Posts Tagged ‘immigration’
Updating of USCIS On-Line Case Status System
In conjunction with the launch of its new website on September 22, 2009, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has revamped its on-line case status system. To date, the on-line case status system has been, in our experience, less than 100% reliable. Despite registering all cases filed in our office for email updates, there are always cases that receive no case updates by email. We certainly hope that the revamped case status update system will be more reliable, but readers are cautioned not to rely on this system exclusively.
Tags: case status, immigration, USCIS, website
Posted in USCIS | Read More »
I Have My Green Card. Now Can I Leave the U.S.?
A green card holder can generally leave the U.S. anytime for temporary and finite absences abroad without jeopardizing their permanent residency status. If a green card holder is out of the U.S. for more than one year, Immigration takes the position that residency has been abandoned. In certain cases, even absences of less than one year can result in abandonment of permanent resident status if a person lives and works abroad, files taxes as a nonresident, or otherwise demonstrates an intention to abandon residency. DHS will look at such factors as family and employment ties in the U.S., income tax returns, memberships in clubs or religious organizations, as well as existence of a mortgage or residential lease to determine whether permanent residency in the U.S. has been abandoned. If you are planning to spend a prolonged period of time outside the U.S. and wish to maintain your green card status, it may be prudent, depending on the circumstances, to obtain a re-entry permit, which will allow you to be absent from the U.S. for as long as two years.
This is the first in a series of FAQ postings. There are many questions that come up frequently in our practice, and I intend to answer them on this blog. Stay tuned for more answers to Immigration FAQ’s.
Tags: abandonment of permanent residency, FAQ, green card, immigration, income taxes, nonresident, re-entry permit
Posted in FAQ H-1B, H-1B | Read More »
Beware: Consulates and Immigration Officers are Reading Your Facebook
We’ve received a number of reports over the last couple of years that some consular officials as well as USCIS officers look for information on Facebook about a person before adjudicating their case. It appears that they are looking for any information that contradicts what’s stated on the application. This should serve as a little reminder to keep your settings on Facebook private, and watch what you tweet.
Tags: consulate, Facebook, immigration, privacy, Twitter, USCIS
Posted in Uncategorized | Read More »
Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, Federal Contractors Required to Use E-Verify
Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, all federal contractors will be required to use E-Verify, the government database used to verify employment eligibility of workers. E-Verify is a database run jointly by the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). It compares work eligibility information collected by the employer against information in the SSA’s database in order to verify employment eligibility.
Contracts awarded after Sept. 8th will contain an E-Verify clause, which will require enrollment in E-Verify within 30 days of entering into the contract. E-verify must be used to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires, whether or not they are working on the contract, and to verify the employment eligibility of existing employees, if they will be working on the contract.
This new requirement will subject more employers to scrutiny by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the interior enforcement arm of DHS. In addition to increasing administrative costs to U.S. businesses during a recession, it will likely result in an increase in ICE audits.
Tags: Dept. of Homeland Security, E-verify, employment eligibility, federal contractors, immigration
Posted in Employment Verification | Read More »
I-9 Audits on The Rise, Fines to Increase
As part of its immigration enforcement strategy, the Obama Administration has announced that it would focus on employers who hire undocumented workers. In July, over 650 employers were told that they were being audited for potential immigration violations, and apparently many more will be audited in the weeks and months to come.
“You are going to see audits regularly and on a larger scale,” said John Morton, the new chief of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to the Wall Street Journal. Apparently, civil fines could exceed $800 per employee. Yet this increased focus on employer compliance does nothing to address the fact that certain industries, namely, agriculture, construction, as well as others, depend heavily on immigrant labor.
In addition, despite the Obama Administration’s stated goal of going after ‘bad actor’ employers, the New York Times reported recently that immigration related prosecutions of undocumented immigrants (rather than the employers who hire them) were up significantly since Obama took office.
What we need in this country is not more enforcement, but sensible reform that addresses our economic need as a nation. We must legalize the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows who have a critical role to play in the U.S.’s economic recovery. President Obama and Janet Napolitano thus far have only paid lip service to the need for reform. What we need from them now is leadership and action.
Tags: audit, I-9, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration enforcement, Obama
Posted in Employment Verification | Read More »
