Application Procedures

by Vivek Wadhwa

Many foreign-born techies in the U.S. and abroad are pinning their entrepreneurial hopes on the passage of a bill, sponsored by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), to create a startup visa. Tech-industry notables such as Paul Graham, Eric Ries, Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, and David McClure have lobbied for this. I, too, lent this my support. In fact, I have been advocating such a visa since 2007—when my team’s research revealed that 52% of Silicon Valley’s startups from 1995 to 2005 were founded by immigrants. We also learned that a million skilled workers and their families were stuck in “immigration limbo” and that many were beginning to return home—causing America’s first brain drain.

Link to article which appears on TechCrunch.com.

by Jeffrey Kaye via Immigration Policy Center

When President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech last month, he repeated a theme that’s been a constant in his references to immigration reform: “I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws, and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows,” he said, pausing for applause. The phrase I’ve emphasized is one that has resonated for Obama in the past. Bringing workers “out of the shadows” and showing concern for immigrants living “in the shadows” has been a regular refrain in Obama’s immigration lexicon. But intentions and rhetoric don’t appear to match policy. Current immigration-enforcement strategies are backfiring and, contrary to the President’s stated goals, are forcing more people into the shadows. As a result, underground economies and communities are growing, not only harming workers (many of whom have been here for many years and are settled members of our society and labor force), but also their families and the public at large.

Link: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/deeper-shadows

WASHINGTON, DC  - As the House Immigration Subcommittee prepares for its hearing, "E-Verify- Preserving Jobs for American Workers," the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) calls upon Congress to tell Americans the full story of the flawed electronic employment verification system. Any expansion of this system will burden U.S. employers, waste time and taxpayer resources, and slow the nation's economic recovery. The Congressional Budget Office reported that implementing mandatory E-Verify would cost American taxpayers as much as $3 billion over five years.

AILA President David Leopold said, "The new Congress should be focused on America's economic recovery. Expanding mandatory E-Verify would threaten the jobs of thousands of U.S. citizens and saddle U.S. businesses with additional costs-all at a time when we need to stimulate our economy. Expanding E-Verify now would be in direct contradiction to the goal of creating jobs." AILA supports American workers and the integrity of our workforce. Executive Director Crystal Williams asserted, "But E-Verify alone does not make workers legal. Only a viable immigration system does that."

"Once again, Congress is missing the point. We can't enforce our way out of a broken immigration system. What we need are solutions. Congress should consider a broad approach to immigration. Smart immigration policies that include a pathway to compliance for the millions of undocumented immigrants currently living and working in the U.S. would add billions of dollars to the economy and raise the wages of all American workers," said Leopold.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.

Executive Summary

E-Verify, formerly titled the Basic Pilot Program, is an Internet-based program that allows participating employers to electronically verify the work-authorization status of new hires. After employers enter data from the Form I-9 into E-Verify, the data are compared electronically with data in Social Security Administration records and in Department of Homeland Security immigration records. Typically (96.9 percent of queries in July through September 2008) employees are automatically confirmed as work authorized either immediately or within 24 hours, requiring no employee or employer action.1 If problems are found, then employers are required to notify workers and give them an opportunity to contest the initial finding.

Via The Economic Times in India

As radio-tagging of scores of Indian students duped by a "sham" US university continues to cause anger back home, the controversial institute has claimed that one of its Indian-origin staff was responsible for the immigration fraud and it was not directly involved in it.

Breaking its silence, the California-based Tri Valley University (TVU), which was shut down last month, termed as "baseless" the allegations of immigration fraud against the institute and claimed that it had not duped any student.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brought "this baseless allegation and put a red-tape in the school operation for a federal investigation, causing hundreds of students to withdraw from classes (and) many instructors requested to quit teaching for the current term.

"Also, it caused a profitable university operation to quickly sink into negative in financial debt," Susan Su , President and founder of the TVU, said in an e-mail to PTI.

"Starting in April, one of student assistants Anji Reddy, who worked in TVU administrative office, teamed with another student Ram Krista Karra , who also has a consultant company, conducting a large cheating scheme by asking students to make tuition payment into Ram Krista Karra's personal account in exchange for student I-20 and CPT approval. TVU has fired these two individuals," the e-mail said.

What is PIMS?

On November 17, 2007, DOS instructed consular posts that they must verify the details of approved NIV petitions through the Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) via the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). Consular officers access the details of approved nonimmigrant visa petitions through the CCD in a PIMS report, which links an approved petition to a base petitioner record allowing superior tracking of NIV petitioner and petition information. The electronic PIMS record created by the KCC is the primary source of evidence used by consular officers to determine nonimmigrant visa (NIV) petition approval. In addition to the information submitted by the petitioner on the I-129, many of the PIMS reports also contain information from DOS’ Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU). The FPU performs research on petitioners, and as part of a pilot project, the FPU, on a random basis, verifies factual aspects related to the beneficiaries and their proposed U.S. employment. Click here for additional details about PIMS and practice pointers. Why is PIMS delaying your visa?

The following exchange between AILA and USCIS during a December 8, 2010 teleconference highlights the problem of USCIS adjudicators not taking sufficient time to clearly explain deficiencies in a petition for US immigration benefits.

It is not unusual to submit a petition to USCIS only to receive a lengthy Request for Evidence (RFE) or even a denial, neither of which includes a clear explanation as to what went wrong. However, as noted in the following exchange, USCIS adjudicators are trained and required to consider all evidence presented in support of a petition and clearly explain deficiencies in either a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) or a denial letter.