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The Department of State (DOS) released the Visa Bulletin for June 2008.ted retrogression in the F2A category for Mexico. Section E notes that the Employment Third preference category is close to the annual numerical limitThe visa bulletin provides information regarding the availability of immigrant numbers every month. Consular and Citizenship and Immigration Services officers report the number of applicants for permanent residence. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be given a number.

click here to view the visa bulletin for the month June.

Section D notes expected retrogression in the Family 2A category for Mexico and Section E notes that the Employment Third preference (EB3) category is close to the annual numerical limit.

By Angela M. Lopez

Categories: Employment Immigration, Family Immigration |

In March, 2008, the 8th Circuit held that an individual who checked the box on the I-9 Form given to him by a private employer stating that he was U.S. Citizen was found inadmissible.  Despite marrying a U.S. Citizen five years later and claiming that someone instructed him to check the box so that he would be able to work, the petitioner is ineligible for permanent residency.   The court reasoned that in checking that he was a U.S. Citizen on his I-9 form to a private employer, the petitioner was fraudulently seeking a benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

To read the case, Rodriguez v. Mukasey, click here.

 By Michelle Richart

Categories: Employer Compliance, Employment Immigration, Immigration Litigation and Removal, Family Immigration, Medical Professionals, Blogroll |

The USCIS announced that it conducted the two lotteries for the 2009 fiscal year H-1B cap cases on April 14, 2008.  They conducted the lottery for the 20,000 visas for those holding a U.S. master’s degree first.  Those that were not selected for filing through the lottery were placed into the “regular” cap lottery, which was also conducted that day.  The USICS expects to notify all petitioners by June 2, 2008 on the status of cases filed, either through a receipt notice for a filed case, or by returning the petition unfiled.  For those that paid for premium processing, the 15 day period for filed cases begins on April 14, 2008.  To read the USCIS press release,  click here.

 By:  Martha James

Categories: Employment Immigration, Employer Compliance, General |

The visa bulletin provides information regarding the availability of immigrant numbers every month. Consular and Citizenship and Immigration Services officers report the number of applicants for permanent residence. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be given a number.

Click here to view the visa bulletin for the month May

By Angela M. Lopez

Categories: Employment Immigration, Family Immigration |

On April 14, 2008, USCIS published an updated fact sheet explaining the naturalization requirements for members of the United States Armed Forces.  In addition they published a military help line:  1-877-CIS-4MIL (1-877-247-4645).  There are special accomodations made for members of the military when they apply to naturalize including a waiver of fees.  Any member of the military who has served in wartime since September 11, 2001, and who otherwise qualifies, is eligible for naturalization immediately.

Click here to read the text of the publication.

By Michelle Richart

Categories: Family Immigration, General |

On April 4, 2008, the CIS announced that optional practical training (OPT) may be extended in two situations.  First, if an F-1 student has a pending H-1B petition and is working pursuant to post-completion OPT, the student’s status is automatically extended until the October 1 start date indicated on the approved H-1B petition.  The extension terminates when the CIS rejects, denies or revokes the H-1B petition.  A person here in F-1 status may remain in the United States during this period and if the student is working pursuant to OPT, that student may continue working until the October 1 start date.

Second, a student may be eligible to extend post-completion OPT by an additional 17 months.  To be eligible for this extension, the student must have at least a bachelor’s degree in certain designated fields (STEM degree), the student must be in an approved post-completion OPT period based on that STEM degree, the student’s employer must be enrolled in E-Verify, and the student must apply for the OPT extension before the current post-completion OPT expires.  Note that this is not an automatic extension, but one that must be applied for timely.

