Immigration Law

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: LUKASZ ZBYLUT - STUDENT

Posted on June 20, 2008
Talk about our country lucking out. Lukasz Zbylut arrived only five years ago from his native Poland as a seventh grader who didn't speak any English. The Brooklyn teen was featured on the Today Show because he did something quite remarkable. He applied to seven Ivy League schools for college and was admitted to all seven...

UK AIMS TO ATTRACT INDIAN STUDENTS

Posted on June 20, 2008
While the US continues policies that punish Indians for being TOO successful in producing talented individuals seeking to work abroad, the UK is issuing new rules designed to attract those same individuals. We're being left in the dust, folks. Thanks to Dan Kowalski for the tip.

WILL DHS PUNISH EMPLOYEES CAUGHT UP IN E-VERIFY DISPUTES?

Posted on June 20, 2008
As many of you know who have been following this issue here, I have been very concerned that US citizen and permanent resident employees could find themselves unjustly facing unemployment if DHS follows through on their pledge to issue final non-confirmations in E-Verify cases in ten days...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: CASSIAN YEE - SCIENTIST

Posted on June 19, 2008
Canadian-born Professor Caspian Yee makes news today as media outlets report on an exciting medical breakthrough led by Yee at the University of Washington in Seattle. A patient with a diagnosis of just a year to live due to melanoma has made a complete recovery thanks to responding to the injection of his own immune cells...

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FIRST CHINESE TRAVELERS ARRIVE UNDER NEW BILATERAL AGREEMENT

Posted on June 19, 2008
The Travel Industry Association notes the arrival of the first group of Chinese tourists to arrive under an agreement signed by the US and China last December. Let's hope CBP shows them some hospitality. After all, they'll spend an average of $6000 each on their trips here.

JOHN OLIVER: I'M GAY FOR AMERICA

Posted on June 18, 2008
There's a funny spoof on The Daily Show tonight where British correspondent John Oliver goes to California to marry fellow correspondent Jason Jones in order to solve his visa problems. Unfortunately, Jones is actually Canadian... A few years back, Drew Carey and Craig Fergusen ran off to Vermont to engage in gay marriage visa fraud on the classic Drew Carey Show on ABC...

BULGARIANS ONE STEP CLOSER TO VISA WAIVER STATUS

Posted on June 18, 2008
Still a ways to go, but Bulgaria is the latest eastern European country to move closer to this coveted status.

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: PAOLO SZOT - MUSICAL ACTOR

Posted on June 18, 2008
Yesterday, I honored Mark Rylance, Best Actor in a Play in the 2008 Tony Awards that took place Sunday night. Today, I offer congratulations to Paolo Szot, the Brazilian opera star who made a big mark on Broadway starring in the revival of the musical South Pacific...

DEMS TO PUSH IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IN LEAD UP TO ELECTIONS

Posted on June 18, 2008
Ah, politics. Dumb politics. Hispanic voters are flirting with McCain. Most non-Hispanic voters aren't paying attention to this issue. And the people that this will appeal to are going to vote Republican anyway.

WHO WILL BE COVERED BY E-VERIFY EXECUTIVE ORDER

Posted on June 17, 2008
When I posted immediately after the release of the President's Executive Order requiring federal contractors to use E-Verify, I guessed that health care institutions that took Medicare and universities that participated in the federal student loan program would be covered...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: MARK RYLANCE - ACTOR

Posted on June 16, 2008
Congratulations to British-born actor Mark Rylance for his winning Best Actor in a Play at the 2008 Tony Awards. Rylance won for his role in Boeing, Boeing, a revival of a 1960s comedy. The actor is known for his performance in many of Shakespeare's plays, but his Broadway role is a little different...

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF IMMIGRANT IN DEPORTATION CASE

Posted on June 16, 2008
I was a little surprised to see a decision on a relatively narrow and unusual set of facts come out of the Supreme Court given other issues that loom that seem to affect a lot more cases. The crux of the case is that when someone is in deportation proceeding and accepts a voluntary departure, they can now, under the Supreme Court ruling, seek to withdraw the motion for voluntary departure if they make the request before the departure date...

CATO: E-VERIFY NUMBERS JUST DON'T ADD UP

Posted on June 15, 2008
The Cato Institute's Jim Harper has been effectively challenging the Department of Homeland Security's assertion that the false positive rate with the E-Verify program is negligible. Here is Harper's latest analysis: Yesterday at a meeting of the DHS Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, a new data point opened a small window onto the situation of the 5...

DOBBS NOT RUNNING FOR NJ GOVERNOR

Posted on June 14, 2008
New Jersey's gain is America's loss.

DOL OFFERS FURTHER "CLARIFICATION" ON FRAGOMEN CASE

Posted on June 14, 2008
The Labor Department has released a bulletin offering explanation on the thinking behind the bombshell decision to audit the large immigration law firm. Here is the key language. I'm not sure this really clarifies things except it appears that DOL is saying immigration lawyers can review the legality of the rejection of US workers, but that if an employer indicates that a lawyer may not be consulted if the worker is determined by the employer to be qualified...

