Posts Tagged ‘immigration’
Update on Labor Certification: More Scrutiny by DOL?
The Department of Labor has announced in its annual performance report that it will apply stricter scrutiny to all labor certification applications. The electronic PERM application will be revised once it expires in June 2011, and presumably the form will become longer, more exacting and more complicated. Whether or not audits will increase is unclear, but it stands to reason that they may. Perhaps the recent quick PERM adjudications will soon be a thing of the past. As if that isn’t enough bad news for one day, DOL also intends to propose a new PERM filing fee payable by the employer.
Tags: Department of Labor, DOL, ETA 9089, green card, immigration, labor certification, PERM
Posted in FAQ Employment-Based Green Card | Read More »
Guest Post: A K-1 Interview Story from One of Our Clients
Felipe da Silva (not his real name) is a Brazilian client of our firm who recently was approved for a K-1 fiance visa. With Felipe’s consent, we are publishing his email to us describing the interview process. We are very happy for Felipe and his American bride, and wish them all the best!
I left home at 5:30, it was still dark! I got to the US consulate at 6:45 and there were 5 girls waiting in line with their Americans fiancés. At 7:15 other 4 girls got in line and I felt awkward… 9 girls that apparently knew each other from a website, talking, and talking, and talking… I was the only guy.
We went to the second floor and a woman made the first check on my documents… Everything was nice and easy, because my lawyer ROCKS!!! She gave me a password, and I got to be the second one, thanks for our organization. They made me wait at a room with the others, and I started to imagine if they keep an eye on that room… I tried to make a conversation with some them, but it was too early, and it is impossible for a man to follow the conversation of 6 or 7 worried girls at that time of the day.
Almost an hour later, they call me in a private room, and I gave him all my documents. He asked me if it was me who fill in all the forms… I said no, “it was my lawyer!”… “Have you double checked all the information?”… Yes sir, 5 times only in the last hour!”… He laughed, gave me a few documents back, that he said was unnecessary and I was dismissed…
Back to the waiting room… I had to wait for all the girls to do the same thing… Another hour has passed when the first password was called to the Consul’s room. The funny part is that Americans are not allowed in that room, only the Brazilians. I got called to the Consul’s office, and he nicely asked me to sit down. He was about 32 years old. An older skinny woman was sitting behind, but she never looked at me, and stayed the whole time taking notes… He spoke something to her, but the microphone was turned off… Finally he said good morning and made me swear that I would only speak the truth.
The whole interview was in Portuguese and felt like he was trying to see if I was really me… Almost all the questions were about me. Where I studied, where I lived, where I worked… questions about my family and older visas. He knew that my father used to be a lieutenant, and asked me if I had any army training. He knew that my brother went to U.S. before me, and asked me if he was still living there. I tried to answer everything objectively and with conviction. The only question that he asked was “how you met you fiancé”. I told him the story… he laughed and said “Jack in the Box??? Your kids will love fast food”… “Ok, your visa is approved”… The whole thing took less than 10 minutes.
THANK YOU ALL for you hard work… I am really happy! And I’ll personally Brazilian handshake you when I move to SF…
Tags: Brazil, fiance, immigration, K-1 interview, K-1 visa, U.S. consulate, visa interview
Posted in Guest Posts | Read More »
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
Posted in Uncategorized | Read More »
USCIS Proposes Fee Increases
USCIS announced a proposed fee increase today, designed to address a $200 million budget shortfall for the agency in the coming fiscal year. The proposed increase of approximately 10 percent would affect most petitions, and would leave applications for naturalization unaffected. A 45-day public comment period will follow.
As an attorney in the trenches, I regularly see the incredibly poor level of service that USCIS delivers to its “customers”. For instance, a company petitioning for an H-1B employee must already pay anywhere from $1570 to $2320 in filing fees, and it receives very little value for it.
Increasingly, what we see in the adjudication are burdensome and unnecessary requests for evidence; evidence that is irrelevant and/or already provided in the initial petition. For instance, recently, I received a request asking that I “prove” why a position for a staff scientist at a DNA sequencing start-up company qualifies as a professional occupation worthy of an H-1B. In that case, the scientist in question has a degree in molecular cell biology from a U.S. university and is spending 100% of their time on scientific research.
It’s bad enough that in this era of declining applications, USCIS feels that it must make busy work for its under-employed contractors by encouraging those contractors to waste the petitioners’ time and money with unnecessary requests for more evidence. Now they expect petitioners to have to pay ten percent more for this “service”? Where I come from, they call that serious chutzpah.
Tags: fee increase, filing fee, H-1B, immigration, USCIS
Posted in Alerts | Read More »
Have You Been Convicted of a Crime? Speak with an Immigration Attorney Before You Travel!
If you are a lawful permanent resident or a lawful nonimmigrant residing in the U.S. with a criminal conviction in your past, and you plan to travel outside the U.S. and re-enter, it is critical that you consult with an attorney prior to departing the US.
Certain crimes are considered Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMT) under our immigration laws. These crimes can make you inadmissible to the U.S.
Even if you are a long-term resident of the U.S. with one prior conviction, you could have trouble re-entering the U.S if the crime you were convicted of is considered a CIMT. This may be true even if you served a jail sentence, satisfied your probation requirements, and are otherwise now a model citizen. It is essential to analyze the conviction or convictions in your case to determine whether or not you are inadmissible to the U.S.
Do not find out the hard way that you have a problem. Please consult with an immigration attorney prior to travel.
