Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Service Centers were released on November 18, 2010 with processing dates as of September 30, 2010.
If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.
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Question #1 – Employment Based Immigration, Green Card
My case was filed in Oct 2005 and it is current and still waiting. I tried opening Service Request and took InfoPass as well. I got InfoPass appt yesterday in local VA office. They were not able to tell me about my case only that it is still under review at the local Baltimore office where it was transferred to in August 2009. Please let me know what I need to do?
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the 65,000 cap.
As of November 12, 2010, 47,800 H-1B Regular CAP subject non-immigrant visa petitions have been filed with the USCIS towards the 65,000 cap.
As of November 12, 2010, 17,400 H-1B Masters Degree CAP subject non-immigrant visa petitions have been filed with the USCIS towards the 20,000 cap.
After alleged immigration related employment discrimination charges were investigated by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) against Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), a voluntary settlement was reached between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and CHW.
During the investigation , the OSC determined that there was “reasonable cause” to suggest that CHW required immigrant workers to provide additional documentation than required by law while they let U.S. citizens choose which documents they wanted to submit. Some of the agreements made under the settlement included CHW paying OSC $1,000, a civil penalty of $257,000 from CHW to the US Treasury, a required I-9 review of all CHW’s both naturalized and immigrant employees by August 1, CHW establishing review teams, and CHW being required to provide OSC with reports tracking the progress and status of its reviews. In addition to the requirements, CHW created specific timelines and instructions on how to carry out each agreement of the settlement. The settlement also required CHW to treat all of its employees fairly and to use non-discriminating hiring practices. The training practices of CHW were updated and revised under the settlement; the employment eligibility verification process and discrimination were especially emphasized.
An amicus brief was filed by the Legal Action Center of the American Immigration Council (LAC) and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that argued an H-1B employee should not face arrest, deportation, or detention if he/she has a pending extension request. The reasoning behind the brief is that the employers who follow immigration law and proceedings should not have to lose employees because there are delays at the processing centers. LAC and AILA also argue that arresting individuals undermines the purpose of the H-1B program and includes support from three prominent companies who rely on the work of individuals with H-1B visas in the amicus brief.
The LAC sent the brief on behalf of a Lebanese national whose employer requested an H-1B extension a month before the deadline and paid the $1,000 premium processing fee. The decision was suppose to be received within 15 business days but the government neither sent back an approval or denial of the extension. Seven months after the extension had been requested, there had still been no response and the Lebanese national was arrested for overstaying.
H-1B’s are only granted in three year intervals by the government even though an individual can stay on an H-1B visa for up to six years or longer depending upon the circumstances. An individual is also only allowed to work 240 days after his/her visa expires as long as he/she has filed an extension, after that time period they are subject to arrest.
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently affirmed the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification for an alien worker for the position of “Chef.”
The applicants’ Employer Application for Permanent Employment Certification was originally accepted by the CO on December 1, 2006 but the application was then denied on December 14 due to the fact that alien did not meet the minimum education, training and experience requirements. The CO issued an audit notification and request for Notice of Filing (NOF) on January 15, 2009 after the Employer asked for a review of the case. On February 11, 2009 the alien’s employer provided all of the information that was questioned in the initial denial as well as the NOF which stated the position was posted from September 1 to September 13. The CO again denied the application on March 16 citing that neither the Employer’s name nor sufficient contact information was provided in the posting. Even though the Employer asked for reconsideration and provided evidence that the posting was sufficient, the CO stuck by the denial. The CO’s main reason for denial was that even though the NOF contained the name and title of the Employer, the information was only added after the initial posting. In the appellate brief filed, the CO reiterated the fact that the information was added to the document after it had already been posted. The CO also mentioned the ambiguity in regards to how many companies resided at that location.
PERM Regulation 20 C.F.R. § 656.10(d) controls and provides that the Employer give notice of filing of the Employer Application for Permanent Employment Certification and that the posting must contain the required information. It is the employer’s responsibility to submit thorough documentation, interpret requests broadly and to be confident that the documentation submitted will support the application. In this case, the Employer’s application did not contain the business name on the NOF and the NOF did not the fully meet all requirements.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a reminder that its new application and petition fees go into effect November 23, 2010.
The new fees increase application and petition fees by approximately 10 percent but naturalization fees will remain the same.
To review the increased USCIS filing fees, please click here.
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently released version 1.2 of its Enforcement Data Site. Features of the updated site include an interactive map and dashboard, integrated data system with collaboration from other agencies, more advanced search criteria, and datasets being available to the public in a readable format. Users can also stay connected and receive immediate updates through the website with the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.
After pleading guilty to a charge of counterfeiting a passport application, Ramon Francisco of the Dominican Republic who resided in Connecticut was sentenced to 14 months in prison October 28. During the investigation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), it was discovered that Francisco used another individual’s identity to apply for his passport. Francisco has been going through removal procedures carried out by ICE’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) since his arrest in August of 2009.
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.
Click here to view the December 2010 Visa Bulletin.
The December 2010 Visa Bulletin still shows employment based third preference (EB-3) visas as oversubscribed while the employment based second preference (EB-2) is current for all areas of chargeability except for China and India.
H1B Visa Lawyer Blog