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HEY BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE A BUCK? CIS Announces Substantial Fee Increases.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
("CIS") announced a new fee schedule
for immigration benefit applications and
petitions. The CIS has made some
substantive changes that will benefit some
families with children applying for
adjustment of status and prospective adoptive
parents who experience delays in finalizing
their adoptions. The new fee schedule will be
effective on July 30, 2007.
The CIS announced that even with the
changes, the new schedule will ensure that
CIS will have sufficient funding to fully
recover its costs of doing
business and also enable CIS to meet
national security and public safety concerns,
prevent and detect fraud, and invest in
comprehensive transformation efforts - all
leading to a more efficient and effective
immigration system.
Click
here to read the Press Release from the
CIS about the fee increase. . .
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Click here to read the Federal Register Announcement about the Fee Increases . . .
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Dear Readers:
This past month has brought new and more
rigid regulations in the business immigration
arena. Some of the highlights are: (1) a new
set of regulations about the elimination of
Labor Certification Substitutions and payment
for Labor Certification fees by "employers"
(and not employees) will take effect on July
16th; and (2) a proposed Senate Bill for
Comprehensive Immigration Reform ("CIR") that
establishes a new Y and Z visa for foreign
workers unlawfully present in the U.S. and
which proposes to create a new merit based
immigration system; and (3) a dramatic
increase in the immigration fees for petition
and application filings that will take effect
on July 30th.
As the Bush Administration winds down, it
appears to be less constrained to distance
itself from the immigration issues. As a
result, movement toward CIR is occurring at
a very rapid pace. Unfortunately, moving
quickly with such important issues will
leave us with lasting ripple effects
likely to challenge our Nation's global
competitiveness in the years to come.
Congress (and the President) need to be
reminded that "haste makes waste".
For more information about new developments
in CIR, please feel
free to contact us at info@visaserve.com.
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| DIFFICULT TO COME . . . EASY TO GO: CIS Announces New Procedures For Employers In Response to the DOL Rule Eliminating Substitutions on Labor Certifications. |
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CIS announced new procedures for filing the
Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140) that
requires an approved labor certification
application. These
procedural changes are in response to the
DOL's recent rule that eliminates
"substitutions". DOL's rule (1) prohibits
substitution of
alien beneficiaries on permanent labor
certification applications and resulting
certifications; and (2) provides a 180-day
validity period for approved labor
certifications; and (3) prohibits the sale,
barter or purchase of permanent
labor certifications and applications, and (4)
requires employers to pay the costs of
preparing, filing and obtaining the Labor
Certification Application.
Click
here to read the DOL Final Rule in the
Federal Register. . .
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Click here to read the CIS PRESS RELEASE . . . |
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| CIR, MYTH OR REALITY? The Bush Administration Releases a Fact Sheet on CIR. |
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The Bush Administration released statements
to help
clarify some of the myths and facts
surrounding the CIR Bill that is currently
being formulated by the Senate. Among the
many issues discussed by the Administration
are: (1) the Green Card Backlog; and (2)
Security at the Borders; and (3) the new Z
visa; and (4) tax implications of immigration
for employers.
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Click here to read the Whitehouse FACT SHEET. . . |
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| EXTENDED FOR ANOTHER YEAR: TPS Extensions for Nationals of Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. |
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The DHS announced the extension of Temporary
Protected Status ("TPS") designations for
eligible nationals of Honduras, Nicaragua and
El Salvador for an additional 18 months.
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To read the CIS PRESS RELEASE, click here . . . |
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| SUPPLY AND DEMAND: Passport Production at Record Levels. |
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The U.S. Department of State ("DOS")
announced that new records were set in
passport production
during the months of April and May. Given the
level of demand, the DOS recommends that
applications be filed at least twelve (12)
weeks prior
to any scheduled international travel.
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Click here to read the DOS MEDIA NOTE . . . |
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| WANT TO VISIT? DHS Announces US-VISIT Changes. |
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DHS recently announced that effective on May
6, 2007 international visitors are no longer
required to check-out at a US-VISIT exit
kiosk when they leave the United
States. DHS has determined that US-VISIT air exit
procedures should be incorporated into the
existing international visitor departure
process to minimize the effect on visitors
and to ensure seamless biometric collection
regardless of the visitor's departure point.
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To read more, click here . . . |
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| CALIFORNIA PROCESSING: California Service Center Liaison Reports on Interview-Waivable I-485s. |
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In March 2007, CIS informed AILA
Liaison that in anticipation of the next
phase of Bi-Specialization, I-485
applications were being transferred from the
California Service Center ("CSC") to the
Nebraska Service Center ("NSC") and from the
Vermont Service Center ("VSC") to the Texas
Service Center ("TSC"). As an exception, all
family-based I-485s that are deemed
interview-waivable are sent to the CSC. It is
expected that the CSC will continue to have
sole jurisdiction over interview-waivable
family-based I-485s.
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Click here to find out which adjustment application categories are interview-waivable . . . |
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| DELAYED RECEIPTS? CIS Explains H-1B Receipt Notice Delay for Non-Premium Cases. |
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Recently, the CIS confirmed a fee receipt and
data entry front log for H-1B petitions that
were not filed premium processing. CIS
recommends that persons
who have filed a petition or application with
CIS wait at least thirty days from the
applicable receipt processing timeframe noted
above, before contacting CIS with inquiries
about form receipting. If a response is not
received from CIS within thirty days then an
inquiry should be sent to the CIS website at www.uscis.gov
or call be made to CIS customer service at
1-800-375-5283 for updated processing
information.
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Click here to read the CIS PRESS RELEASE . . . |
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