Visa Lawyer Blog

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USCIS continues to make efforts in decreasing the N-400 Naturalization processing delays. Some applicants are waiting more than 2 years for cases to be adjudicated, but USCIS is really making an effort to make things better.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it continues

to make steady progress in reducing the significant number of naturalization applications it received last year. USCIS now anticipates naturalization application processing will average 10-12 months nationally by the end of September 2008 – a substantial improvement from its estimated average processing time of 16-18 months first announced last year.

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Here is a true story that can happen from time to time. Client send his case to USCIS via DHL, the case never reaches USCIS as DHL loose the package. Client re files the case using FEDEX, and cancels the first check. Fedex package reaches USCIS and a case is created. A week later the first package is finally delivered, but the check is canceled. USCIS issue a request for the funds via a collection notice. What is a client to do? Pay the money first and later ask for a refund. Yes, that is the current policy.

But how do you actually ask for a refund from USCIS?

The memo from Acting Director Scharfen states that clarifications were made and the USCIS Adjudicator’s Field Manual was updated in March 2008. This update instructs applicants or petitioners either to make their requests by calling the USCIS customer service line or writing the office that has jurisdiction over the application or petition in question. If this request is approved, the USCIS (and not the applicant or petitioner) will complete the Request for Refund of Fee (Form G-266).

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On July 30, 2008, President Bush signed into law the U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act (H.R.5501). While this legislation rids the statute of unfair discrimination against foreign nationals with HIV, it does not repeal the ground of inadmissibility for those that are HIV positive.

The bill includes a provision that repeals the HIV travel/immigration ban by amending the current health-related ground of inadmissibility in the Immigration and Nationality Act to exclude any reference to HIV. This provision returns the authority to the Department of Health and Human Services to determine whether individuals with HIV should be permitted to travel to the U.S.

While this legislation rids the statute of unfair discrimination against foreign nationals with HIV, it does not repeal the ground of inadmissibility for those that are HIV positive. INA section 212(a)(1)(A)(i) renders inadmissible any individual “who is determined (in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services) to have a communicable disease of public health significance.” Until HIV is taken off the list by the Department of Health and Human Services, HIV continues to be listed as a communicable disease of public health significance under 42 C.F.R. Section 34.2(b)(4) and HIV positive foreign nationals continue to remain inadmissible to the U.S. This legislation has not changed the requirements for the waiver of inadmissibility.

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I know that the title of this posting sounds like a bad joke, but it is true. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will roll out “Operation Scheduled Departure,” a pilot program created to encourage people who have outstanding deportation orders to turn themselves in.

San Diego and four other U.S. cities will participate in the program, which is set to end Aug. 22. The other locations are Santa Ana; Chicago; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Charlotte, N.C.

What is the likelihood of wanted illegal immigrants to turn themselves in remains to be seen. I am very skeptical about all this. Currently, there are thousands of inmates sitting in immigration jails awaiting removal. These are non criminal individuals that overstayed their visas or legal entry status. Why do ICE officials keep them locked up awaiting removal, waisting tax payers money? I am really curious to see how this program will work in practice.

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Businessweek reports on a new research by economist Gianmarco Ottaviano of the University of Bologna and Giovanni Peri of the University of California at Davis. They say immigrants compete for jobs with broader swath of native workers, diluting their impact on the least skilled segment of the local workforce. They also say that employers can’t substitute an immigrant for an American that easily. They find that immigration’s effect on local worker’s wages is almost too small to measure.

This latest research contradicts the popular paper by Harvard University Economist Mr. Borjas, who found that immigration suppresses the wages of the least skilled workers. I tend to to agree with Mr. Ottaviano and Peri, immigrants do not hurt native workers wages, they only boost our economy.

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Some good news for the weekend as provided by AILA. On 7/31/08 and 8/1/08, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration held a mark-up session and approved the following three pieces of immigration-related legislation:

H.R. 6020, sponsored by Representative Lofgren (D-CA), would amend the INA to allow soldiers who have served in support of contingency operations to be eligible for naturalization and for other purposes. It passed by a vote of 6-3.

H.R. 5882, sponsored by Representative Lofgren (D-CA), would recapture employment-based and family-sponsored immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays and to prevent losses of these visas in the future. It passed by a vote of 8-1.

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Another sad day for immigration lawyers, employers and workers. USCIS announced it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of Fiscal Year 2009.

This is a clear sign the system is not working, we need more visas to jump start our economy and workforce. As of today, employers in the hospitality, construction, retail and more will struggle to keep their business rolling. I call on employers to take a stand and let our government how they are hurting, because the system is broken.

Read the press release here Download file

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I wanted to point out to an excellent article by staff writer for the ABA, Lynda Edwards, about the faith of those that help our armed forces in Iraq. Many of these people risk their lives to help our soldiers, and you would think that our government will make it easy for them to find shelter in the US, think again.

For refugees, the visa process begins with an interview by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Some must wait almost 5 years to get the process completed. According to the article, failing to aid Iraqis who’ve supported the U.S. would be a grave mistake. Ignoring them sends a dangerous message to the world: Support Americans and we’ll abandon you to be killed. Let us hope that US officials will realize the mistake they are doing by not helping such valuable resources obtain a visa and shelter in America.

Read the article here

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White teens were charged in what officials said was a fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Unless we educate our children to tolerate the immigrant population, we will hear of more stories like this one. There are 20 million illegal immigrants living among us.

Read the CNN story here…

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Sad but true, it seems that H2B visas will run out in the next few days. Here is a recent count update as provided by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

July 23, 2008 H-2B Count

On July 24, 2008 USCIS updated the count of H-2B petitions received and counted towards the H-2B cap on the USCIS website. As of July 23, 2008, 31,619 petitions have been counted towards the 33,000 cap for the first half of FY 2009.

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