New I-9 Required

As of today, the new I-9 form announced in February must be used by employers when verifying any new hire, whether U.S. citizen, permanent resident, non-immigrant or other worker in the U.S. 

The revised Form I-9 reflects changes made to the list of documents acceptable for Form I-9 in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent interim final rule. The rule furthers DHS’s ongoing effort to increase the security of the employment authorization verification process. The new rule:

1. Requires that all documents presented during the verification process be unexpired;
2. Eliminates List A identity and employment authorization documentation Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and outdated Employment Authorization Cards); and
3. Adds to List A as evidence of identity and employment authorization valid passports for citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), along with Form I-94 or Form I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI. It also adds to List A a temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa in addition to the foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp.

Employers must be sure as of April 3 to use the new I-9 form for all new hires.

Dream Act Might be Reality

Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have introduced into their respective chambers of Congress the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, commonly known as the DREAM Act. The legislation would give up to 65,000 now undocumented young immigrants, who have grown up in the United States an opportunity to pursue the American dream. They must have come to the U.S. before they turned 16, be under the age of 30, have lived in the U.S. for at least five years, graduated from high school or passed an equivalency exam, have "good moral character" and either attend college or enlist in the military for two years. Over the past decade or so, this act has been introduced in Congress only to be defeated. With anti-immigrant tide turning (but for the recession) there is a possibility that this year the result will be different.

EB-5 Employment Creation Green Card Program Extended

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program has been extended through September 30, 2009 due to yesterday’s signing of the “Fiscal 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill,” H.R. 1105.

As a result of the extension of the Pilot Program, USCIS will continue to receive, process, and adjudicate all Regional Center Proposals and Forms I-526, Immigrant Petitions by Alien Entrepreneur, and Forms I-485, Applications to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, affiliated with Regional Centers relying on “indirect” job creation analysis.

Currently, there are 45 regional centers throughout the United States.

USCIS allows premium process for I-140 H-1B holders

Starting on March 2, 2009, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will expand Premium Processing Service for designated Forms I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker to include alien beneficiaries who have reached or are reaching their limitation of stay in H-1B nonimmigrant status. Currently, only certain alien beneficiaries who are in H-1B nonimmigrant status at the time of filing may request Form I-140 Premium Processing Service.

USCIS will accept the Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, for Forms I-140 filed on behalf of alien beneficiaries who, as of the date of filing the Form I-907:

1. Are the beneficiary of a form I-140 petition filed in a preference category that has been designated for premium processing service;
2. Have reached the 6th year statutory limitation of their H-1B stay, or will reach the end of their 6th year of H-1B stay within 60 days of filing;
3. They are only eligible for a further H-1B extension upon approval of their Form I-140 petition as prescribed by American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act (AC21) provisions 104(c). (Public law known as the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (AC21) permits up to a three-year extension of stay for an H-1B nonimmigrant alien, provided he or she is the beneficiary of an approved Form I-140 petition and otherwise eligible for lawful permanent resident status except that the employment-based preference visa is unavailable.); and
4. Are ineligible to extend their H-1B status under AC21 §106(a). (USCIS grants an H-1B extension of stay pursuant to §106(a) of AC21, in one-year increments, until such time as a final decision has been made to (1) deny the application for labor certification, or, if the labor certification is approved, to deny the employment-based immigrant petition that was filed pursuant to the approved labor certification; (2) deny the employment based immigrant petition, or; (3) grant or deny the alien’s application for an immigrant visa or for adjustment of status.).

California Service Center Surfin'

Processing times at the California Service Center are generally very quick these days. Not charged with employment based immigrant petitions, the CSC handles nonimmigrant workers, any nonimmigrant who seeks to change or extend status, family petitions of all variety, religious worker petitions and notably, the alien entrepreneur ($1 million dollar investor) program. The vast majority of petitions are approved between 1 and 6 months! There are very notable exceptions: family based family petitions where there is no current visa availability and the pre-1997 $1 million dollar investor cases, employment based adjustments of status which take two and a half years for professionals and skilled worker applications. This is in addition to the time it takes to get an approved labor certification and/or I-140 petition. Where a labor certification is not required, extraordinary and exceptional ability aliens at least skip the minimum 6 months required for labor certifcation processing, once filed. So as you see, it currently takes at least three years to process green cards for professionals and skilled workers who who aren't extraordinary. The United States was built by extraordinary and ordinary people who all do extraordinary things. It's time immigration reform come to employment based immigration.

