The final version of the stimulus bill, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1, S. 1), was passed by the Congress late on Friday. The final version of ARRA included Senator Sanders’ amendment and the final version which is expected to be signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday, February 17th, will restrict [...]
Last week we wrote about the substantial delays in PERM processing. We have received numerous responses, inquiries and reactions from companies and immigrants who are concerned by this trend. According to DOL: [T]he delay was due to change in contractors and the subsequent period of hiring and training new contractor staff for the Atlanta National Processing [...]
In addition to the substantial delays in PERM processing, the Department of Labor (DOL) has indicated that in light of the substantial layoffs and increased unemployment, it would impose a heavier scrutiny on PERM labor certification applications which are the first step of any green card process. In a response to a question posed at a [...]
The March 2009 Visa Bulletin has been released. Unfortunately, even though there is some forward movement in some EB categories, the progress is very small. Many important categories have not moved forward at all this month. EB-1 remains current across the board. EB-2 China moves forward by 45 days to February 15, 2005. EB-2 India moves forward [...]
Today, Tuesday, February 10, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote and approve a version of the Stimulus Bill which President Obama has been pushing very hard over the past weeks. The version of the Stimulus Bill contains a provision which would automatically and for a period of two years make all employers who are [...]
The Federal Register has published a rule (73 FR 77729, 12/19/08) pursuant to which nationals of the following countries can apply for H-2B visas: Argentina; Australia; Belize; Brazil; Bulgaria; Canada; Chile; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Indonesia; Israel; Jamaica; Japan; Mexico; Moldova; New Zealand; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Romania; South Africa; South Korea; Turkey; Ukraine; United Kingdom. It should be noted that individuals already holding H-2B visas are not affected by this rule.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released its quarterly report on PERM for the first quarter of FY 2009 covering October 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. For comparison, you can read about the previous DOL report here. There are some interesting numbers. Unfortunately, the news is not good for PERM applicants. As of December [...]
USCIS has released some numbers about the student and exchange visitor visa programs. As of December 31, 2008, there were 1,046,468 active nonimmigrant students, exchange visitors and their dependents. Out of this number, there were a total of 722,272 active F or M students and 94,027 dependents. There were 179,408 J-1 exchange visitors and 50,761 [...]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has delayed by 60 days, until April 3, 2009, the effective date for using the revised Form I-9, originally scheduled to go into effect today. Copy of the USCIS notice. Employers who use the new form prior to the April 3, 2009 effective date are subject [...]
The requirement, imposed late last year on certain federal contractors to become E-Verify compliant or become ineligible for contracts with the federal government was due to become effective on January 15, 2009. However, the requirement, after attack by a number of organizations special interest groups, has been postponed until at least May 21, 2009. There are [...]