Watson Law Offices Newsletter
February 2012
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| Department of Homeland Security Announces Reforms To Attract And Retain Highly Skilled Immigrants | |  DHS to implement administrative reforms to encourage highly skilled immigrants to remain in the U.S.
In an announcement on January 31st, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the agency will be continuing President Obama's recent strategy of using administrative changes to alter the current immigration system, rather than wait for Congress to implement any legislative reforms. The changes are geared towards encouraging highly skilled immigrants to come to and remain in the United States. The proposed changes include: - Expand eligibility for 17-month STEM extensions of optional practical training (OPT) for F-1 international students. Currently, most F-1 students are only eligible for a 12 month OPT period. Graduates of eligible STEM degree programs ("Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics") may request a 17 month extension of their OPT. DHS proposed to change the current requirement to include "students with a STEM degree that is not the most recent degree the student has received."
- Allow for additional part-time study for spouses of F-1 students and expand the number of Designated School Officials (DSOs) at schools certified by DHS to enroll international students. This would allow F-2 spouses to enroll in part-time academic studies, while their spouse is pursuing a full-time course load.
- Provide work authorization for spouses of certain H-1B holders. Employment will be authorized for H-4 dependent spouses of principal H-1B visa holders who have begun the process of seeking lawful permanent resident status through employment after meeting a minimum period of H-1B status in the U.S. It is not clear what the specific requirements of this proposed change would be.
- Allow outstanding professors and researchers to present a broader scope of evidence of academic achievement. This change would expand the types of documentation that USCIS will accept to prove that the researcher/professor is the very best in their field.
- Harmonize rules to allow E-3 visa holders from Australia and H-1B1 visa holders from Singapore and Chile to continue working with their current employer for up to 240 days while their petitions for extension of status are pending.
- Launch Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative. On February 22, 2012, USCIS will launch its Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative.
The Department of Homeland Security's announcement did not provide a timeline under which to expect most of these changes to be implemented. We will provide readers with more information as it becomes available. |
USCIS Will Begin Accepting FY 2013 H-1B Cap Petitions on April 2, 2012
| |  Thinking about filing an H-1B petition for your employee in FY 2013?
Now is the time to start! U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting H-1B Cap Petitions on April 2, 2012 (April 1st is a Sunday this year).
Each Fiscal Year, the government may only issue 65,000 new H-1B visas. An additional 20,000 are set aside for graduates of U.S. Master degree programs.
The earliest USCIS may accept new H-1B petitions is April 1st. In the past, the quota for H-1B visas was exhausted on April 1st, but that has not been the case for the last couple of years. In FY 2012, the Cap was reached in late November 2011.
However, the economy has seen some recovery and job growth over the last few months. Many in the industry have been predicting that the FY 2013 H-1B Cap may be exhausted much earlier this year. We encourage all clients who wish to sponsor an H-1B worker in the FY 2013 Cap to file as soon as possible.
If you are an employer interested in hiring a foreign worker under the FY 2013 H-1B Cap, now is the time to contact us!
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March 2012 Visa Bulletin Prediction: EB-2 India and China to continue to advance
| |  Another few months possible for EB-2 India and China In January, the American Immigration Lawyers Association met with Mr. Charles Oppenheim of the Department of State's Visa Office to discuss next month's Visa Bulletin.
Mr. Oppenheim reported that the number of foreign nationals applying for green cards under these two categories, based on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' reports, has been unexpectedly low. Only approximately 34% of this years immigrant visa numbers (over all the preference categories) have been used up so far.
For this reason, Mr. Oppenheim has predicted that EB-2 India and China will continue to see forward movement in the March 2012 Visa Bulletin. He believes that another few months of progress is possible for these employment-based categories. However, he did not expect them to see another year of forward movement, as in the February 2012 Visa Bulletin.