The STEM designated degrees include the following courses of study:

*  Computer Science Applications                    *  Biological and Biomedical Sciences
*  Actuarial Science                                          *  Mathematics and Statistics
*  Engineering                                                  *  Military Technologies
*  Engineering Technologies                            *  Physical Sciences

For more information on these extensions,  click here

 By:  Martha James

Categories: Employment Immigration, Employer Compliance, Immigration Litigation and Removal, General |

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a preliminary number of nearly 163,000 H-1B petitions received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. More than 31,200 of those petitions were for the advanced degree category. USCIS expects next week it will conduct the computer-generated random selection process, beginning with the selection of the 20,000 petitions under the advanced degree exemption. Those petitions not selected under the advanced degree category will join the random selection process for the cap-subject 65,000 limit. USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unless found to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register. USCIS will provide regular updates as the processing of FY 2009 H-1B cap cases continues.

Categories: Employment Immigration, Employer Compliance, General |

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2009. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the “advanced degree” exemption. Before running the random selection process, USCIS will complete initial data entry for all filings received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the precise day on which it will conduct the random selection process.

USCIS will carry out the computer-generated random selection process for all cap-subject petitions received. USCIS will select the number of petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 under the “advanced degree” exemption limit. USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unless found to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register.

The agency will conduct the selection process for “advanced degree” exemption petitions first. All “advanced degree” petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

By:  Martha James

Categories: Employment Immigration, Employer Compliance, General |

USCIS announced on April 2, 2008, that they have set milestones for the namecheck backlog and by next summer hope to have all cleared and completed with a policy that the vast majority of all namechecks be completed within a 30 day period. Below is the text of the announcement:

USCIS AND FBI RELEASE JOINT PLAN TO ELIMINATE BACKLOG OF FBI NAME CHECKS

Partnership Establishes Series of Milestones To Complete Checks

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today announced a joint plan to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI.

USCIS and the FBI established a series of milestones prioritizing work based on the age of the pending name check. The FBI has already eliminated all name check cases pending more than four years. “This plan of action is the product of a strong partnership between USCIS and the FBI to eliminate the backlogs and to strengthen national security,” said USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez.

By increasing staff, expanding resources, and applying new business processes, the goal is to complete 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days. USCIS and the FBI intend to resolve the remaining two percent, which represent the most difficult name checks and require additional time to complete, within 90 days or less. The goal is to achieve and sustain these processing times by June 2009.

The joint plan will focus on resolving the oldest pending FBI name checks first. USCIS has also requested that the FBI prioritize resolution of approximately 29,800 pending name checks from naturalization applicants submitted to the FBI before May 2006 where the naturalization applicant was already interviewed.

The target milestones for processing name checks are:

Completion Goal and Category

May 2008-Process all name checks pending more than three years
July 2008-Process all name checks pending more than two years
Nov. 2008-Process all name checks pending more than one year
Feb. 2009-Process all name checks pending more than 180 days
June 2009-Process 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days and process the
remaining two percent within 90 days.

By Michelle Richart

Categories: Employment Immigration, Family Immigration, Blogroll, General |

On March 8, 2008, Stephen L. Klineberg, Professor of Sociology at Rice University, spoke at the ACLU of Texas 70^th Anniversary Conference where he highlighted his research over two and a half decades and the changing demographics in Texas, most specifically, in the Houston area.  To see information about the Houston Area Survey that Professor Klineberg has been conducted since 1982, click here. 

Professor Klineberg suggests that Texas has a burgeoning diversity which is a tremendous asset to the State.  However, unless educational differentials can be reduced between ethnic and immigrant groups and if Texans continue to live and work in segregated enclaves full of mutual misperceptions, Texas will not be able to fully capitalize on this diversity.  Professor Klineberg surmised that in order for Texas to continue to be successful with its multi-ethnic society, the state will need to grow more unified and inclusive with a commitment to civil rights and full participation for all residents. In nearly three decades of researching demographics in the Houston area, which began at approximately the same time as the oil bust in the 1980s, Klineberg believes that the traditional ‘blue collar’ approach to financial security has predominately disappeared.  Almost all good-paying jobs now require higher levels of education and technical skills.  With this in mind, consider the following below history and statistics as presented by Professor Klineberg. 