Visa Bulletin for Employment Based February Availability

As usual, the first preference category, for those most extraordinary alien workers who seek to immigrate to the U.S., remains currently available. This remains the safe harbor for the most talented alien workers. Availability in the second preference for all except India and China remains current too. With a National Interest Waiver and no labor certification, this is as good a category as the first preference (except for China and India). There is good news for China and India second preference categories in that they jumped forward. For China the forward movement was to January 1, 2005 by six months, and India to January 1, 2004, by a year and a half. Third preference worldwide remained at May 1, 2005 as did India's at October 15, 2001, which doesn't bode well for immigration in the professional and skilled worker categories. Less movement can be expected there, but for China, the third preference moved forward by four months. Other workers (least skilled) are backlogged to labor certification cases filed on March 15, 2003, across the board for all countries.

As a second option, some alien workers also apply for the diversity lottery. This may or may not be a wise decision, depending on the nonimmigrant category they're now in. 

Diversity Visa advance notification category bank cut offs which will apply in March are: Africa to 26,800, Asia to 13,200, Europe to 19,800, Bahamas 6, Oceania to 675 and South America and the Caribbean, 850.

For more information, contact Alice Yardum-Hunter at 818 609 1953.

Yardum-Hunter letter to the Editor published by Immigration Daily from ilw.com

Yardum-Hunter letter to the Editor published by Immigration Daily from ilw.com as follows:

Dear Editor:
Given the financial crisis, it seems to me that President Elect Barack Obama can sell the notion of comprehensive immigration reform to include regularization of undocumented workers by making clear that it is in our nation's interest to make it easy for such people to pay their taxes and contribute to decreasing our nation's deficit. If you consider the figures including the number of undocumented workers who earn taxable income who do not pay into the system because they believe they cannot or just do not, how much they earn and their tax rate, you're talking about billions of dollars. The government needs that money now and Obama should pitch the American people if necessary. This is a common sense approach not tied to ideology, which is how he has said he intends to approach problems.

Alice Yardum-Hunter
Attorney at Law

Government Issues New I-9 Form

The new final rule with request for comments by February 2, 2009, requires that all documents presented during the employment verification process be unexpired. It eliminates List A identity and employment authorization documentation Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and outdated Employment Authorization Cards). The rule adds to List A, evidence of identity and employment authorization, valid foreign passports containing certain machine-readable immigrant visas, valid passports for citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), along with Form I-94 or Form I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI.

Temporary Alien Students, Nurses and Doctors Qualify to Serve in U.S. Military

The Defense Department announced today a pilot program to admit into military service, 1000 certain temporary nonimmigrant legal aliens who have lived in the United States
for at least two years who have special skills in the medical field (doctors and nurses) and students with strategic foreign language and cultural skills needed in the military.

Non-citizens have served in the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War. Approximately 29,000 non-citizens serve in today's U.S. military including approximately
8,000 permanent resident aliens. Accelerated citizenship opportunity exists for those who volunteer their services thus.

Yardum-Hunter Presents Award to LA CBP Port Director

On December 2, 2008 in Los Angeles, on behalf of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Alice Yardum-Hunter presented an award to Peter L. Gordon, Assistant Port Director of the Port of Los Angeles, in honor of his retirement after 31 years with the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security. The presentation was made at a luncheon of approximately 200 of his colleagues at The Proud Bird restaurant on La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles. Peter Gordon began with the U.S. Border Patrol in San Ysidro in 1977 and was known as a thoughtful professional respected by the government as well as the private bar. He was instrumental in establishing liaison between the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Super Lawyer Awarded for Sixth Year in a Row

For the sixth year in a row since inception, attorney Alice Yardum-Hunter was selected for inclusion in "Southern California Super Lawyers, The Ultimate Guide to The Best Attorneys in Southern California", published jointly by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine. Ms. Yardum-Hunter was selected by a blue-ribbon national panel of peers practicing in the field of immigration law after a survey of 65,000 lawyers who voted her amongst the top approximate 3% of immigration lawyers in Southern California, who voted based upon experience of Attorney Yardum-Hunter's actual work and not just by reputation. This year, she was included in the Corporate Counsel's edition of Super Lawyers. "This is a distinct honor. I'm just doing my job," said Yardum-Hunter when asked about the award.

