The Supreme Court’s decision in Dada v. Mukasey, No. 06-1181, 554 U.S. ___ (June 16, 2008), addresses the interplay between the voluntary departure provision, INA § 240B, and the motion to reopen provision, INA § 240(c)(7). The INA permits a person to file a motion to reopen within 90 days…
The American Immigration Lawyers Association reports that USCIS Service Center Operations has provided the following information to AILA liaison regarding processing cases under the FY2009 H-1B cap: 1. Except for cases that were being reviewed as potential duplicate filings, all receipts have been issued for those cases selected in the…
The EB-5 program allocates 10,000 visas per year for aliens and family members whose qualifying investments result in the creation or preservation of at least ten (10) full-time jobs for U.S. workers. 3,000 of these immigrant visas are set-aside for aliens who invest in designated regional centers, areas of high…
Following the recent announcement of the audit of all PERM cases filed by Fragomen, largest immigration law firm in the nation. A new set of rules was issued by DOL on the role of Lawyers following the PERM process. The Department has long held the view that good faith recruitment…
A recent, Memo from Donald Neufeld, Acting Associate Director, Domestic Operations, USCIS, provides supplemental guidance on the processing of I-140s and H-1Bs under AC21. Some of the Key changes in this Memo are the following: Post 6th year H1B extensions wll not be available if the workers’ Labor certification or…
It is getting hot here in California this time of the year, and stories of abused immigrant workers are news once again. This recent story of the death of a pregnant teenager pruning grape vines in 100-degree heat has outraged the farmworking community and sparked calls for safety reforms as…
DHS announced an interim final rule on the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), a new online system for the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Effective some time next year, all nationals of VWP countries who plan to travel to the U.S. under the VWP will need to receive an electronic…
We are a small immigration law firm, but we often get contracted by clients of larger firms for second opinion, under a strict confidentiality relationship. In the past few months we have been getting calls from clients or larger firms for PERM, I-140, and other related Permanent Residency cases. Sometimes,…
According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, it appears that sometime in early 2008, CBP received approximately one million I-94 Arrival-Departure cards that were misprinted such that they were missing a digit. An I-94 card should have eleven digits, comprised of nine digits, a space, and then two more digits.…
More bad news for H1B visa holders. DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel released a memo on the payment of back wages to doctors hired on H-1B visas by the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”), stating “the statute authorizing the H-1B visa program does not waive the federal Government’s sovereign immunity.…