Visa Lawyer Blog

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I’m at the annual meeting of the American Immigration Lawyers Association here in Las Vegas. More than 10, 000 lawyers gathered here in Las Vegas to learn about the most recent updates from the Government directly.

We just finished a session with the Department of Labor. Some of the key news is that more company audits are on the way. In fact, currently there are 200 cases pending in the audit line. They promised more audits as the icert system will become a standard in filing PERM, LCA and Prevailing wage requests.

Also H2B cases now must prevailing wage requests directly with the Chicago DOL center. There is a slight delay in processing. They are currenlty working on PWD’s filed on May 8th or before. Wea ll need to be patient.

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A few days ago, Attorney General Eric Holder, vacated the decision in Matter of Compean and directed the BIA and Immigration Judges to apply the decision in Matter of Lozada for claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, pending promulgation of relevant regulations.

Attorney General Eric Holder withdrew the decision issued by former Attorney General Mukasey on the last day of the Bush Administration, which had eviscerated the right to effective representation in Immigration Court proceedings. Attorney General Holder had stated during his confirmation process that he would review the Mukasey decision and that he disagreed with its reasoning.

By ensuring that immigrants seeking relief from the harsh consequences of deportation are assured that they will not be punished by the ineffective actions of their counsel, Attorney General Holder has reset the standard that the Constitution ensures.

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As of May 29, 2009, approximately 45,800 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to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.

Since it is probable that there will still be H-1B numbers available after June 30, U.S. employers should submit H-1B petitions for potential workers as soon as possible.

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USCIS is announcing that applicants may experience up to an eight week delay in the delivery of their permanent resident card while we are in the process of upgrading our card production equipment. USCIS Field Offices will be issuing temporary evidence of permanent residence in the form of an I-551 stamp to applicants approved for permanent residence at the time of their interview. You will need to take your passport to your appointment. If you do not have a passport, you must bring a passport style photo and government issued photo identification to receive temporary evidence of permanent residence.

If the application is approved subsequent to your interview or by a Service Center or the National Benefit Center, the applicant should bring the above documents to an INFOPASS appointment to be issued temporary evidence of permanent residence in the form of an I-551 stamp.

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I am not very proud to announce this but, ICE stated a few days ago that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is the first law enforcement body to implement the Secure Communities program, under which every individual booked into the three largest jails in San Diego County will have biometric-fingerprints checked in a DHS system for an immigration record.

Secure Communities, which is administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), streamlines the process by which ICE determines if an individual in the prison system is a removable criminal alien. Under the program, every individual booked into the three largest jails in San Diego County has their biometrics-fingerprints-checked in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) biometric system for any immigration record. Prior to the advent of Secure Communities, as part of the standard booking process, these fingerprints were only checked for criminal history information in the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) biometric system.

If any fingerprints match those of someone in DHS’s biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE and the San Diego intake site submitting the fingerprints. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual’s immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action after offenders complete their prison terms.

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Recent procedures obtained from USCIS for identifying and handling Diversity Visa (“DV,” also known as “lottery”) Form I-485s. These procedures are designed to increase the likelihood that these applications will be adjudicated by the September 30 deadline.

The National Benefits role is very limited. Each Form I-485 is reviewed at the Lockbox against an initial evidence review checklist. Once a Form I-485 is identified as a DV application, which usually occurs at the Lockbox, but if not, should be identified promptly at NBC by reviewing the checklist, NBC stops processing the Form I-485 and sends it to the Field Office with jurisdiction over the applicant.

The ASC appointment notice for biometrics will still be generated as part of the NBC process. The Field Office has to manually schedule an interview for the DV applicant. This should result in faster processing, and avoid any delays. As you may know, applicants must complete the process by September 30 of the year they are selected for the DV. Otherwise, the visa will be lost.

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They say that America is the land of opportunity, and therefore, so many people desire to Immigrate to this country.

Amid the news of an upcoming General Motors bankruptcy, the recession is not showing any signs of retreat. During these tough economic times, many institutions are trying to do their share to ease up the pain. US Citizenship and Immigration Services is not one of them. For USCIS this is business as usual.

When one applies for a US visa, whether it is for a Temporary work visa or for Permanent Residency, there is a fee charged for the processing of the application. These fees paid to the government range between $300 and $1365, depending on the type of application. While this is expensive, it is acceptable so long as it represents the actual costs of the service provided. Yet, there is a growing school of thought that USCIS currently charging fees way out of line with the actual costs.

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DOS published a notice of the determination that the Abu Nidal Organization Movement (ANO) and Palestinian Liberation Front–Abu Abbas Faction (PLF) and all designated aliases will maintain designations as foreign terrorist organizations.

Abu Nidal is a terrorist organization widely known for deadly attacks in the 1980s on Western, Palestinian, and Israeli targets. They were attempting to derail diplomatic relations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the West, while advocating for the destruction of Israel. The organization was named for a former member of the PLO who split off in a dispute over establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. Abu Nidal has been on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations for more than twenty years.

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President Barack Obama will gather congressional leaders at the White House next month to launch a policy discussion on immigration, according to an administration official, but legislative action isn’t likely until next year at the earliest. he June 8 meeting is meant to show the White House is moving on the issue — which is key for Hispanic advocacy groups that helped Mr. Obama get elected in November.

Mr. Obama has embraced the general concept of creating a program to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the U.S., while continuing to tighten the border with Mexico.

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