Visa Lawyer Blog

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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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If you hold a green card and know in advance that you must be outside the United States for more than one year, it’s worth applying to USCIS for a reentry permit. This lets you to stay away for up to two years.

You should send in your application before leaving. Your reentry permit will serve as an entry document when you are ready to return. Reentry permits cannot be renewed and can be applied for only inside the United States. If you want to stay away for more than two years, you must return briefly and apply for another reentry permit.

The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an advisement in June 2009 regarding a change in procedures related to requests for rescheduling biometrics (fingerprinting) appointments for applications for reentry permits. The NSC has advised that all applications for reentry permits will be denied if the fingerprinting is not completed within 120 days of filing. The procedures for requesting expedited fingerprinting have not changed. I assume this is due to fact that many Green Card holders living abroad were trying to apply for the permit from overseas. In order to stp the practice, USCIS is trying to impose the strict biometrics schedule to make sure applicants apply form inside the US.

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As of June 19, 2009, approximately 44,500 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.

Employers thinking of hiring visa workers have more flexibility this year to interview and choose the best candidates as visas will be open for at least 2 more months.

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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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After all the grim news about the Visa Bulletin delays we reported, I have some good news this Tuesday morning. USCIS announced today that effective June 29, 2009, it will resume Premium Processing Service for Form I-140 petitions. I-140 form is used in all Permanent residency applications based on employment. Premium processing will guarantee a 2 week processing as opposed to the lengthy regular process.

So who can use the new procedure?

USCIS will accept Premium Processing requests for Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, involving EB-1 Aliens with Extraordinary Ability, EB-1 Outstanding Professors and Researchers, EB-2 Members of Professions with Advanced Degrees or Exceptional Ability not seeking a National Interest Waiver, EB-3 Professionals, EB-3 Skilled Workers, and EB-3 Workers other than Skilled Workers and Professionals.

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Some more news to report from our local community. Three teenagers who were detained by immigration officials at a trolley station and sent to Mexico last month have been allowed to return to the United States on what is known as humanitarian parole.

The students, ages 15, 16 and 17, reunited with their families in San Diego about 10 a.m. Wednesday. They are working on hiring an attorney and will face an immigration judge in the near future to present their cases for legal residency.

The teens were among 21 suspected illegal immigrants detained at the Old Town trolley stop May 20 in a joint operation led by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and Border Patrol.

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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said there are not enough votes for the Obama administration to achieve its desired immigration reform, and change in the system as we know it today.

The plan was derailed when conservative activists, who claimed the program would have constituted “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, managed to pick off enough Republicans in the House and Senate to forestall a vote. Gibbs said that the White House would make an effort, though, to win the votes for a reform plan, for which President Obama reiterated his support.

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The U.S. Dept. of State has estimated that all 140,000 employment-based immigrant visa numbers will be used this fiscal year (October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009). This is a statistical projection based upon the utilization of Green Cards so far. Because of greater usage in EB-4 and EB-5, the unused visas from these categories which were applied for EB-1 and EB-2 categories would no longer be helpful. So, EB-2 applicants from China and India could have an even longer wait to obtain green cards. As always, EB-1 category is doing well so far, but the number of applications is higher and it will be current for India and China during the month of July 2009, but will probably retrogress in August/September. The condition for EB-2 for country like India seems bad. Currently about 25,000 EB-2 cases (for India) are awaiting visa numbers. Like all other countries, India has a limit of 2,800 EB-2 numbers available per year plus any “fall across” and “fall down” numbers from EB-4, EB-5 and EB-1 visa numbers.

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USCIS kept on updating the total number of cases received for H-1B for FY 2009-10. However, the recent USCIS H-1B cap count indicates decline in number of cases than what had been previously reported. The updated count reports the receipt of 44,400 ‘Regular’ cap cases, by June 12, 2009 which is lesser than the prior count of 47,700, given as of May 22, 2009. There is no explanation too from USCIS for this decline in trend. Thus, this reduced number may reflect either withdrawals by employers, denials by the USCIS, duplicate filings, or an error in the prior cap counts.

As of this writing, both the Advanced Degree and Regular caps remain open. We will continue to provide updated H-1B cap count information.

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In a recent decision, RUIZ-DIAZ v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the court ruled that Petitioners who filed or will file a Petition for Special Immigrant Religious Worker Visa (Form I-360) with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) on behalf of individual beneficiaries are hereby notified that you or your beneficiary may now file an Application for Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) and, if your beneficiary seeks employment status as an adjustment applicant, an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) even if USCIS has not yet issued a final administrative decision regarding the I- 360 petition. Previously, the I-360 had to be adjudicated before the adjustment package could be filed.

The Court has invalidated USCIS’ bar against concurrent filings as an unreasonable

interpretation of the governing statute. Pursuant to an order dated June 11, 2009, USCIS is required to accept as properly filed adjustment of status applications (Form I-485) and employment authorization applications (Form I-765) from individuals who are beneficiaries of petitions for special immigrant visas (Form I-360), whether submitted concurrently with or subsequent to the visa petition, provided the applications meet USCIS’ valid filing requirements.

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