Visa Waiver Travel Authorization Required Before Travel to the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that, beginning January 12, 2009, all nonimmigrant aliens traveling to the United States under the established Visa Waiver Program (VWP) must obtain an approved travel authorization from the Department's Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Countries affected by this rule are Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.

The Visa Waiver Program was extended on November 17, 2008 to also include Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea. For citizens and nationals of the newly expanded VWP countries, ESTA becomes effective November 17, 2008, not January 12, 2009.

To comply with ESTA, VWP travelers must provide electronically to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the information currently collected on the I-94W Nonimmigrant Alien Arrival/Departure (Form I-94W) through the CBP ESTA Web site and receive authorization to travel before embarking on travel to the United States. To apply for ESTA Travel Authorization, go to: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html?_flowExecutionKey=_c58167FBA-5D69-29D3-78A3-1CC4DE89CA76_k4710E9B4-81C3-9417-2B1E-B899C6295D9E

Yardum-Hunter to lead three seminars

Alice Yardum-Hunter will lead three discussions on Foreign Students in F, J, M status; other statuses; and educational institution issues in three upcoming teleconferences sponsored by ilw.com. They are scheduled for 8/21, 9/11 and 10/30/08 at 11 am. Ilw.com is the largest immigration portal on the internet. Speakers will be immigration lawyers and foreign student advisors of educational institutions.

Canadian and Mexican TNs Now Three Years

USCIS increased the maximum period of time a TN worker from Canada or Mexico may remain in the United States. The initial period of admission for TN workers is increased from one to three years, and extensions of stay are allowed in increments of up to three years. Originally introduced in August, this regulation was published with no changes to the proposal. This is very good news for Mexicans and Canadians.

Fast citizenship for armed forces

On 10/09/08, President Bush signed into law the Military Personnel Citizenship Processing Act (S. 2840). It was introduced by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and requires USCIS to process and issue a citizenship decision within six months of receiving an application from current or former members of the armed forces, or their surviving dependents. If a decision is not made within that time frame, USCIS is required to explain the delay and provide a new decision target date.

The law also establishes processing deadlines and creates FBI inside USCIS.

Diversity (DV-2010) Immigration Lottery Starts Today

The Diversity Visa lottery (DV-2010) filing period opened today and will close on December 1, 2008 (noon, EST). The entry form will only be available for submission during this period. Entries will not be accepted through the U.S. Postal Service. Go to the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery information and entry form page of the Department of State website at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov for application information.

Waivers: Fraud and Medical Speech by Alice Yardum-Hunter

See the detailed outline of a speech given by Alice Yardum-Hunter to that American Immigration Lawyers Association, Southern California Chapter on September 24, 2008. Ms. Yardum-Hunter's topic was Waivers: Fraud and Medical. It is on our website, under publications, then speeches and appears at the end under Waivers: Fraud and Medical or go to this link: http://www.yardum-hunter.com/Main/Publications.asp?PubID=38

Fingerprints Required for Nearly all Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants

Department of State regulations relating to the application for a nonimmigrant visas will now generally require all applicants to provide a set of ten scanned fingerprints as part of the application process. Ten fingerprints will be scanned. The rule has already been implemented. The prints are for purposes of verifying and confirming identity, conducting background checks, and to ensure that an applicant has not received a visa or entered into the United States under a different name. The Department of State may use the fingerprints in order to ascertain from the appropriate authorities whether they have information pertinent to the applicant's eligibility to receive a visa and for other purposes consistent with applicable law, regulations, and Department policy. Those excepted from the policy include most applicants under the age of 14 years or over the age of 79.