USCIS has announced that, effective April 2, 2007, all Forms I-129 and I-539 are to be filed directly with either the Vermont Service Center or the California Service Center, depending on where the employment will take place. This is a change from the past practice of filing all I-129 applications with Vermont.
In light of the fast-approaching H-1B season, and the possibility that the H-1B quota will be quicklly exhausted, applications must be filed in the correct location.
The DREAM Act of 2007, which would provide a path to legal status for undocumented students, has been introduced into both houses of Congress. There is optimism building that it has a good chance of passing and being signed by the President.
USCIS has announced that effective March 30,2007, they will create a third track for processing FOIA applications for individuals who are in proceedings before an immigration judge. This will allow respondents to conduct better “discovery” prior to their removal hearing. This is an important due process breakthrough for individuals in removal/deportation proceedings.
Tamara Jocoby, a member of the Pro-Business Manhattan Institute Think Tank, has advocated publicly that Congress must move forward on immigration reform in the near future. If Congress waits until the fall, immigration reform will become enmeshed in the 2008 Presidential campaign with the likelihood of passage decreasing substantially. If Congress cannot pass comprehensive immigration reform, it should address some of the component programs such as the Agjobs Bill or the Dream Act.
There have been many reports of behind-the-scenes meetings between key players in the immigration debate who are trying to obtain a broader consensus on a comprehensive immigration bill. Hearings are now taking place in Congress. Hopefully, there will be some movement in the near future.
USCIS has recently indicated that it will no longer routinely expedite an FBI name check in response to a petition filed in federal court. In the past, USCIS would routinely expedite an FBI name check in response to a federal law suit. It is too early to tell what impact this new rule will have on the handling of federal law suits in the District of Colorado.
On April 1, 2007, USCIS will start accepting H-1B visa applications for fiscal year 2008. By regulation, USCIS can start accepting H-1B applications against the 2008 H-1B cap six months in advance which translates to Monday, April 2, 2007. People have been speculating as to when the cap will be exhausted. Estimates range from April 16 to the end of May.
H-1B applications approved under the 2008 cap will become effective on the first day of the next fiscal year which is October 1, 2007. Any company interested in pursuing a new H-1B visa on behalf of a current or potential employee should act immediately.
In addition, USCIS has indicated that it intends to increase the filing fee for H-1B visas to $320. This does not include the fraud fee or training fee.
Finally, H-1B transfers and H-1B applications filed by exempt employers are not subject to the H-1B cap.
On January 31, 2007, USCIS released a press release, two fact sheets, and a proposed fee schedule to dramatically increase the filing fees it charges for a wide variety of applications. USCIS has stated in a press release that the new fees will allow the agency to cut down the average application processing time by 20% by the end of fiscal year 2009. Under the plan, the fee for an H-1B visa will rise from $190 to $320. The fee for an I-140 will rise from $195 to $475, and the I-485 fee will rise from $325 to $905. The fee to apply for citizenship will rise to $595.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association and other groups are protesting these fee hikes as being excessive. The rule has not yet been finalized.
In the case of Avila-Perez, the BIA has held that an individual who filed a visa petition which was approved before the August 6, 2002 effective date of CSPA can still be eligible for CSPA protection if the I-485 application for adjustment of status was filed after this date. This opens the protection of CSPA to a larger group of applicants which is a very positive development.
A rumor has been traveling around immigration circles that the Department of Labor will soon publish its final rule on substituting beneficiaries in labor certification applications. The proposed rule was promulgated on February 13, 2006 and, apparently, on January 26, 2007, DOL submitted the final version of the rule to the Office of Management and Budget. It is anticipated that it will take at least 90 days for OMB to take action on this rule, and it could require further steps before the rule is approved. No one is certain about the contents of the rule but it is widely believed that the rule will eliminate labor certification substitutions. Therefore, any company considering such a substitution should do so in the near future.
On a related note, the Department of Labor has proposed, for the first time, charging a fee for filing a labor certification application.
In 2006, Stern Elkind & Curray’s annual auction for charity reached across the world to help children at the Sisters of Charity orphanage in Malawi, Africa.
The firm raised more than $3,000 to purchase formula, medicine, clothing, shoes and school supplies for the orphanage, discovered by paralegal, Mary Connin while on sabbatical. Read more about Mary’s adventure in the African countryside below.
My two month sabbatical was fast approaching and I wanted to make such a generous gift of time memorable. I decided to go visit my girlfriend and her family in Lilongwe, Malawi, Africa. My friend’s husband had been appointed U.S. Ambassador to Malawi, so even though it was a trip to Africa, I knew I would be traveling in style.
My friend and I went on safari, stayed in beautiful safari lodges, witnessed the spectacle of herds of hundreds of elephants in their natural habitat, visited the indescribable Victoria Falls in Zambia, actually contemplated bungee jumping off the bridge over the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe (maturity prevailed), and maneuvered through the rather hands-on immigration processes of Malawi, Zambia, and Botswana.
The most interesting part of my trip, though, was to observe day-to-day life in Lilongwe. As part of her duties as the ambassador’s wife, my friend is on a committee that donates food, money and supplies to an orphanage in Lilongwe ran by the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Theresa’s Order. What a treat it was to visit the orphanage! I must say I was nervous, not knowing what to expect. But the children were delightful! Well behaved, sweet, playful, curious, and enthralled by the simplest things. The ice in our cooler was a huge, huge hit.
On the day we visited, the orphanage had about 35 children living there. My friend tells me the orphan population can be as high as 50 or 60 children, ranging in age from newborn to about 12. When I was there, there were cribs with 7 babies under the age of 6 months in a small room set aside for a nursery. The nuns are totally dependent on donations for everything, and my friend has at times received phone calls from the nuns simply desperate for supplies.
Since my sabbatical was indeed so memorable, shortly after my return to work I got to be the entertainment at one of our staff meetings. I showed my pictures and told my stories. The pictures of the children in the orphanage are compelling, that the staff voted to name the orphanage to be our 2006 charity. We have raised more than $3,000 to buy a lot of necessities. We have already sent two boxes of clothes to my friend, who will deliver them to the orphanage, and we are in the process of purchasing diapers (cloth diapers only in Africa!), rubber pants, diaper pins, formula, schools supplies, ointments and lotions, and toys.
These children live in extreme poverty, and I am extremely proud that the items we will send will have a direct and immediate impact on their day-to-day lives.
– Mary Connin