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As of October 10, 179,000 people applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) of the estimated 1.7 million people eligible. It's hard to know how many of the applicants hired lawyers to help with their applications. We do know that many did it themselves. If you are "easily eligible," do you need a lawyer at all? When or why would it be useful to have a lawyer help with a DACA application? Let's say you have done the online wizard at www.weownthedream.org or you have gone to a DACA … [Read more...]
November 2, 2012 by ·
A new book out by Thomas K. McCraw, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, called "The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy" looks at the history of immigrants to the US and their innovations. In a New York Times op-ed by Professor McCraw, Innovative Immigrants, he discusses how immigrant entrepreneurs have fostered economic prosperity since the country was founded and why our immigration laws should be reformed to accommodate the … [Read more...]
October 18, 2012 by ·
A lot has been written about President Obama's courageous Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, including the requirements, what kind of evidence is needed, and how to apply. There is a ton of "how to" information on the Internet from the implementing agencies, as well as from attorneys, nonprofit organizations and some not so well-meaning lawyers and non-lawyers wanting to take on DACA clients. As of October 10, 2012, USCIS has received 179,000 DACA applications and has … [Read more...]
July 22, 2012 by ·
The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently released its FY2012 year to date statistics covering October 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 concerning the use of H-1B visas and PERM, the labor certification program for permanent residence. Here are a few key stats from the report: H-1B Use The H-1B report shows that 278,737 applications were received YTD. 287,165 were processed. Of those, 243,098 were certified, and 16,346 were denied. The balance were withdrawn. These covered 577,298 positions. (A … [Read more...]
July 19, 2012 by ·
During the last month since President Obama announced the new Deferred Action program for Certain Young People, I have mulled over the commentary by media, politicians, and immigrant advocates. There is plenty of information out there about the eligibility requirements or how they should be interpreted, but little discussion about whether people should apply in the first place. is this program all it's hyped up to be and should people apply if qualified? After all, Deferred Action is not a visa, … [Read more...]
July 17, 2012 by ·
A July 17, 2012 Seattle Times news article, Seattle ranks high in skilled workers on H-1B visas, reports on a new Brookings Institution study showing that while Seattle ranks high in the number of skilled foreign workers for H1B visas, the Seattle metropolitan area fails to benefit from H-1B user fee grants for local worker training. The Brookings report, The Search for Skills: Demand for H-1B Immigrant Workers in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, notes that companies like Microsoft, Amazon, University … [Read more...]
June 15, 2012 by ·
School's out just in time for the Obama Administration to announce today in an interesting political move that it will grant deferred action status for would-be DREAM Act students. (See Spanish version of the announcement.) I say "would-be" DREAM Act students because Congress never did pass the DREAM Act. Various versions of the DREAM Act would have provided a path to legal status and citizenship for many young people whose parents brought them to the US illegally at a young age (or they … [Read more...]
June 12, 2012 by ·
In a rare case of bipartisan action, Congress passed legislation to add E-2 visas to the list of Treaty Investor countries. Historically, Israelis have only been able to use the E-1 Treaty Trader visa, but not the E-2 Treaty Investor visa. E-1 visas require a primarily Israeli owned US company engaged in substantial trade in goods or services between the US and Israel. Otherwise, Israelis have had to use the EB-5 permanent residence investor program, L or H visas depending upon the scenario. … [Read more...]
April 25, 2012 by ·
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard oral arguments in Arizona v. US. The statement of the case as presented to SCOTUS was as follows: Arizona enacted the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (S.B. 1070) to address the illegal immigration crisis in the State. The four provisions of S.B. 1070 enjoined by the courts below authorize and direct state law-enforcement officers to cooperate and communicate with federal officials regarding the enforcement of … [Read more...]
March 25, 2012 by ·
When I was about 16, I asked my father, "Why are most songs about love?" My father, ever the wise one, responded: "Why don't you write that down on a piece of paper and put it somewhere that you will not forget. Then open it up when you are about 25." Amazingly, I did just that! (More likely, I forgot I wrote it down and then stumbled upon the note years later.) While I don't have the perfect answer beyond the usual cliches of "love is what makes the world go 'round", or "love is universal", I … [Read more...]
