The “Sentosa 10” were given “a clean bill of health” and found new employment in nursing homes and in a hospital after their criminal charges of conspiracy and patient endangerment were dropped, according to their lawyer James Druker.

The 10 nurses, hired while still in the Philippines to work in U.S. nursing homes managed by Sentosa Care, LLC, found working and living conditions different from what they’d been promised, according to the January 13 decision by the New York State Supreme Court’s appellate division. Their
attorney at the time, Felix Vinluan, advised them that, under the circumstances, they could legally resign. After the 10 nurses’ joint resignation, they and Vinluan were prosecuted
(see “An American Dream Gone Wrong,” In the News, August 2007).

For more information on this story and to read the CGFNS News for April 2009:
Download this PDF

While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

For more information on Obama to push immigration bill as a key priority:
Read this story from the NYT

WASHINGTON – April 8, 2009, USCIS announced it continues to accept H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions subject to the fiscal year 2010 (FY 2010) cap. USCIS will continue to monitor the number of H-1B petitions received for both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption cap.

Should USCIS receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will issue an update to advise the public that, as of a certain date (the “final receipt date”), the respective FY 2010 H-1B caps have been met. The final receipt date will be based on the date USCIS physically receives the petition, not the date that the petition is postmarked. The date or dates USCIS informs the public that the respective caps have been reached may differ from the actual final receipt date.

For more information on this story:
Read this article from USCIS.gov

There are surprising (and positive) developments to report on CIR. The House appears to be getting its act together on immigration, Immigration Daily has learned that Rep. Conyers and Rep. Lofgren have made significant progress in writing a massive CIR bill. Furthermore, The Hill reports that “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who did not bring the issue up last Congress, appears to be throwing more support behind the initiative this time.” A major immigration bill, backed by the full Democratic leadership of the House is likely to be ready for hearings and markup in a couple of months. This development is particularly heartening in that positive signs from the House were not visible earlier this year.

For more information on this story:
Read this link from ILW.com

8.1. Eligibility
8.1.1. Who is eligible for the STEM extension?

F-1 students who completed a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in a STEM field and are currently engaged in post-completion OPT may apply for the STEM extension if they have a job or job offer from an E-Verify employer.
8.1.2. Is the extension available to students who completed their post-completion OPT prior to April 8, 2008?

No. The eligibility is not retroactive.
8.1.3. How does a student or DSO know which degrees are designated as STEM degrees?

Read more about the 17 month extension here

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a reminder that the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (Rev. 02/02/09), goes into effect today for all U.S. employers. The revision date is printed on the lower right-hand corner of the form.

The interim final rule, published Dec.17, 2008 in the Federal Register, revised the list of documents acceptable for the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) process. Employers may no longer use previous versions of the Form I-9.

The revised list improves the security and effectiveness of the Form I-9 process. The list specifies that expired documents are no longer acceptable forms of identification or employment authorization. Allowing for expired documents makes it more difficult for employers to verify an employee’s identity and employment authorization and compromises the Form I-9 process.

Read more information on the new I-9 Form here

Join us for our monthly telephone conference on I-9 compliance where we will discuss:

• I-9 Laws and Regulations
• Completing the new Form I-9
• Documentation Requirements and Examination
• Document Retention, and
• Discrimination and Penalties
• Open Q&A

Note: April 3, 2009 is the effective date of the new I-9 form for all new hires and re-verification.

New I-9 Form

Government I-9 Guide

For those of you who don’t want to pour through 65 pages of government data, RSVP and join us on April 17 for the straight talk!

Details:

Date: Friday, April 17, 2009
Time:11am PDT  |  2pm  EDT
RSVP:info@immigrationsolution.net
We will reserve your place and provide you with dial in information and your personal access code.

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President Barack Obama will discuss the mounting drug violence south of the border and immigration during his first visit to Mexico next month to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, the White House said Wednesday.

Obama mentioned the trip during a meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Mexican officials issued a statement that said Obama would be in Mexico April 16-17.

“During the meeting, the president announced that he will travel to Mexico next month to meet with President Calderón to discuss the deep and comprehensive U.S.-Mexico relationship, including how the United States and Mexico can work together to support Mexico‘s fight against drug violence and work toward effective, comprehensive immigration reform.

High-level members of Obama’s administration will go to Mexico before him, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will be in Mexico City and Monterrey from Wednesday through March 26. Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also are expected to head to Mexico in early April.

Read more information on this article here.

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The President recently commented about the nursing shortage and health service’s providers use of internationally-trained workers to fill the gap in some occupations such as nursing. President Obama said “the notion that we would have to import nurses makes absolutely no sense.”

In response, the AAIHR recognized that the real question surrounding the nursing shortage is healthcare accessibility.

The ideal goals of the Emergency Nurse Supply Relief Act of 2008 is to create funding for nursing schools, and loosen the restrictions surrounding visa quotas. This ideal approach creates a balance of opportunities for a number of interested parties, such as students, schools, employers, internationally trained nurses, domestic nurses, and even more importantly – patients.

For more information on the President’s recent comments:
We share this statement with you from AAIHR.org

Bradford Smith, General Counsel for Microsoft Corp., responded to Sen. Charles Grassley’s request for more information about the company’s plans to eliminate up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

Highlights of the letter include Smith’s statement that the lay-offs planned by Microsoft will occur here in the U.S. and throughout the world, with the largest amount of lay-offs occurring in Washington State (where the largest amount of Microsoft employees work). Smith reiterated that lay-offs would affect U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike and employees inside the U.S. and throughout the world.

In addition, in his letter, he reinforced Microsoft’s belief and support in the H-1B program and the importance of companies like Microsoft being able to continue recruiting exceptional talent from throughout the world:

“H1-B employees have always accounted for less than 15 percent of Microsoft’s U.S. workforce, the level that is used in immigration law to determine whether a company is “H-1B dependent.” Nonetheless, the ability to tap into the world’s best minds has long been essential to our success. Although they are a small percentage of our workforce, H-1B workers have long made crucial contributions to Microsoft’s innovation successes and to our ability to help create jobs in this country. We are confident this will continue to be true in the future.”

Smith also commented in his letter that Microsoft does not plan to reduce significantly the proportion of H-1B employees in its workforce after this planned lay-off of 5,000 employees.

The full text of Smith’s response can be read online here.

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