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News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 3B • March 15, 2019

March 15, 2019/in Immigration Insider /by ABIL

Headlines:

1. Trump Administration Plans to Close USCIS International Operations -USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna told senior staff that the agency’s International Operations Division, which operates in more than 20 countries, will be closed down. The duties of those offices will be transferred to U.S. embassies and consulates and to domestic U.S. offices.

2. USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions -USCIS has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions as of March 12, 2019. All H-1B petitions may be upgraded to premium processing or filed originally with a request for premium processing.

3. USCIS Releases Notes on H-1B Filing Tips and RFEs -USCIS discussed five common reasons for RFEs on H-1B petitions, among other things, at a March teleconference.

4. Europe to Require Authorization of U.S. Travelers, Not Visas, for Short-Term Travel -Recent news reports erroneously stated that starting in 2021, visas would be required of U.S. travelers entering Europe. In fact, pre-travel automated screening and authorization, but not visas, will be required to check for “security and migration risks” for those benefiting from visa-free access to Schengen area countries, according to the European Commission.

5. SSA Announces New Travel and Border Crossing Records System -The Social Security Administration has announced a new “Travel and Border Crossing Records” system. The new system will collect information about applicants, beneficiaries, and recipients under Titles II, XVI, and XVIII who have had absences from the United States.

6. TPS Designation Extended for South Sudan -The 18-month extension permits current beneficiaries under South Sudan’s TPS designation to re-register for TPS and remain in the United States with work authorization through November 2, 2020.

7. New Publications and Items of Interest -New Publications and Items of Interest

8. ABIL Member / Firm News -ABIL Member / Firm News

9. Government Agency Links -Government Agency Links


Details:

1. Trump Administration Plans to Close USCIS International Operations

According to reports, the Trump administration plans to close international U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices by the end of 2019. USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna told senior staff that the agency’s International Operations Division, which operates in more than 20 countries, will be closed down. The duties of those offices will be transferred to U.S. embassies and consulates and to domestic U.S. offices and the Department of State (DOS), if DOS agrees. USCIS personnel staffing those offices will return to the United States.

DOS said if it reaches such an interagency agreement, “we anticipate a smooth transition and continued efficient processing of USCIS-related work at all of our missions overseas.” DOS has more than 200 posts worldwide.

Director Cissna said in an email to staff that the closures will “better leverage our funds to address backlogs in the United States while also leveraging existing [DOS] resources at post.” He noted that change “can be difficult and can cause consternation. I want to assure you we will work to make this as smooth a transition as possible for each of our USCIS staff while also ensuring that those utilizing our services may continue to do so and our agency operations continue undisrupted.

In addition to helping people apply for immigration benefits, these offices provide assistance in such tasks as helping U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, including military personnel abroad, bring family members to the United States or help them apply for U.S. citizenship; international adoptions; refugee resettlement; and immigration fraud investigations.

According to the International Operations (IO) Division’s website, the division’s work includes reuniting families, enabling adoptive children to come to join permanent families in the United States, considering parole requests from individuals outside the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit, and providing information services and travel documents to people around the world, including those with unique needs and circumstances. “Operating in a dynamic global environment with constantly changing political, cultural, environmental, and socio-economic contexts, IO has approximately 240 employees located in the U.S. and in three international districts composed of 24 field offices in 21 countries. Our employees are highly diverse and include foreign nationals in addition to U.S. citizens; foreign nationals make up more than half of the IO staff working abroad and approximately one-third of all IO employees.”

Immigration advocates expressed concerns about further discouraging immigrants and disengaging the United States from the rest of the world. Barbara Strack, former chief of USCIS’ Refugee Affairs Division, said the closures would “throw [the legal immigration system] into chaos around the world.” She warned that the move would “smack all government employees abroad, including folks in the military, who have a foreign spouse or kids they are trying to bring to the U.S. legally.”

More information about IO

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2. USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions as of March 12, 2019. All H-1B petitions may be upgraded to premium processing or filed originally with a request for premium processing.

In recent years, USCIS has discontinued premium processing for H-1B cap cases in April to allow sufficient time for application of the lottery and receipting-in of selected petitions. Last year, the agency extended the suspension of premium processing well beyond the cap filing season and expanded the suspension to include most H-1B petitions.

In January 2019, premium processing was restored for FY 2019 cap-subject petitions that were filed in April 2018 and remained pending. In February, USCIS resumed premium processing for non-cap H-1B petitions filed before December 21, 2018. Now USCIS has restored premium processing for all H-1B petitions.

It is not clear whether the agency will continue premium processing for all H-1B petitions once H-1B cap petitions are filed in the first week of April. It is possible that USCIS could discontinue premium processing again for H-1B cap petitions or even other types of petitions.

