H-1B Visas Still Available

As of Friday, April 9, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continues to
accept H-1B nonimmigrant petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) cap. USCIS will
monitor the number of petitions received for both the 65,000 general cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption.

USCIS has received approximately 13,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap. The agency has received approximately 5,600 petitions for individuals with advanced degrees.

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Immigration Reform

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) recently presented their blueprint for immigration reform legislation. The outline of their proposal rests on four pillars: ending illegal employment through biometric Social Security cards, enhancing border and interior enforcement, managing the flow of future immigration to correspond to economic realities, and creating a tough but fair path toward legalization for the 11 million people currently in the U.S. without authorization.

See the article in the Washington Post at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031703115.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

For more information on immigration law, deportation, green cards, K-1 fiance visas, and work visas, visit us at www.CundyAndMartin.com or www.ImmigrationLawyerMN.com .

K-2 Age Out Update

A federal court has ruled that K-2 visa holder who timely applies for adjustment of status under INA § 245(d) must be under 21 when he or she seeks to enter the U.S., but not when the adjustment application is finally adjudicated. (Carpio v. Holder, 1/12/10).

A K-2 visa holder is the derivative beneficiary child of a principal K-1 fiance visa holder.

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HIV Immigration News

As of January 4, 2010, infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is no longer a ground of inadmissibility. If you have the HIV infection, you are no longer inadmissible to the United States, and are no longer required to file Form I-601 because of your HIV infection. As part of the revisions to Form I-601, any reference to HIV infection in the form and the instructions were removed.

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Obama Immigration Law Reform Unlikely

The New York Times is reporting that immigration reform in 2010 under president Obama is unlikely. "Mexico's ambassador to the United States said Friday he expects immigration reform is unlikely to pass in that country in 2010 because of unemployment and midterm elections. In an unusually frank assessment, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan said Mexico will continue its quiet, ''under the radar'' lobbying for a reform that would benefit the estimated 11.8 million Mexicans living in the United States. A large percentage are undocumented."

For the rest of the story, see:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/08/world/AP-LT-Mexico-US-Migration.html?_r=1

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H-1B Visa Cap Reached

Fiscal Year 2010 H-1B Cap Count

As of December 21, 2009, USCIS has received sufficient petitions to reach the statutory cap for FY2010. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers seeking an employment start date in FY2010 that are received after December 21, 2009 USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions that are subject to the cap and were received on December 21, 2009.

H-1B Lawyers of Minnesota

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Immigration News on Worksite Enforcement, Raids, DHS Visits, and Illegal Immigration. USCIS and ICE Focus on Work Visas.

The Department of Homeland Security, through an announcement entitled "2009 Government and Employers: Working Together to Ensure a Legal Workforce," explained the three types of site visits that are currently being conducted:

1. Risk Assessment Program fraud study. Applicable to any type of benefit program, including family and employment-based, this study is part of a joint program between USCIS and ICE. Applications and petitions are chosen at random, usually on a post-approval basis, for visits to help in designing profiles of potential fraud.

2. Targeted site visits. These visits take place where fraud is suspected, and consist of a visit to ask questions. Advance notice, including notice to counsel, is supposed to be provided.

3. Administrative site visits. These relate to religious worker and H-1B petitions. They generally are conducted by contractors who know nothing of immigration law. Religious worker visits are performed under the regulations for that category. For H-1B site visits, the contractors have been equipped with a set of specific questions, and all employers/beneficiaries should be asked pretty much the same questions, primarily reaching the issues of whether there's really an employer there, whether the employer knows it filed the petition, and whether the beneficiary is doing the work and receiving the wage indicated on the petition. H-1B visits are done on a post-adjudication basis, and are randomly selected. Each employer should receive only one such visit, but may receive different visits for different sites.

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(952) 746-4111

Immigration Lawyers of Minnesota