Not only do several immigration fees increase as of 11/23/2010, but a revised I-129 (Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker) will make its debut on 11/23/2010 as well, and will become mandatory beginning December 22nd.  USCIS will accept previous editions of the form for 30 days or until December 21, 2010.

The new I-129 petition has been months in the making, and is the first major overhaul of the petition in years. When it is implemented, employers will see new questions and compliance issues, particularly for H-1B and L-1 filings.  The petition is used for temporary workers in a variety of nonimmigrant visa classifications.

The revised form will be available on 11/23/2010 on www.uscis.gov

The DOL has designated a centralized Washington, DC location to handle Prevailing Wage Requests (PWRs) for all case types as of January 1, 2010.

PWRs for PERM, H-1Bs, H-1B1s (Chile and Singapore), H-2Bs and E-3s (for Australians) will be prepared on the PWR form that DOL rolled out for the H-2B program, form ETA-9141.  DOL has not yet offered an electronic version of this form so there isn’t any way to submit it online, neither are they accepting faxes.  If you subscribe to an immigration forms program, such as INSZoom, you can access a fillable version there.

All PWRs are to be mailed to the OFLC’s NPWHC in Washington, DC. at:  US Department of Labor-ETA, National Prevailing Wage and Helpdesk Center, Attn:  PWD Requests, 1341 G Street, NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC  20005-3142.

Here is AILA’s advance copy of the Federal Register Posting.

We’ll see how this centralized process goes.  To roll out a new system without electronic submission doesn’t make much sense.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The company used false information for H-2B work visas and charged workers fees ranging from $400 to $3,000 and allegedly threatened workers with a $5,000 fee if they returned to their home country, the Attorney’s Office said.

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