Visas

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

After a False Dawn, Anxiety for Illegal Immigrant Students

By JULIA PRESTON

New York Times

Published: February 8, 2011 The president says he supports their cause, and immigration officials say illegal immigrant students with no criminal record are not among their priorities for deportation. But federal immigration authorities removed a record number of immigrants from the country last year, nearly 393,000, while the local police are rapidly expanding their role in immigration enforcement. Students often get caught.

Illegal immigrants also face new restrictions many states are imposing on their access to public education, driver’s licenses and jobs. And for those like Ms. Aguilar who came out last year to proclaim their illegal status, there is no going back to the shadows.

Questions: I had H-1B status from June 2006 to August 2008, and then departed the United States for two years. I returned as an F-1 student and am now working on OPT. My employer wants to sponsor me for an H-1B, and I was wondering if my new H-1B petition would be cap subject? Do I have a fresh six years? If not, how much time do I have left?

Answers: Leaving employment and departing from the United States for one year or more does not require the foreign national to obtain a new visa number, if the full six years have not been used up. However, you must elect to use the old H-1B number, or file for a new one. In other words, you have a choice. You can file a cap exempt H-1B now, with approximately four years of H-1B time left (since you have already used approximately two years); or altneratively, if you want a full six years, you would have to wait until April 1 to file a cap subject H-1B under next year's cap (with a October 1, 2011 start date).

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.

Question: Hello, can you please provide me some guidance on my H-1B scenario? I am working on H-1B since October 2004. My current company filed for my green card and my I-140 petition is approved, with a priority date in January 2009. I have recently been approved for H-1B status beyond my 6th year, valid to July 2012. Now I want to know what are my options if I want to move from this job/company?

Q: What is the Visa Waiver Program?

A: The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is administered by DHS and enables eligible citizens or nationals of designated countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without first obtaining a visa.

Q: What is the Electronic System for Travel Authorization?

A: The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is an automated system that assists in determining eligibility to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and whether such travel poses any law enforcement or security risk. Upon completion of an ESTA application, a traveler is notified of his or her eligibility to travel to the United States under the VWP.

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.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed on 01/27/2011 08:01 PM EST that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2011. USCIS is notifying the public that yesterday, Jan. 26, 2011, is the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY2011.