Visa Lawyer Blog
Articles Posted in Free Consultation
Avoiding I-9 Compliance Issues and Pitfalls
The purpose of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) administrative inspection is to determine whether the employer has violated the prohibitions against hiring or continuing employment of unauthorized aliens and Form I-9 violations. Usually, a 72-hour notice will be given to employers preceding the ICE Form I-9 administrative inspection. The Notice of Inspection indicates the date, time, and place for the inspection and the documentation that the employer is requested to produce.
Form I-9 inspection may be conducted by any of the three authorized government agencies: Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), or the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel. DHS may initiate investigations after public complaints. Form I-9 inspection may be conducted either on the employer’s premises, at an agency office, or at the agency’s discretion. Employers that use electronic Form I-9 storage systems need only retrieve and reproduce the forms electronically retained in the storage system and supporting items requested by the inspecting agency.
If the employer does not comply with the request to present the forms and supporting documents, ICE may compel production by issuing a subpoena. A delay in the production of the forms and supporting documents may be considered a violation of compliance requirements. After a Form I-9 inspection, ICE will notify the employer as to its results. The current procedure is to notify the employer in writing of the result of the completed inspection. However, informal manner of notification may also been recognized as a valid notification as the Ninth Circuit has held that “even after an informal oral government notice, it is important for the employer to terminate the employee promptly to avoid knowingly continuing to employ violation.”
Illegal Re-entry after Deportation – Is there Hope with the President’s Executive Action?
Jose came into our office yesterday. He had been here before. About a year ago he came in to have a consultation with us and it seems we didn’t have the “right” answers that he wanted to hear. This led to Jose searching for what he really wanted to hear.
For the past year, Jose has visited several immigration attorneys to confirm the information we had already given him. The answer was always the same; except one day he found one attorney who gave him hope. Unfortunately, the attorney took his hope, his money, and didn’t do anything to help.
We hear this story often and there isn’t a week that goes by where we don’t see a person who has entrusted their life and their savings to an inexperienced attorney, or worst yet, to an unscrupulous attorney or immigration consultant. There are times that we have to give people the bad news – that there is nothing that can be done to help them. The person is usually devastated and in their desperation will state “I’ll find a better attorney and he will be able to help me.” The truth is, if you search for the answer you want to hear, you will always find someone who are willing to help you; that is they are willing help you be separated from your money – leaving you hopeless.
What to Do If Your Green card is Approved But Never Received
By Marie Puertollano, Esq.
In the past few months, we have seen an increase in the number of instances when the green card application was approved, but the client never received it in the mail. What should you do in this situation?
Check your status online
First, you will need to go to uscis.gov. Under “Check your case status,” type your I-485 case number, which can be located at the top left corner of the receipt notice. If your case status shows that your green card was delivered, USCIS provides a tracking number from the US Postal Service (USPS) confirming the exact date, hour and zip code where the green card was delivered.
If you have moved and forgot to update your address, you will need to go to your old place of residence and request your green card from the person living at your previous place of residence. It is a crime to steal a green card. On one occasion, a client’s green card was delivered to an old address. The new tenant tore up the envelope with the green card in it, misplaced it, and brought it more than 2 months later. Continue reading
Important Updates from AILA California Chapter Conference November 13-15, 2014
The 27th AILA (American Immigration Lawyer Association) California Chapter Conference was held between the 13th and 15th of November 2014 at San Jose, California. Attorney Yingei Zhou, Esq. was in attendance on behalf of our law firm. The conference concentrated on several trending topics such as status of comprehensive immigration reform, consular processing and updates with border posts in Mexico and Canada, driver’s licenses for undocumented workers, unaccompanied alien children (UAC), H-1B/L-1A/O-1/EB-1 adjudications, federal litigation, and advanced family immigration issues, as well as staple subjects like evidentiary issues in removal proceedings and PERM applications.
This article provides you several important updates from the conference addressed at the conference, especially the government open forums with AILA practitioners, USCIS representatives, CBP officers, and San Francisco Asylum officers.
In the following weeks, we will post more articles to address the trends on each specific visa applications and immigration proceedings discussed in the conference.
Obama’s Executive Order Looms on the Horizon
President Obama’s executive order is looming on the horizon, as part of an alleged 10 point plan the president plans to announce as early as Friday, November 21. According to a draft proposal released by a U.S. government agency, the plan may suspend removal proceedings for millions of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, as well as parents of U.S. Citizen children residing in the United States illegally, and parents of green card holders, by allowing them to benefit from a reprieve that will expand deferred action for these individuals. Among its 10 initiatives, firstly, the plan proposes to bolster border security, secondly, to improve pay for immigration officers, thirdly, to provide a 50% discount to the first 10,000 applicants whose income levels are below 200% of the poverty level in order to encourage participation, fourthly, to establish a program designed to stimulate the tech industry which could potentially offer millions of immigrants and their dependents a path to citizenship, and lastly, to prioritize removal proceedings on the basis of the severity of an immigrant’s criminal history, calling an end to the program known as ‘Secure Communities.’ This 10 point plan makes anyone who entered the United States before turning 16 and before the date of January 01, 2010, eligible for naturalization. Such a plan would thereby suspend deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.
The proposal has not yet been announced, we would like to inform our audience to please be wary of fraudulent schemes. At this time ONLY preliminary information has been released.
