It was a mostly sunny day here in San Diego as the AILA conference entered its second Day. Lots of meetings with government officials and several open forums. I will provide a few points from the DOL open forum head by Bill Carlson, Dept. of Labor, Foreign Labor Certification. This…
This year the American Immigration Lawyers Association National conference is being held in San Diego. Just a few blocks from our down town office, you can see thousands of Immigration lawyers gather to socialize, learn and advance our profession. This morning, ICE head John Morton, opened with an discussion about…
Today Senate and House champions of refugees introduced the “Refugee Protection Act of 2011. More than thirty years ago, Congress passed the Refugee Act, a landmark law intended to codify the United States’ obligations under the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention. Over the years, the country has fallen short of fulfilling…
The Biggest Immigration Conference in the US is taking place in San Diego June 15- June 18. Our lawyers will be attending sessions on recent Immigration law developments so we can better serve our clients with the most up to date information in the field. The American Immigration Lawyers Association…
The Department of State has released the new visa bulletin for July 2011 on June 9, 2011 which continues to bring cheers to Chinese and Indian nationals whose Priority Dates get benefited. For the month of July 2011, the EB-1 category was current for both Chinese and Indian nationals. In…
USCIS released the latest H-1B visa information on June 6, 2011. As of June 1, 2011, USCIS reported that 13,600 cap petitions had been filed and 9,300 spots for U.S. advanced degree holders have been filled. On May 26, 2011, USCIS reported that 13,100 cap petitions had been filed and…
The Immigration Law field is one of the most abused areas of law by scam artists, trying to pray on innocent Immigrants. We see such victims all the time. Immigration officials are teaming up with federal and state prosecutors, the Federal Trade Commission, lawyers’ groups and immigrant advocate organizations in…
Critical update to all of you H1B job changers. Under the H-1B portability provisions, an applicant for H-1B status may begin working for the sponsoring employer immediately upon the filing of the Form I-129 Petition for Alien Worker, provided that the applicant is a “nonimmigrant” and “was previously issued a…
At a recent meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) and AILA reps the following questions came up: The regulations at 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(e)(19)(i) state that E visa holders may be admitted for an initial period of not more than two (2) years. It has been our understanding…
An Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility is filed by an alien in the event that an alien has been denied admission to the United States. Different sections of INA § 212 allow for the application of a waiver of inadmissibility. Waivers must establish that a qualifying relative will…