There has been great movement in the visa numbers for EB-2 for nationals of Indian origin. The cutoff date has jumped forward and changed from October 2005 to March 2006, and hence all dates up until March 1, 2006 will be current as of August 2010. The U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin expects a future continued movement by the end of the year.
GOOD NEWS! PROCESSING TIME FOR PERM APPLICATIONS SHORTENS!
We are pleased to report that our firm has been receiving certifications of PERM applications in as little as 60-90 days! This is a great leap forward from the previous wait time of around 7-9 months.
H-1B PETITIONS STILL BEING ACCEPTED
H-1B Cap Count shows that 26,000 petitions have been accepted by the USCIS as of July 23, 2010. The Masters quota numbers show that 11,300 H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees have been accepted. This shows that both quotas should continue to be open for the next few months, with predictions that they will close in late fall. This allows foreign nationals time to acquire relevant documents and job offers from potential employers.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR CURRENT PRIORITY DATES
The August 2010 Visa Bulletin has recently been updated with the new current dates for EB-2 nationals of Indian origin. The cutoff date has moved forward to March 1, 2006. This change affects many of our clients who will now have current priority dates. When a visa number is current for one of our clients according to the Department of State Visa Bulletin, there is a special procedure that our firm can take to ensure that every measure is taken to move our clients to the next stage in their application. Therefore, if your date is current as of August 2010, we kindly ask you to contact our office and inform us via email with the following details:
- Sponsoring employer
- Your full legal name
- Priority date
- Alien Registration Number for principal and dependent applicants
Email assist@emandilaw.com and copy rani@emandilaw.com the above information.
Thank you.
USCIS POSTS NOTICE CLARIFYING THREE-DAY RULE FOR EMPLYOEE ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION FOR NEW HIRES
USCIS recently reminded U.S. employers that they have just three days after their new employees’ dates of hire to open a case in E-Verify. In addition, this rule also applies to the completion of essential portions of the I-9 form. Section 2 of the I-9 form should also be completed within this time period. It should be noted, for clarification, that the three-day period is, in fact, four total days, as stated in a USCIS posting. For example, if an employee is hired on a Monday, these deadlines must be reached by the Thursday of that same week. The date of hire (in this case, Monday) is not counted in the three-day period.
However, there has been some question as to whether ICE will interpret the three-day rule in the same way that USCIS has stated. While ICE has informed the public that they will honor the USCIS interpretation of the three-day rule (the fourth day after a hire), ICE has not published any official notice stating this understanding and has, instead, only forwarded the USCIS posting to their field agents.
NEW FEE SCHEDULE FOR U.S. PASSPORTS
Fees for the U.S. Passport Book, the U.S. Passport Card and other passport services will soon change. These fees, which are used to cover the costs of producing passports and providing emergency services for U.S. citizens overseas in crisis situations, will be amended starting July 13, 2010. The new fee schedule will be:
U.S. Passport Book
Adults (First-Time Applicants): Passport Fee - $110; Acceptance Fee - $25
Adults (Renewal): Passport Fee - $110; Acceptance Fee - $0
Minors: Passport Fee - $80; Acceptance Fee - $25
U.S. Passport Card
Adults (First-Time Applicants): Passport Fee - $30; Acceptance Fee - $25
Adults (Renewal): Passport Fee - $30; Acceptance Fee - $0
Minors: Passport Fee - $15; Acceptance Fee - $25
Other Fees
Additional Visa Pages: $82
File Search Fee: $150
Expedited Processing: $60
NEW H-2A JOB REGISTRY: ONLINE TOOL WILL HELP THE PUBLIC SEARCH ACTIVE AGRICULTURAL JOBS
Starting July 8, U.S. workers and organizations that represent farm workers will have a new way to learn about temporary agricultural positions accepted by the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) through a single online location. The new H-2A Job Registry will display all active agricultural jobs until half the period of employment has passed; some positions for certified agricultural jobs will remain archived for up to 5 years.
The new web tool will provide a single, easily searchable point of entry for the public to find information about agricultural jobs filed under the H-2A visa program. The new tool was developed to fully comply with new H-2A regulations (implemented in March 2010) and is integrated into the OFLC’s iCERT Visa Portal System, available online at http://icert.doleta.gov.
E-VERIFY TO REQUIRE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM NEW EMPLOYERS
This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Privacy Impact Assessment update of the E-Verify program. In the update, DHS provides an update about additional information that E-Verify will now require from new employers that register with the employment eligibility verification system. This new information will be sent to Dun & Bradstreet, an organization that provides a range of information about businesses; the information will be compared against Dun & Bradstreet’s database to ensure that the new employer is indeed an official enterprise.
New information that will be collected include the following:
1) The employer’s DBA name, if applicable (Doing Business As).
2) The employer’s DUNS number, if available (a Dun & Bradstreet identification number). If the employer does not have a DUNS number, the employer’s address, phone number and other data will be used to clearly authenticate the employer.
3) The corporate administrator’s name.
4) The parent organization, if applicable.
5) The place where the employer heard about the E-Verify program (an optional field).
If Dun & Bradstreet is able to verify the authenticity of the employer, the new employer will then be able to automatically register for an E-Verify account. If Dun & Bradstreet is unable to verify the employer’s authenticity, the employer will then need to be contacted via phone or email.
For additional questions related to these issues, please contact the Emandi Law Firm. Also check our Twitter page at twitter.com/emandilaw for frequent updates!
Thank you,
Rani Emandi Esquire |
