Visa Lawyer Blog

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Arizona will appeal directly to the US Supreme Court in a bid to overturn an injunction blocking key parts of the state’s controversial immigration law, state officials announced today.

Gov. Jan Brewer said she and Attorney General Tom Horne had decided to take the case directly to the nation’s highest court, asking it to examine whether US District Judge Susan Bolton acted correctly when she issued her injunction in Phoenix last summer.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction on April 11. Arizona could ask all active judges on the Ninth Circuit to rehear the appeal, but state officials decided it would be faster to take the case directly to the Supreme Court. Expect another showdown.

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Here we go again. When Obama’s Democratic Party controlled the House and Senate, Congress failed to pass an immigration bill that would have provided a path to Residency and later Citizenship for some illegal immigrants who entered America as children. The DREAM Act died in the Senate in December due to a Republican filibuster.

With Republicans now controlling the House and holding a stronger minority in the Senate, the chances for any comprehensive immigration reform are considered non-existent.

Obama travels to Texas on Tuesday to make the case that his administration has worked hard to secure the border and the time has come for Congress to deal with the 10.8 million people already in the U.S. illegally.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a final rule that adopts, without change, an interim rule to improve the integrity of the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process. USCIS received approximately 75 public comments in response to the interim rule, which has been in effect since April 3, 2009.

The main changes made by the interim rule and adopted by the final rule include: prohibiting employers from accepting expired documents; revising the list of acceptable documents by removing outdated documents and making technical amendments; and adding documentation applicable to certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Employers must complete Form I-9 for all newly hired employees to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States. The list of acceptable documents that employees may present to verify their identity and employment authorization is divided into three sections: List A documents, which show identity and employment authorization; List B documents, which show identity only; and List C documents, which show employment authorization only.

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Eric Holder vacated the BIA’s order and remanded the matter to the BIA to determine whether and how the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act impacts respondent’s eligibility for cancellation of removal, see Matter of Dorman.

DOJ Secretary Eric Holder announced that he has vacated — or essentially wiped out — a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals in reference to a recent case in which the BIA applied DOMA’s Section 3. In his decision, Holder listed the criteria the BIA should consider:

1) whether respondent’s same-sex partnership or civil union qualifies him to be considered a “spouse” under New Jersey law;

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Expect more states to follow this trend. Virginia has joined the list of states requiring certain companies contracting with the state to enroll in and use the E-Verify program. SB 1049, recently approved by Governor McDonnell, adds a new section 2.2-4308.2 to the Code of Virginia.

A spokesperson for the Governor’s office stated that the acceleration of the E-Verify requirement was due in part to recent upgrades in the E-Verify system, including the launch of the E-Verify Self-Check tool, which went live March 21. Provided by the Department of Homeland Security, this new web tool is available to workers for the purposes of checking the accuracy of their information in the relevant databases (Social Security Administration and DHS). The initial release is available only to individuals with addresses in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The Self-Check tool asks certain questions aimed to verify the identity of the individual. Once verified, the individual can then confirm whether or not the relevant databases accurately reflect his or her appropriate work authorization status.

The new provision will apply to employers that have more than an average of 50 employees for the previous 12 months and that are entering into a contract to perform work for, or provide services to, any agency of the Commonwealth if the value of the work or services is in excess of $50,000. Affected employers must enroll in and utilize the Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program to verify the employment eligibility of new hires performing work pursuant to those contracts.

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This was long overdue but here are the latest on the Tri Valley story. A federal grand jury here has indicted the president of a Pleasanton, Calif., university on 33-criminal counts, charging her with an array of violations, including visa fraud, money laundering and alien harboring, as a result of a two-year investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Tri-Valley University President Susan Xiao-Ping Su, 41, who also served as the school’s chief executive officer, is accused of engaging in a two-year scheme to defraud the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by submitting phony documents in support of Tri-Valley University’s applications to admit foreign nationals on student visas. The indictment further alleges that after obtaining such approvals, Su fraudulently issued visa-related documents to student aliens in exchange for “tuition and fees.”

Su was taken into custody Monday morning at her Pleasanton, Calif., home by HSI special agents. She made her initial appearance here in federal court shortly after her arrest.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has fully implemented the Secure Mail Initiative (SMI), which uses U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation to deliver certain immigration documents in a safe, secure and timely manner. This is made possible by a partnership between USCIS and the USPS. The SMI enables USCIS to confirm delivery of permanent resident cards and documents pertaining to travel and employment authorization. With USPS tracking information, USCIS customers can easily stay up-to-date on the delivery status of their documents and USCIS can confirm that these essential documents were delivered to the proper address.

SMI provides USCIS customers many benefits, including:

* The ability to track the status of their documents with USPS tracking information

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The Department of State (DOS) has issued a regulation that broadens the authority of consular officers to revoke a visa at any time subsequent to issuance of the visa, including when the individual is already in the U.S. Additionally, the regulation allows consular officers and designated officials within DOS to revoke a visa provisionally while considering a final visa revocation.

This rule is effective April 27, 2011. DOS did not issue the regulation through notice and comment rulemaking on the basis that it involves a foreign affairs function of the United States and, therefore, is exempt from those procedures.

Pursuant to section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), DOS may determine that a visa should be revoked when information reveals that the applicant was originally, or has since become, ineligible or may be ineligible to possess a U.S. visa. In testimony before Congress in 2004, DOS stated that it had revoked 1,250 visas since September 11, 2001, based on information suggesting possible terrorist activities or links. Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have put pressure on DOS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve their policies regarding visa revocations.

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We all agree he needs to do more for Immigration. Obama and his aides met for an hour in the White House Roosevelt Room with a dozen people, including actresses Eva Longoria and America Ferrera and several hosts of Hispanic news programs.

Attendees said the president reminded the group of his push to create a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who live in America but don’t have legal status, the majority of whom are Latino. He said that Democrats in Congress would continue to call for passage of the Dream Act, a provision that would make it easier for the children of illegal immigrants to gain legal status by serving in the U.S. military or graduating from college.

Obama did not promise to reduce the number of deportations of people who are in United States illegally, they said. Those deportations have increased under his administration.

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The Labor Department just announced protocols for certifying U visa applications, and that the U visa certification process will be handled by the Wage and Hour Division’s regional administrators.

What is a U Visa

The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 created two new nonimmigrant visas for noncitizen victims of crimes, the T visa and the U visa. Both visas are designed to provide immigration status to noncitizens who are assisting or are willing to assist authorities investigating crimes.

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