To request an upgrade to premium processing for pending petitions that have received a Request for Evidence (RFE), petitioners should include their request for premium processing, along with the required fee, when submitting the response to the RFE. The USCIS filing fee for premium processing is $1,410, which guarantees action on the petition within 15 calendar days of USCIS’s receiving the request. If USCIS does not take adjudicative action within the 15-day window, the agency refunds the petitioner’s premium processing fee and continues with expedited processing of the petition.

Those who received a transfer notice for a pending H-1B petition and are requesting premium processing service must submit the premium processing request to the service center now handling the petition. They should also include a copy of the transfer notice with the premium processing request to avoid possible delays. If the petition was transferred and the petitioner sends the premium processing request to the wrong center, USCIS will forward it to the petition’s current location. However, the premium processing “clock” will not start until the premium processing request has been received at the correct center.

The USCIS notice, which includes additional details about where to send premium processing requests in the event of a transfer

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3. USCIS Releases Notes on H-1B Filing Tips and RFEs

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released the official minutes from its teleconference on “H-1B Filing Tips and Requests for Evidence (RFEs),” held March 7, 2019.

Among other things, USCIS discussed five common reasons for RFEs on H-1B petitions:

  1. Evidence demonstrating that the offered position qualifies as a specialty occupation;
  2. Whether the labor condition application properly corresponds to the proffered position in the petition;
  3. Evidence of the employer-employee relationship and qualifying work;
  4. Evidence of the beneficiary’s qualifications; and

The minutes

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4. Europe to Require Authorization of U.S. Travelers, Not Visas, for Short-Term Travel

Recent news reports erroneously stated that starting in 2021, U.S. citizens traveling to Europe will need visas. In fact, pre-travel automated screening and authorization, but not visas, will be required to check for “security and migration risks” for those benefiting from visa-free access to Schengen area countries, according to the European Commission (EC). The “European Travel Information and Authorisation System” (ETIAS) will cross-check visa-exempt travelers, including those from the United States, against European information systems for borders, security, and migration. The automated check is expected to take “minutes” in most cases. The application fee is expected to be about $8.

An EC fact sheet states that an ETIAS travel authorization does not reintroduce visa-like obligations. There is no need to go to a consulate to make an application, no biometric data are collected, and significantly less information is gathered than during a visa application procedure. As a general rule, a Schengen visa procedure can take up to 15 days, and can in some cases be extended up to 30 or 60 days, but the online ETIAS application “only takes a few minutes to fill in. The validity will be for a period of three years, significantly longer than the validity of a Schengen visa. An ETIAS authorisation will be valid for an unlimited number of entries,” the EC states. U.S. travelers staying in Europe for more than 90 days must have a visa.

The Schengen area includes 26 of the 28 European Union (EU) countries, and a few non-EU countries.

A list of countries in the Schengen area

The European Commission’s statement

Additional details

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5. SSA Announces New Travel and Border Crossing Records System

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced a new “Travel and Border Crossing Records” system. The new system will collect information about applicants, beneficiaries, and recipients under Titles II, XVI, and XVIII who have had absences from the United States.

The SSA noted that currently, the agency relies on individuals to self-report their foreign travel. Often, the SSA said, it does not receive these reports or receives them untimely, which results in improper payments. For example, the SSA noted, in general, it suspends Title II benefits to aliens who remain outside of the United States for more than six consecutive calendar months. It generally suspends Title II benefits to both U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens who travel to a country where payment is restricted by the United States. Additionally, the SSA suspends Title XVI payments to both citizen and noncitizen recipients who are outside of the United States for a full calendar month or 30 consecutive days or longer. With regard to Title XVIII, the SSA plans to collect this information to make decisions on Medicare entitlement claims and to make determinations on physical presence in the United States.

The SSA notice

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6. TPS Designation Extended for South Sudan

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen announced on March 8, 2019, the extension of the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for South Sudan for an additional 18 months due to the ongoing armed conflict and “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that support the extension.

There are 84 South Sudan TPS beneficiaries, according to Secretary Nielsen. This 18-month extension of South Sudan’s designation for TPS permits current beneficiaries under South Sudan’s TPS designation to re-register for TPS and remain in the United States with work authorization through November 2, 2020. (The last day of the most recent previous extension is May 2, 2019.) To be eligible for TPS under South Sudan’s current designation, along with meeting the other eligibility requirements, individuals must have continuously resided in the United States since January 25, 2016, and have been continuously physically present in the United States since May 3, 2016.

Secretary Nielsen’s statement

Additional details and official re-registration information will be posted

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7. New Publications and Items of Interest

Immigrant and Employee Rights webinars. The Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section is offering free webinars to the public in April. The webinars are for workers, employers, and advocates. For more information or to register, see https://www.justice.gov/crt/webinars.

E-Verify webinars. E-Verify recently made the following announcement: “E-Verify has resumed operations. Given that E-Verify was unavailable for over a month, we ask for your patience as we reinstate the service.” Information is available here. The March 2019 E-Verify webinar calendar is also available. For more on E-Verify, see https://www.e-verify.gov/.

Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers:

  • The latest immigration news is at https://www.abil.com/news.cfm.
  • The latest published media releases include:
    • ABIL Says Proposed Change to Public Charge Rule Would Exclude Immigrants from Government Programs
    • New Data Show Increase in H-1B Denials and RFEs
    • ABIL Urges Administration to Change “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order
    • ABIL Member Kuck Baxter Immigration Commercial Nominated for an Emmy
    • ABIL Members Note Immigration Threats for Employers in 2018
  • ABIL is available on Twitter: @ABILImmigration.
  • Recent ABIL member blogs are at http://www.abilblog.com/.

Organizations seeking non-lawyer and lawyer volunteers. Cornell Law School has compiled a list of organizations seeking non-lawyer and lawyer volunteers to help migrants in U.S. detention and deportation proceedings. The list, which is updated on an ongoing basis, is here.

Webinars for employers and employees. The Immigrant & Employee Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will present a series of webinars for employers and employees. For more information, see justice.gov.

Nation of immigrants. Podcasts on U.S. immigration history and what it means to be an immigrant in America:

    • Statutes of Liberty: (new episodes: A Prescription for Success: EB-1 for Physicians; The Best, Brightest, and Backlogged, discusses the backlog, who it affects, how to read the Visa Bulletin, and strategies for EB-1 visas)
    • Code Switch Podcast: What Does It Mean To Be A ‘Nation of Immigrants‘?
    • Hidden Brain: The Huddled Masses and the Myth of America
    • American Pendulum I

Advisories and tips:

  • Community Advisory: Social Media, Criminalization, and Immigration has been published by the National Lawyers Guild’s National Immigration Project. This advisory summarizes ways in which immigration agents may use social media against those in removal proceedings or involved in criminal cases. The advisory is here.
  • How to safeguard your data from searches at the border is the topic of several recent articles and blogs. See, for example, NYTimes and ACLU.
  • Listings and links to cases challenging executive orders, and related available pleadings, are available at lawfareblog.com.

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8. ABIL Member / Firm News

Dagmar Butte will be speaking at the following events:

  • AILA Rome Chapter Conference in Berlin, Germany, on April 30, 2019, on the effect of marijuana legalization at the state level on federal immigration law
  • Federal Bar Association National Conference in Austin, Texas, on May 17, 2019, on “Fundamentals of Business Immigration Law”
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, on June 19, 2019, on “Changes to Immigration Law Via Trump Administration Memos”
  • Chair of Business Track for AILA Annual Conference in Orlando (see above)

Robert Loughran, partner at Foster LLP, recently spoke on a panel in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference. “How Foreign Entrepreneurs Thrive in Trump’s America: It’s (Not So) Complicated” focused on the immigration, corporate, and financial/tax implications foreign entrepreneurs face when setting up a business in Texas and the United States in light of the Trump administration’s new immigration policies. More information

Mr. Loughran and Matthew Myers presented on U.S. immigration considerations specific to Japanese investors, companies, and employees, to representatives of 19 Japanese companies visiting San Antonio, Texas, as part of an economic development delegation at a dinner hosted by the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. The event took place March 7, 2019.

Cyrus Mehta has authored several new blog entries: “The Best Way for Trump to Offer “Love and Sympathy’ is to Repeal the Muslim Ban,” “Advancing a ‘Social Group Plus’ Claim After Matter of A-B-,” and “Trump Administration Imposes Another Unnecessary Obstacle: USCIS to Issue New Version of Form I-539 and New I-539A on March 8.”

Angelo Paparelli has authored a new blog entry, “ ‘Sue the miscreants!’—Challenging Unjust Work-Visa and Green-Card Denials with Flood-the-Zone and Head-Fake Immigration Strategies.”

Stephen Yale-Loehr was quoted by the New York Times in “Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Grants More Protections for Asylum Seekers.” In response to the court’s decision that immigration authorities can no longer swiftly remove asylum seekers who fail an initial screening, Mr. Yale-Loehr said, “This is a historic decision. But the government will surely appeal this to the Supreme Court.” The article

Mr. Yale-Loehr was quoted by CNN in “Meet the Immigrant Who Got a Second Chance from Justice Neil Gorsuch.” The article notes that Justice Gorsuch sided with the Supreme Court’s liberals in invalidating a provision of federal law that requires the mandatory removal of immigrants who have been convicted of some “crimes of violence,” agreeing that the law was unconstitutionally vague. Mr. Yale-Loehr noted that Justice Gorsuch’s vote did not necessarily make him pro-immigrant in every case, as evidenced by some of his other opinions. “But like his predecessor, Justice Scalia, he hates vague laws. This case shows that Congress needs to be more careful when it drafts immigration laws,” Mr. Yale-Loehr said. See CNN for more.

