Articles Posted in Work Visas

Here are some tips from the Vermont Service Center. VSC will accept I-539 applications to change status to I status for representatives of foreign press, radio, film, or other foreign information media. The I visa is generally issued at a U.S. consulate with a contract or job letter from a foreign media organization and the applicant’s appropriate credentials.

To adjudicate an application to change status to I, VSC requires the following:
* An explanation for why the applicant did not apply for an I information media visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad;
* College transcripts evidencing journalism classes, establishing that the applicant is qualified for the I visa (NOTE: the Foreign Affairs Manual only requires proof of credential issued by a professional journalistic association, if available in home country);
* Letter from employer including employer’s name, applicant’s job title, duties, and annual salary (note below for specifics);
* Outline of the applicant’s employment history for the last four years, including:
o The title of all positions held during the time frame
o The duration of employment for each position
VSC provided the following profession-specific instructions:

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Crazy times with the H1B visa these days. As we are nearing the end of 2009, with H1B visa numbers open from April, it seems that the end is near. Recent cap update indicates that 1300 visas were approved last week. So far 56,900 visas were filed, leaving us with 8,100 to fight for. But remember that 6,800 out of the 8100 is reserved for Chile-Singapore nationals coming to the United States to work temporarily. So we are essentially left with 1,300 visas. If this continues by December 8th or so we will reach the cap.

What to do? If you have a job offer, print this post and show it to your employer. Maybe that will get them moving. Remember LCA processing will take more than a week, and with recent Memo from USCIS once can file even without an approved LCA.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and looking forward to an exciting December!!!

As our economy is heading towards recovery, we must recognize the role of small businesses and Entrepreneurs in taking the lead and keeping us optimistic. Investments in small businesses are especially significant to the national interest of the United States. The Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that 99 percent of the firms in the United States are small businesses, and small firms have generated 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs annually over the past decade.

Perry Marshall, the SEO expert, released an excellent article today about the value of Entrepreneurs in our society. Very inspiring:

Have you ever….

The most recent update from the USCIS is showing again a steady approval rate. The jump we saw in October was just due to a more current update of the approval, nit an increase in filing according to the USCIS. If this pace will continue we will see visas all through early 2010, but I may be wrong here…

Ao here is is the update from USCIS:

As of November 6, 2009, approximately 54,700 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. USCIS has approved sufficient H1-B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap. Any H1-B petitions filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree will now count toward the general H1-B cap of 65,000. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.

In response to the major delays with Labor Condition Applications (LCA’s), the USCIS announced a temporary policy and procedural change regarding H1B petition filings. Effective November 5, 2009, H1B cases can be filed prior to the certification of the required Labor Condition Application (LCA). This change was necessitated by delays in LCA processing through the Department of Labor (DOL).

Here is how the new process will work. USCIS will begin to accept H-1B petitions filed with uncertified LCAs for a 120-day period, commencing November 5, 2009 and through March 4, 2010. However, USCIS will only accept such H-1B petitions if they are filed at least 7 calendar days after the LCAs were filed with DOL and include evidence of these filings. The only acceptable evidence of filing is a copy of DOL’s email giving notice of receipt of the LCA.

Petitioners who seek to take advantage of this temporary flexibility in the normal filing procedures for H-1B petitions must wait until they receive a request for evidence (RFE) before they submit the DOL-certified LCA to USCIS in support of the H-1B petition. USCIS will give petitioners a period of 30 calendar days within which they must send in a DOL certified LCA in response to the RFE. We welcome this new procedure and hope that it will expedite current H1B processing.

USCIS recently issued a Memo that amends Adjudicator’s Field Manual on General Form I-140 Issues. Many issues are covered, but one of particular interest to our PERM readers is the Labor Certification Validity for Labor Certifications with an Ending Validity Date that Falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Federal Legal Holiday.

DOL has established a 180-day validity period for approved labor certifications. See 20 CFR 656.30(b). An approved labor certification must be filed in support of a Form 1-140 petition during the labor certification’s validity period. DOL has not published any guidance regarding the treatment of labor certifications that effectively have a validity period of less than 180 days due to an ending validity date that falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a federal legal holiday.

USCIS will accept the filing of 1-140 petitions where the supporting labor certification validity period ends on a Saturday, Sunday or federal legal holiday on the next business day, i.e., the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or federal legal holiday. This action is most consistent with existing USCIS regulations, which allow cut-off dates for the filing of petitions and applications that fall on a Saturday, Sunday or federal legal holiday to be extended until the next business day. See 8 CFR 1.1 (h). This procedure provides petitioning employers the benefit of the full 180 day validity period for approved labor certifications established by DOL.

