Visa Lawyer Blog

Articles Posted in News

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said that it had begun an audit of 652 U.S. companies to verify whether their employees were eligible to work. Violations could lead to fines, as well as civil and criminal charges.

The Obama administration announced a crackdown on Wednesday on hundreds of companies suspected of employing illegal immigrants, signaling a shift in strategy: going after employers instead of workers.

However, it is yet to know what steps the government would pursue if it verified that an employer had hired illegal workers, or how severe penalties might be. It remains to be seen how much pressure the new policy could put on employers. Focus is on the eminent cases of employers who hire undocumented workers, and sometimes even assist in falsifying their paperwork to avoid detection.

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The Obama administration announced to use cutting-edge technologies to revamp the entire US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), so as to not only reduce the paperwork, but also the backlog and bring in more transparency into the system.

US President Barack Obama told a select bi-partisan group of Congressmen that such a system would be in place in the next 90 days, in which the USCIS will launch a vastly improved website.

This is likely to help thousands of Indian Americans every year who apply for permanent residency or Green Card, citizenship or approach USCIS for various immigration issues, but have to experience an agonizing wait.

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President Barack Obama is expected to meet with congressional leaders of both parties today to begin laying the groundwork for sweeping immigration legislation, even though its passage this year is considered very unlikely.

With lawmakers already plunged into lots of ongoing issues, administration officials and many in Congress say it is improbable that they will be able to add anything as challenging as an immigration overhaul. Moreover, there is lack of consensus among Republicans and Democrats and it seems they remain divided even within their own parties over how to fix it. Increase in unemployment rate too adds to its chaos as there are very less supporters available in Democrats, who are actually wavering on immigration reform. It is expected that the new appointed Chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. would take the point in pushing for passage of a new bill. Republicans are of the view that Obama administration needs to do a lot for such legislation.

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Sad day for the US Immigrant community. A gunman opened fire on The American Civic Association a center where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam Friday in downtown Binghamton, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide.

The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalization applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.

Our prayers with the victims’ families

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More than a million people immigrate to the U.S. every year. Their children — born in the U.S., connected to two cultures — are the focus of a new series at NPR News. It’s called “Immigrants’ Children,” and it’s an occasional look at how they make their mark and the issues that confront them.

While minority representation on TV is nothing short of abysmal, actors of South Asian descent now appear regularly on Lost, ER, Top Chef, The Office, Chuck, House, Numb3rs, Heroes, 30 Rock, Weeds and Parks and Recreation.

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From time to time scams like the one reported from New York happen. We expect more to surface in the coming years. In this case, Hundreds of immigrants were left angry and confused when the man they thought was their legal counsel, Victor M. Espinal, was arrested for allegedly posing as an immigration attorney.

Nearly 125 of Mr. Espinal’s clients poured into the lobby of the New York City Bar Association on Monday evening to attend a free clinic where 54 attorneys volunteered to help them sort through their legal and immigration options.

My friend and fellow attorney Jason Abrams of Abrams & Abrams said the “real reason” immigrants frequently fall prey to fraud is because of the confusion engendered by the term “notario.” In many of their home countries, unlike the United States, a “notario” or “notario publico,” is a licensed attorney, and some notarios take advantage of this confusion.

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Most employers know that they can submit H-1B petitions on behalf of foreign born professionals six months before October 1st , the first day of the federal fiscal year. First day of filing, April 1st is always very stressful. So following all of the instructions, day before April 1st, we law firm submit numerous of H-1B petitions for foreign born professionals, knowing that these would reach the government by, April 1st, the government’s official processing start date. If an H-1B petition is approved, foreign professionals can begin working on October 1.

What no one could have guessed was that in the past 2 years the government would receive over 140,000 such petitions, way too many for them all to be approved. In an event that sent shock waves through the immigration community, twice the available quota of H-1B visas was received by the Immigration Service on the very first day (or first 5 days under last year changes) it accepted petitions.

How does the government decide which employers get their workers on October 1st? Guess what, the answer is by a lottery. The first 65,000 foreign professionals to be randomly chosen get to work in the U.S. The rest get their petitions back in the mail and checks returned as well.

Of course, if these professionals are still interested in returning to the U.S., employers can petition for them again in April of 2010. If they don’t make the cut in 2009, they can try again in 2010, and so on year after year.

So how can one beat the lottery for H1B visas?

There are a few things that prospective H-1B employers and H-1B employees can do to improve the likelihood that the H-1B will be accepted by the USCIS. First, be sure that all of the appropriate documentation is contained in the H-1B petition. Second, be sure that the H-1B is submitted to the USCIS in a timely manner. Third, be sure that the H-1B is sent to the proper USCIS Service Center for adjudication.

Most importantly, H-1B petitioners should consider the possibility of utilizing filing multiple H-1B petitions. Be advised that the USCIS issued guidance concerning multiple H-1Bs. Filing a master’s H-1B and bachelor’s H-1B is not considered a multiple H-1B filing. Many organizations have layers and layers of subsidiaries and affiliates (different organizations with different Employer Identification Numbers) and there appears to be nothing yet in the regulations to preclude the use of those organizations as vehicles for additional H-1Bs. With each H-1B submitted, there is a statistically higher chance of one of the H-1Bs being able to “win” the lottery.

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The government is delaying a requirement that companies that receive new federal contracts check the immigration status of their employees using the Homeland Security Department’s E-verify system.

Facing a lawsuit by five industry associations, the government is delaying implementation of the rule until Feb. 20, said Lawrence Lorber, attorney for the trade groups.

The rule was supposed to take effect Jan. 15, but the industry groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sued to block it from taking effect.

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I wanted to wish a wonderful New Year wishes to all our readers and friends. May the coming year bring all the best to you all. See you next year.

Jacob