Mr. Yale-Loehr was quoted by Bisnow South Florida in “EB-5 Fund USIF Sued for Racketeering by Representative of Chinese Investors.” The U.S. Immigration Fund bundles foreign money to be loaned to developers for U.S. based projects. The Chicago-based Chinese-American researcher who filed the suit, Xuejun Makhsous, also known as Zoe Ma, alleges that Chinese investors were led to believe that they were backing a five-year loan with a real estate development as collateral, but they were actually purchasing limited partnership interests in a fund not secured by real estate. “It’s an interesting but novel argument. It remains for the court to decide whether it has validity.” The article

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9. Government Agency Links

Follow these links to access current processing times of the USCIS Service Centers and the Department of Labor, and the Department of State’s latest Visa Bulletin with the most recent cut-off dates for visa numbers:

USCIS Service Center processing times online

Department of State Visa Bulletin

Visa application wait times for any post

https://www.abil.com/cygnus/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ABIL_Logo-2021.png 0 0 ABIL https://www.abil.com/cygnus/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ABIL_Logo-2021.png ABIL2019-03-15 13:24:182019-04-15 13:28:18News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 3B • March 15, 2019

News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 3A • March 01, 2019

March 01, 2019/in Immigration Insider /by ABIL

Headlines:

1. Trump Administration Moves Ahead on Reversing H-4 EADs -On February 20, 2019, the Trump administration sent a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review that would halt work authorization for H-4 spouses of H-1B visa holders in the United States.

2. Premium Processing Resumes for H-1B Petitions Filed by December 21 -USCIS has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.

3. Trump Administration Increases Scrutiny, RFEs for H-1B Petitions -According to statistics released by USCIS, the percentage of H-1B cases with requests for evidence has greatly increased.

4. USCIS to Issue New Version of Form I-539 and New I-539A on March 8 -USCIS has announced that the revised Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, and new Form I-539A, will be published on March 8, 2019, not March 11 as previously reported. USCIS will accept the old form through March 21.

5. House Representatives Send USCIS Inquiry re “Alarming Growth in Processing Delays” -Eighty-six Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the USCIS Director expressing their “grave concerns about the alarming growth in processing delays” and requesting “prompt and detailed” responses to a series of related questions.

6. March Visa Bulletin Shows Progress -The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for March 2019 shows modest progress for EB-1 for all chargeability areas as well as EB-2 for China and India; EB-3 and Other Workers China, India, and the Philippines; and EB-5 China and Vietnam, with the remainder of the priority dates remaining Current.

7. H-2B Cap Reached for FY 2019 -February 19, 2019, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker petitions requesting an employment start date before October 1, 2019.

8. USCIS Closing Moscow Field Office; U.S. Embassy in Moscow Moves Visa Unit -Due to “a significant decrease in workload,” USCIS will permanently close its field office in Moscow, Russia, on March 29, 2019. The last day the office was open to the public and accepting applications was February 28, 2019. Also, the Visa Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has moved to a new location.

9. ABIL Global: Peru -This article provides an update on eased requirements for approval of employment contracts of foreign workers in Peru.

10. New Publications and Items of Interest -New Publications and Items of Interest

11. ABIL Member / Firm News -ABIL Member / Firm News

12. Government Agency Links -Government Agency Links


Details:

1. Trump Administration Moves Ahead on Reversing H-4 EADs

On February 20, 2019, the Trump administration sent a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review that would halt work authorization for H-4 spouses of H-1B visa holders in the United States. If OMB approves, the administration is expected to move forward with the regulatory process, including publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register and requesting public comments. Publication of a final rule could take months, and new legislation or lawsuits could have an impact. It is also unclear whether the more than 90,000 current H-4 spouses with work authorization, mostly women from India, will be exempted from the final rule. Historically, in similar situations, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has allowed current EADs to expire. As of now, H-4 visa holders can still apply for and work under H-4 EADs.

According to information DHS filed with OMB, “DHS anticipates that there would be two primary impacts [of the rule] that DHS can estimate and quantify: the cost-savings accruing to forgone future filings by certain H-4 dependent spouses, and labor turnover costs that employers of H-4 workers could incur when their employees’ EADs [employment authorization documents] are terminated. Some U.S. workers would benefit from this proposed rule by having a better chance at obtaining jobs that some of the population of the H-4 workers currently hold, as the proposed rule would no longer allow H-4 workers to enter the labor market early.”

The Trump administration has long vowed to rescind the H-4 work authorization program, which has allowed certain H-4 spouses to apply for EADs since 2015. It is unclear what prompted the sudden move forward with the rule, after a long delay. In December, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a lawsuit against the H-4 program to proceed. That case was filed by “Save Jobs USA,” a group of technology workers who say the H-4 program takes away jobs from U.S. workers. Natalie Tynan, a former DHS employee, said, “In general from an agency’s perspective, the agency prefers to issue its regulations rather than have the courts opine on what the regulations should say. So any opportunity to moot out litigation is a positive one for the agency.”

Details on the proposed rule

The OMB notice

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2. Premium Processing Resumes for H-1B Petitions Filed by December 21

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.