So is the economic downturn over already, if you look at the recent H1B filings it may well be the case. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its periodic count of FY2010 H-1B cap filings, revealing that there has been a significant increase in the rate of filings during the month of October 2009. USCIS has stated that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to use all of the available 20,000 H-1B numbers that are reserved for individuals with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges or universities, which means that the “advanced degree” H-1B cap for FY2010 has been reached. H-1Bs for individuals with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges or universities can still be filed, but those petitions will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000.

Around 6,200 cap-subject H-1B petitions were filed in October 2009. This is a significant number, especially when compared to the only 1,500 filings received by USCIS in September 2009. In total, as of October 25, 2009, approximately 52,800 H-1B petitions that count against the congressionally-mandated 65,000 limit have been received by USCIS. This leaves only around 12,000 H-1B cap numbers for FY2010, without taking into account the 6,800 H-1B cap numbers that are reserved for nationals of Chile and Singapore. If all 6,800 of these “reserved” numbers are removed from the 65,000 cap along with the 52,800 H-1B cap petitions already received, there are only around 5,400 FY2010 H-1B cap numbers remaining.

As a practical matter, USCIS will likely accept well more than 5,400 additional cap cases in FY2010, as the number of cases USCIS will accept anticipates that a certain number of filings will be withdrawn or denied. Additionally, nowhere near the full 6,800 Chile/Singapore numbers have historically been actually used by nationals of Chile or Singapore. Thus, most of those numbers are applied by USCIS to the general 65,000 cap.

It is true to say that the current economic situation in our country is directly related to the problems we have in our Immigration system. In addition to the weak economy, companies have stopped filing for H1B visas in the face of anti-immigrant sentiment in Washington and rising costs associated with hiring foreign-born workers.

Mirian Jordan from the Wall Street Journal published an excellent article on this matter. She states:

The sagging economy, which has pushed U.S. unemployment to 9.8%, has crimped expansion in the technology sector, traditionally the biggest user of the H-1B program. Usually, all visas are allocated within a month or two from April, when applications for the following fiscal year are first accepted. But this year, six months later, “you can still walk in with an application and you’re still highly likely to get approved,” said R. Srikrishna, senior vice president for business operations in North America for HCL Technologies Ltd., an Indian outsourcing company.

The cost and bureaucracy of applying for H-1B visas is another deterrent. Lawyers’ fees, filing fees and other expenses can easily reach $5,000 per applicant. Immigration lawyers say some would-be employers are put off by a crackdown on fraud. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the H-1B program, has been dispatching inspectors on surprise company visits to verify that H-1B employees are performing the jobs on the terms specified. The fraud-detection unit in coming months is expected to inspect up to 20,000 companies with H-1Bs and other temporary worker visas.

For most Lawyers handing H1B cases, the problem with the Labor Condition Application (LCA) system has become a nightmare. Some cases take almost 14 days to be resolved and the FEIN denials are completely unreasonable.

Finally, the USCIS Ombudsman release a set of recommendations to handle the recent problems.

In August and September 2009, the Ombudsman received complaints concerning H-1B cases with incorrectly denied Labor Condition Applications (LCA/ETA-9035) filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). LCA processing delays and errors at DOL, when coupled with USCIS’ current H-1B petition initial filing requirements, are prejudicing employers and individuals who are unable to timely file original or extension H-1B visa petitions. Untimely H-1B petition filings lead to

The H2B seasonal visa is considered to be the most abused type of visa. Typically workers coming on this visa are from low economic background and often uneducated. In many cases, employers can file for many workers on one petition, making this a lucrative business for fraudulent recruiters and agencies. The recent change in the regulations of the H2B visa (mainly barring recruiters from collecting fees), should change the program for the better, or so we hope.

Deborah Notkin, AILA’S past president recently came back from Mexico, meeting with Groups concerned with this program. Here is an excerpt from her Blog entry:

By far, everyone agreed that the problems began with “recruiters” who charged substantial sums (typically around $1,000) from each hopeful temporary worker and this money was rarely returned if there was not a visa available. This problem seems to reach epic proportions during a period of prosperity in the US when the H-2b visa cap of 66,000 workers doesn’t provide sufficient visas to fill needs. Under both Mexican law and now under the rules of the current H-2b regulations, recruiters are prohibited from charging fees to the prospective migrant workers but the judges found that enforcement needed to be stepped up.