Maryland Immigration Law Blog

From June 20-24, 2008, U.S. Mayors from across the United States met in Miami, Florida for their annual conference. One important piece of their agenda was to establish a unified voice in dealing with U.S. Immigration Reform and ICE Worksite Enforcement. The U.S. Conference of Mayors have adopted several resolutions in regards to establishing this unified voice. The most important of the 2008 adopted resolutions are provided below:

Immigration Reform

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by The U.S. Conference of Mayors acting on behalf of its constituents to call on the President of the United States to issue an executive order to cease and desist in the execution of all raids and deportations that do not relate to our national security or to criminal activity until comprehensive immigration reform is completed and to suspend immediately all deportations of parents with U.S. citizens children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports comprehensive immigration reform which promotes the reunification of families, provides legal status with a path to earned citizenship to the estimated 12 million undocumented workers and designs a plan for current and future immigrant workers.

ICE Worksite Enforcement

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls upon U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to develop a national policy for its workforce enforcement activities that focuses on employers with a demonstrated history or reasonable suspicion of engaging in exploitative practices, such as violation of wage, hour or occupational safety laws and regulations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that ICE not prioritize responsible employers for worksite enforcement activities before accurate verification systems are available or comprehensive immigration reform regularizes the status of workers on whom they rely; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that ICE should strive to keep in close communication with the nation’s mayors when conducting worksite enforcement activities in their cities.

Although the U.S. Conference of Mayors have agreed to establish a unified voice on the matters listed above, comprehensive immigration reform and changes with ICE Worksite Enforcement will not change unless the President or Congress elect to change them. Therefore, the MVP Law Group, P.A. recommends that you contact your local representative to express your concerns on the matters mentioned above.

The following is a list of processing times released by the AAO for appeals that are filed with them. These processing times are valid as of July 21, 2008.

VISA BULLETIN FOR AUGUST 2008

Availability of immigrant numbers during August. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number. 

FAMILY-BASED 

For more information visit http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html

We recently reported that DHS Secretary Chertoff announced that USCIS will begin issuing Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) with a two-year validity period for a limited number of individuals who have applications for legal permanent residence status pending with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). On June 12, 2008, USCIS issued a fact sheet addressing frequently asked questions regarding the eligibility requirements for the two year EAD. In summary the fact sheet states:

1. The two-year  EAD cards will be available to individuals with pending adjustment of status applications who have filed for an EAD and are currently unable to adjust their status to that of a permanent resident because an immigrant visa number is currently not available. Individuals with visa numbers that are available will continue to be granted EADs that are valid a one-year period.

2. USCIS expects to implement these new rules for issuing EADs on June 30, 2008.

3. Applicants who file for an initial EAD application with their adjustment of status application (Form I-485) will only receive a one-year EAD because such individuals can only file for adjustment of status if visa numbers are current. EAD Applicants are only eligible for a two-year EAD if their immigrant visa availability date retrogresses after their adjustment of status application is filed.

4. The USCIS will decide whether to issue a two-year EAD based upon the most recent Department of State Visa Bulletin.

DHS Secretary Chertoff Announces that USCIS will begin issuing Employment Authorization Documents with a 2 year validity period for individuals with green card applications pending.

On June 9, 2008, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced at his State of Immigration Address that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be extending the validity period of the employment authorization documents (EAD) that are issued to individuals who applications for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident status (“green card”) pending.

Currently, such individuals are granted EADs with a maximum validity of one year. According to Secretary Chertoff, beginning later in June 2008, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will start issuing EADs with a validity period of two years for individuals who have adjustment of status applications filed that are expected to be pending for more than one year.

According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the U.S. Citizenship & Immigrations Service (USCIS) has provided the following update regarding H-1B cap subject cases that were received for fiscal year 2009:

1. The Service Center Operations reports that as of May 24, 2008, all receipts have been issued for those cases selected in the random lottery. The only cases that have not been issued a receipt are cases that are being reviewed for duplicate filings.

2. The USCIS has received approximately 500 petitions that are believed to be duplicates. Each of these cases will be reviewed and determination of duplicate filing will be made on a case-by-case basis.

3. The USCIS received a sufficient number of petitions during the random selection process to meet the cap limit. Consequently, the USCIS will not have to utilize the cases that were saved on the reserve list. The USCIS begun to mail back rejected cases this week.

The American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA)  reports that beginning July 16, 2008, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will resume premium processing for I-140 petitions in limited circumstances. Premium processing should be available for those beneficiaries whose six year H-1B status will expire within 60 days of filing the premium processing request so that they can utilize the approved I-140 petition to become eligible for additional time on H-1B status. The I-140 petition process is the second phase of most employment-based immigration proceedings. An official notice has not yet been issued by USCIS.

This is definitely positive news for individuals who will be running out of time on H-1B status.

Availability of immigrant numbers during July. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number. 

FAMILY-BASED 

EMPLOYMENT-BASED 

For more information vistit the Department of State's website.

According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the United States Department of Labor (DOL) on June 1, 2008, a change in processing between the Chicago and Atlanta PERM National Processing Centers (NPC) went into effect. Effective June 1, 2008, the Chicago NPC will complete the processing of any pending PERM cases located there, including any that were issued an audit before April 15, 2008, or which were denied and an appeal was filed before April 15, 2008. Responses to all audits and denials issued as of April 15, 2008 must be submitted to the Atlanta NPC.  According to AILA, the DOL anticipates that the Chicago NPC will not complete all the cases by June 1, 2008 but that they will complete the cases in a short period of time after June 1, 2008.

Availability of immigrant numbers during June. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number. 

FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First:  Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens:  23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference.

Second:  Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent
Residents:  114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, and any unused first preference numbers:

A.  Spouses and Children:  77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B.  Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older):  23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third:  Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens:  23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth:  Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens:  65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.