Visa Lawyer Blog

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The Department of Homeland Security just released an advance copy of the supplemental final rule on safe-harbor procedures for employers who receive an Social Security Administration No-Match letter.

The No Match Rule decribes the “constructive knowledge” that indicates an employee has provided a false SSN to his/her employer. It also outlines the process the DHS wants employers to use to respond to the SSA no-match letters.

While the new No Match Rule does not give the DHS access to the list of employers that received the no-match letters, the DHS will send general notices to employers telling them what their obligations are to follow immigration laws, and how they must be able to prove they are in compliance.

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According to a recent BusinessWeek article, A new U.S. government report confirms that companies are using the visas to hire illegally. I am shocked, really, I thought all employers are following the law and abiding by the visa rules.

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) found that 13% of the requests for H-1B visas were fraudulent and 7% contained technical violations. In one case, when a company requested a visa for a “business development analyst,” USCIS found the person would be working in a laundromat, doing laundry and maintaining washing machines.

Bill Wright, a spokesman for USCIS, says the agency is already weighing adjustments based on the report’s findings. It’s developing a new risk-assessment program that, among other things, would closely examine requests from companies with 25 or fewer employees, since that category was found to have a higher rate of violations.

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A recent White House news release on the inclusion of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea in the Visa Waiver Program announces that in about a month citizens of these nations will be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa.

Soon even more countries will be considered to join, read the press release here Download file

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The Visa Bulletin for November 2008 was published. This Visa Bulletin reflects slight forward movement in the employment-based (EB) cutoff dates.

The EB1 category is current for all countries of chargeability. EB2 category remains current for all countries, except for India and China. The cutoff dates for both India and China moved forward slightly. India’s cutoff date moved forward by two months, to June 1, 2003. The cutoff dates moved forward by several months in all EB3 categories. The worldwide category (for all countries except those specifically listed) as well as the Philippines, in the EB3 has a cutoff date under the November Visa Bulletin of May 1, 2005. The cutoff date for Mexico moved to September 1, 2002. EB3 for China moved forward by four months, to February 1, 2002. EB3 for India moved forward by three months, to October 1, 2001.

Click here for the November Visa Bulletin

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So now it is official TN visas can issued for 3 years and not just 1 as before. So many applicants were calling in the past year asking when will the rule become law, well not it is official.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has increased the maximum period of time a Trade-NAFTA (TN) professional worker from Canada or Mexico may remain in the United States before seeking readmission or obtaining an extension of stay. This final rule changes the initial period of admission for TN workers from one to three years, making it equal to the initial period of admission given to H-1B professional workers. Eligible TN nonimmigrants may now be allowed to receive extensions of stay in increments of up to three years instead of the prior maximum period of stay of one year.

Read the press release here Download file

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Home loans held by illegal immigrants in California and across the nation generally have had fewer delinquencies than similar loans held by U.S. citizens, in part because of stricter lending requirements, according to banks, insurers and Realtors.

More than 12,000 home loans were issued in recent years through a special program that relies on government-issued taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers, according to the association. The identification numbers, known as ITINs, were designed for foreign-born residents living legally in the U.S. but are widely acknowledged to be used primarily by illegal immigrants.

Many of the mortgages nationwide came out of a partnership between Citibank and Acorn Housing, a nonprofit group that helps the poor. Citibank said the taxpayer identification loans have some of the lowest delinquency rates among all affordable-lending programs.

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Exciting news to report from our border crossing here in San Diego. Jose Canseco was held for nearly 10 hours by immigration authorities after agents said they stopped the former baseball star with a fertility drug as he returned from Mexico.

Canceco was detained at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing Thursday after agents searched his vehicle and said they found human chorionic gonadotropin, which is illegal without a prescription. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Virginia Kice, said Canseco was ordered to appear in federal court in San Diego “related to an alleged smuggling violation”.

Read more here

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To ensure that the mailroom does not erroneously reject your non-subject H-1B, make sure the cover letter emphasizes in Bold, 14 point font, colors, etc., that the petition is NOT subject to the cap. Make clear why the petition is not subject to the cap, and state it as simply as possible. In addition, double check that the correct H-1B petition type is indicated on the certified LCA and all accompanying documentation (be consistent!).

Also, remember that when filing H-1B extensions for the same employer, the $500 fraud prevention fee does not need to be paid. Make sure to highlight this in your cover letter to avoid rejections. Provide proof of the prior H-1B petition approved on the beneficiary’s behalf by the same petitioner, highlight the petitioner and beneficiaries’ names, highlight the instructions to the form I-129, indicating that such fee is not required, and provide a statement (in bold) stating why the $500 fee does not apply. Taking such steps will definitely minimize the chances of such filing being rejected.

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It seems that the prediction of more and more enforcement before the elections is true. Federal agents swept through a chicken processing plant today, detaining more than 300 suspected illegal immigrants, sending panicked workers running and screaming through the hallways. Worried relatives collected outside, fearful their loved ones would be deported.

It is a clear message sent by the government – if you are hiring illegals, we will raid you and make sure the rest of the world will know about it. Employers desperate for workers, will find it more and more difficult to hire legally. Those that will hire illegally will pay the price. It is time for our immigration system to change.

Read the full raid story here

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The death last year of Boubacar Bah, a Guinean tailor held in a New Jersey jail for overstaying his visa, showed immigration detention to be one of the most secretive corners of American life. But now Mr. Bah’s story is being retold in an unusually public way: in an online video game.

The game — created by Breakthrough, an international human rights organization in New York that is trying to get the public behind efforts to strengthen oversight, due process and medical help in immigration detention

Read More here