On November 15th, the House of Representatives passed legislation to aid US service members who marry foreigners. The bill was created in response to the case of Hotaru Ferschke, a Japanese woman, who married an US marine that was killed in Iraq. Since she was not a US citizen, Ferschke…
Peri Software Solutions Inc and its owner, Saravanan Periasamy, were ordered on December 7 to pay $638,449 in back wages with interest to 67 workers for violating provisions of the Immigration Nationality Act by the US Department of Labor related to the H1-B visa. Peri Software Solutions was additionally ordered…
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin. Click here to view the January 2011 Visa Bulletin. The January 2011 Visa Bulletin still shows employment based third preference (EB-3) visas as oversubscribed while the employment based second preference (EB-2) is current for all areas of chargeability except for…
On November 5, the Department of Homeland Security released a Privacy Impact Assessment for the “Immigration Benefits Background Check Systems.” Every applicant seeking immigration benefits is required to undergo background checks administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Each applicant’s check includes cross-references against systems within the…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently vacated and remanded the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification for an alien worker for the position of “Controls Engineer.” The application was accepted on October 2, 2009 and on the application where additional recruitment efforts required…
The Justice Department settled with Hoover Inc. on November 10, after allegations that the company had been implementing discriminatory employment practices such as imposing excessive procedures for permanent residents going through the I-9 process. The investigation into Hoover Inc. revealed that the company was requiring all legal permanent residents to…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the 65,000 cap. As of December 3rd, 2010, 51,200 H-1B Regular CAP subject non-immigrant visa petitions have been filed with the USCIS towards the 65,000 cap. As of December 3rd, 2010,…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently vacated and remanded the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification (LC) for an alien worker for the position of “Purchasing Manager.” The CO originally denied the application on the grounds that the Employer failed to provide evidence…
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times were released with processing dates as of December 1, 2010. If you filed an appeal, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case. Administrative Appeals Office The current processing time for an I-129 H-1B Appeal…
Long’s Human Resource Service signed an agreement on November 10, becoming the first Alabama business to be an IMAGE partner with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The IMAGE program, also known as the ICE Mutual agreement between Government and Employers, was launched in 2007 to helps employer’s better…