The Shapiro Law Group

The H-1B visa program, which enables domestic employers to hire foreign workers in certain specialty occupations (especially in science, technology and highly-skilled fields) has long been popular among employers, but demand for H-1B workers has been particularly strong this year.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (the “USCIS”) has received an extraordinary volume of I-129 petitions (relating to non-immigrant workers) this year, and as a result, the USCIS has acknowledged that many petitioners are not promptly receiving notices of receipt of their petitions.

Pursuant to executive order signed by President Obama, the Department of Homeland Security has announced this week that it will defer any administrative action or deportation proceedings against certain eligible immigrants who arrived in this country as children.

As of June 11, 2012, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has no more slots left for foreign workers in specialty occupations under the H-1B visa program, as the statutory cap has been reached already for fiscal year 2013.

The increasingly popular H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire a certain number of foreign workers each year in so-called “specialty occupations” (including occupations in science, technology and engineering) is now coming under more watchful eyes at various federal agencies concerned about employment abuses.

Within the last 30 days, legislators have introduced various bills in the U.S. Congress that would reauthorize the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program.

When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on the Arizona immigration law last week, public scrutiny of the decision was short-lived because it was eclipsed by the subsequent ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But the ruling on Arizona law was truly significant for several reasons, not the least of which is that multiple states have passed laws relating to immigration with provisions similar to that in the Arizona law.

When Congress passed the L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004 (the “L-1 Reform Act”) it did so to address a narrow and specific concern about some companies which had “outsourced” L-1B intra-company transferees to third party employers.

It seems that Legacy INS, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (the “USCIS”) and other immigration authorities hold some misconceptions about abuses associated with the L-1B visa program. This is an important program, which allows foreign employees of domestic companies with global operations to transfer to the U.S. when they have “specialized knowledge” needed at home.

Employers who wish to hire foreign specialty workers should immediately consider preparations for filing a petition to sponsor H-1B workers for fiscal year 2013, which starts as of Oct. 1, 2012. Petitions for worker start dates on or after Oct. 1 may be filed as of April 1, and it should be noted that a flurry of early filings are expected this year.

Now more than ever large-scale American companies need the support of global talent in order to compete in an international marketplace. But, as noted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) our domestic agencies responsible for immigration still sometimes function in a way that restricts American companies by denying applications for L-1B visa transfers on hyper-technical grounds.

As noted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) there has been a widening gulf between the articulations of policy – in statutes and regulations – and the reasoning of administrative decisions by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (the “USCIS”) regarding L-1B visas.

Congress thought it had solved the problems created by multiple administrative interpretations of the L-1B visa requirements when it passed the Immigration Act of 1990 (“IMMACT90”) which, among other things, gave a statutory definition to the “specialized knowledge” prerequisite for obtaining an L-1B visa.

After the wave of I-9 audits in recent years, employers have become rightfully wary of not documenting their immigrant workforce. Everyone knows by now that the penalties for hiring undocumented workers can be stiff. But what many employers do not realize is that there is a risk to over-documentation as well.

The Department of State (“DOS”) has increased its visa fees effective as of Friday, April 13, 2012. Non-immigrant visa fees for machine-readable visas went from $140 to $190 for H, L, O, P, Q and R visas. Fees for other non-immigrant visas increased from $150 to $160; however, fees for E visas dropped from $390 to $270, and fees for K visas dropped from $350 to $240 per visa.

A recent report by the National Foundation for American Policy has demonstrated that adjudicators for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (the “USCIS”) have intensified their scrutiny of the popular L-1 and H-1B visa petitions utilized by domestic employers who need to import foreign workers with special knowledge or occupational experience.

A report by the National Foundation for American Policy sheds light on the kinds of scrutiny applied to job-related visa applications filed by American employers on behalf of Indian nationals.

The number of green card of immigrant visas available for individual workers from India and China will shrink in months to come, according to pronouncements by Charles Oppenheim, the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at the Department of State.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) still has slots available in fiscal year 2013 for foreign workers in specialty occupations under the H-1B program, but petitions have been filed at a very brisk rate so far, and slots might not remain open for very long.

The warmer weather and sunny skies of spring have arrived in the U.S., opening the gates to tourists from around the globe, but one group of tourists should be especially mindful of the legal hazards of visiting the U.S. If you are a foreigner engaged to a U.S. citizen and living abroad, then your petition for a K-1 visa will establish your intent to marry an American citizen and stay here permanently.

The summer travel season is fast approaching, and many foreign citizens are making plans now to visit the U.S., but they won’t be going anywhere without the necessary immigration compliance preparations. Generally, the “necessary preparations” would include obtaining a tourist visa, but it is possible to avoid the paperwork, fees and waiting associated with this step if you are an eligible citizen of a country that is enrolled in the U.S. visa waiver program.

Each year, a large number of undocumented workers are deported who are parents of U.S. citizens. Many of these workers might have been able to avoid deportation and painful separation from their families by simply contacting a good immigration attorney who could help them to pursue a legal avenue to employment-based permanent residency.

According to recent reports in USA Today, during the first six months of last year, 22 percent of the 211,000 deportations during that time involved parents of U.S. citizens.

Earlier this spring, the Department of Homeland Security published a proposal in the Federal Register – for public consideration and comment – that would relax the rules on bar to re-entry for foreigners residing here who are beneficiaries of pending family-based immigration petitions.

It happens more often than you might think and something to watch out for during this election year – a permanent resident’s name somehow appears on a voter registration list, and then he is denied citizenship and sometimes even deported.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) still has slots available in fiscal year 2013 for employers sponsoring foreign workers in specialty occupations under the H-1B program, but more than 60 percent of FY 2013 allocations under the regular cap have been snatched up in less than two months, so employers need to file petitions quickly for remaining slots.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) published in late March a notice in the Federal Register inviting public comments on proposed revisions to Form I-9, which is used by employers to authenticate the identity of their laborers and the legal authorization of those laborers to work in the U.S.