Visa Lawyer BlogThe current medical exam Form I-693 has expired on August 31, 2009. The USCIS will continue to accept this form despite its expiration date until a revised form is published. The revised form is currently in progress and not yet available. Please submit the completed Form I-693, sealed in an envelope from the physician, with your Form I-485 package, to the Service Center or District Office where you are filing your adjustment of status application.
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E-Verify require to be used by Federal Contractors beginning Sept. 8, 2009
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division on August 25, 2009, denied the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s challenge to an amendment to the Federal Appropriation Regulation (FAR) that makes E-Verify mandatory for federal contractors. As a result, as of September 8, 2009, the FAR requires participating vendors and flow-down subcontractors to initiate E-Verify for all active and new employees. Hence, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has reminded Federal contractors and subcontractors to use the E-Verify system to verify their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States effective Sept. 8, 2009. Janet Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security Secretary recently stressed on the need for employment eligibility verification by announcing the Administration’s support for the regulation that will award federal contracts only to employers who use E-Verify to check employee work authorization. Companies awarded a contract with the E-Verify clause after Sept. 8 will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date.
E-Verify will be used to confirm that all new hires, whether employed on a federal contract or not, and existing employees directly working on these contracts are legally authorized to work in the United States. The Federal Acquisition Rule; Case 2007-013; Employment Eligibility Verification extends use of the E-Verify system to covered federal contractors and subcontractors, including those who receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
Attorney General Cuomo shuts down 3 New York Companies Providing Fraudulent Legal Services to Immigrants
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced on August 20 that his Office has shut down three New York companies providing unauthorized and fraudulent legal services to immigrant communities, in the latest stages of his ongoing investigation into immigration fraud. Under the terms of the agreements secured by Cuomo’s Office, Immigration Solutions and Systems, Inc. of New York, Alisandra Multiservices, Inc. of Brentwood, Long Island, and All Immigration Services of Great Neck, Long Island are permanently barred from operating a business that provides immigration-related services and must collectively pay approximately $118,000 in penalties.
Cuomo also announced separate lawsuits filed today in New York State Supreme Court against three additional companies providing legal services to immigrants which they were neither authorized nor accredited to provide. According to the lawsuits filed today in New York State Supreme Court, Immigration Community Service Corporation of Manhattan, and Professional Solutions Consultants (doing business as Reliable Clerical Services and Reliable Immigration Services), and Centro Santa Ana, both located in Queens, offered legal counsel to immigrants without being licensed attorneys or having the proper accreditation. In thousands of cases across New York City and Long Island, these companies unlawfully filed immigration petitions with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of immigrants and their families, jeopardizing efforts to obtain legal status.
“The consequences of bad legal advice can be absolutely devastating,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Fraudulent legal services can haunt individuals and their families for a lifetime. Companies and individuals that represent someone in a legal proceeding without having the authority to do so must be stopped, and my office will hold them accountable.”
DHS Creates Social Networking Website
Facebook be careful, DHS now offers a social network website called Our Border that allows for an open dialogue with a wide network of people interested in Southwest border issues. The website offers groups such as Comprehensive Immigration Reform, USCIS, CBP, and ICE.
I guess they have a lot of resources from our filing fees:))
San Diego Immigration Lawyer informs about sentence of Houston Immigration Attorney
U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson, Southern District of Texas has announced sentencing and convicting of a Houston based Immigration attorney for money laundering and conspiring to engage in visa fraud. Kenneth L. Rothey, of Houston, pleaded guilty last Tuesday and was sentenced to 14 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison.
Rothey was a fugitive living in China from 2005 until July 2008 The ICE investigation, initiated in May 2001, lead to the indictment and subsequent extradition of Rothey from China to United States.
Evidence submitted in court said that Rothey and others created an illusory business relationship with Chinese and U.S. companies by entering into contracts of sale in exchange for a fee. On paper, each of the eight US companies was shown as a Chinese subsidiary. Rothey and members of his firm prepared and presented fraudulent petitions and supporting documents on behalf of their clients to the former INS. Ten Chinese clients were willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain permanent resident status through employment-based visas.
