Visa Lawyer Blog

Articles Posted in Work Visas

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Truly sign of the times. According to USCIS As of May 11, 2009, approximately 45,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. 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to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.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 this pace, there will be plenty of H1B visas to carry us through September.

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The American Immigration Policy Center issued an excellent Fact Sheet about H2A farm orkers and the need for reform.

The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security (AgJOBS) Act has long served as a blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform. AgJOBS, which combines an earned legalization program for farmworkers with a reform of the H-2A temporary foreign agricultural worker program demonstrates a successful model for compromise where workers and employers have come together to resolve their differences. The dysfunctional U.S. immigration system is currently standing in the way of addressing deeper structural problems that impact U.S. workers and U.S. competitiveness in a globalized market. As Congress proceeds, here are a few facts about the current challenges at the intersection of immigration policy and agriculture, and why addressing these issues is critical to the nation’s economy.

Here is an interesting fact :Most farmworkers are not authorized to work legally in the U.S.

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The H-2B visa program is vital to America’s small businesses and thus to America’s economic recovery. The H-2B program is capped at 66,000 visas per year. This is the same arbitrary number set by Congress in 1990. The visa allotment is split equally between the winter and summer seasons. Small business owners rely on the H-2B program because it is the only way they can legally hire workers for temporary and seasonal positions when they cannot find Americans to hire.

Small and seasonal businesses hire American workers and they do hire every qualified

American who applies for a seasonal or temporary short-term position. Nevertheless, even in this economy, positions remain unfilled, leaving these businesses desperately in need of workers. This is not surprising since these jobs typically involve low-skilled and semi-skilled labor, involve work at remote locations, and are only short-term in duration.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced information on the number of filings for H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2010 program.

USCIS has received approximately 45,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. The agency continues to accept petitions subject to the general cap. Additionally, the agency has received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees; however, they continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable. Congress mandated that the first 20,000 of these types of petitions are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas.

At this rate, there will be H-1Bs available until sometime in August. Today there are 20,000 H-1B slots that are up for grabs. Last year, employers submitted so many H-1B petitions that an individual’s chance of obtaining H-1B status was only about 40%. The same thing could happen next year leaving many students with no visas.

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Hotel News Now, a leading Global Hospitality publication, ran a two-part series about staffing challenges facing the U.S. hotel industry. I was honored to be interviewed by the publication and share my insights on the problems facing hospitality employer in these challenging times.

With the level of unemployment about 8.5 percent, why do hotels still need foreign workers? There are various reasons, from location to the attitudes of American workers. And changes in schedules and lifestyle have affected one of the former staples of summer work—students.

The situation is bad for staffing professionals in the industry, said Jacob Sapochnick, a San Diego, California-based lawyer whose practice is devoted to immigration law.

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Since my last Blog article on E2 visas, I have been getting numerous emails about this hot topic from across the globe. Investors are anxious to come, but need the most up to date information about the E2 visa as a way to relocate and start a business in America.

In this article I will discuss alternative financial transactions as investments. In addition to cash, payments in the form of leases or rents for property or equipment may be calculated toward the investment in an amount limited to the funds devoted to that item in any one month, since the remaining payments will presumably be paid out of earnings from the treaty business. However, more than one month of payments may be counted if they are made in advance. For example, if the treaty investor prepays his or her equipment lease for one year, the entire year’s worth of payments may be counted as part of the qualifying investment.

The amount spent for the purchase of equipment and for inventory already in the possession of the treaty investor may be counted as part of the qualifying investment. The value of goods or equipment transferred to the United States may be considered part of the qualifying investment, if it can be demonstrated that the goods or machinery will be put to use in an ongoing commercial enterprise. The treaty investor must establish that the purchased goods or equipment are for business, not personal purposes. While a company car may not meet this burden because it may also be used for personal purposes, inventory or industrial equipment certainly will.

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USCIS today announced an updated number of filings for H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2010 program. USCIS has received approximately 44,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. It looks like less than 2000 cases were filed in the past two weeks, so it is very likely that the cap will not be met at least until the end of June.

Anti Immigration and H1B groups, blamed the economic crisis and job losses, on foreign workers coming to steal jobs from US workers. H-1B workers don’t “steal” jobs from U.S. workers. H-1B visas are issued to temporary, “nonimmigrant” workers in “specialty occupations.” As described by the Congressional Research Service, a “specialty occupation” is one “requiring theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in a field of human endeavor including, but not limited to, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, law, accounting, business specialties, theology, and the arts, and requiring the attainment of a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent as a minimum.” H1B workers are a boost to any employer and not a threat. The current crisis is affecting H1B workers as well.

We will keep following the developments in the H1B saga.

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According to computerWorld, President Barack Obama has signaled interest in taking up comprehensive immigration reform. And any push for immigration reform is almost certain to include an increase in the H-1B cap. Patrick the reporter outlined 5 reasons why the cap will be increased; Read the excellent article here

The main lesson to be learned from the H1B saga this year, is that the market worked and won. Given the large number of jobs lost in the U.S. economy, employers submitted far less petitions than they did last year. Contrary to what critics of the program maintain, the cost of employing an H-1B worker exceeds that of hiring a U.S. worker given attorneys’ fees and government filing fees.

Congress should stop trying to control the program, and return to a simple market-based system. The plain truth is that the overwhelming majority of U.S. employers comply with the law. Those that abuse the law should be stripped of their ability to petition for H-1B workers. So bottom line is that, if you are in need of good quality workers, you can still hire them on the H1B visa. But you need to hurry.

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In the past week or so we have been receiving many requests for evidence on all H1b cases filed on April 1, 2009. The RFEs received by us and practitioners across the country so far appear to only request that the single page of the I-129 Data Collection sheet be sent with the TARP question answered.

Due to the passage of EAWA, USCIS is required to collect TARP (and Section 13 funding) information on each H-1B petitioner. However, by the time the new form became available, we had already completed our packages for the H-1B cap filing period for April 1, 2009. Therefore, USCIS confirmed that the new I-129 form was not mandatory and that only the one page (of the I-129 Data collection sheet requesting the TARP information) was urged to be included.

At the AILA Spring Conference in Washington, D.C., Barbara Velarde, Chief, USCIS Service Center Operations, mentioned that if the TARP information was not included in the filing, the petitions would not be rejected. However, USCIS would need to send an RFE for the TARP information. Unfortunately, this was not clearly explained in the USCIS fact sheet on TARP issued on March 20, 2009. Nevertheless, USCIS is required under the EAWA statute to obtain this information and the easiest way for USCIS to comply is to send an RFE. This is a very annoying and time consuming process for all us dealing with H1B filings, and even more confusing for the clients. We hope that USCIS explain better such crucial changes in future matters.

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I can not remember a time in my practice when I got so many inquiries and emails about investing and relocating to the United States. You would think that in these tough economic times, people will stir away from this country. The opposite is true. In these challenging times, many foreign investors are looking at the US as a potential gold mine. Trying to position themselves for the moment the economy takes a different course.

According to Jack Welch, in these recessionary times, a new business doesn’t stand much of a chance unless it provides a demonstrably superior value proposition than the market’s current offerings. Sure, not that long ago, you could still take a competitor’s service or product, tweak it or slap on a new feature or two, and persuade customers to buy it at a premium. But with everyone in hunker-down mode, the days of marginal up-selling are gone, and could be for some time to come.

That said, if you’re an entrepreneur or a foreign investor who has actually come up with a product or service that will significantly improve people’s lives—for significantly less than the going rate—here’s why right now might be the right time to forge ahead.

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