Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Japanese Nationals In The U.S. Permitted To Stay 30 Extra Days
Due to the earthquake and tsunami devastation in Japan, the USCIS has issued an advisory stating that Japanese nationals who have exceeded or are about to exceed their authorized stay in the U.S. are permitted to remain in the U.S. an additional 30 days.
Japanese nationals with nonimmigrant visas must visit a USCIS local office nearest their location to obtain this extension. Visa Waiver Program participants must visit Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at an airport or a USCIS local office.
Tags: earthquake, extension, Japan, tsunami, visa, Visa Waiver Program
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FY2010 Statistics for Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has published its FY2010 statistical report regarding individuals appearing in immigration court or before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Some of the highlights are as follows:
• 67% of completed cases in immigration courts involved individuals from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and China
• 43% of completed cases had attorney representation
• 44% of complete cases involved detained foreign nationals
• 62% of the total asylum applications filed with the courts were submitted in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Orlando
• Since 2006, the countries with the most granted asylum applications include China, Colombia, India and Ethiopia
• 56% of BIA completed appeals involved individuals from Mexico, China, El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti
• 79% of BIA completed appeals had attorney representation
For the full report, please see http://www.justice.gov/eoir/statspub/fy10syb.pdf.
Tags: BIA, Board of Immigration Appeals, EOIR, FY2010 statistics, immigration court
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Abercrombie & Fitch Required to Pay Over $1MM After I-9 Audit
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced September 29, 2010 that Abercrombie & Fitch is required to pay $1,047,110 for Form I-9 violations found in November 2008.
ICE conducted I-9 inspections of several Abercrombie & Fitch retail stores in Michigan in November 2008, uncovering several technology-related deficiencies in the company’s electronic I-9 verification system. ICE found no instances where Abercrombie & Fitch knowingly hired unauthorized workers.
Each U.S. employer has an obligation to verify the employment eligibility of each of its workers and document it on Form I-9. Please contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if your company needs guidance in the area of I-9 compliance.
Tags: Abercrombie & Fitch, Form I-9, ICE, INA
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H-1B’s Still in a Slow Crawl
On July 20, 2010, the USCIS updated the H-1B cap count for fiscal year 2011. To date, the USCIS has received 25,300 regular petitions and 11,000 U.S. Master’s cap petitions. The regular cap is available to those with a Bachelor’s degree (U.S. or foreign) or equivalent experience or foreign Master’s or higher degree. The U.S. Master’s cap is available to individuals with a Master’s or higher degree from a U.S. academic institution. Please note that all H-1B positions must have job duties so complex that they cannot be performed without a Bachelor’s or higher degree.
The regular cap has 65,000 slots available and the U.S. Master’s cap has 20,000. As you can see, there are still many slots left for this fiscal year. Please contact our San Francisco immigration law office if you’d like to pursue H-1B status.
Tags: FY2011, H-1B, Master's cap, quota, regular cap
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How do I set up an EB-5 Regional Center?
EB-5 regional centers are designated by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). A regional center is defined as an economic unit, public or private, involved in the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment. The number of EB-5 regional centers has more than doubled in the last two years, likely due to the struggling U.S. economy and the resulting investment opportunities for foreign nationals.
Each enterprise wishing to receive regional center designation must submit a proposal to the USCIS which:
1. Clearly describes how the regional center focuses on a specific geographic region of the U.S., and how it will promote economic growth through increased export sales, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment;
2. Provides in verifiable detail how ten jobs per investor will be created directly or indirectly;
3. Provides a detailed statement regarding the amount and source of capital which has been committed to the regional center, as well as a description of the promotional efforts taken and planned by the sponsors of the regional center;
4. Contains a detailed prediction regarding the manner in which the regional center will have a positive impact on the regional or national economy in general; and
5. Is supported by economically or statistically valid forecasting tools, including, but not limited to, feasibility studies, analyses of foreign and domestic markets for the goods or services to be exported, and/or multiplier tables.