Those who received a transfer notice for a pending H-1B petition and are requesting premium processing service must submit the premium processing request to the USCIS service center now handling the petition. They should also include a copy of the transfer notice with the premium processing request to avoid possible delays, USCIS said. Additionally, those who received a request for evidence (RFE) for a pending petition should also include the RFE response with the premium processing request. If the petition was transferred and the premium processing request is sent to the wrong center, USCIS said it will forward it to the petition’s current location. However, the premium processing clock will not start until the premium processing request has been received at the correct center.

USCIS noted that when an H-1B petitioner properly requests the agency’s premium processing service, the agency guarantees a 15-day processing time. “If we do not take certain adjudicative action within the 15?calendar day processing time, USCIS refunds the petitioner’s premium processing service fee and continues with expedited processing of the petition,” USCIS said.

A previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing remains in effect for H-1B petitions to which it applied that were filed on or after December 22, 2018. On January 28, 2019, USCIS resumed premium processing for FY 2019 cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS said it plans to resume premium processing for the remaining categories of H?1B petitions “as agency workloads permit.”

The USCIS announcement, which includes instructions on where to send a premium processing request if USCIS has transferred the petition

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3. Trump Administration Increases Scrutiny, RFEs for H-1B Petitions

According to statistics released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the percentage of H-1B cases with requests for evidence (RFEs) has greatly increased. In the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2017, the rate of H-1B RFEs was less than 30%. In the first quarter of FY 2019, that rate skyrocketed to 60%. At the same time, the percentage of H-1B completions with an RFE that were approved has fallen, from almost 80% in the first quarter of FY 2017 to about 60% in the first quarter of FY 2019.

Approval rates were much higher for certain large companies; Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel, and Microsoft reportedly all had 99% approval rates; Amazon and Cisco had a 98% approval rate.

According to reports, a frequent reason for the RFEs was asking companies to prove that the offered job was in a “specialty occupation.” Other questions related to valid employer-employee relationships and specific assignments. Numerous lawsuits have been filed in federal court challenging recent H-1B denials.

The USCIS statistics

An article about several lawsuits is available

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4. USCIS to Issue New Version of Form I-539 and New I-539A on March 8

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the revised Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, and new Form I-539A, will be published on March 8, 2019, not March 11 as previously reported. USCIS will accept the old form through March 21.

Form I-539 is used for a variety of application types, including:

  • Certain nonimmigrant applications for an extension of stay
  • Certain nonimmigrant applications for a change of status
  • Reinstatement for F-1 and M-1 students

USCIS has expanded the scope of information to be gathered and will change the filing and adjudication requirements. The revised Form I-539 includes the following significant changes:

  • Every co-applicant included on the primary applicant’s Form I-539 must submit and sign a separate Form I-539A. Parents or guardians may sign on behalf of children under 14 or any co-applicant who is not mentally competent to sign.
  • Every applicant and co-applicant must pay an $85 biometric services fee, except certain A, G, and NATO nonimmigrants as noted in the new Form I-539 instructions.
  • Every applicant and co-applicant will receive a biometric services appointment notice, regardless of age, containing their individual receipt number. The biometric services appointments will be scheduled at the Application Support Center (ASC) closest to the primary applicant’s address. Co-applicants who wish to be scheduled at a different ASC location should file a separate Form I-539.

USCIS said it will reject any Form I-539 that is missing any of the required signatures or biometrics fees, including those required for Form I-539A.

The USCIS announcement

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5. House Representatives Send USCIS Inquiry re “Alarming Growth in Processing Delays”

Eighty-six Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent a letter on February 12, 2019, to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Lee Francis Cissna, expressing their “grave concerns about the alarming growth in processing delays” at USCIS and requesting “prompt and detailed” responses to a series of related questions. “Clearly, policy changes implemented by the current administration in 2017 and 2018 have increasingly shifted the agency away from its service-oriented mission,” the letter states. “Rather than continuing to seek ways to simplify and streamline its benefit-delivery systems, USCIS now appears more focused on erecting barriers to the benefits it administers, including by significantly delaying adjudications.”

The letter notes that as of the end of fiscal year (FY) 2017, the Department of Homeland Security reported a net backlog of more than 2.3 million USCIS cases, which was more than double the backlog reported after FY 2016.

The letter asks for responses to questions about, among other things, the causes of the backlog; the use of “extreme vetting”; USCIS’s reversal of longstanding guidance on deference toward prior determinations regarding nonimmigrant employment extension petitions; and USCIS’s proposed FY 2019 budget, which requested the transfer of over $200 million from USCIS to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The letter, which notes that USCIS was created by congressional mandate, asks USCIS how it intends to reduce and eliminate processing delays while ensuring fairness and quality and not passing costs for “the agency’s inefficiencies” on to the applicants and petitioners “experiencing hardship due to USCIS’s crisis-level delays.”

