MVP Law Group’s Immigration Blog has been awarded a “Legal Information BLOG AWARD for 2013”. This award is given to the top 100 Legal Information Blogs by LAWS.com. David Kang, Marketing Director, LAWS.com stated, “We are giving out this award only to a selected few who have contributed to the betterment of the society and we find your blog very helpful and original.”
Immigration Policy Center Releases Updated State-by-State Fact Sheets!
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has released all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall), for a total of fifty-two updated fact sheets with accompanying info graphics. These fact sheets highlight the demographic and economic impact of Immigrants, Asians and Latinos in each state. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy division of the American Immigration Council (AIC).
As Washington D.C. debates Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we thought that it would be an appropriate time to provide some statistics on the Immigrant population in the United States as provided by this IPC research. Once a week we will be posting a blog with information on four states at a time. This week we will highlight; Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and New Hampshire.
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Marketing Manager.”
Upon evaluating an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO ordered the Employer to present copies of its recruitment efforts. The Employer provided a copy of its notice of filing, job order with the Washington State Workforce Agency (SWA), as well as newspaper ads placed in the Seattle Times. In addition, they submitted a copy of the company’s recruitment report.
After reviewing the recruitment data, the CO denied Certification because he believed it violated PERM regulation 20 CFR 656.17(f)(6), which provides that additional language not found on the ETA Form 9089 exceeds the job requirements for the position. The CO stated the Employer’s Notice of Filing (NOF), SWA job order, newspaper advertisements and web advertisements all listed “may require employer-reimbursed travel.” The phrase was not listed on the Employer’s 9089 form.
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 those questions and provide the Q&A on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.
If you have a burning question, are seeking assistance with a difficult immigration related case, wish to discuss your views on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, DREAMers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, priority dates, the monthly visa bulletin, adjustment applications, etc., please contact us by submitting your question/comment/viewpoint in our comment box provided on our H-1B Visa Lawyer Blog.
Our next “Q & A Forum” will take place this Friday, July 19, 2013. Act now and submit your questions!
Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) Processing Times were released with processing dates as of July 2, 2013.
If you filed an appeal, please review the link below to determine the applicable processing time associated with your particular case.
The Department of State has released its latest Visa Bulletin.
Click here to view the August 2013 Visa Bulletin
As projected by the U.S. Department of State, the August 2013 Visa Bulletin shows EB2 dates for nationals from India at January 2008; no movement in the EB3 WW category; no movement in EB2 for Chinese Nationals; and the F2A category has gone current, this category is reserved exclusively for Spouses and unmarried children (under the age of 21) of green card holders (LPRs).
The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.
The H-2B cap limit for the second half of FY 2013 (April 1 – September 30) is 33,000. As of the last count (7/5/13); 25,064 beneficiaries have been approved and 1,760 are pending for a total of 26,824.
The H-2B cap limit for first half of FY 2014 (October 1 – March 31) is 33,000. As of the last count (7/5/2013); 0 beneficiaries have been approved and 371 are pending for a total of 371.
The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Tile Setter.”
After obtaining & examining an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification ordering the Employer to submit copies of its State Workforce Agency (SWA) job order. This included a copy of the job order placed with the SWA serving the area of intended employment downloaded from the SWA Internet job listing site, a copy of the job order provided by the SWA, or other proof of publication from the SWA containing the content of the job order. The Employer replied to the Audit by providing a photocopy of a completed “Employer Job Order Information Sheet” from VaEmploy.Com.
The CO denied the labor certification citing the Employer’s failure to provide proof of publication of the job order from the SWA containing the content of the job order. He believed the copy of the VaEmploy.Com sheet did not indicate the ultimate content of the SWA job order. In addition, the CO thought the “Order Information” sheet did not prove the SWA published the job order. He cited PERM regulation 20CFR 656.20(b) as the governing source of his denial. PERM regulations require “an employer filing for permanent labor certification to place a job order with the State Workforce Agency (SWA) serving the area of intended employment” for a period of 30 days.
Immigration Policy Center Releases Updated State-by-State Fact Sheets!
The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has released all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the United States (Overall), for a total of fifty-two updated fact sheets with accompanying info graphics. These fact sheets highlight the demographic and economic impact of Immigrants, Asians and Latinos in each state. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy division of the American Immigration Council (AIC).
As Washington D.C. debates Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we thought that it would be an appropriate time to provide some statistics on the Immigrant population in the United States as provided by this IPC research. Once a week we will be posting a blog with information on four states at a time. This week we will highlight; Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia* and Idaho.
MVP Law Group, P.A. makes available the information and materials in this forum for informational purposes only. The information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or any contractual obligations. Further, the use of this site, and the sending or receipt of this information, does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. Therefore, your communication with us through this forum will not be considered as privileged or confidential.
Question #1 – Family Based Immigration – Marriage
Can my same sex spouse partner apply for a Green Card now that DOMA has passed? I am a US Citizen and he is from Spain. We were wed in New York in 2011.
H1B Visa Lawyer Blog