US economy is reviving
US economy is finally coming out of recession and one of the worst financial crisis since the economy meltdown. This was declared recently by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of Federal Reserve. Bernanke added that situation is improving in rest of the world too including US.
Bernanke stressed that despite much progress in stabilizing financial markets and trying to bust through credit clogs, consumers and businesses are still having trouble getting loans. The situation is not back to normal, he said. Restoring the free flow of credit is a critical component to a lasting recovery.
“Although we have avoided the worst, difficult challenges still lie ahead,” Bernanke told the gathering. “We must work together to build on the gains already made to secure a sustained economic recovery.” The remark made by Fed chief’s is crucial as it two years after the financial crisis broke out and about one year after it showed its effect across US.
San Diego Immigration Lawyer about Eligible Applicants under Ruiz-Diaz to File Adjustment of Status Application before End of August
Recently AILA shared some information about special immigrant religious workers. USCIS reminds special immigrant religious workers, who have a pending or approved Form I-360, to file their Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status,(Form I-485), on or before Aug. 31, 2009. Special immigrant religious workers who wish to file a Form I-360 petition with an I-485 application should also file on or before Aug. 31, 2009.
USCIS is issuing this reminder because the U.S. Department of State recently published its September 2009 Visa Bulletin, stating that visas for the employment based fourth preference category, which includes special immigrant religious workers, will become unavailable effective Sept. 1, 2009. As a result, USCIS will reject Form I-485 applications submitted on or after Sept. 1, 2009, because an immigrant visa will not be immediately available, as required by INA 245(a).
USCIS will only accept properly filed Form I-485 applications based on pending or approved Form I-360 petitions seeking the special immigrant religious worker classification of either minister (SD-1) or non-minister (SR-1) or I-485 applications filed concurrently with I-360 petitions seeking SD-1 or SR-1 classification through Aug. 31, 2009.
Special immigrant religious ministers, who are not subject to the Sept. 30, 2009 sunset date, and who do not file on or before Aug. 31, 2009, must wait until visas for fourth preference special immigrant religious workers become available before they can apply to adjust status.
American sentenced after leaving water bottles for immigrants
As the prospects for Immigration reform are becoming more of a reality, so does the debate about illegal Immigration is more real than ever. A story just came in from CNN an Arizona man caught leaving water bottles in the desert for illegal immigrants has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service and a year of probation.
Walt Staton, a member of the group No More Deaths, left full water bottles in December in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge for the illegal immigrants who routinely pass through the 18,000-acre refuge. Read more here
As the Immigration debate heats up this summer, expect more stories like this one.
San Diego Immigration Lawyer about Surprise Investigation by USCIS
Recently AILA shared some information about a “new” benefit fraud assessment program in which USCIS is beginning to use the millions of dollars it has received over the last decade from the “fraud fee” in the H-1B program. This new program involves the hiring of a private contractor to send “investigators” out to conduct 25,0000 site visits to H-1B employers to verify if the H-1B employee is working at the employer and performing the work as outlined in the H-1B petition.
The representative will indicate that he/she is a contractor hired to conduct these investigations (this is similar to the investigators that conduct the background investigations for government clearances) wearing badge with a picture. Questions can be asked in the following way:
1. Basic questions about the company, what you do, how many employees you had, work hours, office locations, etc.
2. How many employees one has on H1Bs, how many of them been sponsored for permanent residency and how many of them are legal permanent residents. Approximate numbers will be fine.
Private lawyers’ costs heavily on California Taxpayers
California taxpayers need to cover higher fees of private lawyers, who are hired by the state as the Attorney General’s Office doesn’t have the staff to handle all of the cases internally. In some instances, the state has employed outside counsel at hourly rates that reach $450 even while most of its in-house lawyers earn less than half that. Rates can be much higher, if the suits require private attorneys having a particular expertise.
Since January 2008, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has signed about $24 million in contracts with private lawyers hired because the Attorney General’s Office says it’s too shorthanded to take the jobs. The corrections department is seeking the additional help despite having about 80 lawyers of its own to handle a gamut of cases, with about a dozen of those assigned to prisoner-filed litigation.