Tags: CIMT, crime moral turpitude, immigration, inadmissibility, nonimmigrant, re-entry, resident, travel
Posted in Crimes and Immigration | Read More »
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
Posted in Uncategorized | Read More »
Immigration Reform: Follow the Money
The Associated Press reported last week that pro-immigration political action committees have, for the first time in recent memory, raised more money in this election cycle than their anti-immigration counterparts. Specifically, Immigrants’ List, founded by immigration attorneys and ImmigrationPAC, founded by immigrant advocates, have together raised nearly $100,000. In contrast, groups hostile to the cause of immigration reform have raised only $71,000. Hopefully, this is the sign of a turning tide that will be reflected in the national debate, which, during the Bush era, seemed to be hijacked by right-wing extremists. With a Democratic administration and Democratic Congress, this is the perfect time to begin the process of reforming our immigration system. Hopefully the opportunity will not be squandered.
Tags: immigrants' list, immigration, immigration reform, pro-immigration political action committees
Posted in Politics/Current Events | Read More »
Number of International Students in the U.S. Rising
The number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by an average of 8% for a total 671,616 students, for this academic year, according to the Open Doors report, which is published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE). This is the largest percentage increase in international student enrollment since 1981, and marks the third consecutive year of growth.
Here’s how it breaks down, according to the Open Doors report, in terms of the top 15 sending countries:
| India | Increased by 9% | 103,260 students |
| China | Increased by 21% | 98,510 students |
| South Korea | Increased by 9% | 75,065 students |
| Canada | Increased by 2% | 29, 697 students |
| Japan | Decreased by 14% | 29, 264 students |
| Taiwan | Decreased by 3% | 28, 065 students |
| Mexico | No increase | 14, 850 students |
| Turkey | Increased by 10% | 13, 263 students |
| Vietnam | Increased by 46% | 12, 823 students |
| Saudi Arabia | Increased by 28% | 12, 661 students |
| Nepal | Increased by 30% | 11, 581 students |
| Germany | Increased by 9% | 9679 students |
| Brazil | Increased by 16% | 8767 students |
| Thailand | Decreased by 3% | 8736 students |
| United Kingdom | Increased by 4% | 8701 students |
While on many levels this is great news, it highlights the inadequacy of our current immigration system, which is based on an antiquated visa quota system that has no relationship to the globalized world in which we live. These international students, who disproportionately obtain degrees in the sciences, are in a position to make enormous contributions to our society. For instance, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that between 1990 and 2007, 25% of all publicly traded companies in the U.S. that were started with venture capital financing had an immigrant founder (“The Other Immigrants”, WSJ, Nov. 18, 2009). Basically, it’s in our interest to keep the best and the brightest of these students here in the U.S. But as the system currently stands, an Indian national graduating with a U.S. degree would need to wait many years (upwards of 10 in some cases) to be eligible for an immigrant visa. Why would this person choose to immigrate to the U.S. , if Canada, Germany, and a whole host of other countries offer a more streamlined and user-friendly system? In short, does it make sense for us to offer the best universities in the world (ours) to the world’s best and brightest, only to watch them take their skills and talents elsewhere?
Tags: colleges, immigrant visa, immigration, international student, quota, universities, visa
Posted in Politics/Current Events, Uncategorized | Read More »
ICE Issues Notice of Audit to 1000 Businesses
In a reflection of the Obama Administration’s continued emphasis on employer compliance with immigration laws, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today issued audit notices to 1000 companies. According to ICE’s announcement, these employers were selected due to “investigative leads and intelligence and because of the business’ connection to public safety and national security.” Names of these employers were not released due to “ongoing, law enforcement” concerns, according to ICE’s statement. ICE audits involve the thorough review of an employer’s I-9 forms for their workforce, and traditionally has often resulted in employer sanctions for both routine and more egregious I-9 violations. Sanctions typically range from $375 to $16,000 per violation, with repeat offenders receiving stiffer penalties.
We believe that now would be a good time for all employers to conduct an internal self-audit of all I-9’s, to make sure that the employer is fully in compliance with all rules and regulations. With increased ICE audits, Dept. of Labor audits, and random site visits by USCIS, it is critical that employers pro-actively address any issues with their workforce.
Tags: audit, audit notice, compliance, employer, I-9, immigration, USCIS random site visit
Posted in Employment Verification, Uncategorized | Read More »
USCIS Fee Hike?
The Associated Press just reported today that USCIS is considering raising its fees for immigration-related benefits due to a shortfall in revenue. Head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Alejandro Mayorkas was quoted in Los Angeles today saying that a fee hike could happen in the next two years. Is Mr. Mayorkas kidding? Instituting another fee hike would be incredible chutzpah on the agency’s part. It was only in 2007 when the last fee hike went into effect, raising the filing fees on some petitions nearly three-fold. We were told then that the increased revenue would improve “customer service” and speed up processing times. Not only did USCIS not deliver on those promises, but in the last two years, service has become even more abysmal, and the adjudicators appear to be as poorly trained as ever. I have an idea for Mr. Mayorkas: if you’re looking to cut operating costs, consider banning your adjudicators from issuing burdensome and nonsensical Requests for Evidence (RFE’s). More often than not, these RFE’s ask for evidence already submitted in the initial petition; or worse, they invent criteria for adjudication that have absolutely nothing to do with the regulations. These RFE’s are issued with alarming regularity. I’m willing to bet that putting an end to this practice would save the agency millions of dollars.
Tags: Alejandro Mayorkas, fee hike, immigration, request for evidence, RFE, USCIS
Posted in USCIS | Read More »
