immigration reform) moving this first year. And I'm going to be moving it as quickly as I can. I've been accused of doing too much. We are moving full steam ahead on all fronts. Ultimately, I don't have control of the legislative calendar, and so we're going to work with legislative leaders to see what we can do.

At the news conference, reporter Lori Montenegro, asked the following: " Going forward, my question is, what is your strategy to try to have immigration reform? And are you still on the same timetable to have it accomplished in the first year of your presidency?

And, also, I'd like to know if you're going to reach out to Senator John McCain, who is Republican and in the past has favored immigration reform?"

Obama: Well, we reach out to -- to Senator McCain on a whole host of issues. He has been a leader on immigration reform. I think he has had the right position on immigration reform. And I would love to partner with him and others on what is going to be a critical issue.

We've also worked with Senator McCain on what I think is a terrific piece of legislation that he and Carl Levin have put together around procurement reform. We want that moved, and we're going to be working hard with them to get that accomplished.

What I told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is exactly what I said the very next day in a town hall meeting and what I will continue to say publicly, and that is we want to move this process.

We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody. It's not good for American workers. It's dangerous for Mexican would-be workers who are trying to cross a dangerous border.

It is -- it is putting a strain on border communities, who oftentimes have to deal with a host of undocumented workers. And it keeps those undocumented workers in the shadows, which means they can be exploited at the same time as they're depressing U.S. wages.

So, what I hope to happen is that we're able to convene a working group, working with key legislators like Luis Gutierrez and Nydia Velazquez and others to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped.

In the meantime, what we're trying to do is take some core -- some key administrative steps to move the process along to lay the groundwork for legislation. Because the American people need some confidence that if we actually put a package together, we can execute.

So Janet Napolitano, who has great knowledge of this because of having been a border governor, she's already in the process of reviewing and figuring out how can we strengthen our border security in a much more significant way than we're doing.

If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders, then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.

On the other hand, showing that there is a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers as opposed to, for example, taking seriously the violation of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers to come in. That's again something we can start doing administratively.

So what we want to do is to show that we are competent and getting results around immigration, even on the structures that we already have in place, the laws that we already have in place, so that we're building confidence among the American people that we can actually follow through on whatever legislative approach emerges.

Missouri House of Representatives has cleared a law that would bar illegal aliens from attending public colleges in the state. The House voted 125-30 to approve the bill which has now been sent to the Senate, according to the Associated Press.

The vote is part of an ongoing debate across the country regarding immigration reform, and in particular the extent of publicly funded benefits that illegal immigrants should be entitled to. Earlier last week we reported about the College Board, an association of 5,000 schools, released a report that calls for federal legislation that would grant in-state college tuition, financial aid and legal status to many illegal immigrants in the U.S.

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President Obama says he wants to tackle immigration reform; and do it this year. In fact, he says he plans to begin as soon as next month.

According to CNN, the president says he will rely on a bipartisan and diverse group of experts to frame the legislation. But officials say that immigration won’t be “on the same track” as other key initiatives like health care and energy, and “nobody’s promising legislation or a vote this year.”

Nonetheless, it looks like the president will try to make good on yet another campaign promise by working to fix the nation’s broken immigration system during his first year in office. There are an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in this country.

I hope it will be sooner than later. Happy Easter

Read the article from CNN