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WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced revisions to Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility. (more…)

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS) announced today that it will reissue Advance Parole documents  (Form I-512) in response to documents that were mailed to applicants with an incorrect issue date of January 5, 1990. All affected documents have been identified and USCIS will automatically reissue documents to individuals who have received a document with the incorrect issue date. (more…)

The Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, is used to petition U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to classify an alien beneficiary as eligible for an immigrant visa based on employment. The employer generally files the Form I-140 on behalf of the alien.

Questions and Answers

Q #1. What steps can I take to ensure that my Form I-140 petition will not be rejected by USCIS? [Answer Finalized on 06/30/09] (more…)

The Immigration Department will begin a nationwide crackdown from Feb 15 on thousands of employers believed to be harbouring or employing illegal workers.

The operation will be carried out with the help of police and Rela.

Currently there are about 1.8 million approved foreign workers in the country, and the department be-lieves there are at least an equal number of illegal ones.

Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said the department was already meeting with employer associations and groups before the deadline to “educate” them on the immigration laws and policies for hiring foreign workers.

“From Jan 5, we have been having dialogues with associations such as the Malaysian Employers’ Federation and the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers,” Abdul Rahman said in an interview yesterday. (more…)

A new report, “Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” by Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, finds that comprehensive immigration reform that includes a legalization program for unauthorized immigrants and enables a future flow of legal workers would result in a large economic benefit—a cumulative $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years. In stark contrast, a deportation- only policy would result in a loss of $2.6 trillion in GDP over 10 years.

Hinojosa uses a computable general equilibrium model based on the historical experience of the 1986 legalization program, and finds that: (more…)

A. STATUTORY NUMBERS

1. This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during February. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security reports applicants for adjustment of status. Allocations were made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received by January 8th in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits.

Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number. Immediately that it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date which has been announced in this bulletin.

2. Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

3. Section 203 of the INA prescribes preference classes for allotment of immigrant visas as follows:

FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES (more…)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued updated guidance to adjudication officers to clarify what constitutes a valid employer-employee relationship to qualify for the H-1B ‘specialty occupation’ classification.  The memorandum clarifies such relationships, particularly as it pertains to independent contractors, self-employed beneficiaries, and beneficiaries placed at third-party worksites. The memorandum is titled: “Determining Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements:  Additions to Officer’s Field Manual (AFM) Chapter 31.3(g)(15)(AFM Update AD 10-24).”  In addition to clarifying the requirements for a valid employer-employee relationship, the memorandum also discusses the types of evidence petitioners may provide to establish that an employer-employee relationship exists and will continue to exist with the beneficiary throughout the duration of the requested H-1B validity period. (more…)

“We at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have realigned our organizational structure to

achieve greater efficiency and to more ably accomplish our mission.  The realignment reflects the prioritization of certain critical Agency responsibilities. The three most significant changes are:

• The creation of a Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate.  This change reflects our prioritization of our anti-fraud and national security responsibilities and will bring greater focus to them.
• The creation of a new Customer Service Directorate.  This change reflects our prioritization of customer service and recognizes the significant efforts that will be needed to ensure that we are at the cutting edge of service modeling.
• The division of the existing Domestic Operations Directorate into two separate directorates, Service Center Operations and Field Operations.  This change will foster greater innovation and achieve greater efficiency in our delivery of immigration services.

“We at USCIS look forward to working collaboratively with you, the public whom we serve, to deliver better service and to more ably accomplish our mission, which is defining of our nation.”

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security

Utah’s top Roman Catholic leader joined a New York colleague Wednesday in launching a nationwide campaign urging Catholics to press for comprehensive immigration reform this year.

“We believe it is the most practical and humane solution,” said the Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City’s diocese. “We say this has to be done.” (more…)

The U.S. government has attempted for more than two decades to put a stop to unauthorized immigration from and through Mexico by implementing “enforcement-only” measures along the U.S.-Mexico border and at work sites across the country. These measures have failed to end unauthorized immigration and placed downward pressure on wages in a broad swath of industries. (more…)