The letter is available

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6. March Visa Bulletin Shows Progress

The Department of State (DOS) has released the Visa Bulletin for March 2019, showing modest progress for EB-1 for all chargeability areas as well as EB-2 for China and India; EB-3 and Other Workers China, India, and the Philippines; and EB-5 China and Vietnam, with the remainder of the priority dates remaining Current.

The specific changes in the Final Action Cut-Off Dates, or priority dates, from the February to the March Visa Bulletin are:

  1. EB-1: China and India—forward progress of two weeks for China and India to February 22, 2017; Mexico—forward progress of three weeks to February 22, 2017; All Other Chargeability Areas—forward progress of one month to January 1, 2018.
  2. EB-2: China—forward progress of three months to January 1, 2016; India—forward progress of three days to April 9, 2009.
  3. EB-3: China—forward progress of one week to July 8, 2015; India—forward progress of one month to May 22, 2009; Philippines—forward progress of four months to December 1, 2017.
  4. Other Workers: China—forward progress of two weeks to August 15, 2007; India—forward progress of one month to May 22, 2009; Philippines—forward progress of four months to December 1, 2017.
  5. EB-5: China (Non-Regional Center)—forward progress of one week to September 8, 2014; Vietnam—forward progress of one month to July 15, 2016.

Applicants whose priority dates are currently backlogged are recommended to review the dates to determine if they may be eligible to file during the month of March. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) noted that beneficiaries of approved employment-based immigrant petitions whose priority dates become current in March 2019 should use the “Final Action Cut-Off Dates” when filing during the month of March 2019. USCIS in the recent past had accepted applications filed during certain months based on the typically earlier “Dates for Filing.”

The March 2019 Visa Bulletin

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7. H-2B Cap Reached for FY 2019

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2019. February 19, 2019, was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker petitions requesting an employment start date before October 1, 2019. USCIS will reject new cap-subject H-2B petitions received after February 19 that request an employment start date before October 1, 2019.

On February 19, the number of beneficiaries USCIS received petitions for surpassed the total number of remaining H-2B visas available for the H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2019. In accordance with regulations, USCIS said it determined that it was necessary to use a computer-generated process, commonly known as a lottery, to ensure the fair and orderly allocation of
H-2B visa numbers to meet, but not exceed, the remainder of the FY 2019 cap. On February 21, USCIS conducted a lottery to randomly select petitions from those received on February 19. As a result, USCIS assigned all petitions selected in the lottery the receipt date of February 22. Premium processing service for petitions selected in the lottery also began on that date.

USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from the congressionally mandated cap. This includes petitions for:

  • Current H-2B workers in the United States petitioning to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employment or change their employers;
  • Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and
  • Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam from November 28, 2009, until December 31, 2029.

Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year plus any unused numbers from the first half of the fiscal year, if any. However, unused H-2B numbers from one fiscal year do not carry over into the next, USCIS explained.

Also, a new letter sent on February 22, 2019, from the H-2B Workforce Coalition urges the Department of Homeland Security to add H-2B numbers as authorized by the Fiscal 2019 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The 40-page letter, endorsed by hundreds of employers and organizations, notes:

Without immediate action, many employers across the country will be without the critical workforce they need to operate this spring and summer. These businesses will not be able to fulfill contracts. They will be forced to turn away customers and may need to lay off American workers whose jobs are supported by H-2B workers. In some cases, they will be compelled to shut down their operations entirely. … The H-2B program is essential to employers who cannot find local temporary workers to fill jobs in seafood processing, horse training, hospitality and amusement parks, forestry, landscaping, circuses, carnivals, food concessionaires, swimming pool maintenance, golf courses, stone quarries and other seasonal industries. These seasonal businesses need H-2B workers to supplement their American workforce. The H-2B program relies on well-vetted returning workers who come to the U.S. for seasonal employment and then go home. These workers are not immigrants. They provide an opportunity for U.S. businesses to operate at a greater capacity, retain their full-time workers and contribute to their local economy.

The USCIS notice

The letter from the H-2B Workforce Coalition

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8. USCIS Closing Moscow Field Office; U.S. Embassy in Moscow Moves Visa Unit

Due to “a significant decrease in workload,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will permanently close its field office in Moscow, Russia, on March 29, 2019. The last day the office was open to the public and accepting applications was February 28, 2019. Also, the Visa Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has moved to a new location.

The USCIS field office in Athens, Greece, will assume jurisdiction over immigration matters in the Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow will assume responsibility for certain limited services previously provided by USCIS to individuals residing in Russia. The USCIS Refugee Affairs Division will assume primary responsibility for adjudicating refugee cases presented for interview in the region.

The new location for the Visa Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is 8 Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok, 121099, Moscow, Russia.

The USCIS notice, which includes details on filing instructions

Information on the USCIS Athens office

The website for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow

The U.S. Embassy announcement about the Visa Unit move

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9. ABIL Global: Peru

This article provides an update on eased requirements for approval of employment contracts of foreign workers in Peru.

