Our Immigration Newsletter and Podcast are now available. This month’s issue addresses Immigration Reform, Employer Compliance Issues, Healthcare and IT news. We link here
Further to our below blog post, the USCIS today published Q&A on the pending employment-based case inventory. We link to this for your reference.
The first question that they answer is always what we wonder about, and that is:
Q: Why is the wait so long for my employment-based green card?
A: A visa must be available before a person can obtain an employment-based green card. Because more people want a green card than there are visas available, not everyone who wants a green card can get one immediately. Therefore, some people have to wait in line until a visa is available. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) gives out 140,000 employment-based visas each year. About 85% of those visas go to people seeking a green card in the United States, while about 15% go to people seeking to immigrate from abroad. Currently, about 234,000 people have employment-based adjustment of status (green card) applications pending in the United States and are waiting to get a visa. How long you wait for a visa depends on the supply and demand for your particular preference category, your priority date, and the country your visa will be charged to, usually your country of birth.
Q: What information do I need to have before using the pending Form I-485 inventory reports?
A: You need to know your priority date and your preference category to use the pending Form I-485 inventory reports. For more information on priority dates and preference categories, see the “Visa Availability & Priority Dates” and “Green Card Eligibility” links to the right.
Q: How do I read the pending I-485 inventory reports?
A: First, click on the link to the report you want to view. Once you click on the link, the report will appear and you will see a series of charts, one for each preference category. You will see that each chart has different numbers for each month and year. These numbers show how many green card applicants have priority dates in that month and year. To figure out how many applicants have earlier priority dates, add all the numbers from all the cells that correspond to earlier months.
DHS has released some modifications to the FAR E-Verify enrollment, introducing 2 options to choose from when enrolling for the first time or when updating your profile on the ‘Maintain Company’ page, as follows:
◦ Federal Contractor with E-Verify Clause
◦ Federal Contractor without E-Verify Clause
If you selected the ‘Federal Contractor’ designation when you enrolled or updated before September 8th, you will notice that your designation has been changed to either Federal Contractor without (if you signed up before 9/8/09 and did not take the refresher tutorial or the Federal Contractor tutorial) or with E-Verify Clause if you enrolled in either refresher tutorial.
If you selected Federal Contractor after September 8th, you are now designated as a Federal Contractor with E-Verify Clause.
The new director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said today he wants to emphasize public engagement, transparency and information technology modernization of the immigration agency during his term.
To meet those goals, Alejandro Mayorkas said he has created a new Office of Public Engagement and is debuting a new, interactive Web site Sept. 22 that will allow for public feedback on agency policy and proposals. The updated Web site also will allow for greater ease of use and more access to information about pending requests and applications.
USCIS’ involvement with community stakeholders “should be more of a collaborative effort, engaged and interactive,” Mayorkas said. “We want to have the community involved at a level where we can understand what we are doing well — and what we are doing wrong.”
Another high priority is moving forward on implementing the next stages of the USCIS’ information technology transformation project, which will digitize the agency’s paper-based records systems, Mayorkas said. The project was started in 2005 and is expected to cost more than $500 million.
Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant, was sworn in Aug. 24 to head the nation’s immigration and naturalization systems. He previously served as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and was a partner at the O’Melveny and Myers law firm.
Mayorkas told reporters at an informal news conference today that the agency is taking steps to prepare for Congress’ action on comprehensive immigration reform and for the possible expansion of the E-Verify employment verification program to all employers. But the agency has not yet developed detailed plans or budget estimates.
“We are not assuming anything, but we want to be prepared,” Mayorkas said. For E-Verify, for example, the agency is evaluating the possibility of adding a fingerprint biometric, as suggested by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others, he said. The evaluations are in the early stages, and no cost estimates or feasibility studies are available at this time, he said.
For an expanded E-Verify and for expansion of legal immigrant applications, USCIS is evaluating possible increased capacity for its databases and for communication mechanisms to handle the increased workload, Mayorkas added. No budget estimates or database need estimates
Immigration Solutions note to our readership: Now is the time for prudent companies to implement a Corporate Immigration Compliance Program. Our firm’s years of experience and knowledge with employer compliance and worksite enforcement issues can assist your business in offsetting the extent of sanctions and other ICE enforcement threats. Employer compliance is becoming more complex and enforcement (investigations and audits) are increasing and will continue to do so.
In order to effectively deal with these issues and avoid the very severe consequences for non-compliance, employers must take the time to develop a strategy and be prepared in advance with an Immigration Compliance Program. You can no longer put your I-9 compliance program on auto-pilot. Immigration Solutions has created a package of services and solutions to assist you with your compliance procedures that can be tailored to your specific needs and concerns. Contact us with your questions and concerns. Be proactive – and contact us today!
Take a look at our very informative Update and review of the regulation and resources for your tool box. If you’re not signed up to receive our poddcasts and NewsFLASHES please do so.
We are always available for consultation. If you are seeking competent immigration counsel for your compliance matters, contact us
Global Entry is designed to speed trusted travelers through the customs and immigration inspection process when re-entering the United States. And among travelers already enrolled in the program, 75 percent are processed in five minutes or less.
The way it works: U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents apply for the program, pay a $100 fee, and are interviewed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. Following a successful background investigation, they are accepted into the program. Once accepted into the program, membership is good for five years and can be used at any participating airport in the country.
Here is a link to the list of the 20 international airports that offer the program.
Check it out and give us your thoughts.
http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/2009,0817-webredesign.pdf
Shipley Do-Nut Flour and Supply Company Inc. was sentenced Friday to be under court supervision for a period of three years, pay a criminal fine of $250,000 and forfeit $1.334 million to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for harboring illegal aliens. ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton and U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson made the announcement.
We link to the News Release
Momentum appears to be growing for legislation that would require all employers, not just federal contractors, to use the E-Verify system to confirm that their employees are eligible to work in the United States.
E-Verify is a Web-based system that allows employers to check the Social Security and visa numbers submitted by workers against government databases. More than 137,000 employers now use the system, which approves 97 percent of workers in a few seconds.
Beginning Sept. 8, federal contractors will be required to use E-Verify to confirm that new hires and current employees working on federal contracts are authorized to work in the U.S. The requirement also will apply to most subcontractors.
Many members of Congress want to expand E-Verify to all employers, as a way to end the “jobs magnet” for illegal immigration. This “could open up thousands of American jobs to workers with legal status,” said Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C.
We link to the Business Weekly article.
USCIS has received significant funding for a substantially increased volume of random site visits to employer locations. Over the coming year, many thousands more employers will have USCIS knocking on their doors.
The FDNS (Fraud Detection and National Security Unit) of USCIS is expanding its manpower and its site visits to employers that hire foreign nationals. Sometimes the employer is called in advance – and sometimes they are unannounced visits. Also, many of these site visits can occur after the petition is approved.
FDNS visits are to verify the existence of the employer, discuss the information that the employer has provided to USCIS in their petition(s) and whether the foreign national(s) are working in compliance with the terms of their admission to the USA. This information can also be used to determine whether or not a petition will be approved. Typically, the FDNS officer will wish to speak with the HR representative, may want to also speak with the sponsored worker; the officer could have a copy of the petition and will endeavor to verify the information contained in the petition.
What’s the “take away” on this for employers: It is important that you contact your designated immigration professional should you receive notification of a site visit… AND… make sure that you are working with well-informed immigration counsel that have experience in employer compliance issues. Immigration Solutions does, and we link to our Employer Compliance page on our website.
We link to one employer’s experience (as posted on AILA Infonet).