The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in a recent symposium, has provides some useful insight into its operations and policies. We are happy to share some of DHS's disclosures. DHS Investigations on Employers to Continue and Increase Janet Napolitano, the DHS Secretary, has indicated that employer investigations will continue and, possibly, intensify. In 2009 there [...]
The March 2010 Visa Bulletin was just released by the State Department. The sixth visa bulletin for the fiscal year 2010 and the third for the calendar 2010 does not bring much movement. There is some slow forward movement across most employment-based categories. The most significant movement noted this month is in EB-3 ROW and [...]
The National Visa Center (NVC) has released numbers and statistics on the immigrant visa numbers pending at NVC. The information is as of November 1, 2009. It is important to note that these numbers reflect immigrant visas which have chosen "consular processing" and not adjustment of status (I-485) applications filed from within the U.S. Also, [...]
Effective January 1, 2010, the Department of Labor (DOL) centralized all prevailing wage determinations needed in connection with certain programs - PERM, H-1B, H-2B and E-3. All prevailing wage requests now must be submitted to DOL for processing and not to the state workforce agencies, as it was done before. Because DOL was not ready [...]
The American Immigration Lawyers' Association (AILA) has provided some guidance and information from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the Newark, New Jersey airport. Background Starting in December of 2009, our office has been receiving alerts from current and prospective clients about a number of incidents where holders of valid H-1B stamps were questioned and, [...]
We wrote in late October and early November of 2009 about the USCIS Ombudsman's recommendation that USCIS (1) accept H-1B filings without a certified LCA but with a proof of filed and pending LCA and (2) to excuse late H-1B filings where the delay in filing was caused by pending LCA or employer's Federal Employed [...]
Our office handles a fair amount of appeals with the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) and we often receive inquiries not only about about the procedural aspects of an AAO appeal but also about the current processing times for AAO cases. About the AAO The AAO is an appeals office which handles appeals of certain decisions [...]
The Neufeld Memorandum of January 8, 2010, has generated a substantial amount of discussion with its newly-proposed standard for "employer-employee" relationship applied to third-party H-1B employee placements, which are very common for consulting companies. Our office has handled many consultations and inquiries relating to the Neufeld Memorandum and what it means for the thousands of [...]
Our office received many inquiries by both H-1B sponsor companies and employees about what kind of fee payment arrangement is permissible under the H-1B regulations. Background of H-1B Filing Fees There are several H-1B filing fees, which are applied differently depending on the employer (private employer v. university or non-profit research entity) and on the [...]
In a January 8, 2010, Memorandum, Donald Neufeld, the Associate Director for Service Center Operations, provides some guidance on the standards for H-1B petitions filed by independent contractors, self-employed beneficiaries, and beneficiaries working at third-party worksites. Focus on Employer-Employee Relationship The guidance is primarily concerned with the employer-employee relationship. Pursuant to the H-1B regulations, an [...]