Visa Lawyer Blog

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently announced a joint plan to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI.

USCIS and the FBI established a series of milestones prioritizing work based on the age of the pending name check. The FBI has already eliminated all name check cases pending more than four years.

“This plan of action is the product of a strong partnership between USCIS and the FBI to eliminate the backlogs and to strengthen national security,” said USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez.

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Well the numbers are out, I lost my bet. I predicted 200,000 visa applications to be received. The actual numbers are lower. This reflects the low confidence employers put in this system.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a preliminary

number of nearly 163,000 H-1B petitions received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. More than 31,200 of those petitions were for the advanced degree category.

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As we are anxiously waiting for the H1B lottery to start tomorrow, the government providing some relief for those that are waiting to get their visas and for future students graduates about to apply for work permits. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) released today an Interim Final Rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) from 12 to 29 months for qualified F-1 nonimmigrant students. The extension will be available to F-1 students with a degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics who are employed by businesses enrolled in the E-Verify program.

“This rule will enable businesses to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers, giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage in the world economy,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. “By extending the training period by an additional 17 months to students who are employed by businesses enrolled in E-Verify, we are further ensuring a legal workforce in the U.S. and aiding good corporate citizens.”

Another aspect of the rule responds to the situation in which an F-1 student’s status and work authorization expires before he or she can begin employment under the H-1B visa program. The Rule addresses this problem by automatically extending the period of stay and work authorization for all F-1 students with pending H-1B petitions. The Rule will also implement certain programmatic changes, including allowing students to apply for OPT within 60 days of graduation.

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Talk about H1B filing nightmare. American Immigration Lawyers Association has received reports that Federal Express forwarded a number of H-1B packages to the service centers without entering the individual package into the tracking system. AILA and USCIS are discussing how to handle the situation, and USCIS is talking to Federal Express.USCIS urges filers NOT to submit duplicates of packages that are missing tracking numbers, as that could result in both applications being denied as multiple filings under the new rules.

We sent ALL our cases via FEDEX but we were able to track all of them. Let’s hope this problem will be resolved very soon. We will keep you posted.

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The latest from the Border. Mexican nationals who are deported from the United States or leave voluntarily after being stopped are being offered free trips back to their hometowns under a pilot program launched yesterday in Tijuana.

The Tijuana program, dubbed Humanitarian Repatriation, will also ensure that returning Mexicans receive shelter, food, emergency medical care and temporary employment upon their return to Mexico.

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Our Blog is being read by thousands of Media outlets across the Globe. I was happy to be quoted by ComputerWorld about the recent H1B filing madness. For 40 years, Computerworld has been the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld’s award-winning Web site (Computerworld.com), weekly publication, focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world’s largest global IT media network.

The article covers the issues as to why is the demand for foreign workers, including skilled software developers and other IT professionals, still rising as economic conditions grow steadily worse? I have commented on the most recent changes to the H1B program and filing strategies to consider.

Click here to read the article

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Yes, the big day has arrived, March 31, 2008!!! We are very excited (and exhausted), but all our cases are ready to go via FEDEX to the Vermont or Califronia Service Centers dpending on the locations of the employers. We carefully marked all the envelopes with bright markers to indicate Premium and Regular processing cases. We also rubbed each envelope with a special H1B magic potion to make sure they will be selected in the lottery-…(just kidding, April fools is tomorrow!!!)
We just learned, that USCIS indicated that only H1B petitions selected in the lottery will be issued receipt notices. Last year it was madness, some H1B petitions were issued receipts before the lottery and without consideration for whether or not they were accepted for processing. This created significant confusion and anxiety. Some petitioners who were issued the receipt notice assumed that their filings were accepted for processing when, in fact, they were refused later through the lottery. To avoid this confusion this year, the USCIS will conduct the H1B lottery before issuing receipts for H1B petitions accepted for processing for FY2009. In anticipation of the rush of cap-subject H1B filings that will begin April 1, 2008, the USCIS has alerted the U.S. Postal Service and the courier services to the increased volume of mail expected.

We wish best of luck to all the H1B visa filers this year, and we will keep you posted….

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Yes the pressure is on and we are less than 7 days before the H1B filing date. Our office is open longer hours and dedicated staff members are trying to put together the cases in the most perfect order, according to the tips issued by USCIS The goal is to file on March 31, 2008 by close of business.

Here are some useful Q and A on the new rules:
What is the H-1B visa program?
The H-1B visa program is used by U.S. businesses to employ foreign workers in occupations that
require theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree
or higher (or its equivalent), such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

What is the purpose of the new rule?
The overall goal of the new rule is to promote equal opportunity for prospective petitioners seeking
visas for H-1B workers.

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I recently posted an article about what is actually happening at a Marriage based adjustment interview Read here But it seems that from time to time, innocent immigrants may face unethical, criminally motivated immigration agents that take advantage of their position to exploit immigrants. We as lawyers make sure to follow our clients’ cases from early document preparation stages to the final interview and beyond. We make sure that stories like the one you are about to read will never happen.

This is a story of a bad agent pursuing a young immigrant after her marriage interview with the spouse. The calls from the agent started three days later. He hinted, she said, at his power to derail her life and deport her relatives. He called her to a private meeting. And at noon on Dec. 21, in a parked car on Queens Boulevard, he named his price — not realizing that she was recording everything on the cellphone in her purse.

“I want sex,” he said on the recording. “One or two times. That’s all.

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As we are struggling to finish processing our H1B cases and get them ready for the March 31 filing date (look I am working on Saturday night!!!), new bills were introduced that may provide relief from the Cap. Here are the bills:
Strengthening United States Technology And Innovation Now Act (H.R.5642) – (March 14, 2008)
– Would Raise H-1B Cap in Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 to 195,000 Annually
Innovation Employment Act (H.R.5630) – (March 13, 2008)
– Would Raise H-1B Cap in Fiscal Year 2008 to 130,000
With Possible Increases Up to 180,000 in Future Years
New American Innovators Act (H.R.5634) – (March 13, 2008)

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