Visa Lawyer Blog

by

The new LCA Form (ETA-9035) will be available for use starting TODAY, April 15. However, the current version of the form will still be accepted through May 14. Starting on May 15, LCAs may be filed only through the iCERT system. DOL will disable the existing online system, but employers/attorneys will continue to have online access for case status checks and LCA withdrawals.

The most notable thing about the new LCA system is that DOL advises users to expect processing times for LCAs to increase up to 7 business days as there will be an official review and DOL certification of each LCA submitted. Employers and attorneys will need to plan accordingly.

The DOL will start accepting the new PERM Form ETA-9089 for processing on July 1. Again, the current version of the ETA-9089 will be accepted through July 31. Starting on August 1, PERM applications may be filed only through the iCERT system. DOL will disable filing functionality in the existing online system, but will continue to provide online access for case status checks and PERM application withdrawals.

Continue reading

by

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued the Visa Bulletin for May 2009, which announced EB3 unavailability for all countries of chargeability. The EB2 cutoff dates for China and India had been February 15, 2005 and February 15, 2004, respectively, and have not changed for May 2009. The EB3 visa unavailability is due to high demand for immigrant visa numbers and, particularly, a large number of cases with older priority dates.

The EB2 category continues to be current for all countries, except India and China. The cutoff dates for India and China did not change from the prior month. The cutoff date for India remains as February 15, 2004. China’s cutoff date is still February 15, 2005.

Lets see what the summer will hold for all visa categories.

by

Living in a border city like San Diego we hear stories like this one from time to time. The AP report about Pedro Guzman has been an American citizen all his life. Yet in 2007, the 31-year-old Los Angeles native — in jail for a misdemeanor, mentally ill and never able to read or write — signed a waiver agreeing to leave the country without a hearing and was deported to Mexico as an illegal immigrant.

For almost three months, Guzman slept in the streets, bathed in filthy rivers and ate out of trash cans while his mother scoured the city of Tijuana, its hospitals and morgues, clutching his photo in her hand. He was finally found trying to cross the border at Calexico, 100 miles away.

In a drive to crack down on illegal immigrants, the United States has locked up or thrown out dozens, probably many more, of its own citizens over the past eight years. A monthslong AP investigation has documented 55 such cases, on the basis of interviews, lawsuits and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. These citizens are detained for anything from a day to five years. Immigration lawyers across the nation say there are actually hundreds of such cases.

Continue reading

by

President Obama says he wants to tackle immigration reform; and do it this year. In fact, he says he plans to begin as soon as next month.

According to CNN, the president says he will rely on a bipartisan and diverse group of experts to frame the legislation. But officials say that immigration won’t be “on the same track” as other key initiatives like health care and energy, and “nobody’s promising legislation or a vote this year.”

Nonetheless, it looks like the president will try to make good on yet another campaign promise by working to fix the nation’s broken immigration system during his first year in office. There are an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in this country.

Continue reading

by

I made a bet with a few fellow Immigration experts about the timing of the cap being reached. I now admit that I lost. I predicted the cap to be met by the 7th with 85,000 regular H1B’s filed.

Today we got the H1B news, and in line with the current economy.

USCIS has received approximately 42,000 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.

Continue reading

by

The H1B visa filing status seems to be the main issue for clients and site visitors in the past week. USCIS announced today that the H-1B cap has not been reached and it continues to accept H-1B petitions for both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 higher-degree cap. Should USCIS receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will issue another update to advise the public that, as of a certain date (the “final receipt date”), the respective FY 2010 H-1B caps have been met. So for now, we can keep filing.

Here is the original notice from USCIS Download file

by

We are not even one week after H1B filing day and problems are here. AILA Liaison has been advised by USCIS that a small number of petitions submitted for the FY2010 H-1B quota were receipted in error . This means the Immigration already issued receipts, even before any lottery. If this happened to your case, this is a mistake as final count of cases is still going.

Please check your petition to make sure you indicate that it was new employment, a cap submission, and why it is a cap case. See our H1B posting on how to mark a case. This is important to help identify petitions that should be included in the H-1B lottery.

We will keep you posted of any new developments.

by

From to time to time, we update our readers on the recent changes and updates coming from the local Immigration office. San Diego has 2 main locations, one in Chula Vista, and the other in Downtown San Diego. Once a month, the American Immigration Lawyers Association local chapter meet, with the government reps and receive updates on recent policy changes. Here are some of the questions discussed:

1. How long is a file held at the District Office after an adjustment or naturalization appointment? There have been reports of files sent to the National Records Center when a naturalization appointment was rescheduled by USCIS or when an applicanUattorney timely rescheduled an appointment If this occurs will the rescheduled appointment be delayed?

Approvals are promptly shipped to the National Records Center or Federal

Continue reading

by

Sad day for the US Immigrant community. A gunman opened fire on The American Civic Association a center where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam Friday in downtown Binghamton, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide.

The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalization applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.

Our prayers with the victims’ families

by

It looks like there will be a delay in the launch of the new iCert PERM portal for processing labor certifications (LCs). As planned, the new LCA system will launch on April 15, 2009, when employers and attorneys can set up their iCert accounts and begin submitting the new LCA forms through the iCert portal. A month after its launch of the LCA portal, as of May 15, 2009, LCAs will only be accepted through the iCert system. The existing LCA online system will continue to accept LCA filings through May 14, 2009, at which time it will only be online for case status checks and LCA withdrawals.

Employers and applicants should be aware of the upcoming changes to both the LCA and PERM/LC processes. We will continue to track changes to the DOL’s iCert portal system and will update our readers.