On September 13, 2018, Peru’s Official Gazette, “El Peruano,” published Supreme Decree No. 008-2018-TR, which amends the regulations of the Law of Hiring of Foreign Workers, approved by Supreme Decree No. 014-92-TR. It has been in force since October 13, 2018.

One of the main changes established by the modified regulations is automatic approval of the employment contracts of foreign employees/workers by the Ministry of Labor in Peru. In the past, the contracts were to be approved within five business days following their filing at the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE). In practice, approvals took up to three weeks due to the MTPE’s workload, taking into consideration a massive inflow of Venezuelans requesting approval of their employment contracts in Peru. Now, an employment contract of any foreign individual will be considered approved from its filing before the labor authority.

Other important changes that ease the process of submission of dossiers before the MTPE to obtain the approval of an employment contract include administrative simplification provisions, by means of Legislative Decree No. 1246 (October 2016), which no longer require the presentation of professional/technical degree diplomas and apostille work experience certificates, and lower accompanying documentation requirements for applications for the approval of employment contracts for foreign personnel, by means of Supreme Decree No. 008-2018-TR, which now include:

  • Employment contract in writing;
  • Affidavit stating that the hiring of foreigners complies with the conditions established by law and includes the training or work experience required by it; and
  • Payment receipt of the corresponding right issued by the National Peruvian Bank. The receipt does not have to be presented initially but will be subject to a subsequent audit by the Labor Inspection Authority.

Logically, the Administrative Labor Authority in charge of the approval process of the employment contracts will be in charge of the subsequent inspection, without prejudice to the inspective actions carried out by the competent Labor Inspection Authority in the local companies to verify if they are in compliance with the cited Law of Hiring of Foreign Workers under (1) compliance of limiting percentages, (2) exonerations of them, or (3) exemptions, if applicable. Therefore, diplomas of foreign employees showing their professional titles or degrees and specializations, and work certificates, must be kept in the local company in its files to be shown to the authorities in case of audits.

The issuance of complementary regulations for the presentation, approval, extension, or modification of the employment contracts of foreign personnel, through the “Virtual System of Contracts for Foreigners—SIVICE,” has been established by Ministerial Resolution N° 291-2018-TR (November 14, 2018). It is in the process of implementation.

With this modifying regulatory labor standard, an administrative procedure regulated by labor norms that has been valid for 26 years in Peru has been updated and simplified, to ease the approval of employment contracts of foreign personnel, improving the right to labor migration, and taking into account that an employment contract duly approved and registered is the main document that supports the visa process to obtain a temporary or resident worker immigration status in Peru for foreign nationals working under a subordinated labor relationship with a local company.

With the implementation of the SIVICE virtual system, the Foreign Personnel Employment Contract approval procedure has been upgraded and simplified, as well as its consequent extensions and/or modifications, for foreign personnel both exempted and not exempt from the limiting percentages. These developments make the labor-immigration administrative process faster and more effective in support of labor migration to Peru.

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10. New Publications and Items of Interest

E-Verify webinars. Free E-Verify webinars are available by registering here. Upcoming topics include an E-Verify overview, E-Verify for existing users, Form I-9, myE-Verify, and information for federal contractors.

Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers:

  • The latest immigration news is at https://www.abil.com/news.cfm.
  • The latest published media releases include:
    • ABIL Says Proposed Change to Public Charge Rule Would Exclude Immigrants from Government Programs
    • New Data Show Increase in H-1B Denials and RFEs
    • ABIL Urges Administration to Change “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order
    • ABIL Member Kuck Baxter Immigration Commercial Nominated for an Emmy
    • ABIL Members Note Immigration Threats for Employers in 2018
  • ABIL is available on Twitter: @ABILImmigration.
  • Recent ABIL member blogs are at http://www.abilblog.com/.

Organizations seeking non-lawyer and lawyer volunteers. Cornell Law School has compiled a list of organizations seeking non-lawyer and lawyer volunteers to help migrants in U.S. detention and deportation proceedings. The list, which is updated on an ongoing basis, is here.

Webinars for employers and employees. The Immigrant & Employee Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will present a series of webinars for employers and employees. For more information, see justice.gov.

Nation of immigrants. Podcasts on U.S. immigration history and what it means to be an immigrant in America:

    • Statutes of Liberty: (new episode: A Prescription for Success: EB-1 for Physicians)
    • Code Switch Podcast: What Does It Mean To Be A ‘Nation of Immigrants‘?
    • Hidden Brain: The Huddled Masses and the Myth of America
    • American Pendulum I

E-Verify free webinar listings are here.

Advisories and tips:

  • Community Advisory: Social Media, Criminalization, and Immigration has been published by the National Lawyers Guild’s National Immigration Project. This advisory summarizes ways in which immigration agents may use social media against those in removal proceedings or involved in criminal cases. The advisory is here.
  • How to safeguard your data from searches at the border is the topic of several recent articles and blogs. See, for example, NYTimes and ACLU.
  • Listings and links to cases challenging executive orders, and related available pleadings, are available at lawfareblog.com.