It was not until the past decade that the United States surpassed the 1900’s high level of immigrants to the United States, which, at the time, was almost exclusively comprised of individuals of European decent.  According to the U.S. Census, immigration levels were at a historical low during the Great Depression and it has taken nearly 70 years to rebound to levels prior to the Great Depression.  It is noteworthy that in the past few years, immigration has once again slowed, mostly due to Congressionally-imposed caps on various types of immigrant categories. 

Additionally, until 1965, it was virtually impossible for any non-Anglo individual to immigrate to the United States.  In fact, it was not until 1965, when President Kennedy announced that the United States was no longer a ‘racist nation,’ were immigrant visas to the United States available to other parts of the world such as Asia and Africa.  As immigration is primarily based and sponsored on the basis of family reunification or employment, and because those from Africa and Asian nations had no family with whom to reunify, beginning in the late 1960s, those individuals primarily immigrated to the United States based on employment and had high levels of education.  They mostly came from predominant and educated families.  In the meantime, individuals from areas such as Europe and Central America often had relatives whom could apply on their behalf. Professor Klineberg uses Houston as a model for the rest of Texas and believes that while Houston is a few years ahead of Texas in general, Texas demographics frequently follow that of Houston within a few years.  In 1960, the U.S. Census showed that Houston was 73.9% Anglo, 19.3% Black, 6% Hispanic, and 0.3% Asian and other groups.  Since that time, however, the demographics have greatly changed both before and after the oil bust in the 1980s.  Unlike other cities such as Detroit, Cincinnati, and others without such an immigrant surge, but who also suffered from an economic depression, such as the oil bust, Houston continues to thrive economically through a greater balance of groups of individuals working together.  In 2006, Houston was estimated to be 36.9% Anglo, 18.4% Black, 38.2% Hispanic, and 6.5% Asian and other groups.  Klineberg also points out that today’s seniors are primarily Anglos, with that number expected to double in the next 30 years.  Therefore, the younger generation, which is predominately non-Anglo and less privileged will replace the baby boom generation.  It is projected that by 2040, 80% of all Texans will be non-Anglos, primarily Blacks and Latinos.   

Because of this shift in demographics, and considering a high school diploma no longer ensures financial security, it is important to look at educational and technical statistics for those populations.  Currently, approximately 44.7% of individuals aged 14-29 in the Houston area are Hispanic.  According to Klineberg’s Houston Area Survey, between 1997 and 2004, of all ethnic groups 36% of Asian Immigrants have a college degree, with another 25% having a post-graduate degree.  This number was higher than all U.S.-born groups including U.S.-born Anglos, U.S.-born Blacks, U.S.-born Latinos and Latino immigrants.  In fact, 50% of first-generation Latino Immigrants have less than a high school diploma and only 7% have a college degree.  However, all groups of U.S.-born populations, whether Anglo, Black, or Latino, have approximately one-third percent of respondents with at least have some college education.  Some attribute this to a process of assimilation for those individuals who were born in the United States, whether or not their previous generations had immigrated.  In any case, within the past decade, the State of Texas rated last among all 50 states for individuals over the age of 25 who have a high school diploma.  During that same time, Texas rated 35^th for those over the age of 25 who had a college degree.  This lack of education could greatly hinder Texas’ increased growth and prosperity in the future. 

Professor Klineberg has also done extensive research on assimilation indicators among different immigrant groups.  It is important to note that according to his research, beginning in 2004 when immigration reform and debates came to the forefront of politics, attitudes toward both diversity and immigration drastically took a downturn with increased negativity. 

To read more about the Houston Area Survey, its findings, and methodology since 1982, click here.  The website also has contact information for Professor Klineberg and information about his many publications and articles.

By Michelle Richart 

Categories: Immigration Litigation and Removal, Family Immigration, Blogroll, General |