REST IN PEACE, TIM RUSSERT (1950-2008)

Posted on June 13, 2008
While I normally don't deviate from the immigration-related theme of this blog, the news of NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert's untimely death is stunning and very sad and I did not think the news should go unmentioned. Russert was certainly one of the nation's most admired journalists and one of the country's most recognized and influential public figures...

BAIT AND SWITCH: USCIS ANNOUNCES EAD POLICY NOT QUITE WHAT WAS CLAIMED BY CHERTOFF

Posted on June 13, 2008
Remember my post from the other day where I mentioned that Secretary Chertoff announced that employment cards in adjustment cases would be issued for two years in cases where adjustment cases were expected to take more than a year to adjudicate? Guess what? Only cases where people lack a current priority date will get the two year EADs...

HAS THE FEVER BROKEN?

Posted on June 13, 2008
Historically, immigration has ranked relatively low on the list of priorities for the average American. Most people are generally pro-immigration (though relatively passive in showing it), but ever couple of decades, passions get stirred up and the antis gain in influence...

AILA REPORTING THAT ALL H-1B RECEIPTS NOW ISSUED

Posted on June 12, 2008
The American Immigration Lawyers Association is reporting that on May 24th the last receipts for cases selected in the H-1B lottery were mailed. So if you have not gotten a receipt by now, it would be a pretty safe bet that you were not selected.

MATH

Posted on June 12, 2008
Tomorrow the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in a case challenging the new Arizona immigration law, one of the nation's toughest and one credited with a rapid outflow of immigrants from the state. I saw two statistics this week that should give antis in the state some pause...

NO FUN FOR YOU!

Posted on June 11, 2008
Sorry kids. Arizona may be about to test its new business license revocation law. Phoenix's famous Sheriff Joe has had his officers seize hundreds of employee records from the parent company of three Arizona amusement parks and arrested a half dozen employees suspected of identity theft violations...

E-VERIFY PROPOSED RULE ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS

Posted on June 11, 2008
Just got my hands on the proposed rule implementing the President's E-Verify Executive Order (thanks Naomi). A couple of items of note: - normally, employers may only enter new employees in E-Verify; however, the proposed rule requires contractors to verify existing employees working on the government contract - only contracts involving more than $3000 will trigger the E-Verify requirement - subcontractors with contracts worth more than $3000 will be covered - employers will have 30 days to enroll in E-Verify after signing a contract with the E-Verify clause in it - agencies will have to include the E-Verify clause on...

HOUSE EXTENDS EB-5 JOB CREATION GREEN CARD PROGRAM

Posted on June 11, 2008
The House of Represenatives passed HR 5569, a bill extending the EB-5 Regional Center program for another five years. The program provides green cards to individuals who invest at least $500,000 in investment programs approved by USCIS. The programs must demonstrate to USCIS that at least ten jobs for Americans are created as a result of each qualifying investment...

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: AKIHIKO HOSHIDE - ASTRONAUT

Posted on June 11, 2008
OK, I'm not sure Akihiko Hoshide, the Japanese-born astronaut, technically counts as an immigrant right now. The astronaut on the American space shuttle Discovery is currently in space, though he'll be back on the ground Saturday after completing a mission where he helped to deliver a Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station...

THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

Posted on June 11, 2008
The Los Angeles Times is reporting something I suspected was true, but it is nice to see documentation. THe paper analyzed the backgrounds of the 500 Californians who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and found that 59 were immigrants. Dozens more were first generation children of immigrants...

DHS REPORT CARD

Posted on June 10, 2008
As part of its roll out of the Executive Order on E-Verify mentioned yesterday, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez have issued a joint press release giving an update on where the Administration is in achieving the 26 goals outlined last August...

EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION DOCUMENTS IN ADJUSTMENT CASES TO BE VALID FOR TWO YEARS

Posted on June 10, 2008
I'm going through the ten page transcript from yesterday's DHS press briefing on the new executive order and found this little nugget: Secretary Chertoff: I'm also pleased to announce that we will be extending the validity period of the employment authorization documents that we issue to individuals who are waiting adjustment of status to lawful permit residence or as its colloquially phrased, the green card...

DHS ANNOUNCES PROPOSED RULEMAKING IMPLEMENTING E-VERIFY EXECUTIVE ORDER

Posted on June 10, 2008
Here is the text: DHS Designates E-Verify as Employment Eligibility Verification System for All Federal Contractors Release Date: June 9, 2008 For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010 The Department of Homeland Security today designated E-Verify, operated by U...

JULY VISA BULLETIN RELEASED

Posted on June 10, 2008
Little movement in the family numbers (except that the Family 2B date actually moved backwards by six weeks). On the employment side, no changes in the EB-1 and EB-2 numbers. Indian and Chinese nationals are still stuck at April 1, 2004 in the EB-2 category...

THE ORDER

Posted on June 09, 2008
Here is the text of the Executive Order. The Chertoff press conference starts at 1 pm eastern time, but I checked with C-SPAN and they are taping it and will re-broadcast it later. If DHS releases the text of the statement, I'll post it here. One key item - DHS is permitted to delay making the order effective until it issues a formal rule...

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