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11. ABIL Member / Firm News

The Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL) was named the top immigration legal network by Chambers Global. Chambers noted, “[ABIL] is an association of legal providers based in over 20 countries, including 24 U.S. cities, providing a single contact point for management of global immigration needs. It assists with processing, filing, invoicing and online client case tracking. Members share information on important legislation, take part in joint training and collaborate on projects to provide a unified service offering. The network also maintains an up-to-date blog collating information on multiple jurisdictions.” In addition, ABIL members and firms were disproportionately top-rated in almost all of their jurisdictions relative to other immigration firms. ABIL encompasses two-thirds of Chambers USA’s top band (ranking tier) in California out of thousands of California immigration law firms.Below are ABIL firms and individual members and associates who were honored in Chambers Global and Chambers USA:

FIRMS

 

United States

Cyrus D Mehta & Associates PLLC

Foster, LLP

Fredrikson & Byron

Klasko Rulon Stock & Seltzer

Kuck Baxter

Maggio & Kattar

Miller Mayer

Parker, Butte Lane

Pearl Law Group

Seyfarth Shaw

Siskind Susser, PC

Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP

 

Canada

Corporate Immigration Law Firm

Gomberg Dalfen

 

Global

Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers

Laura Devine Solicitors

Bener Law Office (Europe, Global – for Corporate/M&A)

Dorda (Europe, Global, High Net Worth)

Kingsley Napley (UK, US, Global, High Net Worth)

Laura Devine Solicitors (UK, US, Global, High Net Worth)

Sagardoy Abogados (Europe – for Employment)

Raczkowski Paruch (Europe – for Employment)

Tannus & Asociados (Latin America)

 

INDIVIDUALS

United States

Jim Alexander

Robert Aronson (US and Global)

Dagmar Butte

Charles Foster

David Fullmer

Anna Gallagher

H. Ronald Klasko (US and Global)

Charles Kuck (US and Global)

Judy Lee

Cyrus Mehta (US and Global)

John Meyer

Christy Nguyen

Angelo Paparelli

Julie Pearl

Jan Pederson

Gregory Siskind (US and Global)

Jennifer Stevens (US and Global)

William Stock

Anastasia Tonello

Bernard Wolfsdorf

Stephen Yale-Loehr (US and Global)

 

Canada

Jean-Philippe Brunet

Barbara Jo Caruso

Seth Dalfen

Avi Gomberg

 

Global (see also individual listings above under United States)

Sophie Barrett-Brown

Ilda de Sousa

Laura Devine

Nicolas Rollason

Jennifer Stevens

Rodrigo Tannus

More information on rankings and areas of specialty

Bios of ABIL members are available at https://www.abil.com/

 

Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP, has released “Avoiding Status Violations in the Side Gig Economy,” which is Episode 12 of the podcast series, “Statutes of Liberty.”

Cyrus Mehta has authored a new blog entry, “Don’t Always Suck Up to Buy American Hire American.”

Angelo Paparelli and William Stock will speak at the 2019 American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Spring Federal Court Litigation Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on March 12, 2019. More information

Stephen Yale-Loehr was quoted by CNN in “Trump Says Alabama Woman Who Joined ISIS Should Not Return to U.S.” Mr. Yale-Loehr said Hoda Muthana’s situation was “not clear-cut. It would depend on the facts, if the State Department argues that her father’s diplomatic status was still in effect. The family argues it expired. So ultimately, it may be up to a court to sort this out.” Ms. Muthana’s family has filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s assertion that she is not a U.S. citizen, the article notes.

The CNN article

The lawsuit

Mr. Yale-Loehr was quoted by Bisnow South Florida in “Inside the Wild Legal Battle Over EB-5 Fraud, Defamation and a $2.5B Times Square Project.” Mr. Yale-Loehr noted that the EB-5 program was established as a part of a bigger overhaul of legal immigration in the early 1990s, “in part because Australia and Canada had similar programs.” Noting that it was enacted as a pilot program and still needs to be reauthorized periodically, he said redeployment has become contentious as processing times for visas have grown. Contracts can be structured various ways, he said, with all the money from a group being moved together at one time or in tranches.

The article

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12. Government Agency Links

Follow these links to access current processing times of the USCIS Service Centers and the Department of Labor, and the Department of State’s latest Visa Bulletin with the most recent cut-off dates for visa numbers:

USCIS Service Center processing times online

Department of State Visa Bulletin

Visa application wait times for any post

 

https://www.abil.com/cygnus/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ABIL_Logo-2021.png 0 0 ABIL https://www.abil.com/cygnus/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ABIL_Logo-2021.png ABIL2019-03-01 13:28:282019-04-15 13:32:54News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 3A • March 01, 2019

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News

  • BRAZIL: Accepting Work Authorization Applications Thorugh New Digital Certificate System
  • News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 9D • September 22, 2019
  • News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 9C • September 15, 2019
  • News from the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers Vol. 15, No. 9B • September 08, 2019

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