After March, Mr. Oppenheim expects to hold the priority date cut-offs where they are over the summer, so that USCIS can process all of the already filed Adjustment Applications, and then retrogress or advance the numbers if needed. Mr. Oppenheim does not, at this time, have enough data to predict movement past March 2012.
We will keep all our of clients updated on the ever-mysterious Visa Bulletin movement, and alert affected clients as soon as the March 2012 Visa Bulletin is made available. It should be published sometime in the next week or so.
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Executive Order Aimed to Increase International Tourism
| |  Obama issues Executive Order to increase travel and tourism in the United States
During his visit to Disney World in Orlando, FL last month, President Obama announced a new Executive Order that makes beneficial changes for some international travelers.
President Obama indicated that he sought to make these improvements to the current system in order to encourage international tourists to come to the United States "to put Americans back to work and strengthen the U.S. economy." International tourism is an important component of the U.S. economy and supports 1.2 million jobs alone. Recent years have shown a decrease in international tourism in the U.S. due to tighter restrictions on visa issuance and slower processing times at the U.S. Consular Posts abroad. These restrictions resulted in the U.S. share of spending by international travelers falling from 17 percent to 11 percent between 2000 and 2010.
The President's Executive Order calls on the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to make the following changes in regards to international tourists:
- Increasing non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40% in 2012.
- Ensuring that 80% of non-immigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of application.
- Increasing efforts to expand the Visa Waiver Program and travel by nationals eligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, and expanding reciprocal trusted travel programs for expedited travel (such as the Global Entry program). In particular, the Executive Order nominated Taiwan as the next Visa Waiver Program eligible country.
The President also announced the following developments: - The Dept. of State will begin a pilot program to simplify and speed up the non-immigrant visa process for certain applicants, including the ability to waive interviews for some very low-risk applicants, such as individuals from any country renewing non-immigrant visas, or, in Brazil, younger or older first-time applicants.
- A Final Rule will be issued to expand and make the Global Entry Program permanent. The Global Entry Program offers expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. The Program will be added to airports in Minneapolis, Charlotte, Denver and Phoenix.
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Record Number of ICE I-9 Audits and Arrests in 2011
| |  Significant increase in employer-focused enforcement last year
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that the agency broke several records in fiscal year 2011 for enforcement activities that focus on punishing employers for failing to comply with I-9 regulations or employing undocumented workers.
"In fiscal year 2011, ICE criminally charged a record-breaking 221 owners, employers, managers and/or supervisors - up from 196 in fiscal year 2010. In addition, during fiscal year 2011, ICE HSI initiated audits involving 2,496 employers nationwide - surpassing the record number conducted in all of fiscal year 2010...Likewise in fiscal year 2011, ICE issued 385 final fine notices totaling more than $10 million to employers across the country, again surpassing the record fine total in fiscal year 2010."
As we have warned in the past year, not all of these fines were the result of hiring undocumented workers. Many employers were fined in 2011 and past years simply for failing to properly fill out and maintain their I-9 records.
The best protection against an I-9 audit is to know your records are in order before you receive an audit notice from ICE. A self-audit can uncover previous errors and assist owners, managers, and HR personnel learn how to avoid these issues in the future. Please contact our office if your company would like to conduct a self-audit or learn more about proper I-9 procedures and compliance.
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This is an effort on our part to reach out to our larger community of friends, colleagues, current and former clients and anyone interested in Immigration Law. We expect there will be a strong push to make changes to existing Immigration Laws in the coming months and years, and we will try to keep our subscribers informed not only as to what changes are taking place, but how they are likely to impact everyone.
We welcome your input on what we should include, and how we should present this information. Please let us know what you think and what you would like to see. Also, please share this email with anyone whom you think would be interested in and benefit from this information.
THANK YOU!
Sincerely,
ROY J. WATSON, JR.
Watson Law Offices
142 Great Road
Bedford, MA 01730
(781)533-7700 |
The information you obtain in this newsletter is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice, and persons receiving this information should not act on it without consulting professional legal counsel. We invite you to contact us and welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail.
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