A regional center proposal will typically include copies of the enterprise’s organizational documents, capital investment offering memoranda, and transfer of capital mechanisms for the transfer of the foreign national investor’s capital into the job creating enterprise.
There is currently no form or filing fee for submitting a regional center proposal, although a filing fee and specific form has recently been proposed. The USCIS shall notify the regional center of its decision typically within six months. Once approved, the regional center must continue to promote economic growth as described in #1 above or it will receive from USCIS a notice of intent to terminate the regional center designation.
Please contact our immigration law firm if you are interested in establishing an EB-5 Regional Center.
Tags: EB-5 regional center, investor green card, investor visa, Targeted Employment Area, TEA
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Living a Borrowed Life
A guest post by Vannie Nguyen, law student and Vietnamese immigrant.
While most immigrants come to the United States voluntarily, there are those who come involuntarily as children and infants, cradled by their hopeful parents. These children cross the border without any awareness that they’re breaking the law and trekking onto unwelcome territory. As they grow older and assimilate to the new way of life, they become “real” Americans. They attend American schools, listen to American music and be-friend American children. America is the only home they know.
Unfortunately, immigration law doesn’t see them as Americans. The law treats them as if they were adults who had willfully crossed the border.
Once caught, what are their options? Undocumented immigrants face a lengthy removal proceedings that requires frequent court appearances. They fight to delay the removal process and hope that immigration reforms, such as the DREAM Act, will be realized soon.
The other option is to return to their distant land of birth. Asking immigrants who came to the United States at a young age to return to their country of birth, a place they barely know, is crazy. They are often strangers to the people, culture, language and way of life of their country of origin. The process may be called “deportation” but, in reality, it’s an expatriation, a journey in which they are relinquishing the only life they’ve ever known.
While America stands for hope and freedom, it’s creating uncertainty for this group of immigrants who are as American as any naturalized or natural born citizens. With immense hope, we look forward to the day when the Obama Administration will create reforms that will bring justice and fairness, principles that laid the foundation of this country, to all people rightfully living within our borders.
Tags: deportation, DREAM Act, immigration, removal, undocumented immigrants
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Many H-1B Visas Still Available
As of June 11, 2010, the USCIS has received 22,200 regular-cap H-1B petitions for 65,000 slots. For the U.S. Master’s cap, they have received 9,400 for 20,000 slots.
The H-1B temporary worker category is used by employers seeking to employ foreign nationals in positions that require a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent experience (e.g. computer programmers, scientists, etc.). The foreign national must possess the requisite degree or equivalent experience to qualify for the H-1B category.
Each USCIS fiscal year, there is a limited number of H-1B slots available (i.e. 65,000 for Bachelor’s degree or foreign Master’s or higher degree holders and 20,000 for U.S. Master’s or higher degree holders). In prior years, over 100,000 applicants would apply on the first day of the filing period (April 1) and the slots were used very quickly. In recent years, due to the poor U.S. economy, far fewer companies are sponsoring H-1B employees and the quota remains open for many months (e.g. last year, the quota was open from April 1, 2009 – December 21, 2009) . So far, this year is no different. There are many H-1B slots still available.
Please contact our immigration law office if you need assistance for one or more H-1B petitions or have questions about the above.
Tags: fiscal year 2011, H-1B cap; H-1B quota, Master's cap
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Attention Foreign National Entrepreneurs: Small Tech Companies Needed in the U.S.
Attention Foreign National Entrepreneurs: Small Tech Companies Needed in the U.S.
There are a number of potential opportunities in the U.S. for small technology companies, including start-ups established by foreign nationals. Reported on http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100416_1532.php, and confirmed in that article by Alan Swendiman, former general counsel of the General Services Administration, small businesses (even those established by foreign nationals) in the U.S., are able to go after “set asides” (Federal contracts) reserved for small firms. Foreign companies and foreign national entrepreneurs should find this encouraging and should be incentivized to establish U.S. start-ups, subsidiaries or branch offices.
