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USCIS has posted a Q&A on its website covering several immigration scenarios that Japanese nationals in the U.S. and abroad may be facing as a result of the earthquake and tsunami devastation and nuclear radiation evacuations. There are materials on their website in both English and Japanese. Tourists in the U.S. There are two kinds of tourists in the U.S. The first group involves those who entered without a visa through the visa waiver program. By using this program, tourists typically … [Read more...]
March 20, 2011 by ·
March 3, 2011 by ·
The Seattle Times reports today that the U.S. Passport Office in downtown Seattle will open its doors to the public on Saturday, March 12 from 9am to 3pm to encourage more people to apply for passports. Normally open by appointment only for expedited service or complex cases, the Seattle Passport Office is located at the Jackson Federal Building, 915 Second Ave., Suite 992. Usually, applicants can apply by mail or in person at post offices, city and county offices, or at Neighborhood Service … [Read more...]
February 20, 2011 by ·
The export control questions on the new I-129 form for H-1B, H-1B1, L-1 and O-1 petitions go into effect this week on February 20. Having to answer the new questions was delayed so that employers could become familiar with the export control regulations. Immigration lawyers are not typically trained in the details of export controls, though we are familiar with the issue in connection with certain types of security clearances for our clients when they are abroad seeking visas. Sometimes … [Read more...]
February 19, 2011 by ·
An article in the Wall Street Journal and another in Packer News report that "in an email" to an unknown source, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) said it will issue I-9 audit notices to over a 1000 employers as part of its national strategy to get more employers to stop hiring workers without legal employment status. Notices to Inspect will be issued across industries. This should come as no surprise to employers. In my post last month, ICE to Establish I-9 Center and Increase Audits, I … [Read more...]
February 12, 2011 by ·
USCIS announced on February 11, 2011 that it will begin issuing dual purpose work-travel cards to applicants for adjustment of status (AOS). Currently, applicants for AOS pay one filing fee for adjustment to permanent residence status (green card), a separate work permit and a separate advance parole travel document while the AOS application (Form I485) is pending. A regulation states that anyone seeking to travel while AOS is pending will abandon that application if advance parole is not … [Read more...]
February 7, 2011 by ·
The Seattle Times reports today in "Bill Tightens Legal Services for Immigrants", that the Washington legislature is considering elimination of the "Immigration Assistant" designation for nonlawyers who provide immigration services. The bill would increase the penalties against those who wrongfully provide legal advice to immigrants and would make state law consistent with federal law on the subject. As Chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Washington Chapter (AILA), I … [Read more...]
February 6, 2011 by ·
I just returned from Vancouver, Washington where together with fellow immigration attorneys, we helped legal immigrants with green cards apply for U.S. citizenship. The Washington Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) provides pro bono services three days a year at nine sites throughout Washington State at locations traditionally under-served by the availability of affordable lawyers. Citizenship Day programs were also held this weekend in Des Moines and Mt. Vernon, … [Read more...]
January 29, 2011 by ·
The annual 65,000 H-1B cap has been reached as of January 26, 2011. That means for the balance of the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, no new H-1B visas are available for employers with positions subject to the cap if they want to hire foreign talent between now and the end of September. The fact the cap was reached at all is interesting. In an earlier post, GAO Issues Significant H-1B Report , I noted that the cap has been reached every year except for 2001 to 2003 when the maximum … [Read more...]
January 20, 2011 by ·
A Wall Street Journal article, Crackdown on Illegal Workers Grows, reports that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) will open a new "Employment Compliance Inspection Center" to handle an increase in I-9 audits of employers of all sizes, including large, major employers. Under the Bush administration, ICE focused on rounding up undocumented workers through surprise raids. By contrast, the Obama administration is conducting stealth, "silent" audits of employer documents. Where false … [Read more...]
January 18, 2011 by ·
At the request of Congress, on January 14, 2011, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a comprehensive and quite significant report on the H-1B Specialty Occupation program. Entitled H-1B Visa Program: Reforms Are Needed to Minimize the Risks and Costs of Current Program, the GAO study involved interviews with 34 H-1B company executives, researchers of various types, advocates for several groups, interviews with involved agencies, examination of the data on 150 of the top users of H-1B … [Read more...]
