Visa Lawyer Blog

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According to the San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego’s small businesses are heading to bankruptcy court at a higher rate than last year, and the city is among the Top 10 metropolitan areas in the country based on the number of filings.

The number of small businesses filing for bankruptcy in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos region was 387 in the first quarter of 2010, giving it the sixth-highest number of bankruptcies.

In the San Diego metropolitan area, the number of small businesses that filed for bankruptcy was up 12 percent, compared with the same period last year.

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The Obama administration’s challenge to the controversial Arizona immigration law goes before a federal judge Thursday. The Justice Department’s lawsuit, seeking to stop the law from going into effect, is one of two challenges scheduled for a hearing Thursday.

The first challenge by a group of more than 100 individuals and civil rights groups will be heard Thursday morning. In the afternoon, the Justice Department’s lawsuit will have a hearing in a Phoenix federal courtroom.

Both cases will be in front of U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, according to court documents. The law, signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in April, requires police to question people about their status if they have been detained for another reason and if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the United States illegally. It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant laborers or knowingly transport them.

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) today announced that National Guard deployments to the Southwest border will begin on Aug. 1 as part of the administration’s unprecedented efforts to combat the transnational criminal organizations that smuggle weapons, cash and people across our Southwest border. The President has also requested $600 million in supplemental funds for enhanced border protection and law enforcement activities, which are critical to our ongoing efforts.

“Over the past year and a half, this administration has pursued a new border security strategy with an unprecedented sense of urgency, making historic investments in personnel, technology and infrastructure,” said Secretary Napolitano. “These troops will provide direct support to federal law enforcement officers and agents working in high-risk areas to disrupt criminal organizations seeking to move people and goods illegally across the Southwest border.”
In May, the President authorized the deployment of up to an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border to provide support for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, and counternarcotics enforcement—providing support for one year as part of the administration’s unprecedented efforts to crack down on transnational smuggling and cartel violence, as CBP continues to recruit and train additional officers and agents to serve on the Southwest border. In deploying these personnel, the National Guard Bureau is operating under a request for assistance from DHS. Border security is a law enforcement mission, and these troops will augment the Administration’s efforts to crack down on the drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations that operate along our Southwest border.

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The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs. As of 07/16/10, USCIS receipted 30,154 petitions, toward the 47,000 beneficiaries target for the second half of the fiscal year. This count includes 28,539 approved and 1,615 pending petitions.

There is a statutory numerical limit, or “cap,” on the total number aliens who may be issued a visa or otherwise provided H-2B status (including through a change of status) during a fiscal year. Currently, the H-2B cap set by Congress is 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 to be allocated for employment beginning in the 1st half of the fiscal year (October 1 – March 31) and 33,000 to be allocated for employment beginning in the 2nd half of the fiscal year (April 1 – September 30). Any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year will be made available for use by employers seeking to hire H-2B workers during the second half of the fiscal year. There is no “carry over” of unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year to the next.

The H2B visa is available to employers of foreign workers not working in the agricultural field. This visa is only available for work that is temporary in nature. For H2B purposes, that means:

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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today traveled to Laredo, Texas to announce more than $47 million in fiscal year 2010 Operation Stonegarden grants for the Southwest border states. She also met with law enforcement leaders to discuss the Department’s efforts to support state, local and tribal law enforcement in protecting communities from cross-border threats. She said, “Over the past year and a half, this Administration has pursued a new border security strategy with an unprecedented sense of urgency, making historic investments in personnel, technology and infrastructure while combating transnational criminal organizations that smuggle weapons, cash and people across our shared border with Mexico.” She said that Operation Stonegarden is one part of our overall strategy to provide state, local and tribal law enforcement on the frontlines the resources they need to confront the complex and dynamic challenges that exist along our borders.

The fiscal year 2010 Operation Stonegarden grants—totaling $60 million nationally—support 15 border states and the Territory of Puerto Rico to enhance the capabilities of federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to secure U.S. borders and territories. Funds were allocated using CBP’s sector-specific border risk methodology based on threat, vulnerability, miles of border and border-specific law enforcement intelligence. Nearly 80 percent of the fiscal year 2010 funding will go to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas—up from 59 percent in 2008. Operation Stonegarden grants can be used to support law enforcement personnel, overtime, and other related costs to increase operational readiness.

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A great update from AILA to our anxious EB3 applicants and blog readers. Many I-140 denials came out of the Service Centers in the past few months. These denials resulted when applicants failed to properly distinguish the required qualifications between professionals and skilled workers on the new Form I-140 which was introduced on January 6, 2010.

Prior versions of Form I-140 had only one box to check for bachelor degreed professionals and skilled workers, and did not make a distinction between the two classifications. Similarly, there is no distinction in the availability of visas as both are classified in the employment-based, third preference category. Thus, the differences between the professional with a Bachelor’s degree and a skilled worker were without a distinction prior to the introduction of the new form earlier this year.

However, this new form does require the petitioner to distinguish between a professional with a Bachelor’s degree and a skilled worker. The definition of professional is set forth in the regulations at 8CFR 204.5(l)(2), which states:

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The U.S. Department of Labor launched an online registry allowing the public to retrieve information about temporary agricultural jobs that fall under the H-2A program. The new tool was developed in compliance with regulations implemented by the department on March 15.

The H-2A job registry provides a single, easily searched point of entry for the public to retrieve information about agricultural jobs filed under the H-2A program. It offers a range of customizable searches and gives users the ability to view, print or download information about agricultural jobs easily and without the need to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The tool will display all active agricultural jobs until 50 percent of the period of employment has elapsed, and it will offer an archive of certified agricultural jobs for up to five years.

The Labor Department estimates that more than 700 H-2A applications — for more than 13,000 workers — have been received since March 15. As this system goes live today, nearly 450 active H-2A job orders become available to the public.

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Temporary Protected Status and Expired Employment Authorization Documents

One must accept a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiary’s expired Employment Authorization Document (EAD) if DHS has automatically extended its validity in a Federal Register notice. Automatically extended EADs are listed on the USCIS web site. EADs issued to TPS beneficiaries will include one of two category codes: “A-12” or “C-19.” You must not require an employee to provide proof that he or she is a national of a country that has been designated for TPS.

When creating a new case in E-Verify for newly hired TPS beneficiaries, select “Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766)” as the document presented and use the date to which the EAD was automatically extended as the expiration date. We recommend that you read the TPS information on the USCIS web site carefully, as the EAD automatic extension is usually shorter than the TPS extension date.

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