Currently, large companies submitting proposals for Federal projects must include a subcontracting plan using smaller subcontractors. These plans must account for 40% of the total offer. This is great news for small U.S. companies since large companies are constantly seeking the work of smaller subcontractors to meet this requirement. This also allows small companies to take advantage of the Federal Recovery Act stimulus money available to Federal subcontractors. Please note that in order to qualify for these subcontracts, the U.S. company must have been in business for at least two (2) years.
We encourage you to take advantage of these unique subcontracting opportunities by establishing a company in the U.S.. If you have any immigration questions regarding the establishment of your business within the U.S., please don’t hesitate to contact our immigration law firm.
Tags: entrepreneur, foreign national, immigration, start-up, technology, visa
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Report Shows 88,000 U.S. Children Lost Immigrant Parent to Deportation
A report based on analysis of data provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was recently released showing that between 1997 and 2007, 88,000 children in the U.S. lost a legal permanent resident parent to deportation. In most of these incidents, the green-card holding parent was deported because they committed a crime deemed by the Department of Homeland Security to be an “aggravated felony”, and therefore a deportable offense.
In 1997, the definition of what constitutes an aggravated felony was significantly expanded to include even relatively minor crimes, such as non-violent theft and drug offenses, as well as other offenses which are not felonies under state law. The study found that in 68% of cases, the crime in question did not involve violence.
Not surprisingly, subsequent to their parents’ deportation, many of these children simply tanked. High rates of depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, as well as plummeting grades were documented.
The results of this study should come as a surprise to no one. It’s obvious that when a child loses a parent, he or she loses a main source of stability and support. What astounds me is that our government, in the name of enforcing our nation’s immigration laws, would inflict this harm on its own citizen children. How absurd from a policy standpoint, considering the broader cost to our society.
As this study recommends, immigration judges should have the discretion to grant individuals a waiver from deportation when minor children are involved.
The study was a joint project of the Immigration Law Clinic at the UC Davis School of Law, and the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at the UC Berkeley School of Law. It is available at: http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/news/images/childsbestinterest.pdf.
Tags: immigrant; immigration; green card; lawful permanent resident; children; crime; deportation; removal
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Alert: H-1B Filing Season is Around The Corner
The H-1B filing period for fiscal year 2011 (for a start date of October 1, 2010) will open on April 1, 2010. The H-1B category is used by an employer to sponsor a foreign national to work in a specialty occupation, which is a position requiring, at a minimum, a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
As you may already be aware, there are a limited number of H-1B visas each fiscal year: 65,000 slots for holders of Bachelor’s degrees and 20,000 additional slots for holders of Master’s degrees or higher level degrees from U.S. universities. In 2007 and 2008, the numerical limit was reached in the first few days of April . In 2009, due to the struggling economy, the quota was not met until December 21, 2009.
While there is no way to predict how quickly the visas will be used this year, we do anticipate that demand will increase from last year, and therefore we recommend that all employers planning to file H-1B petitions file them on April 1, 2010 so as to ensure the greatest chances of success.
Filing an H-1B this year requires more lead time for preparation than in prior years. This is because in 2009, the Department of Labor (DOL) rolled out a new system for certifying the Labor Condition Application (LCA), a form required in the filing. This new system, involving manual review of all LCA’s, has created unforeseen delays and unpredictability of timing in the H-1B process. Under the old system, the LCA could be certified automatically upon an attorney submitting it online. Certification is now projected to take 7 days. However, in many instances, the LCA is denied erroneously because of DOL computer error, and must be re-filed, making the exact length of the LCA process unpredictable.
Please contact our office if you’d like to file an H-1B petition for fiscal year 2011. Given the changes discussed here, it would be prudent to begin the process as soon as possible. We look forward to assisting you.
Tags: cap, DOL, FEIN, H-1B, iCert, LCA, quota, tax identification number
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