Processing Time reports for all of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Centers were released on April 16, 2009 with processing dates as of February 28, 2009.
If you filed a petition with one of the Service Centers, please review the links below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.
As of April 3, 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicated that U.S. employers should no longer be using outdated versions of Form I-9. The updated Form I-9 has been available in English and Spanish via the USCIS website since it was revised in February.
Instructions for completing Form I-9 have also been made available by the USCIS. Additionally, the USCIS has provided a 1-800 number that employers may use to order updated Form I-9 if they do not have online access.
If you need assistance in completing Form I-9, or are interested in conducting an in-house Form I-9 Audit, please contact our office for assistance.
According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), several United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) service centers have begun to issue Requests for Additional Evidence (RFEs) for all H-1B petitioning employers who did not include the TARP recipient funding page of Form I-129, Data Collection with their H-1B FY 2010 petitions.
Due to the passage of the Employ American Worker Act (EAWA), the USCIS is required to collect Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) information on each H-1B petitioning employer. Due to the fact that Form I-129 was not re-designed and accessible to reflect this change in the visa program until a few days before the H-1B FY 2010 cap opened, submission of the newly designed Form I-129, Data Collection was not mandatory. The USCIS has indicated that if H-1B petitions were submitted without the TARP information, they would not be rejected. In conclusion, the USCIS has determined that in order to collect the required TARP information, they will need to issue RFEs. So far, practitioners who have received RFE’s requesting TARP information have reported that the USCIS has only requested the single page of Form I-129, Data Collection (page 13) which indicates whether the petitioner has received TARP funding or not.
As immigration law is already complex is nature, it is important to have an attorney experienced in the field, who is ready and willing to advise when changes occur. Contact the MVP Law Group if you have any further questions regarding EAWA and its effect on your company.
On April 10, 2009, the Department of Labor (DOL) released new information and materials on the New iCert System which covers the H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 visa programs. The New iCert system will be implemented beginning April 15, 2009. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) the New iCert system is a one stop visa shop for employers and their representatives. The new system allows for employers and/or their representatives’ to easily access online employment based visa application services as well as other pertinent information.
The DOL has created a factsheet on the new system which provides a detailed implementation schedule and helpful contact information for employers and/or their representatives.
The DOL also released its user manual which provides detailed steps for easy employer and/or representative registration.
Regular Petitions Subject to Cap
As of April 9, 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have received approximately 42, 000 H-1B nonimmigrant petitions counting toward the congressionally mandated 65,000 cap. The USCIS has indicated that they will continue to accept H-1B petitions subject to the cap.
Advanced Degree Petitions
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) released its time report on April 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.
E-Verify is a federal program in which employers may voluntarily sign up electronically to be able to identify the employment eligibility of new hires against federal databases in a matter of minutes. How it works: An employer requests that a new hire complete Form I-9, and with the information provided on the form, and the documentation needed to prove eligibility, the employer manually enters the information into the E-Verify database. Two things may occur once this takes place: (1) the employer receives confirmation that the new hire is authorized to work in the United States; or (2) a tentative non-confirmation (TNC) is issued, indicating that the federal program cannot identify that the new hire is authorized to work in the United States. If a TNC is issued, the employer must provide the applicant with information and guidance on how to resolve the issue, and a secondary verification process must occur within ten days before a final determination is made on the applicant’s employment eligibility.
The State of Illinois created legislation in regards to the passage of the Employment Eligibility Verification Program, otherwise known as “E-Verify.” In summary, the Illinois Act provides that employers are prohibited from enrolling in any Employment Eligibility Verification System, including the Basic Pilot program, until the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases are able to make a determination on 99% of the tentative nonconfirmation notices issued to employes within three days, unless otherwise required by federal law.
At issue is whether the Illinois Act is invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the United States.
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted an investigation from May 2008 through March 2009 which showed that terrorists or criminals could steal an American citizen’s identity, use basic counterfeiting skills to create fraudulent documentation for that identity, and obtain a genuine U.S. passport from the Department of State (DOS). The GAO conducted their investigation by using “basic counterfeiting skills.”
The same GAO investigator was able to easily obtain four passports issued by the DOS under four different names. The first passport was applied for in a United States Postal Service (USPS) office in Virginia in July of 2008. The investigator used a counterfeit West Virginia driver’s license, and a counterfeit New York birth certificate, along with the passport application form. The first passport was issued 8 days after the application was submitted for review. The GAO investigator applied for the second passport in August of 2008 at the State’s regional Washington, D.C. passport issuing office. The GAO investigator used a genuine District of Columbia (DC) identification card obtained with fraudulent documentation, and a counterfeit New York birth certificate, along with the passport application form. Surprisingly enough, the passport was issued to the investigator that same day. In October of 2008, the investigator applied for another passport in a USPS office located in Maryland. The investigator submitted a counterfeit West Virginia driver’s license, and a counterfeit New York birth certificate. The submitted passport application contained the Social Security Number (SSN) of a fictitious 5-year-old child, which was obtained from a prior investigation. Once again, another passport was issued to the investigator based on the documentation submitted only 7 days later. The final passport issued as a result of this investigation was in December 2008 from a USPS office in Maryland. The investigator submitted a counterfeit Florida driver’s license, and a counterfeit New York birth certificate. The passport form contained the SSN of a deceased individual. And again, the passport was thereafter issued only 4 days after the documentation was submitted for review.
After the investigation, the GAO briefed DOS officials on the results. DOS officials admitted that the findings expose a major vulnerability in DOS’s passport issuance process. According to DOS officials, the department’s ability to verify information submitted by passport applicants is hampered by limitations to its information sharing and data access with other agencies at the federal and state levels. This is the same problem that was identified after the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001, eight. Additionally, they said that they do not currently have the ability to conduct real-time verification of the authenticity of birth certificates presented by passport applicants, and to make matters worse, there are other difficulties with verifying the authenticity of drivers’ licenses.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) recently released the updated version of the Form I-9 Employer Handbook.
The handbook provides the basic steps involved with a new hire, including the forms that must be completed, what documents are acceptable and step-by-step directions on how to correctly complete Form I-9.
The handbook also explains the reason we have Form I-9 for employment eligibility, mentions unlawful discrimination and penalties for prohibited practices, and discusses the E-Verify online program component for interested employers.
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) released its time report on March 18, 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.
H1B Visa Lawyer Blog