The Department of Labor (DOL) has informed a liaison of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that they will continue to keep the old Labor Condition Application (LCA) system operable for a specified time. The reasons behind allowing the old LCA system to remain operational through June 30, 2009 are…
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin. The June 2009 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 China and India. Click here to view the June…
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) released its time report on May 1, 2009 with updated processing times for all types of cases accepted by its Office. If you filed an appeal, please review the link below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your case. Administrative Appeals Office If…
On May 4, 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the 65,000 cap. USCIS has received 45,000 H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions. USCIS has advised that they will continue to accept petitions until the cap is reached. Additionally, USCIS…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced on April 27, 2009 that they have made minor changes to the process of applying for a replacement Permanent Resident card. These changes apply to all applicants applying via paper form, including those applying because their previously issued card was never…
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) National Benefits Center (NBC) Liaison Committee has identified that there is a problem with the interface tool for the “Case Status Online.” Not only has this problem caused much delay in the recording of new receipt numbers in the system, it has…
On Thursday, April 23, 2009, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin and Senator Chuck Grassley introduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act. This bipartisan legislation would reform the current H-1B and L-1 guest worker programs to prevent abuse and fraud, and to protect American workers. This legislation calls for…
On April 20, 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the 65,000 cap. USCIS has received 44,000 H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions. USCIS has advised that they will continue to accept petitions until the cap is reached. Additionally, USCIS…
It has come to our attention that many Permanent Labor Certification Applications are being denied by the Department of Labor (DOL) for several reasons, some of which could be avoided by having competent counsel. It is important to have an Experienced Attorney who is familiar and thorough when completing and…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently upheld the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification (LC) for an alien worker for the position of Chef. In May of 2006, the CO issued an Audit Notification letter. The CO requested that the Employer submit its…