Please continue to follow our blog for further updates, for more information please contact our office. It is our goal to provide you with the most up to date immigration reform developments.
District Court Rules TPS Beneficiaries Qualify for Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Resident
By Yingfei Zhou, Esq.
The federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently ruled that a noncitizen’s grant of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) qualifies as “inspection and admission” into the United States. This decision follows the similar decisions issued by the Sixth Circuit of Appeals and the District Court for the Western District of Washington. This new ruling will affect a group of TPS beneficiaries who fall within the geographic boundaries covered by the court and are seeking to become a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen.
The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a foreign country for TPS due to the conditions (such as ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions) in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.
The sole issue in the matter is whether the grant of TPS is sufficient to meet the requirement of being “inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States for purposes of adjustment of status. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), inspection and admission are eligibility requirements for adjustment of status to LPR. In other words, only individuals who were “inspected and admitted or paroled” into the U.S. by an immigration officer may apply for LPR status from inside the U.S. Those who crossed the border without passing through an official checkpoint must leave the country to have their paperwork processed by the U.S. consulate abroad to obtain the LPR status. Departing U.S. to have paperwork processed from abroad might cause penalties to the immigrants or have them facing the dangerous conditions that merited the TPS designation.
Updated H-1B Application Notes for Nurses
By Yingfei Zhou, Esq.
In July 2014, we updated our readers regarding newly released guidance by USCIS, on adjudication of H-1B petitions for nursing occupations. In the guidance, USCIS acknowledged that the nursing industry has changed and that the private sector is increasingly showing a preference for more highly educated nurses. Although it seems that USCIS has shown its willingness to entertain H-1Bs for nurses, the adjudicatory standards remain high. In our practice, we have found that USCIS adjudicators set very high standards in adjudicating H-1B petitions, arguably higher than what the regulations require, for certain occupations, including nursing.
For Registered Nurses, the key to filing a successful H-1B petition is to differentiate the duties of a nursing position that requires at least a bachelor’s degree in Nursing. USCIS relies on the OOH, as an authoritative source for outlining both the educational requirements, and duties for H-1B specialty occupation cases. The OOH has listed a number of areas in which a nurse may focus: addiction nurses, cardiovascular nurses, critical care nurses, etc. and states that “depending on the facts of the case, some of these Registered Nurse positions may qualify as specialty occupations.” In other words, positions that focus on a particular area, or a particular population, are more likely to be classified as ‘specialty occupations’ than a more general practice nurse.
For Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRN), USCIS has previously recognized that positions requiring APRN certification will generally be considered specialty occupations due to the advanced level of education and training required for this certification.
Kids Can Claim US Citizenship Through Non-Genetic Mothers
On October 28, 2014 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a policy memo regarding the effect of assisted reproductive technology (ART) on Immigration and the Acquisition of Citizenship under the INA (Immigration and Nationality Act) in an effort to shed light on the issue of genetic relationships between parents and children.
The memo outlines that under the INA, if a non-genetic gestational mother has carried and given birth to a child, and is also the child’s legal mother, that mother would possess the same legal status as that of a genetic legal mother’s under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is groundbreaking news given that prior to this policy change, a genetic relationship between a U.S. Citizen parent and their child was required in order for the child to gain an immigration benefit and acquire citizenship at birth via their parents.
Under this policy for the purposes of immigration the following has changed:
CBP Reports Decline in Unaccompanied Minor Crossings
According to new reports released by the U.S. Border Patrol, the surge in Central Americans crossing into the United States is dropping at an alarming rate—approximately 60% fewer unaccompanied minors were apprehended during the month of August, in comparison to the summer months, a time when the migration crisis was in full effect in Central America. These unaccompanied minors make the perilous trek north from their Central American countries due to the violence they have encountered right at home.
The report suggests that the primary reason for the sudden drop is owed to the Mexican government’s crackdown on Central American immigrants. According to the report, increasing pressure on Mexico to instill effective deterrents has resulted in increased arrests and deportations of thousands of Central Americans, making it harder for such migrants to reach the American border.
Bowing to American pressure, the Mexican government recently announced a plan to militarize the southern border by placing federal forces along it. As part of these plans, the government will be setting up interior checkpoints, whereby authorities can inspect buses and vans carrying passengers into northern Mexico. Setting up checkpoint will also allow the authorities to ID passengers and question them. Additionally, Mexican authorities have forbidden migrants to board the infamous lumbering freight train known as ‘La Bestia,’ or the Beast in English. Many Central Americans and children have died while attempting to board such freight trains bound for the United States border. What does this mean for Central American immigrants journeying north? A longer and more dangerous journey ahead of them. According to the Mexican interior ministry, since the crackdown, approximately 30,000 Central Americans have been apprehended and sent back home; 20,000 of which were minors. Central Americans who have sought shelter from authorities in Mexico say that they are afraid of being turned in by Mexican authorities, according to news reports by NPR. Pro-immigrant activists argue that the work being done by Mexican authorities should be done by United States authorities which are better staffed and have better resources. Moreover, they argue, that despite the crackdown, nothing has changed in Central America. Central American countries remain impoverished, and innocent children are left to suffer the consequences of living in a country where impunity and violence run rampant. These critics argue that much more must be done and the issue is much more complex than the American and Mexican government are admitting. Critics insist that the issue is bilateral and humanitarian in nature. Congressional oversight will be necessary to tackle the issue.