An amicus brief was filed by the Legal Action Center of the American Immigration Council (LAC) and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that argued an H-1B employee should not face arrest, deportation, or detention if he/she has a pending extension request. The reasoning behind the brief is that the…
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently affirmed the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying labor certification for an alien worker for the position of “Chef.” The applicants’ Employer Application for Permanent Employment Certification was originally accepted by the CO on December 1, 2006 but the…
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a reminder that its new application and petition fees go into effect November 23, 2010. The new fees increase application and petition fees by approximately 10 percent but naturalization fees will remain the same. To review the increased USCIS filing fees, please…
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently released version 1.2 of its Enforcement Data Site. Features of the updated site include an interactive map and dashboard, integrated data system with collaboration from other agencies, more advanced search criteria, and datasets being available to the public in a readable format. Users can…
After pleading guilty to a charge of counterfeiting a passport application, Ramon Francisco of the Dominican Republic who resided in Connecticut was sentenced to 14 months in prison October 28. During the investigation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), it was discovered…
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin. Click here to view the December 2010 Visa Bulletin. The December 2010 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…
MVP “Q & A Forum” – This Friday, November 19th, 2010 We wanted to find a new way to engage our reader base. Every other Friday, we will post the ten (10) best/most frequently asked questions received during the week from our h1bvisalawyerblog, Facebook, and Twitter readers. We will answer…
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently released information on their new relaxed deportation policy. This new policy mainly affects immigrants who are married or related to US citizens and legal residents. Before this policy was instated, if an immigrant was going through deportation proceedings they would automatically be deported…
To celebrate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride in the month of June, the US Department of State announced its policy regarding gender change on passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad. Beginning on June 10, 2010 an applicant may change the gender on their passport or Consular Report of Birth…
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times were released with processing dates as of November 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…